July 2009

July has flown by! I think we didn't really notice cause most of the time was cold and rainy:( This week, the week we are preparing to move, is actually warm though- of course! We are in the midst of boxes and preparing to go- bemoaning how much STUFF we have, but not wanting to part with too much of it, though we did take 5 or 6 bags to good will:)

I thought I would take a break and share a few fun moments from this month thus far. On July 4th we headed up to Canaan, NH for a night with the Peirce family. My great grandfather bought the house the year my dad was born- 1956- and I think both my Dad, me, bro and sis have been there at least once every summer since! July 4Th was one of the few sunny days around Boston this month, but as we drove into NH, it was rainy! I couldn't believe it. We still managed to have a good time eating and watching fire works. My brother, Matthew, left the following Wednesday for a year teaching in the Czech Republic, so it was good to see him one last time. Nate even cut down a few trees that had grown in the garden over the last ten years, and I fell down trying to help him, seriously scrapping my knee, two weeks before Laura Daman (now Papia)'s wedding! (at right is my family in NH, watching fire works)

Not too long after that, Laura Daman married Andy Papia, July 18th. The ceremony was at Trinity Church in Bolton, where Nate grew up, and the reception at his parents house. We spent most of the week celebrating or helping get ready- Nate mowed ALOT! (and Loved it!) Despite a huge thunderstorm, which struck a tree near the house, the night before, the wedding day was beautiful and sunny and went off without a hitch! (The Daman- Papia Clan is pictured- arent they happy?!)

Now our lives look alot more like this:
Thursday we rent a truck, Friday we celebrate Andy and Laura's return, Dad Daman's and Cousin Arlyn's Bday and goodbye to us with the Daman Clan, Saturday we drive to PA! I don't think we will be getting rid of the boxes too soon...

Graduation

My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you've been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You're deeply rooted in him. You're well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you've been taught. School's out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.
Colossians 2:6-7, The Message.

Caroline and I are reading through The Message in our quiet times this year. So far I would give the translation mixed reviews. This passage in particular stood out to me in our reading this morning. As someone who grew up in the Church, and who can't really even remember a time when I wasn't somehow aware of God, I feel like this passage is speaking to me.

I've received Christ Jesus. I do want to trust him to lead me in my life decisions. Over the last twenty-nine years, I've learned from many different spiritual leaders and mentors, including my parents. I've pursued a relationship with Christ for many of these years through hearing, reading, studying, occasionally memorizing, and meditating on Scripture, spending time in prayer, worshiping God through music and service to others. Some of that was on my own, and some of that was carried out in community with others. I have some roots, and I hope some are deep. I know my way around the faith. And now I must do what I've been taught.

I've learned a lot over the years, and I've experienced a lot. But I am challenged by the seeming urgency of this phrase: “Now do what you've been taught.” I've put in a lot of study time, and I've often made excuses about not living it. I do want to be a life-long learner, but what good is it to only learn and never put into practice?

My feelings of inadequacy ebb and flow, but sometimes I know that I have something to offer—something to contribute. Following Jesus continues to impact my life, and I think people need a chance to know and follow him, too.

Enough sitting around already. Let's start living!

"To Pea or Not to Pea..."

When I was living my bachelor-lifestyle, eating out at Panera's more than eating in, my mother gave me several hand-written recipe cards for those moments where I felt both stingy and ambitious. Unfortunately, I don't know if I tried more than one or two of them. Of course, as Caroline and I were married, we combined our recipes and cook books together to form one big happy family.

For months now, Caroline assumed that these recipes from my mother hold special significance, and she was waiting for the perfect opportunity to surprise me with one of my favorite childhood dishes. I can only imagine Caroline's delight in putting two and two together when she realized that, despite how low we were getting on groceries, we had in our fridge and cupboard just the right ingredients for one of my favorite meals!

She even hinted at it earlier in the day. I was in my favorite orange chair typing away on my computer, and she, in passing, said, “I think I'm going to cook a meal that you'll really like tonight. It's one of your mother's recipes—the one with stuffing and eggs and cheese. It sounds so decadent,” and she smiled.

Honestly, I'm ashamed to say, I was rather unimpressed. First of all, I didn't recall ever hearing of such a recipe, and secondly, I was pretty sure that, even though the recipe was written in my mother's handwriting, there was a distinct possibility that it had never before been made by anyone except, perhaps, the person who gave it to my mother.

As we sat down to dinner a couple hours later, Caroline seemed excited. There were two stuffing and egg muffins topped with sharp Vermont cheddar cheese sitting on each of our plates. And there were peas. Lots and lots of peas. (Apparently, when Caroline was wrestling with the bag of frozen peas earlier, some spilled out, falling to the floor, and she figured it would be best to dump the rest into the bowl and cook them all at once.)

Conversation went from bad to worse, as we began vocalizing our thoughts about the meal, and quickly realized that underlying it all was a big misunderstanding. Caroline couldn't understand why I wasn't thrilled to have this particular dish for dinner, and I couldn't understand why Caroline thought that it was thrilling at all. At one point in our meal, in the midst of tears and laughter, and laughter and tears, Caroline got up for a Kleenex, and exclaimed, “This dinner was just not meant to be.” To which I retorted, “This dinner was just not meant to pea.” And we laughed and cried some more.

For the record, the meal wasn't so bad. And it is rather easy to make. I'll try to put the recipe in here so you can try it if you'd like. I think it would be a bit better with bacon.

Last night we had our second leaders meetings of WPI students... Before we got started with "The Fuel and The Flame" we had a little give away... as in, we have stuff to get rid of and rather than give it to goodwill, lets give it the students:)

So we spent 40 minutes playing BIBLE trivia to award these prizes, in winning order:

Matt- Scripture Memory Bear
Eric- Poster of Cats (that story will be in a later post)
Rudy- The lay on her head
Josh- finger puppets, including a Jesus Finger puppet for the finger puppet
And Jake- with possibly the only really useful thing- a lock for a laptop

We laughed so much and had so much fun and afterwards had a good time discussing CHARACTER....

Happy One Year Anniversary to Us!

So we have officially been married for one year and 5 days today:) We got to celebrate on Sunday night at the Wayside Inn where we were married last year. Some of you have probably already seen the pictures on fb, but I don't think everyone who reads this has fb and vice versa... so yea, I am posting about it in both places. We had a great time leisurely walking around, eating a full meal of delicious food for dinner, sleeping, and having a delicious and slow breakfast- all things we did NOT do last year when there:)

Liz Graduates from Wellesley

This is my grandmother, Beebe, my sister, Liz, and I at my sister's graduation yesterday from Wellesley in Wellesley, MA.

Amazingly, we represent three generations of Wellesley, '54, '04 and '09 which means we will all have the same reunions- along with Hillary Clinton and Madeleine Albright. haha.

It was a beautiful day, which threatened rain, but stayed dry and I was excited Nate got to see what my graduation day could have been like...

The most memorable moment was when Liz walked across the stage, well, almost didn't. They called the woman before her" "Jeannie Elizabeth Peace" but said "Peirce" and then the next two women as Liz stood there with a priceless expression of " oh my gosh, did I not graduate!!!!" and then they called her name to loud applause!!! Way to go LIZ!!! She is working at a computer camp this summer, and then off to graduate school in London in the fall- getting a masters in Electronic Publishing- so amazing of her!!!

Lord, Here I am, Send me

Thursday nights in June we have invited the leadership team of students over to our place for dinner and discussion of the book, The Fuel and The Flame. Nate and I received this book for free at one of our Edge Corps Summits and love it. Steve Shadrach has put together info from what seems like every Christian organization in one place- everything from the Navigators to Campus Crusade and in between. We gave the book as a thank you/parting gift to the lead team of this past year and next year. We figure since we cant be there next year, this is the next best thing:)

So Thursday was our first meeting- Jake, Josh, and Eric came over for dinner and then we began to discuss the book. We meant to go through a few chapters but only got through one. Oops- we will have to be a little better if we want to get through it all, but perhaps its better to be deeper anyways:)

Question 9 reads: "Are you able to pray the prayer that Luther Wishard (a student missionary) did in 1879: "Lord, I am willing to go anywhere at any time to do anything for Jesus"? Why or why not?"

What followed was an open and honest discussion from these young men about how they wanted to pray this prayer, but weren't sure they really could honestly. They love the Lord, but are they really willing to say- whatever you want God. Whatever that means. Wherever you want me to go. The chapter in the book told the stories of many student missionaries and how students of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century had done so much for God- giving up their dreams, hopes, and lives for the gospel to go forth. Are we willing to persevere over the long haul to do the same? The guys weren't sure they could honestly say they would be willing to give up families and jobs for the gospel to go forth, yet.

Now, I have NO doubt these men love the Lord. But its a hard question to ask yourself- a hard decision to make and really mean it. And these guys are serious guys- when they prayer something they want to mean it wholeheartedly which is so awesome. And I think they will be praying about praying this prayer in the future.

Now Nate and I had a different perspective on this question which was pretty special for us. We had both started reading this book in Jan and Feb and written down our answers to this question- I wrote:

"YES!! I have prayed it but I think I've settled- Help Nate and I to truly be open to whatever you have for us Lord!"

Nate wrote:

"yes, but its becoming more difficult as are becoming more "rooted""

Months before our move to PA, God was preparing our hearts to follow him, together. how awesome is that.

God is good and sovereign. And we are so thankful for his purpose in our lives, to not only move us to PA, but to be able to poor into guys from WPI.

Thank you for being in this with us:)

~Caroline