By: At A Hen's Pace,
on 9/24/2007
As most of you know, we've been trying to sell our house so we can move to Wisconsin, where the church plant is that we'll be leading. Well, our house has been listed with an agent for four months now. Before that, we had two months of a half-hearted For Sale By Owner effort while we were getting it ready to list; so altogether, we've been trying to sell it for six months. In the past two
By: At A Hen's Pace,
on 9/19/2007
This post is third in a series of sorts.... Part One Part Two Papa Rooster, reading what I wrote for last time, tells me I HAVE to quote C.S. Lewis on solemnity, from The Preface to Paradise Lost. But he can't find his much-underlined copy, so he turns to the internet and finds this gem of a post. Since it so beautifully supports everything I said about ritual and ceremony--how nice, huh?--I
By: At A Hen's Pace,
on 9/16/2007
“If you don’t have it now, you don’t need it now.” I once heard Elizabeth Elliott say this on her radio program, and it struck me so much that I jotted it down immediately. Stuck in a 1400-square-foot townhome with three preschoolers and a work-from-home husband, I longed for a bigger house. These words gave me patience, and in time, the Lord provided what has been a perfect home for us. Now,
By: At A Hen's Pace,
on 9/15/2007
Well, a few weeks ago, I posted pictures of the lovely chapel our little church plant will someday grow into--and gets to meet in occasionally even now. But if you want to picture us on a regular Sunday morning, here's the pleasant room where we usually meet. That's Jan, the catechist who began the church--Papa Rooster's former college roommate. And that's one of my urchins
By: At A Hen's Pace,
on 9/9/2007
There's not a buyer in sight for our house, but Sunday mornings at Light of Christ have been so encouraging! We've had lots of visitors recently who appear to be interested in joining us regularly. I'll hold off on telling you much about them yet, but it might be enlightening to share what brought them in the first place. How do folks find a tiny, unadvertised Anglican church in a little-known
By: At A Hen's Pace,
on 8/19/2007
I thought I'd share some photos of the chapel at the park district-owned Kemper Center in Kenosha, where our baby church plant meets. We usually rent a small conference room in what used to be the library of this former Episocopalian girls' school. But once we outgrow it, we'll be meeting here on Sunday mornings. Isn't it beautiful? It's mainly used for weddings now. Once
By: At A Hen's Pace,
on 7/29/2007
Saturday I was in the car running errands, and I took advantage of the time alone to pray and sing aloud. My prayer life lately has been consumed with intercessions for the sale of our house, and it was good to just praise God unconditionally. Whether our house is sold or not, I can still praise God’s goodness and care! I sang, “Allelu-, alleluia, glory to the Lord…I will sing, I will sing a
By: At A Hen's Pace,
on 7/10/2007
God has not been following MY plan. I wanted to spend my summer decluttering, packing to move, and getting settled in to our new house before starting up a new school year in the fall, getting involved in a new homeschooling group, and auditioning for the fall musical in our new county. Makes so much sense, right? Instead, we are spending countless hours keeping a house realtor-ready...only to
By: At A Hen's Pace,
on 6/25/2007
So we looked at nine houses in Kenosha yesterday. The good news is: we found several that could work for us, and two that we really liked a lot. The bad news is: they're right next to each other in a brand new subdivision, 10-15 minutes away from our first choice neighborhood. Let me explain our dilemma. As I've described before, we believe that God is calling us to lead this church plant,
By: At A Hen's Pace,
on 6/19/2007
I feel like I’ve been posting nothing personal lately--just housing updates and lists of projects accomplished. True, that’s been kinda my life lately, and getting our house ready to sell has been all-consuming for our whole family. But where is God in all this? I sense He is teaching me two things, especially: patience (never has been my strong point) and trust. I have been impatient
By: At A Hen's Pace,
on 6/18/2007
Well, our house is now appearing in the MLS, supposedly available to show today. I think it's going to take a phone call from a realtor saying someone's COMING for everybody to really kick into gear, but it's close enough at this point. Our realtor friend said it would be fine to leave a note listing the work still to be done--the rest of the basement and the bathroom down there will be painted
By: At A Hen's Pace,
on 6/8/2007
Well, it looks like the Lord is leading us away from "the big house" in Kenosha; it's now unavailable for us to buy. We're grateful for the clear answer to prayer, but also a bit disappointed. The runner-up is a lot smaller for not a lot less money. We're hoping something new comes on the market, just as we get a buyer for our house! I think the Lord probably has everything under control.
By: At A Hen's Pace,
on 6/4/2007
It feels so good to sit down at a table at Panera, with coffee and a bagel and my laptop, and breathe a prayer of thanksgiving for last week--exhausting but so productive--and rejoice in this chance to reflect and write. My kids were thrilled to be left alone to do their schoolwork this morning--we've all been pushing so hard to get our house ready to sell. More on that soon, but today I have
By: At A Hen's Pace,
on 5/17/2007
So what's going on with the church plant and our move and all? (So glad you asked!) Well, yesterday we had a wonderful day of prayer and meeting together with the pastor of our church and a few representatives from staff and vestry. Our friends who started the new church in Kenosha were there as well. Prior to this meeting, our pastor had discussed the church plant with the staff and with the
By: At A Hen's Pace,
on 3/2/2007
So, what is going on with that church plant and/or community we've been praying about, you may be wondering? Well, as you may recall, our friends have been confirming our sense of God at work in the church plant that is getting started in Kenosha, WI. (We're going up there again on Sunday.) Besides the church plant, we also have a vision for an intentional community of prayer and labor, but for
By: At A Hen's Pace,
on 2/23/2007
I said Tuesday (about our decision not to buy the property we've been considering) that personally, I feel disappointed, relieved, encouraged and discouraged. I am disappointed because there were elements of that property that I had come to love. The stained glass windows, the little chapel in the convent, the children's library in the school, and especially this gym. In our imaginations, the
By: At A Hen's Pace,
on 2/20/2007
On Sunday, Papa Rooster took a small group of friends and trusted advisers with him to the church plant in Kenosha. He led a lovely service, and afterwards, they went to tour the property we've been considering. The purpose of the visit had been undefined, but as they debriefed afterward, two things seemed to become clear to them all. First, the church plant is definitely something God is
By: At A Hen's Pace,
on 2/5/2007
I see I unintentionally created a little drama, about the name of our church plant! We've settled on most of the name at least: "Light of Christ." What is still pending is the rest of it. Light of Christ Church? Light of Christ Community? Light of Christ Worship Community? Light of Christ: A Worshiping Community? We want it to be the name of a church, but the church will have this
By: At A Hen's Pace,
on 2/1/2007
Ann at The Sacred Everyday is musing about monasteries.... From Part One, monasteries as models for our homes: Monasteries were about living in close physical proximity with others. So we were. Monasteries were about living in submission to authority. So we do, children to parents, parents to God. Monasteries were about children, rooms and halls bursting with children, receiving the only
Posted on 1/29/2007
Thanks to all who prayed for us as we made our announcement yesterday. We had only 5-7 minutes to sketch out our unusual ideas and invite folks to come to a meeting to learn more, but the feedback we got was that our announcement, though short, was strong and compelling, and complete enough that people understood it. We really sensed God guiding our words. And it was well-received. Many
Posted on 1/28/2007
Papa Rooster forwarded me a fascinating interview with Dr. Bradley Nassif, an Orthodox evangelical professor who teaches at North Park College in Chicago. He has an exciting vision for evangelicals and Orthodox learning from one another, which he discusses in the interview. This quote resonates with the type of "monastery" we want to found, one in which most members will live a "mixed life" of
Posted on 1/26/2007
Thanks for bearing with me through that riveting series on homeschooling! (I'm teasing, but hoping that a few of you were delighted with all the details. I know what other homeschoolers want to know...but it can be a bit much, I bet, for the rest of y'all--especially four days in a row! Next time, I'll spread it out more.) So how is my foot? I'm sure you're all dying to know. Well, I thought
Posted on 1/15/2007
Collect for the day: Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ's glory, that he may be known, worshiped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Papa
When's the spider picture coming back?I'm glad you got your PODS unpodded. Sorta like getting a truckload of "new" stuff, in a way. And I'm happy you've got yourself some peace, too. Peace is GOOD.