The echo

Today at church we had a responsive reading. It was one of those where the Lord is giving the law and finishes every phrase with, "I am the Lord." The leader would read his sentence, the congregation would read our sentence, and then, bright and clear in the pause, a little Meg voice echoed, "I AM THE LORD!"

I heard later that our college friend Andy (sitting in the clear opposite corner) nudged his sister Anna and said, "Is that Meg?" And Anna said, "I think so!" Yes, yes it was.

Brr

Hello from chilly Virginia! It's 33 degrees and blowing like it means it. Everybody dashed into church this morning and stuck around afterward. There was a new-pastor luncheon party, which helped the sticking-around process. It was cold in that parking lot.

For my big experiment last night, I tried sleeping in curlers. I don't think I have the technique quite right, because they all slipped and I woke up with curlers dangling around my shoulders. But my hair did have nice oomph this morning, if not the perfect waves I'd been hoping for. I curled the roots and tips with a hot iron this morning and called it good.

Also, I had that new-old teal pencil skirt to wear. It's lined wool, and I matched it with leggings, two pairs of socks, tall boots, long sleeves, and a chunky gray sweater. Did I mention it was cold? But I'm grateful it's January. Nobody looks at you funny for wearing a hundred layers this month.

Greetings from scenic Leesburg

Let's see. Last time I posted, it was Thursday and we were starting the house-hunt from scratch. So that's what we did Thursday and Friday, talking to a realtor, talking to friends, doing internet searches for all we were worth. It didn't look like anything could happen till Monday at the earliest.

On Saturday, a friend shot me an email and mentioned that some mutual friends were moving to California and urgently looking to rent their little condo in Leesburg. We called them up, it sounded good, and we accepted it sight unseen! I did later find photos online. The next day, Sunday, we drove down to look it over and sign a lease.

Sunday noon we stopped for lunch at Moe's and just happened to run into one of my old professors, having lunch with church people. We chatted and I asked her where she attended, and I filed it away mentally before dashing over to the place. It did look good and we took it then and there. There was much rejoicing. Also, I bought towels so we could make it till our stuff arrived.

We went back to New Jersey for the night and came back the next morning with our various supplies, and moved in for real. We camped out Monday night, and Tuesday the pod people delivered our stuff. We were, miraculously, able to scare up eight friends on short notice who not only unloaded the entire thing that night, but assembled the bed and crib and several bookshelves while they were at it, and then some of them came back Wednesday morning and helped unpack further. It was pretty amazing.

Meanwhile, Jonathan had started work on Tuesday, and his first day involved going to an old three-story court building in Alexandria. Does anyone remember what happened Tuesday, August 23rd? The EARTHQUAKE! So yes, Jonathan started work and the very earth shook. I love it.


We spent the rest of the week settling in and buying stuff for the house. Lights were a high priority, as the bedrooms didn't have any light fixtures at all and things got dark at night. Another major priority were rugs for the living and dining area. The house has beige carpet, and I detest scrubbing carpet stains, so big rugs were the obvious choice. We have also acquired four ottomans (Jonathan calls them the empire) and a microwave. Woo!

Hurricane Irene came that weekend. We had intended to run down to Richmond and straighten out the post office sending-us-mail situation on Saturday, but what with people fleeing the storm and all, we stuck around Northern Virginia and hit the Wegman's annual green chile roast instead. The hurricane was pretty much a non-event for us. It rained Saturday afternoon and night, and that was about it.

Sunday we tracked down the church we'd heard about. We met several old friends who now go there and their new babies we hadn't met. Then we went out to lunch with Joey and his family, who don't even attend that church but were visiting town for the hurricane. We went to Moe's again, which seemed appropriate.

Then on Monday Meg and I did go down to Richmond. About half the West End was still out of power, but happily the post office was able to process our change of address with hard-copy forms and we aren't going to have to make another trip. We also visited friends while we were down there, who were themselves fleeing an electricity-less and air-conditioning-less house at a friend's place. So we all hung out at the other friend's. They had really amazing toys there and a dog named Hercules.

The rest of the week we spent settling in. On Thursday we finally got INTERNET! ::cue four-part harmony::: Friday Meg and I had time to go to the pet store to watch the fish and the cats, and then to library storytime afterward. In between we keep having playdates, friends to dinner, movie nights with friends, First Fridays in old town with free ice cream samples, and today a church picnic. So we're pretty much living it up. God has been so good these last two weeks.

Good advice, and Star Wars meets VBS

It made me giggle when I came across a post of 10 Things to Do if You Hate Your Kitchen. I would link it if I could remember where I found it, sorry. Normally these involves things like, "Paint every surface that holds still including the floor and ceiling" or, "Tile your backsplash in a chevron pattern with tiny glass mosaic tiles hand-pressed by nuns in Venice." This one started with, "Wash your cabinets. No, really!" I don't hate my kitchen, but I decided the cabinets could do with a wash anyway. So I did. And I was actually surprised by how fresh and new they all looked. I can definitely recommend it.

Then yesterday I was cleaning the bathroom and couldn't. get. the. brush. into. the. corners. That grout just holds the mold in. So nasty. And then, in a stroke of genius, I went at it with an old toothbrush. That's got to be the oldest housekeeping trick in the world, and would you believe it worked?

In other news, VBS starts on Sunday! That's Vacation Bible School, for those of you not up on church-speak. I volunteered to help with the skits, and get to direct. We have rehearsal every night. I'm just about over the moon happy. I missed drama so much. Essentially we're doing an eight-part play cycle on the life of Joseph (set in outer space) written by a church lady, and they're clever and very funny and also full of Star Wars references. I'm also enjoying getting to know some of the older kids and teens - since the Meg is a year and a half old next week, I pretty much know the toddlers and adults. I was so out of it, I didn't even realize one actress was the pastor's daughter. I wonder if that's ever happened to her before?

We're official now!

Nope, not officially courting... we got married a couple years back, in case you missed it... official church members! We were presented during this morning's service.

Immediately after the membership part, Meg got baptized! She grinned hugely as the pastor put the water on her head and charmed everyone. At one point, she actually covered her eyes and played peekaboo with the audience. I love it. It was also pretty cool that FIVE little church girls got baptized this morning, including our friend Maren from small group. Meg's Nana and Poppie got to come down and videotape the ceremony, and we all went to Panera's for lunch afterward.

How exciting was that??

The main difference now that we're church members, I think, is that we take a turn at nursery duty (totally fair) and go to annual meetings. The main difference for Meg is that the sign has been put on her: GOD HAS HIS HAND ON YOU! She isn't saved yet... but He'll be faithful to her, like He has been to us. And she'll always know about Jesus. So hopefully she'll come to Him soon. :-) I think I accepted Him at the hardened age of four.

Honestly, it was kind of a sticky point whether we were going to baptize her as an infant or wait till after she had professed for herself. Jonathan felt strongly and I came around, because I really do see their point, and if we're wrong, God can still count it perfectly well. It's not like she's going to be disowned for getting the ceremony wrong. And if she grows up and decides she needs to be baptized again, that's quite doable.

For the occasion, we all dressed to the nines. I've got to admit, that made me happy too, as a stay-at-home mom doesn't get a lot of dress-up excuses. Jonathan was the easiest: a good suit with a shirt and tie. I found Meg a fluffy white dress. She was a bit old for a classic super-long christening dress, like some of the other baptizees wore, but Target had a cutesy dress with a raw-silk-looking top and a big tulle skirt. I realized it actually looked a lot like my wedding dress (only Meg's was not strapless, of course).

And for me, I hunted all over and finally found the perfect dress in Williamsburg. We went to the beach on Friday and stopped for a smoothie on the way home, and there across the parking lot -- a Ross's. ::cue ethereal music:: It's a really darling retro style, in an almost ikat black and white floral, with a crossed surplice bodice, waist tie detail, full a-line skirt, and little flutter sleeves. I wore it with pearls and my famous red heels and looked like a classic church lady.

Since my life goals have been to be a church lady and home school mom - I'm well on the way!

An introvert goes to church

"I am fairly certain that even if you could give me a million years worth of Sunday morning gatherings, I would still never connect significantly with anyone in them."

I like the article by Rachel Starr Thomson. She's so right: Sunday morning meet-and-greet time is not conducive to meaningful fellowship for us introverted types. She's also right: doing a job, or going to a retreat, or making an effort in other ways is totally worth it. Personally, I like weekly small groups.

Which reminds me: I need to decide if I want to teach Sunday school this fall, or set up coffee, or what...