Internship Begins

Madelaine and I have settled into our new 2br house in Coos Bay, OR.  There is way too much going on, but I am loving it.  My supervisor is great, the congregation is great, I'm finding my way around Coos Bay and North Bend.  And, my grey pony, Zoe arrived late on Tuesday night (a couple weeks ago now...).

Not all has been easy and care free, though.  Going back a few months (ok, now over 6), I started dating a young man in Germany.  I knew how difficult it was going to be since I had to return to the US.  Sebastian and I both agreed with Luther, "Auch wenn ich wüsste, dass morgen die Welt zugrunde geht, würde ich heute noch einen Apfelbaum pflanzen."  "If I knew that tomorrow the world would perish, I would still plant an apple tree today."  And so getting on the plane came with many tears.

The week before I returned from Germany, death reared it's ugly head and I lost my Ruffie Hunny.  More tears.  She was 14 and had lived a fabulous Chesapeake life in the country with lots of room to be a dog.  For a bit of reminiscing, see My Ruffie Hunny post from last week.

My Living Room

Then comes the foot deal.  I broke my big toe in 5th grade, yes, sliding on the hardwood floors in my socks.  If you've ever done anything like it, it's great fun...until you can't stop and run into something like the kitchen chair.  Can't really say what all has gone on in my foot since that day.  Perhaps I broke it again...and again...and again.  Perhaps I never let it heal the first time.  In any case, it has bothered me on and off since 5th grade and this spring in Germany it got so bad I could hardly stand it.  It kept me awake at night.  I limped everywhere I went.  But, I still had to run my half marathon.  Turns out, I ran it with a bone chip floating around in the joint at the base of my big toe.  I arrived home to the USA and headed for the doc.  A few X-rays later the doc said, "Yup, it's broken.  And full of arthritis."  That day I had the most painful encounter with a needle I've ever had.  Steroid injection in the toe joint.  How come everyone else gets a local anesthetic for steroid injections and I didn't? OOOOOUUUUUUCCCCCCHHHHHHH!  When the blood drained from my face and I threatened to pass out (or puke) the doc got all squeamish and ran off.  Sent the nurse back in.  She was nice.  Anyway, I spent nearly 8 weeks in a walking boot before I got fed up with it.  I'm happily riding and walking almost limp-free much of the time, though I'm not running yet.  It is so hard to be still!

Zoe's first Ausflug to Horsfall Beach on the Pacific ocean!

Enough complaining.  These few things have been on my mind so much these first weeks on internship that it's hard to remember everything that has happened.  I have already grown so much though.  I find myself fairly comfortable leading worship (as long as there's no pressure to chant or sing).  I discovered that I absolutely love teaching Confirmation.  Preaching is another story.  Well, not so much the act of giving a sermon, but the writing of it terrifies me.  The second week I preached was so tough that this past week my supervisor gave me a Thursday deadline.  At least this way I won't stare at my computer all day Friday and all day Saturday and for another couple hours Sunday morning, wondering what to do.

Now, the goal is to post more regularly again.  Discipline.
Pax.