Honored

While this was a very busy and productive weekend for me with my first joint Sabbath School presentation, the MJA work bee, and finishing up my third Creating for Charity scarf, I am a bit saddened that I wasn't able to go up to Boston this weekend to see my grandparents honored. In recognition of their years of ministry service--well over 5 decades--their church is sending them on a vacation to Casablanca, Morocco. They lived in Morocco during the first years of their marriage and haven't been back since. They were truly amazed, shocked, and thankful to their church family. I'm a bit jealous that I'm not able to go with them! Below is the ministry bio that my mom wrote up for the service. It is a blessing to be a part of this family.

Ministry of Leo & Lois Poirier

The Poirier’s pastoral ministry spans a journey of approximately 50 years in the Southern New England Conference area. It’s an unlikely story; beginning with a young altar boy at St. Leo’s Catholic Church in Leominster, Ma, who eventually, through the influence of his Christian wife, Lois, became a Seventh-day Adventist minister and chaplain.

Lois and Leo met at the Whalom Park Roller Skating Rink when they were teenagers, and Leo had just joined the Navy as a Communications Technician. They continued a courtship by mail and saw each other occasionally when Leo returned home on leave. Though their religious backgrounds differed, they were both dedicated Christians, each trying to convert the other to their own church. In spite of obstacles, they were married in 1950, each still praying for the other’s change of faith. Leo was assigned to the Naval base in French Morocco, Africa, and had to leave his new bride behind for several months, but eventually she was able to courageously join him overseas. They lived off the base in the village with the locals and had many interesting adventures while in Morocco, including the discovery on what was supposed to be the beginning of a European holiday, that Lois was too sick to travel. That discovery ended up becoming their daughter, Maureen!

During their 5th year of marriage, by now stationed on the island of Guam, Lois was able to convince Leo to attend one of the meetings of an evangelistic series at her church. He occasionally enjoyed the radio sermons of H.M.S. Richards, SR, who she explained was from the same faith. Capitalizing on his interest in history, she invited him to the lecture on prophecy and the falling stars in 1833. He was hooked, and with further studies into Biblical truths, he was baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist church at the end of the series. Not long afterwards he felt impressed to leave the Navy to become trained in the ministry and eventually become a Navy Chaplain to lead other servicemen to Christ.

The Lord had other plans for Leo and Lois. Leo did complete his Theology degree at Atlantic Union College, and while there, their son Tim was born. In 1957, Leo was assigned as an intern to their first church district -the Boston Temple and Everett churches. They then went to Andrews University Theological Seminary in Michigan to obtain his Master’s of Divinity degree. By this time Maureen was 8 years old and Tim was 3. Leo also worked full time as an electronics technician and Lois kept teacher’s children in their home to try to cover expenses.

After attending the Seminary, they were hired by the Southern New England Conference as Assistant Pastor for the Providence, Wickford, and Burrillville churches in Rhode Island under Elders James Haywood, then Jack Clarke. While preaching in the Wickford church in April of 1962, Leo suffered a stroke from a cerebral aneurysm at the age of only 32. This was a life changing event with a long, but miraculous recovery that God would use to redirect his ministry. A year after his stroke, Leo recovered enough to pastor his own churches in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and Canaan, Ct, for 3 years. Lois’s talent was for children’s ministries, and she especially enjoyed leading the Kindergarten Sabbath School. It was there that Leo discovered that due to his stroke, his dream of reentering the military as a chaplain would not be realized, and wondered what other plan God could have for him.

In 1965 the family was transferred again, this time to Connecticut where they pastored at the Plainville, Middletown, and Meriden churches. Leo was ordained as a fully credentialed Minister in 1966. Then, in 1968, Leo received a call from Chaplain Walter Kloss to become his associate hospital chaplain at New England Memorial Hospital in Stoneham. Now Leo & Lois knew how God would use his illness to minister to others in a unique way.

During his ministry to countless patients, families and church members, Leo was also a leader in obtaining and instructing Certification in Clinical Pastoral Education in New England and served as President of the Adventist Association of Chaplains. He remains an adjunct professor for Atlantic Union College off-campus classes. He also received his Clinical Social Worker’s License. Lois worked per diem at NEMH and again nurtured children in her home to assist with Maureen & Tim’s Adventist school tuition. In 1990 Leo had cardiac bypass surgery, and 2 years later he retired from then named Boston Regional Medical Center after nearly 25 years of Chaplaincy. But he didn’t quit working! Instead he answered a need in Williamsburg, Virginia, for a temporary Chaplain at the Eastern State Psychiatric Hospital for a year. Upon returning to Stoneham, he became a per diem family counselor under Dr. Mirna Aeschlimann’s Pediatric practice and was also requested by the local Protestant Ministerial Association to become the part-time Chaplain at Melrose-Wakefield Hospital; a position he has continued to hold for the past 15 years.

Throughout Leo’s ministry, he has performed many baptisms, weddings, funerals, and baby dedications, as well as pastoral counseling, prayers, Bible Study, and preaching, for both the Adventist and non-Adventist communities. By his side, Lois has consistently used her gifts of empathy and encouragement for shut-ins and others needing visitation or assistance, and joyfully caring for her children, grandchildren, and now great-grandsons, Dean & Luke. In every place of ministry they have been blessed and supported by so many loving friends and gratefully acknowledge how God has led them each amazing step of the way.

PS. Here's a look at finished scarf #3. It's the longest one I've done--used about 300 yards of yarn--and took just over a week.

Crafting for Charity Update

I seem to be getting the hang of this whole knitting thing. Last Thursday (7/23) I went to Yarniverse and learned how to cast off and weave in the ends. Here is a look at the finished project, my first eco-friendly scarf. It kept .6 plastic bottles from a landfill and took about a week and a half to finish. Wednesday night I started my second scarf. I didn't have as much yarn in my skein as I had hoped, so it's a little shorter than the first but still works. I used larger needles (13s) so it only took me about 4 days to complete. I just need to weave in the ends once I get the proper tool.

And here is my 3rd scarf. I started it on Sunday afternoon and was able to get a lot done while hanging out and playing Wii with LadyBoyd and friends. I should be finished by week's end even though I plan on making this a longer scarf.

I think I'm about ready to make scarfs for some of my friends and maybe learn some more advanced techniques. We'll just have to wait and see.

Weekend in Words & Photos

On Thursday evening E, J & I ate a quick dinner that consisted of Whole Foods sushi and then made our way across the parking lot to see the new Vatican approved Harry Potter movie. We got there early so we could find three seats together. While most everyone else was playing on their cell phones waiting for the movie to start I did what any other self respecting 30-something would do: I put on my glasses and started knitting. Below is a pic of my progress taken just before I went to sleep on Thursday night. (BTW, great movie; can't wait for #7.)

Friday evening was spent studying to teach the earliteen SS lesson, making ice cream, and knitting. In preparation for Saturday night's Ice Cream Social, I borrowed E's ice cream maker and tried my hand at Avocado Ice Cream a la Alton Brown and a Vegan Butter Pecan. Here is photo evidence of what got accomplished Friday night. If you make the Butter Pecan, I recommend using half of the vanilla that the recipe calls for. I found it a bit overpowering. But it might have been just me since I got compliments and there was none left over.

Who doesn't like green food? I know that some people were a little bit skeptical of avocado ice cream, but I think that they ended up being pleasantly surprised. And besides, I have to shake things up every once and awhile. There were some leftovers, but I put them to good use in an avocado milkshake on Sunday.

And finally, here is the status of my knitting as of Friday night.

Saturday brought rest, busyness (teaching SS, doing announcements, & children's story) and the church social. I was happy to see that quite a few people came out for the festivities and sampled the ice cream. Most people left before the games started but a few of us stuck around. There was a nice group of us who brought our knitting/crocheting and worked on our projects while socializing. This is what I ended up with by the end of the night.

After such a busy week I decided to play hermit on Sunday. I slept til 10a, made breakfast, and settled in to a day of laundry, DVR watching (yay for Eureka, MI-5, Royal Pains, Mission Impossible 3, etc), and knitting. I don't feel so guilty watching so much TV anymore now that I can multi-task. Here is my almost finished scarf. I'm down to the last couple of yards of yarn in the skein and will have to stop soon and wait to meet up with S so she can show me how to finish off the scarf. I should be starting on my next project sometime this week. I'm going to try for a larger needle size and some bulkier yarn. I might even be really geeky and check out Yarniverse.

She's Crafty...

Yesterday was a long but fruitful day. The Women's Ministry group at church started a Crafting for the Homeless/Halfway House residents project. There was crocheting, knitting, and fleece blanket/scarf tying. Since I tied a few blankets last year and once knew how to crochet (and by once I mean about 20 years ago--dang, that makes me feel old!), I figured it was time to learn to knit. I brought along my newly purchased needles and yarn and was ready to learn! It wasn't nearly as easy as I had hoped. It took me a little while to catch on when it came to getting the loops from one needle to the next. But after a bit of practice I was ready to start my scarf project for real. Since I was using small needles and a thinner yarn, I found some great yarn make out of recycled plastic bottles, I went with 35 stitches. Somehow that morphed into 37 stitches by the time I was ready to head home. After a couple of hours at home, my stitches numbered 42. I have no idea how that happened. I did discover a hole and when I tried to pull out the stitches, I couldn't put them back on the needles. So I did what anyone who had spent 4 hours on a project would do, I unraveled the whole thing and started over. After another 2.5 hours, I was back to where I had been before. Here is a view of my progress: Knitting Day 1

This pic shows a little more detail.

This one shows the beautiful Forrest Green color

Home Again

It’s been almost a week since I returned home from vacation and over a month since my last blog post. Guess it’s time to update. First the bad news: Unfortunately, I never got to wear my pretty green and black ball gown. My escort to the fundraiser ball cancelled a couple of days before the event. Thankfully I was still in Memphis so I did not needlessly lug my gown to Boston and I was able to make the trip without having to check my luggage—the gown was to be my carry on. I was quite bummed by this turn of events and am flabbergasted that to this day he does not see the gravity of the issue and thinks that I am overreacting. (In my defense, this was at least the fourth time he has cancelled on short notice with no real plans to make it up to me. Excuses and apologies abound, but nothing comes of it. Sorry if I find it necessary to be near the top of the priority list. Oh wait. No I’m not.) With the exception of the pre-vacation let down, the trip itself was fun. I got in late Thursday night. On Friday, I went to Pickety Place with mom and my SIL.

On Friday evening my parents and I went out to eat at Bangkok Hill, one of our favorite Thai restaurants, and were welcomed with open arms by the lovely owner, Mae. If you are ever in the area, you must go. I highly recommend the Drunken Noodles with Tofu.

On Sabbath we went to SMC for church and then a potluck hosted by a couple in my parents’ Sabbath School class. Since I was no longer going to the MFA black tie event there was no need to rush back home, so we took our time fellowshipping with friends and eating some great food (and yes, I did end up falling asleep in their library and taking a little nap). Dad took off on his motorcycle later that night to head to Maine and I met him up there on Sunday. It rained most of the trip, but it allowed us time to visit my cousins’ families and my aunt & uncle who live near the camp. And since it was good reading-by-the-fire weather, I got halfway through Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged; just don’t ask when I will finish it. It finally stopped raining on Tuesday, so we were able to get in at least one canoe ride.

I also got to take a spin in my uncle’s homemade sidecar rig. He drove me out to the main drag and then I drove him down to the restaurant we were going to for a late breakfast. I must say that Uncle Frank is a brave man. Dad drove back to MA Tuesday night and gave me a night alone at camp. It is so peaceful up there. I wish it was closer. Nothing beats falling asleep by the fire and waking up to the view of the pond out the front windows. I took my time driving back Wednesday and drove Mom to work on Thursday so I could see her new office and meet her friends there. Friday was a wonderfully lazy day capped off by going to SNEC’s camp meeting to hear Barry Black (you may remember that I read his autobiography in 2006). He is one of the most well spoken and charismatic speakers I’ve ever heard. His three talks were full of substance; no feel good fluff here. If you ever get the chance to hear him speak, go. I even suggest getting the tapes of his sermons from camp meeting. Even though I was disappointed not to get Red Sox tickets this trip, it allowed me the opportunity to go through the NAD Women’s Ministry Leadership Training, Level 1 on Sunday. Considering that my pastor’s wife didn’t even know that this program existed, I consider myself lucky to have been able to attend. Later that evening we headed back to the campgrounds for a concert put on by Steve Green. The highlight was the two songs he did with the K-6th graders from Browning. The fact that my oldest nephew was on stage with him doesn’t make me biased does it?

The next day I flew home. It was a long day of delayed flights, barely made connections, and lost luggage (my larger carry on wouldn’t fit on the first plane, so it got checked and missed the connection). I was just grateful to be able to sleep at home with my girls instead of getting stuck in Atlanta. Vacation is always a good thing, but it’s nice to be home.

New Dress

Here is a sneak peek at the dress I'll be wearing next month at the MFA gala. It's strapless, so ignore the small straps keeping it on the hanger.

From Misc

It's Like Bubble Gum

This month marked the 30th birthday of my good friend E. A few of us decided that she needed to celebrate the start of her fourth decade of life in style. The first surprise was a visit from her mom. We had been scheming for weeks. Mama C flew in late Wednesday night (a few days before her actual birthday) and stayed at my place. The next day we made a pit stop at the wonderful Dunkin' Donuts and headed to work. I told E that I brought her a coffee and donuts and her mom! She was speechless.

The next surprise was the party on Saturday afternoon. Since E's birthday was on Easter weekend she'd asked for a bunny cake. Little did she know that our dear friend LadyBoyd was slaving away on the most awesome bunny cake ever. And since it was Easter after all, a carrot cake accompanied it. Have I ever said how much I love LadyBoyd (and her cake skills)? E has a small obsession with kitchen gadgets, cookbooks, Rachel Ray, and all things cooking related. So, we (LadyBoyd, R, & I) came up with the perfect gift: a Taste of Italy cooking class at the local Viking Cooking School. It was a test of patience for E since she had to wait until last night for all the action. It was a lot of fun. The mouth-watering menu consisted of grilled portabella mushrooms with herb butter, herb and cheese flan, pan seared veal with fennel tomato sauce, herb pasta, and almond cake. We all worked together on the meal.

Reading the menu before starting the chopping.

Having a little fun at the mixer.

Food processors are fun!

Dinner's ready!

My favorite part of the meal was the herb cheese flan. I've always been a fan of sweet caramel flan, but this light, savory flan we made is without comparison. I will be making it again even if it's just for me and the cats. And since I learned how to make it, I had to try the veal. Sorry to report I wasn't impressed. Being a vegetarian (more out of habit than the whole PETA angle), I wasn't happy with the lack of flavor or the texture. Just like the time I tried filet mignon at the meat palace, the texture reminded me of (please don't laugh!) old bubble gum--lots of chewing, but no bubbles. But all in all we had a blast!

Cheers! Here's to your 4th decade, E!

Jasmine

The Jasmine blooming on the mailbox out front.

See You Next Year

It's hard to believe that my little Daly is already a year old. I remember anxiously awaiting the news of her birth and then waiting another 7 weeks for her to be weaned. How much difference a year makes.

The first pic of Daly and her little mates Getting bigger, but not yet weaned

8 weeks old: Finally got to bring her home

My long sleek girl the night before her birthday. She's not a kitten anymore!

And so it begins

I've been fighting with my home warranty company for over a year about a leak from my shower that drips into my kitchen. I finally got them to agree that a valve needs to be replaced (this is not the main problem, just a minor one), but it was up to me to open the wall. On Tuesday I borrowed a husband (thanks Chris) to take out the double vanity and part of the drywall. Here is the fruit of that labor. I'll let you know how it ends up next week.

Year of Evangelism - part 2

As promised, here is the prayer part of the Prayer & Fasting handout that I worked on. From what I could tell, the presentation I made on Sabbath was well received. I was also pleasantly surprised at the amount of people who stuck around and participated in the prayer walk that we did around the church building.

A Short Guide to Prayer

It is common to have prayer without fasting and you can even fast without prayer, but when prayer and fasting are used together a whole other level of communion with God can be reached. During this Year of Evangelism, it is important not to neglect the opportunity being given to ask God’s blessing on the series and programs that are being presented both locally and around the country. Paul encourages Christians to “pray without ceasing “(1 Thes 5:17). One way everyone can take part is with purposeful praying. Below is a list of a few ways to incorporate purpose driven prayer into your day.

· Appointment Prayer – Every member is encouraged to stop and pray at 7am and 7pm every day. These can be quick one sentence prayers asking for God’s blessing on the upcoming evangelistic series. Pray not only for the leaders, but those who are making a decision about coming to the series as well. Just imagine, our entire church spread out all over the Memphis metro area in prayer at the exact same time! · Trigger Prayer – Think about committing to pray throughout the day each time you see a specific trigger. The trigger you choose is up to you. If you do a lot of non-highway driving you may want to stop and pray at every red light you come to. If you are in an office, you might want to choose a specific time trigger. Consider praying each time you notice the clock repeating numbers such as 10:10, 2:02 or each time you check your email. Your trigger should be something that you can easily come across and will serve as a reminder to pray throughout even the most hectic day. · Prayer Partners – Find someone who will pray with you over the phone or in person. You can also serve as an accountability partner for each other. You may also want to write down or email prayers throughout the day to encourage one another. · Prayer Walk/Drive – Pray as you walk or drive around a neighborhood for those living and working in the area. Take your time to stop and observe the neighborhood for specific needs. For example, if there are toys in the yard pray for the children in the home; if you come across a business pray for the customers and the financial needs of the business.

The Year of Evangelism

The Seventh-day Adventist Church (of which I am a member) has dubbed 2009 the Year of Evangelism for the North American Division. This means that every church in North America is focusing on bringing people to Christ and enlisting every church member. There will be seminars throughout the year as well as other friendship based activities for sharing. One of the things that churches throughout the country are doing to support the work of evangelism is through prayer in fasting. I've been asked to help spearhead this initiative in my local church. Below is the handout I worked on about fasting. One on prayer will be forthcoming.

A Short Guide to Fasting

Complete fasting traditionally refers to a period of time when someone willingly goes without food and drink—with the exception of water. (The morning meal, breakfast, is to literally “break fasting”.) The basic idea of a religiously motivated fast is to do without something that is a major part of your life for a set amount of time and for the specific purpose of humbling or afflicting our souls (Leviticus 16:29) in communion with God. As a result, fasting is not limited to just denying yourself food. In fact, a complete fast is not something that all people can do. Some individuals have medical conditions which make fasting for several days detrimental to their health.

Another option is a partial fast. One example of a partial fast is intentionally leaving certain foods—such as dairy, meat, highly processed or fast food, etc—out of your diet much like the Catholic tradition of not eating meat on Fridays during Lent. Other types of fasting that can be done in conjunction with or in place of a dietary fast could involve abstaining from watching television, surfing the internet , sexual relations, shopping, working, hobbies, or any other activity which may distract you from fully focusing on communing with God.

According to the Bible fasting was done both individually and communally. People are recorded as fasting on many diverse occasions such as to ask for God’s favor (2 Samuel 12:16-23), to ward off crisis and ask for protection (Esther 4:16), to mourn a death (2 Samuel 1:12), to ask for repentance (Jonah 3:5, Psalms 69:10), and to ask for the revelation of God’s will (Acts 13:2-3, 2 Chronicles 20: 3-4).

The Bible also mentions the misuse of fasting. A couple of examples can be seen in Acts 23: 12-14 when a group of Jews made an oath to fast until the death of Paul. Another is mentioned in Jeremiah 14:12 when the nation fasted in mock repentance. A fast is not a hunger strike neither is it a way for us to convince God of our plans, but a way for us to hear to God. Remember, fasting is a humbling of oneself and should not be used to show spiritual superiority as was the case for the Pharisees (Luke 18:12).

For more information about fasting:

Exodus 34:28, 1 Kings 19:8, 1 Kings 21:27, Nehemiah 1:4, Matthew 4:2, Matthew 6:16, Matthew 9:15, Acts 9:9, Acts 14:23, 1 Samuel 31:13, Ezra 8:21-23, Ezra 10:6, Deuteronomy 9:9-18, Job 33:19-20, Psalms 102:2, 1 Corinthians 7:5, 2 Corinthians 11; 27-28, Joel 2:15, Isaiah 58:2 http://www.spirithome.com/fasting.html http://www.new-life.net/fasting.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasting http://www.adventistreview.org/2001-1537/story3.html There are also several books on the topic of Christian fasting.

Photo Stories

Like the proud mama of two beautiful furbabies that I am, I thought I'd share some pictures.

Since she was born in March of 2008, this was Daly's first Christmas. She took advantage of the new areas to explore that the Christmas tree provided, as seen above. This is probably how she got the hole in her cornea. At least that's what O'Malley would have us believe.

This morning I awoke to snow flurries. As you can see it actually stuck. Daly was sitting in the bedroom window and trying to figure out why there was white stuff floating around. So, I decided to let the girls out to enjoy the first (and hopefully last) snow of the year.

O'Malley, being a New England born lass, was right at home. She sniffed out the holly trees and put up quite a fight when I decided it was time to go back inside. Next, it was Daly's turn. This is the first time I have ever let her outside. Once she got to the step she was mortified to find out that I closed the door behind us. She started crying like she was on the way to the vet to get her eye stained again.

She did venture off the step very briefly. When I knelt down to get a pic, she jumped (literally) at the chance to get off of the cold ground. She quickly made her way up my leg and onto my shoulder, crying all the way. That was our cue to head back inside. Something tells me my Memphis born girl won't be begging to go outside anytime soon.

So Soon?

I’m a little surprised that this is happening so soon. I had expected it to happen sometime after I had children; or even after I’d gotten married (since I am getting a late start—assuming I start at all—on that one). No such luck. I feel like I’m too young for this to be happening. The signs were all there, but I refused to see them. It wasn’t until a friend’s husband, a navy corpsman, made a comment over Friday’s Christmas brunch that it hit me. My friend E, the accountant, seconded his observation. How could this be? I’m a single girl, just 30 years old. And yet, it’s undeniable. I’m turning into my mother! And here is photographic evidence:

Happy Holidays!

It's That Time of Year

I knew it was coming. There's a chill in the air. I've started my shopping. I even plugged in and turned on the electric blanket last night. And now I have my tree up. I came home (after a very long 4 day work week) tonight to a box of goodies sitting by the front door. My WIR Secret Santa sent me lots of Christmas goodies which got me in a festive mood.

I also pulled out my Irish Nativity. As you can see, this is only part of the set. The shepherds, goats, more lambs, another angel, donkey, and the little drummer boy are still at my mom's house. (Nanny started the subscription for me so all of the items ship to her.) I was able to look them over Thanksgiving day and am quite pleased. Now I just need to convince my mother to ship them out to me before Christmas! And imagine my surprise at the three nails poking out of my mantle. Back when my parents came for Christmas in 2005, I had purchased three stockings. True, it's two years later and they've never been used. But I do have a stocking for all of the house's residents. The fact that the other two are quadrupeds and have slightly more fur than I do is irrelevant.

One and Only

A devil-eyed Daly, an indifferent O'Malley and a wonderful view of the inside of my nose. Is this really destined to be our Christmas photo for 2008? It just might be.

Melancholy

I can’t put my finger on the cause, but today is a melancholy day. It is likely an assortment of things: Take one part SAD, two parts fond memories of friendships which have been lost—those intentionally lost mingling with those which have faded with time, sprinkle in seeing the motherhood of my friends followed with a dash of holding their precious young ones. Top with your choice of a backlog of unused cleaning days, an overabundance of nightly church expectations, a lack of social commitments, and no work out days. I have all of the above available.

Enough Said