A Tuesday with many names

I stole the below information from the ever dependable Wikipedia. Some of my dear blog-followers may feel like they are back in Sunday School, but not all Sunday Schools are equal. It wasn't until I was an adult and living in Prague (after 26 years of Sunday School) did I learn about Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, and the Lenten Season. This is why I post it here - to remind myself and maybe give you a bit of new info.

Shrove Tuesday (also known as Pancake Tuesday and Pancake Day) is the day preceding Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. The expression "Shrove Tuesday" comes from the word shrive, meaning "confess."  

The term Mardi gras is French for Fat Tuesday, referring to the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the 40 days of the Lenten season.

Pancakes are associated with the day preceding Lent because they were a way to use up rich foods such as eggs, milk, and sugar, before Lent. 

I am just coming back from the kitchen where I mixed together a small bowl of batter for my own Fat Tuesday pancakes to carry with me to school today. However, I guess they may already fit into the Lenten fasting food group, since I chose a more healthy recipe that used no milk or sugar... and even my eggs were only the whites! Regardless, I'm still really looking forward to eating them in virtual communion with fellow Christ followers around the world - especially in my beloved Prague. 

Speaking of "my beloved Prague", as I was gathering and mixing my pancake ingredients this woman came warmly and fondly to mind. 

I borrowed this photo from the IBTS facebook page. You should follow them!

Isn't she gorgeous? During my nearly seven years in Prague she was a woman whom I grew to deeply respect and love... and still do. I am honored to call her a dear friend. I could do one full and lengthy blog post on her, and very possibly an entire blog site on the fact that everyone needs a Denise in their lives!

What brings her to mind on this day, is that she was the preparer and server of Fat Tuesday pancakes every year on the day before Ash Wednesday for the seminary community where we lived and worked together.

The above photo was taken today (!) whilst she is eating one of her delicious pancakes.

Happy Pancake Day!

Last Saturday of April 2011

07.00


09.00

12.30

14.00



17.00

19.00

20.00

22.30

Blizzard Benefits

Today was a snow day for most of West Michigan and beyond. "Snow day" meaning schools and some businesses were canceled because the snow made it impossible to move beyond your front door.

It was absolutely delightful. At 22.00 (10pm) yesterday evening, we were informed that Calvin (who never closes) had shut its doors for Wednesday and thus began my 'Friday night' planning to stay up late, sleep in (but not too much to miss enjoying a day off) and enjoy my free mid-week Saturday.

It was successful planning. During this day away from the office I:

~sorted out a few work e-mails to lighten the load for Thursday's return to the office. I'm convinced that if Calvin incorporated one day a week in which staff could stay home, do e-mails in cozy clothes with a cup of hot chocolate at hand and a dog at their feet, productivity and staff morale would be through the roof.

~learned this greyhound loves to play in the snow. I so wish I could have videoed him diving over huge snow piles which I was hiding behind, bounding through snowdrifts and digging into the fluffy white stuff with fervor. I know I'm not supposed to let him off his leash, but it was so much fun and so far whenever I've hollered, "Silas, come here, I have a treat." without hesitation he comes racing in my direction - which can be slightly unsettling because a greyhound doesn't really stop too well on ice.

~visited the gym which is only a 5 minute walk from my apartment and nearly empty today. I ran five miles whilst watching some incredibly poorly scripted and acted daytime TV dramas. This was followed by resting in their leather couches, drinking their free, freshly brewed coffee and munching on cornbread I carried along for a treat.

~invited my parents over with shovels in hand to help un-snow my little Honda which had disappeared in the blizzard. At this point I was very thankful for a small car and apartment complex who cleared the lot and I just needed to release my car from the snow piles surrounding it.

~ate and drank some tasty morsels in my freezer and cupboard whilst sorting through a few more e-mails and watching some a bit better quality TV dramas via the internet and snooping through friends' blogs and Facebook pages.

~finished the evening with a warming drink and the company of Robert Louis Stevenson.

All in all, I enjoyed today to its fullest knowing the rarity that such a day will come again. Thank you, VPA of CTS for making the long cold days of our Michigan winter that much more bearable.

Sleighbell Shuffle

I'm not ecstatic about it, but knowingly and unknowingly I've gotten on a number of e-mail distribution lists. It's easy to delete the unwanted ones (98%), so I remain subscribed and appreciate the helpful 2% which do come along.

One of these e-mails was announcing the "Sleighbell Shuffle" a 5k run through the wintry streets of Grandville in subzero temperatures at night. Tell me, who WOULDN'T jump at this opportunity?!

I convinced an equally crazy colleague of mine to join, so we planned to

1. meet up at the start of the race
2. obtain our free jingle bells to tie on our laces
3. donate old winter coats for the local woman's shelter, thus obtaining raffle tickets
4. run 5k
5. feast on eggnog and cookies following the race
6. possibly win something at the raffle

We are quite a team. I accomplished numbers 2, 3 and 6. She accomplished 4 and 5. A very important step is number 1 and this you will be quick to notice both my running partner and I bypassed. Through a series of humourous (to me at least!) events, she ended up running the 5k and I was left behind inside the warm school.

Thirty minutes or so later as the runners came through the school doors, winded and cold, I was shocked to see her. She equally to see me. We shared our stories, which made sense as to how we missed each other when notes were compared and I thought was simply hilarious - my partner, not quite as much.

In the end we did jog about half a mile following her run to sing a Christmas carol to another colleague (and kin) who lives on the route and had kept an eye out for us amidst those who ran, but texted to say they didn't see us for some reason... hmm.

Oh yeah, number 6! This was my prize, which is perhaps a bit unfair since I was the only one present who didn't run...

It's a heart rate monitor - for serious athletes - those who actually do things to make their heart rates go above sedentary.

A Black Tie Affair

Having lived in an international community for nearly ten years, I got used to the odd outfits and clashing colour combinations of others and also experimenting myself with various styles and clothing items.

I loved the opportunity and took advantage of it happily. One article which I adopted into my wardrobe was wearing a necktie. Not daily, certainly not, and not weekly, simply as my mood directed me.

This was a style, which I quite liked and recently felt the necktie mood settling in. I was expecting some strange reactions from colleagues when I wore a tie to work on Thursday and was not proven wrong. At the end of the day I had survived their comments and with the worst behind me felt I could freely don the necktie in the future without being the brunt of too many jokes.

Then came Friday.

I had been asked and happily agreed to be the liturgist for our Thanksgiving chapel service at the seminary. No, I didn't wear a tie.

It was a nice service with a good sermon. After it concluded, a number of my colleagues came to the front where I was sitting to, I had thought, thank me and the preacher for the service. Nope. Every single one of them - women and men - was wearing a tie. I hadn't even noticed whilst I was leading, but they had sat all together in the first row of people proudly displaying their attire. Somehow I had totally missed it.

It's probably a good thing I didn't notice - who knows how the Thanksgiving prayer would have ended!

"Ya done good, Vee"

This is a post I drafted in late August at the end of our Orientation/Intensives weeks, but never published - not quite sure why.

The evening before I was in tears of frustration that with all my multi-tasking abilities, the tasks still exponentially multiplied and the work-day seemed to come to end more speedily each day.

My 'to-do' list grew just as quickly as my 'have-done' list. Deadlines I had set for myself and those given to me were menacingly near and I was sure that all the balls in the air would drop heavily next to me (or on me!) very soon.

I was waking up earlier, getting to work before the sun rose and attempting to sort through e-mails and organise tasks before colleagues and students appeared.

The dense feeling of being in over my head clouded my days. Though I faced each student and colleague with a smile and a 'can-do' attitude, I doubted my 'can-do-itness" and not sure how genuine my smile was.

Then at the end of two very tiring orientation weeks and at the beginning of an ominously new and uncharted semester, my boss succinctly and randomly said to me: "Ya done good, Vee".

He surely has no idea the weight that this simple colloquial phrase carried, but exactly at that moment it had the power to spur me to keep on keeping on, as they say. That despite my uncertainty and insecurity, despite my forgetting where rooms are located and who's responsible for what - I was doing alright.

I post this now to remind myself the power of a few encouraging words. I'm no longer the 'newbie' at Calvin as since April others have been hired on in varying positions. I remember how strengthening it was to hear kinds words from colleagues applauding my hard efforts or appreciating my spirit of teamwork. Now it's my turn to value and appreciate the gifts in my new colleagues whom I truly do value and appreciate. But do they know this?

New Beginnings Together

I was delighted to be asked to participate in the opening chapel service for Calvin Seminary this autumn. Worshiping as a community has become very meaningful to me and I appreciated very much the opportunity to draw people's thoughts together in prayer for the coming year.

I hadn't realised this had been printed until a colleague said she should ask for my autograph and I hadn't a clue why! If you are interested you can find this and other CTS FORUM journals on the Calvin Seminary website.

ps - click on the image to enlarge it...