Faceless...

I was driving to Portland today, and stopped to get gas at exit 104. As I turned toward the gas station, I noticed a figure holding a cardboard sign on the offramp. I glanced at the writing as I drove past and saw only a few words, namely "homeless," "ugle," and "help." It was the "ugle" that really caught my attention. I realized that, try as I might, I couldn't actually recall the man's face, "ugle" or not. That bothered me...

It seems that I am no longer seeing the faces of those who are looking for a meal, a handout, or a chance. I mean, I'm not going to start peeling out bills to every corner, but I am starting to look at the person standing there, rather than pretending they're not there (something that I see quite a lot of) and drive/bike/walk on. Hopefully eye contact will lead to some sort of connection beyond a hand grasping a dollar... We'll see.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

This would have shut down
the city of Portland...

Woke up this morning to a light dusting of snow. The perfect kind: pretty, but not dangerous. Still, I walked to work to enjoy the feel of the first snow of the season... and into town... and to the store... and back to work... and back home. I like the snow like this!

the "elf tree"

I was actually thinking of skipping any decorations at home this year, as it's just me and I don't really have holiday visitors to impress. But - of all places - Safeway had these great little "elf trees," so I got one, broke out my box of ornaments, and set up the tree. Then, after a few folk had come by for dinner, realized that it was dripping water on my stereo, cleaned up the water... and knocked the tree over, breaking 4 ornaments. *sigh* Sarah, bless her heart, was still over, and helped me gather ornaments and reset the tree.
But apparently I hadn't gotten the decorating bug out of my system, because I went and splurged $1.50 on some lights, stripped the tree, and redressed it all over again while watching Muppet's Christmas Carol.

All I'm Saying is That I'd Better Get My Cleaning Deposit Back...

I Just Cleaned the Left Side

So I finally got around to cleaning the gross looking linoleum that lines the non-carpeted portions of my apartment. It boggles my mind that they took the time to completely replace the carpet but couldn't be bothered to mop the floors. Mind you, this did take my most of an hour with a scrub brush, but this is my kitchen! I prep food here! Ick...

Next... the full bathroom! *shudder*

Visits by Night...

 
So the cat with the broken tail found it's way into my apartment again. Apparently I brought in more than my laundry from the basement! But a bit of tuna and a warm lap was all he was looking for... and then back out to the cold...

Harvest, Halloween, Slamquest... this is my life.

Downtown Walla Walla

As inferred by the few and far-in-between posts, life has been busy up here in Walla Walla. Settling in is a much longer process than I realized, and I'm quite content to let my work, ministry, and life meld together. It may seem that I have no life, but that's because I am able to move at a healthier pace since my life is my ministry!

Patrick & I being Epic

Now, I admit that the blog title is a wee bit misleading; I did not actually assist with any harvesting. But I did help with a Harvest Carnival put on by First Pres on Halloween. See, we're like 3 blocks from downtown and they had this big shindig, so we did too (as did quite a few local churches). So a couple hundred incredibly cute kids came through, played games, won prizes, got candy, ate popcorn, watched puppet shows, and ran from the guitar wielding daywalker out front (yeah, that was me). I didn't get home in time to hand out candy, so I'm stuck with 100 pieces of epicly tasty candy... which Hannah has thoughtfully agreed to take off my hands if I can get it down to Lake Oswego.

This last weekend I went on my first Central Washington Presbytery youth camp, aptly named SLAMQUEST. It's a Middle School camp, and the slamming refers to... well, alot. First it applied to a multitude of pumpkins that were scattered on the grounds, which had the misfortune of being chock full of candy (thus the slamming). Literal Smashing Pumpkins (yes, we did play tunes by them). Wonderful place, this Ghormley Meadow, and I hope to take kids back again. I got the chance to lead music/worship with a few other leaders, and we had a blast! "they" said to me, "You're not from here; Eastern Washington teens don't jump around and go crazy during worship songs." Oh really, says I.... [video coming soon]

Now we're getting ready to get into Holiday Festivities, beginning with Thanksgiving Eve Eve Service & Dessert (yes, I volunteered myself and the youth to make desserts) on Tuesday. Should be fun. Then the Youth and I prep Stone Soup for the congregation, kids make crafts, and adults participate in the Hanging of the Greens... and yes, I do get to scale the tower of the 1912 building to hang giant wreaths! (apparently I'm the only one not uber scared of heights) This will then be followed by the Youth Annual Turkey Bowl Flag Football game... which will be followed by warmth, pizza, and a movie. Have I mentioned that I love this?

Ah, and then I intersperse bad horror movies into the mix (beware ThanksKilling), and discover important things like that Captain Morgan's new 100-proof is downright evil. New friends come over for dinner and movies occasionally, and old friends drive up to visit. These are all wonderful things to experience...

Friendliest...

So it turns out that Walla Walla was ranked friendliest town in America last year...

Helpful...

...Sarah and I went to pick up a couple of couches for the church in her family's old pick-up the other day. It's an old '67 Ford, so I figured that both of them would fit in the truck. I figured wrong. So as we're trying to force the 2nd couch in, a woman comes over and asks if we want to put the other one in her pickup and she'd follow us over to the church. Awesome...

...and then she helped us carry both down into the basement where they are currently being enjoyed by teens, adults, staff, and just about everyone who walks past them.

The Digs...

The View From My Back Door

Eh, apparently I've been pretty bad about keeping up this blog. But here we go...

I've been settling in to living in Walla Walla for the past month, and am sorta getting used to it. I can usually find my way around to one place or another (like the grocery, the community theater, the local ball field, schools, cafes, candy stores, pizza joints, and other such great places).

A Seat For You...

All the boxes are unpacked in my apartment, and the Living Room has taken shape; ready for visitors and such. I don't know if I mentioned it before, but there's a little creek running behind the apartment building, which is great for ambience, sound, and a bit of a breeze that runs off of it on hot days. My neighbors moved out, and suddenly a tabby with a folded over tail appears at my back door every day... what to do, what to do...?

"meow, meow, meow, meow..."

It's also great because I'm only a few blocks away from the church that I work at too, and often walk to work. Great neighborhood, right next to the local YMCA. Oh, and I'm also just a few blocks from the downtown of Walla Walla, which is quite convenient. Recently I've been to high school football games, city league soccer matches, local theatre shows, and many cups of coffee...