Well Hello There

I have officially entered the realm of pathetic and neglectful bloggers. I am not sure what the problem is, but I think it has something to do with the fact that I work A LOT and my job is emotionally and spiritually exhausting. At the end of the day I usually don't feel much like reflecting and writing. I've also lost some motivation to blog since I got back from Scotland because I started this blog to update everyone back home on my missionary work there. Coming back to this blog reminds me of the life and people I left in Scotland when my 9 month missionary assignment ended, and that makes me very sad. Plus, my life is far less interesting now and I'm not sure that anyone still wants to read about it....? The things that are interesting in my life are either too complicated or too personal to write about here, or I simply haven't had the energy and discipline to keep up with writing. However, several of you (my friends!) have mentioned that you miss reading about what's going on in my life, so I guess this blog can more or less serve as a way to keep in touch :o)

So here's the what's been going on the past 4 months. I've been able to see my sister and her three adorable babies twice! In February she came out here for a visit, then I spent a week out there in April. And they'll be here again for the last three weeks of May! Yessss!

My job is going well. Only 6 weeks left of the school year and every one is jam-packed. I try not to think about all the chapels and big events I still have left to plan and execute in this short amount of time so that I don't get overwhelmed. One day at a time, I guess. :o) I'm excited to say writing sermons is actually getting easier -- something I never thought would happen!

Although my pastoral responsibilities all fall under my duties as Chaplain of our K-8th grade school, I am technically an associate pastor on staff at the church. Therefore, I don't have the summer "off" like the rest of the staff and teachers at the school. However, I'm looking forward to the 10 weeks I'll have to plan and prepare for next year. Everyone keeps telling me that the first year is always the hardest so I'm thrilled to have one year of experience under my belt. Next year will definitely flow a lot more smoothly and be less stressful.

One of the challenging but incredibly rewarding opportunities I get as Chaplain is teaching elective classes for the Jr. High students. The first sememster I only taught one class -- a spiritual formation class where I taught the students about spiritual disciplines and how they can incoorperate them into their lives, the attributes and character of God, and some other significant points of Christian doctrine. This semester I'm teaching spiritual formation and a worship team class. "Anna, I didn't know you were musical!" You knew right -- I most definitely am not. For the first half of this sememster I had the help of a musician who volunteered his time to come in once or twice a week and teach these 12 eager Jr. High students. He ended up getting a great job opporutnity in another city and moving 1 1/2 hours away. But he did lay a solid foundation for the team and by the grace of God I've some how managed to keep it together. I've found a few other people who come in periodically as guest teachers and that has really helped the students develop. The team continues to grow in their skills and maturity and they've been a major blessing to the rest of the school by leading worship in our weekly chapel services. Next year I'll probably be teaching both of these classes as well as a student leadership class.