long time no see!

Yeah, I guess it has been a while. It's not that I've stopped having thoughts, as you might have guessed; more that I've just stopped writing them down. There's plenty to say, I suppose, but laziness and a busy work schedule have intervened.

So, for your reading enjoyment, a Tale of Two Pregnancies:

My friend and her husband are delighted to have a new family member on the way. They've already worked out which bedroom will be the baby's. They're finishing up a couple of other financial responsibilities and are in a great position to take on a new one. The proud new mom showed me a tiny little outfit that she couldn't resist buying. She says that lately, everything's about babies! Movies, grocery stores, even the lectionary texts. Babies everywhere.

And then there's my other friend, who came over to dinner the other night and announced she was "knocked up." She had to quit her waitressing gig because of the nausea. After dinner, she knocked on my door and wept about the choice that faces her, neither option good: keep the baby, get a job, and either put school on hold or give it up altogether; or give up the baby to a family she knows who's offered to adopt, if she can bear to give away her child. Anxiety fills her dreams and her waking, and she wonders aloud "what I did to make God hate me."

In other, more superficial news:
- I really like preaching. The discipline of living with a text, the craftsmanship of writing a sermon, the event of preaching it. Good stuff.
- Wouldn't it be fun to be a companion synod coordinator? I think so!
- I'm really bummed I can't go to the synod assembly and vote for the new bishop. I'm curious and excited to find out who it will be.
- Man do I love Annie's Shiitake Sesame Vinaigrette. Oh my gosh. I'd drink the stuff. Given the chance, I'd bathe in it.

And now I've been tagged for a meme. I'd best get on that.