An end to 2014: Picture/news item of the day XXX

Completed my first full year of grad school...
Got MARRIED...
Pulled off working three jobs at once...a new record of sorts for me...

Here's to the joys and tribulations of 2014. We'll see what shenanigans occur in 2015!

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/world/2014/12/31/orig-new-years-celebrations-around-the-world.cnn.html

Round Two

Out my window: Wet! If anything, it'll be a sloshy Christmas.

Clothing myself in: jeans, purple long sleeve, burgundy flats, bright mauve scarf

Around the apartment: I had round two of head cold this weekend. Blurg. At least it's out of the way before Christmas...? Anywho, the apartment has gone by the wayside while I've been in an out of sleep all weekend. Matt was awesome though and took care of dishes a lot, so that was super nice :-)

The hubby: Awesome during round two of sickness. He got to attend some friends' Christmas party, and helped out at our church's youth group Advent retreat.

In the kitchen: I did all easy, throw-together meals this week in anticipation for all our events and craziness pre-Christmas (which worked out for me being sick also)...made some sloppy joes, honey barbecue chicken wings, and an awesome crockpot stuffing and chicken recipe we're pretty hooked on.

Crafting: Wrapping/bagging presents??? I did do the ornaments for the youth group room, which turned out great!

Learning: I'm in break, but I've been reading the Jesus of Nazareth books that I *ahem* never quite finished from my summer semester for Theology of Ratzinger. I figure it's appropriate reading for the season in any case.

Reading: See above.

Watching: well, being sick afforded me lots of couch time this weekend...I finished a series I've been watching called Monarchy, (slept through) The Muppet Christmas Carol, watched Hercules, watched Sabrina (love me some Audrey Hepburn), and an episode of The Twilight Zone.
 
Bringing me joy: having our presents all under our tree, looking forward to the Christmas season, our up-coming honeymoon

Thinking about: wanting to feel better and get more last-minute things done around here before Christmas...

Pictures to share:

Oh Christmas tree!

Youth group room ornmaments

More youth group ornaments

 

I felt so productive getting all of these finished.

Validation

Today I went to the doctor, not expecting much...instead, it left me with a lot to ponder!

This was an "establishing primary care" visit, since I'm new here and all. In the course of the physical, the doctor felt my back and immediately pointed out the curvature of my spine.

In truth I've known about the curve in my spine for years. My pediatrician checked now and again, but it was never much cause for concern other than a, "Be careful how you wear your bookbag!" The first time I remember feeling severe back pain was standing on a street waiting for a parade competition in marching band my freshman year of high school. I just couldn't stand in any posture without an intense ache. Through the years the intensity has varied, from not noticeable a good portion of the time to days where nothing I do seems to help my back feel okay except for lying down.

Today the doctor said that it was past the point of correction...it's so far curved that a brace simply won't fix it. All I can do is start with the chiropractor at Matt's work to learn some exercises/stretches that will keep it from getting worse, and to take some scans to see how severe the scoliosis is.

Scoliosis.  So that's the name for my pain. I was texting Matt (since he can't talk over the phone really while he's at work) that at least I feel some validation, like there's a legitimate name and reason for the pain I've been in for the past 10 or so years. Some people living chronic pain are never quite so lucky to have a name to their pain/condition. I think that's why I never talked about it much except for the few people here and there I would tell about my back hurting...so what? Your back hurts? Big deal.

I volunteer at the Center for Practical Bioethics, and while I don't agree morally with all of their stances, I do appreciate their project, PAINS, to connect and aid people living with chronic pain. People need to understand that those suffering with chronic pain are indeed facing a condition of chronic pain, even if there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it. I will be living with this probably for the rest of my life, but I hope that on my worst days, people at least take the time to understand that this is real.

(Dis)connection

I was recently at the youth office for the diocese, telling them about the parishes I'm working with and the environment. I made the comment that communication with teenagers is completely impossible. In order to get word out about an event, I have to do everything short of air drop the announcements on their front doors. Some of them have Facebook, but Facebook is dying out with some teenage groups. Some have email, but not all of them check it regularly (yet...just wait till college, mwahahaha). Some have phones, but some still rely on their parents' phones. And bulletins...oh bulletins are so hit and miss. Of course, the other youth ministers with whom I spoke could relate. It's a big issue, they agreed.

I thought the whole point of social media is to make the world more connected...but does it? The whole topic of connecting online via these avenues is completely beside the point to me. What I'm talking about is the vastness that is social media. Seems to me that it's more divisive than anything. I have limited myself to Facebook, Pinterest and this blog, so the whole other worlds of Twitter, Instagram, vines (what in the world are those anyways?), Snapchat, etc. are so overwhelming. Which do you choose? If you go with all of them, you're basically committing your life to be internet-worthy...every moment has to be able to be posted. If you're not on any of them, or on one or two, then you're missing out on the others. I wasn't prepared for youth ministry to be a lesson in figuring out how to reach people, let alone reach them through ministry. I'm constantly having to figure out which avenue(s) to use to post news and events...do I just put this in an email? But what about the kids who don't check...so Facebook too. But a lot of people just don't check their feeds...text it is...but ack, this kid doesn't have a number! Suddenly the same message has to be accommodated to 3-4 different media types at once. Call me old fashioned, but good grief, that is ridiculous! I mean, I'm not THAT far removed from high school, but we used Facebook and bulletins and actually showed up for things. I'm using, as I said, 3-4 different avenues to spread news and still get a handful of kids to show up at the most. Is this a city thing? Was another perk of being from a small town that everybody streamlined their communication?

Sorry, this has just been on my mind lately. Obviously it's something I'm going to have to work through. On a related note, there is a new youth minister retreat tomorrow which I will be attending. I'm super excited, both to network about youth ministry and realize there are others in the trenches with me, and to maybe meet new friends my age??!?! I feel like my friend base/peer group here is slowly but surely shrinking as friends move on to new stages in their lives as well, so I'm really needing to figure out God's plan for me in this...

Advent is here

Out my window: It's pretty darn cold today, but supposed to warm up into the 40s and 50s this week.

Clothing myself in: jeans, hoodie with pink scarf

Around the apartment: We got some awesome church-sized Advent candles, courtesy of Matt's sister. We'll put up a small tree today. I forgot my ornaments at my parents', but luckily Matt has his on hand.

The hubby: He's been awesome while I've been sick. I started coming down with a cold on Thanksgiving morning, and the worst was Saturday night. With my asthma, colds work their way to my lungs quickly, so I slept in our recliner that night so I could be propped up and cough easier. He's pretty awesome about making sure I have whatever I need.

In the kitchen: Ugh, we just got back from Wichita on Saturday, and with being sick I haven't even wanted to think about food prep. I even went so far as to order in pizza last night, that is how much I did not want to step foot in the kitchen. Tonight I'm making a no-fry chicken parmesan dish (I don't have a link for that, it's in my Word documents in my recipe folder.).  I still need to meal plan for the week. I'll take a look at my favorite KC coupon site and go from there :-)

Crafting: Nothing for the youth group room yet, I'll probably get some supplies this week.

Learning: Praise God, it is finals week! While I'm dreading doing the last of the reading, and will take a while to pep myself up enough to start the tests, I'm glad that I know, after this week, I really do have a nice long break.

Reading: Eh, we'll get back to that in about a week...

Watching: a couple more episodes of Lost, a couple of Christmas movies when we were back in GP.
 
Bringing me joy: End of the semester...discernment in our marriage...being back with family...how my youth group got really into the topic of our meeting last night

Thinking about: What to accomplish from my to-do list today...doing some catch-up with volunteer work...what to do for a prayer in Advent...

Pictures to share: Mer...