We mostly use this blog to talk about Lizzie, because there is far more to report when you’re discovering new things everyday. Today’s new discovery was how to unroll toilet paper. This is a very amusing activity, as is watching Mommy roll it back up. However, I thought I would also share an update on my life for all you faithful readers.
The Holy Spirit has been working hard on bringing multiple opportunities together for me. As you may know, I only have three pieces of the multi-step ordination process remaining. I need to 1) complete one unit of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), 2) pass my final interview with the Committee on Preparation for Ministry (CPM) (this includes preaching for them), and 3) find a call (Presbyterian for job). It is needing the unit of CPE that has held me up from being able to look for a call. (Well, that and the fact that I wasn’t interested in looking for work when I had such a demanding little one to suck up all my available time.) The fact that I do not have CPE completed is not from a lack of trying. There is only one program in Madison and I’ve applied three times. The first one, I was told it was already full. The second, they never replied to my application, my emails, my phone calls, my CPM’s emails, etc. The third, I had already accepted a position in a program and hour and half away and gone through six weeks of stress trying to find a daycare we liked that would take infants part-time by the time they finally got around to returning my calls. Needless to say, I am no longer very excited about this program and did not particularly want to work with the CPE supervisor who is in charge of the application and hiring process. However, my attempt at going to Elkhorn (the site an hour and half away) did not go so well. I worked out a beautiful schedule of three days one week and two the next. This was February of 2008 in Wisconsin. The winter of 2007-2008 broke all records in the state for snowfall and general ickiness. I did not make it to Elkhorn half of the days I was supposed to be there in the first month. Meanwhile, Lizzie, super-susceptible to stomach bugs due to her nasty virus at the end of December, was not only catching everything that drifted past her at daycare, but kindly sharing it with Mom and Dad. I left the program after the first month.
In the intervening time I’ve enjoyed working in my positions as Youth Coordinator at Westminster and as a Chaplain at Mendota Mental Health (MMHI). MMHI offered me a year-long contract in July, my hours at Westminster increased as the youth program took off and I felt like I was doing great ministry and hitting a great balance between work and time with Lizzie. Yet, I still needed CPE. It is not that I am anticipating actively looking for a call, but I would like to have my ordination process at a point where if something came up I could apply. Plus, CPE charges tuition and requires six months of 20-hour a week work with no pay. Yet, I would still need to pay daycare and the longer I put it off the more likely there will be two in daycare instead of one (not that we have any plans!).
This was the debate running through my head this fall as I slowly prepared my application (yet again) for the CPE program in Madison. Meanwhile, Westminster decided it could no longer afford a full time Director of Christian Education and cut the position. This means the children’s and adult education programs were without direction. As the congregation moved forward with the discussion of what to do next and how to craft a new position that was only 20-hours a week, it was decided that the best option would be to hire an Interim Coordinator of Spiritual Formation that would help the congregation to think about what it really wants/needs for it’s education and spiritual formation programs, focusing on children and youth. I’ve been interested in this position from the beginning of the conversation, as as of tonight it is mine. I start January 1st.
Twenty-hours a week at Westminster, plus 4-5 at MMHI, and a 20 hour/week CPE program where not adding up to a work load that I liked. So, I was debating putting CPE off to focus on what I felt called to do now, when I got a call from my Supervisor from last February in Elkhorn. She also runs a rare form of CPE where instead of working in a hospital you work in a parish and reflect on that. Initially she told me that I would not qualify for this program because it is aimed at already ordained rural solo pastors. However, her program beginning this January was short on participants and she wanted to know what I was up to and if it might work. I told her about the new position that was in the works at Westminster and that I was fairly confident of getting it. She said that sounded fine and would work well. Hooray!!
Tonight the session confirmed the new Coordinator for Spiritual Formation position and the personnel commitee’s decision to hire me. I start that new role on January 1st and start my CPE class on January 8th. I’ll be working about 30 hours a week total, which means Lizzie is going to full-time daycare, though she’ll get Fridays at home since that is my day off. The daycare was the last bit of magic worked by the Holy Spirit in all of this. I had Lizzie going full-time in March (when the Madison CPE starts) and wasn’t sure I could get a full-time slot any earlier–but they had one!
That is what is up with me, I hope you were all able to follow. For now I am looking forward to a visit from my Mom and a restful and relaxing holiday without fuss or stress. Mom is coming out tomorrow for her first winter visit in the nine years I’ve lived in the midwest. Apparently God is trying to prepare her for it, Corvallis had four inches of snow this morning and Madison is supposed to get 4-5″ tomorrow with a high of 13.
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