A Christmas Tea

The Whole Table

 Early in December I hosted a tea in our apartment for a few ladies from church. The food turned out so well and I always enjoy decorating. The ladies stayed to talk for four hours! I wanted to share my pictures here for reference later on.

Centerpieces

Our party favors were these Nativity ornaments; and each nametag had a icebreaker question on the inside

Red pears, oranges, apples, cinnamon sticks and walnuts

Cranberries, carnations and eucalyptus

The perfect Christmas tablecloth, a present from my brother last year

A Grape and Cheese Tree

The Dickens Corner

The coconut Nativity, from my childhood.

The decorative stick got a Nativity too

Nutcrackers

Scones and Wassail to go with our truffles. This came after the cheese, fruit and spinach puffs.

Tea Smith tea is the best!

Sunday's Meanderings

Sunday I visited Rose Hill Presbyterian Church in Columbia.

Rose Hill PCA

The weather on Sunday was just the definition of perfect. Sunny but cool enough to wear a sweater. Sunday school was at 9:30 and church at 10:30. Most of the congregants were (ahem)elderly, and the building smelled decidedly musty. But everyone was very kind and welcoming. After church I skipped out and headed a few miles away back to Columbia Evangelical, where the church was hosting a missionary luncheon.  I sat across from a missionary couple who had worked many years at a fistula clinic in Niger.

After lunch I went out in search of the ever-elusive family gifts. Every time I travel I have the hardest time finding gifts for all my family!

It was, as I mentioned a really beautiful day.

"Self-control: the governing of one's desires; the ability to avoid excesses, to stay within reasonable bounds." "Self control is the exercise of inner strength under the direction of sound judgement that enables us to do, think, and say the things that are pleasing to God."

Sunday morning through a long train of events, some of them dramatic, I got to use the car again. I drove out to Columbia Evangelical Church, partly to meet Andrea, another Cadence missionary who is currently raising support for a two-year trip to Japan. And also partly because CEC is a Reformed church that the H's spoke well of(Reformed Churches for the win!). CEC is smaller than my church back home, and is situated next to several USC buildings. The church itself is made of a traditional sanctuary and then a Victorian-era house around the back that was converted to classrooms. I enjoyed the service and even more so the Sunday School. It didn't hurt any that our class was in one of the old bedrooms in the cool old house, with a really neat fireplace. Our Sunday school teacher spoke on Biblical Self-control, and I brought away two pages of great quotes and verses.

"Self control involves a much wider range of watchfulness than merely control of our bodily appetites and desires. We must also exercise self control of thoughts, emotions, and speech."

"The person without self control is easy prey to the invader: he yields himself to the first assault of his ungoverned passions, offering no resistance. Having no disciplines over himself, temptation becomes the occasion of sin, and hurries him on to fearful lengths that he has not contemplated."

Today's boring photo: Whether I travel across the ocean or just across the country, my dresser-top essentials stay the same.

By the time I got home Sunday, we were all pretty worn out from the weekend. Monday was only interesting in that Boy and Girl H were stressing over PSAT prep, the hot water heater broke, and the electricity went out. We also had surprise guests, which is, I keep reminding myself, normal.

Taking the Plunge

As of today Dad has officially started a new job, and no, this is not an April Fool's Day joke. I've been meaning to post about this for a month now, since it became public knowledge back in January. Most of my close acquaintances know that in January Dad was approved by our Church congregation to become a full-time Elder, a sort of administrative pastor. Since Dad wanted to finish up a school session before leaving, he waited to give notice at the University until early April; his last day there was a week ago.

We've known that Dad would probably take the new job since last November(Big Changes Ahead), but it's still hard to grasp that Dad actually quit the job he's had for seventeen years, most of my lifetime, and is moving on to something new. Very few Dads over fifty with half a dozen children at home do such things, I think. It's an exciting and a bit scary step into the uncharted future, and it's Dad's dream job. I've no doubt it was brought about in God's perfect timing.

Besides the obvious change for Dad, there are several (seemingly large though perhaps insignificant)changes for the rest of us as well:

1. Due to the new schedule, we all have to get up an hour earlier in the morning. Before, Dad always left so early it really wasn't humanly possible for all of us to be up for breakfast and Biblestudy before he left; but now he's leaving later and we don't have that excuse/reason anymore.
2. So now we're also eating breakfast together and having morning Biblestudy as well. Before this, breakfast was a find what you could and be done by nine sort of thing. Shocking, isn't it? I'm on the lookout for cheap, healthy breakfast recipes that can be made in bulk. There aren't many.
3. Later nights. Since Dad is leaving later(even though we're getting up earlier) he'll be getting home later as well. You'd think that getting up an hour earlier would translate into going to bed an hour earlier, but so far no such change has been observed.
4. Since we're on a roll with schedule changes right now, we're cutting out Sunday movie nights. We've kind of kept it hush-hush that we watched movies on Sunday, since while it may fall in the "restful" category, it may not fall into the "spiritual" category in some people's convictions. I'm sure it's for the best, but Sunday evenings seem pretty empty right now.
5. I've also decided, for the sake of my overall health, to give up all kinds of chocolate.

April Fools. I could never give up chocolate.

Now we really are a pastor's family. Now I can see if that vague stereotype in my head of Pastor's families is really true: living on the brink of poverty and always eating beans and rice while running a hospitality hotel with a strong trust in God. I wouldn't mind the hospitality; though I might get tired of the beans.

Big Changes Ahead

On Sunday Dad was ordained as an Pastor in a very nice ceremony at the end of our Church service. It was appropriately serious and special. Three Elders from other churches traveled from out-of-state to be part of the ceremony. There were a few moments during the reading of the charges to Dad and the speaking afterwards that I felt some panic: What are we doing? What have we gotten ourselves into? This is serious! As an Elder in our denomination Dad is considered a Pastor, able to give communion and preach. It was a big step, not just for Dad but for all of us, because as a family unit he's taking us all with him.

Here's a quick run-through of our trip to become an Elder's family:

In the Spring of 2005 our home church of many years dissolved and we started going to DCC

On December 11th of 2005 our family joined DCC

Around September of 2007 Dad decided to begin the test for Eldership at our church

On Aug. 3rd of 2008 Dad was ordained an Elder at DCC, which was at that time a part of the PCA.

In December of 2008 our church at a congregational meeting voted to leave the PCA and join the CPC. Dad had to re-take the Elder test.

At CPC Presbytery May 14th-17th 2009 Dad was questioned for three hours by a panel of six men and did not pass the exam. Our church joined the CPC at that time.

October 26th of 2009 Dad was examined again for two hours by phone and passed.

November 14th of 2009 Dad was examined on counseling and pastoral issues and was approved by unanimous vote for Eldership in the CPC.

Abbreviations: DCC: Dominion Covenant Church. PCA: Presbyterian Church in America (Denomination). CPC: Covenant Presbyterian Church (Denomination)

It seems like the whole process happened so fast, and it wasn't it just last year we started coming to this church? As we look forward to the new year I'm sure that the adjustment to Dad's new responsibilities and our part in them will be foremost in our minds. As we make our traditional list of goals and prayers for 2010, the possibilities stemming from Dad's new position will most likely dominate the page. Pray we will learn with grace our places in this venture!

Here we go!