So I’m back to unemployed again, which got me to thinking about blogging again since I have some more free time. And that’s when I saw this abysmally sparse blog for 2011—one picture of snow. Ridiculous. (Though 2012 me is seriously jealous!)
It has been a pretty busy year, admittedly. So here are some highlights to catch up on 2011.
· Europe—Tom and I took another vacation of a life-time in September touring northern Europe on a heritage tour with his dad and about 50 other elderly folk from the Bentheimers International Society (BIS). BIS is group of people from the county of Bentheim, Germany—either currently residing there or connected by heritage. We visited Prague, Salzburg, Geneva, Strasbourg, Bentheim/Nordhorn, and Amsterdam along the way. While we have vowed to never again take a bus tour, it was a pretty amazing way to see so many beautiful places. Our Christmas card below gives an overview. We worshipped in the church where Tom’s great great great grandparents had worshipped as well as visited the Scholten farm, saw Bach’s baptismal font, visited the Reformation museum, worshipped at the World Council of Churches on the International Day of Prayers for Peace, biked through the Dutch countryside, and enjoyed Prague perhaps most of all.
· I completed my first interim ministry gig. This included preaching every week, which—turns out—I love more than I thought I would. It also included moving a church from a historical downtown building to a new facility. I concluded this position the end of December, and I confess, it was such a whirlwind of an end, I am still remembering things I didn’t get done. I am absolved: as I continually reminded myself and the congregation when we weren’t completing things as hoped—we moved from one building to another. No pastor should have to do this more than once ever, but it certainly was an adventure!
Well, this is sounding like one of those cheesy Christmas letters, so I think that’s enough for now. Hopefully, I’ll have something more profound or at the very least somewhat humorous to write about in the near future. For now, back to catching up on the long list of to-dos early unemployment brings and a new book on the Nook.
All the best in 2012,
Jess
