Upcoming Adventures

So, despite this being a relaxing summer back in the heartland, there are many adventures to be had.
At the end of this week Torey and I will head up to Michigan to join Simpson UMC as volunteers for Appalachia Service Project in Mullens WV. This will, in effect be the first time I have volunteered for ASP. My campus ministry went down in November of 2010 to volunteer.  Torey was working on their staff and this trip was when he proposed! Although that weekend was a blur, I felt in more of a staff role, or even visiting Torey role. The next time I tried to volunteer was Staff Alumni weekend January 2011 where were were iced out of working. So... I'm excited to volunteer for ASP. I am excited for a staff to tell me what to do! I have even already packed.

A week after we return from ASP, we leave for our honeymoon! We're road tripping to Wyoming! I am excited to see the Grand Tetons and Torey is going to ride a horse for the first time! We'll also make it to Yellowstone, and back through the Badlands. It's a part of the country I have never seen, so I am eager in anticipation.

Hopefully sometime in August we'll camp a few times, visit some more friends, and of course think, pray and live out the ministries we're called to.

You can tell by all of the exclamation points !!! I am thrilled

24 years

Last Friday I turned 24. Woohoo? I do think that 24 will be the best year of my life, and honestly I hope to keep building. Not because I have had bad years, but because I'm excited for all of the new adventures life brings. In my high school years the longer precusor to "yolo" was, "these are the best times of our lives." It was an excuse to get matching tattoos at 18, or throw parties. Even at the time I thought it was sad. And perhaps that's because I am not terribly nostalgic as a person, but I also think it's because I realized high school wouldn't be my happiness pinnacle, and I hope it isn't anyone else's either.

This birthday, my parents took Tor and I out for cajun! We went to moejoe's in Plainfield and it was amazing. My bloody mary had a shrimp on it, folks... this is big time. We had fried alligator and I also tried frog legs for the first time. They were awesome. Friday, we went to the Whitesox game. Torey caught a foul ball on the second pitch, but that was the happiness pinnacle of that game for me. Whitesox lost in 10 innings and the game was under three hours- rough stuff.

Saturday, we went trap shooting, and I had a blast. The degree of difficulty is low, with bright orange clay pigeons and a .20 gauge, but it strangely satisfying. My dad and maternal grandfather both enjoy shooting so it was a fun way to connect with my dad and husband and feel connected to my grandfather.

 

Crazy Maybe, Cat lady...not really

I come from a long line of cat haters.

I would list it as a familial gene even.

I call home once a week, usually during the weekends and always before 9pm. I called my mother one gorgeous Saturday and she was talking to me and watering some flowers. In the middle of a sentence, my mother proclaims,

 "There it is; I knew it, I knew it.

   Hold on. Dan? Dan Maemae's on the phone and I saw the cat"

   See there it is!

   I told you!

  There's the cat."

[About a month ago, at the Joyce family home, my mother heard phantom meowing. Upon divulging this information, she was called a crazy cat lady.]
And then my dad greets me, and I ask if mom is okay. I had no idea of the phantom cat noises before my call. He begrudgingly says yes, and explains that my mother is not a crazy cat fabricator as my father and sister had previously thought.

That cat that my mom saw was the mother to two kittens trapped in a drainage well by my house.

Here's where the cat-hater lineage comes into play. My dad takes two yard sticks and tapes them together. He then tapes a rodent glue trap to the end and shoves into the dark drainage ditch. Aptly named, Stickie was brought to the light. At this juncture, my dad was relieved and started the clean up, when they heard another little meow. After many attempts, a small square of carpet was attached to a rod and reel and Jack was reeled up.

Stickie had a rough time. She was tiny, traumatized and not eating. They were unsure if she'd make it. I however am a sucker for abandoned animals. Conveniently my husband is patient and has cat experience. Stickie is doing well now and assimilating to the Davenport clan. She's about seven weeks and 1.5 pounds. Opal takes to her most of the time. So far, as an ardent dog person, my struggle has been hoping she'd be a dog. She's not, but growing on me.  And my research has helped. She’s actually pretty sweet.

There she is, scared of her scratching post. What a cutie.

Break Up Songs

My husband and I were talking recently about how much we love a good break up song. Now that we are in a stable, joyful relationship we have kind of forgotten their power, and how it's so natural to pour your feelings into each word and mean them and love them. Each of us, like most of the human race, has had painful breakups during which we coped with mournful and spiteful songs and the following is a compilation of some of our favorites.

1.) Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know

Even if you're not into indie music, tell me you can't see yourself belting that at an intersection causing others to stare. It's haunting, and real and brilliant.

 2.) The Mountain Goats- No Children

 "and I hope when you think of me years down the line
you can't find one good thing to say
and I hope that if I found the strength to walk out
You'd stay the hell out of my way"

John Darnielle has always been one of my favorite lyricists. The music is almost jaunty and his words are penetrating to the core of every awful break-up.

 3.) Kelly Clarkson- Since U Been Gone

This one is obvious. I think middle school students everywhere have coped with this song. It's simple, straight forward and easy to scream. A classic among millenials.

 4.) Avett Brothers - Tear Down the House

"And, bulldoze the woods
That I ran through
That carry the pictures of me and you
I have no memory of who I once was
And I don't remember your name"

 This is probably my favorite. In the midst of despair, rebuilding and moving on, but not there yet. Acknowledging the hurt, and that because of our relationships we change and grow as people- even if we fight the fact that a person we despise, has changed us.

Those memories however, are like ghosts. For some of us, hometowns are like ghosts. And this song is mournful, sad and slow, and so vivid in imagery it will take you to the hurt and back.

 5.) Cee Lo Green- F(orget) You

And although there's pain in my chest
I still wish you the best
with a "forget you"

One word- fun. This song for me fits in the stage of grief after the mourning and more in the "it would be awkward if we ran into each other" phase. We've all been there. Over it, but not wanting to see the person in our sweats at target.

There are some other great ones. Torey would suggest anything by Brand New, I'd probably throw in an Adele song or two, Sometime Around Midnight by the Airborne Toxic Event http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJi2z3tGKIg , Jarrod Niemann's Lover, Lover. An addition from a dear friend is For Today, by Jessica Lea Mayfield. It's wonderful- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJfcd_xmjHg

But these are our top 5, what are yours?

Reflection of Annual Conference

I had the opportunity to be a lay delegate for the Illinois Great Rivers Conference Annual Conference for half of this last week. For those unfamiliar with this process as I was until very recently, the United Methodist Church has regional conferences and once a year delegates are selected and sent tone place to voice opinions and vote on issues before the conference. It works similarly to the representative government that we are used to here in America, with a Bishop presiding over the house. I was a lay member delegate, meaning that I am not clergy.

Annual conference is a mix of reports, resolutions, and worship time. What I was looking forward to, aside from Morning Manna and Jorge Acevedo's messages, was the report from General Conference. Each conference sends delegates to represent them at a General conference of the whole church to decide matters as a whole once every four years- Africa, the Philippines, Cuba, the US everyone. 2012 was General Conference year.

The reason I was looking forward to this report might seem strange as I was deeply saddened and disappointed by some of the decisions made at this general conference specifically about human sexuality. Presently, in the UM Book of Discipline it states "The practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching." I do not believe that to be true personally, spiritually, or scripturally.

In addition to that, at General Conference two respected clergy members proposed that we adopt a petition stating that we are not of one mind on this issue with the Wesleyan ideal of "not thinking alike, but loving alike" at its core. That, too, was shot down.

Like many others, I felt, and feel, wounded.

On the issue of human sexuality, I will be the first to admit I am close minded. I was reminded of this at Annual Conference. One experience I have had when having this conversation with other Christians that do not feel the same way I do, is that I need to spend more time in the scriptures. I will also be the first to admit that nothing regarding this issue infuriates me more than someone assuming that I and others like me, have absolutely no scriptural basis in our beliefs. It's insulting, arrogant, and judgmental. During the roundtable, when someone brought up that we need to come to conclusions based on scripture, I shut down. I could no longer hear what was being said. My hurt and anger took control, and I was blinded. Call me the hulk of LGBTQ religious and civil rights. Although there was no smashing, my heart and mind couldn’t hear any more.

It was not until this morning, when our Bishop was preaching about human nature and our call to be at peace and inspire peace that I was able to listen. He brought up a story about an ornery young woman and I couldn't help but see myself in those same cantankerous shoes. I was humbled. I have been wrong by shutting down and continuing to only have conversations with like-minded folks. Blessed are the peace keepers, willing to listen, forgive and be forgiven for the hurts we have experienced and caused.

I cannot say that I'm there, but I am for the first time I am willing to try. Not because it's easy for me- I'm naturally ornery- but because that is what we are called by God to do. Sometimes I need to be bent out of shape while striving to be a Christ Follower.

Two things that stuck with me today:
"Without forgiveness, there is no future" Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Matthew 5:9