is this thing on?

anyone still reading this? just checking. if so, i might write something soon. maybe.

Jubilee...

Check out this blog...

I know I haven't posted in a really long time, but I thought this was definitely worth sharing. It's a blog entry posted by a man named Anthony Bradley, who spoke at Jubilee this past weekend. (Read the entry from February 17, 2008.) A quick excerpt:

"Many, many thanks to the Jubilee staff for putting on an amazing, visionary conference and for taking GREAT care of me! I was profoundly blessed by your hospitality and care. Thanks for letting me come! You guys are doing amazing work.

Coalition for Christian Outreach (CCO)!! Wow, you're America's best kept college secret. What you're doing needs to be regionally multiplied across America, yesterday! The way you all partner with local churches is inspiring and represents mature, Biblical ecclesiology. I'm indebted and am committed to what you're doing..."

I'd love to tell you more about the conference... it went so well. I'm honored to be a part of this organization. Thanks, everyone, for your prayers.

i'm done!

well folks, i'm done with grad school! tonight i gave my final presentation, turned in my research paper, and walked off campus for the last time as a student. after 21 and a half years of formal schooling, i'm finished! (at least for now.) please enjoy this photo of me pretending to graduate lo, these seven months ago. but now it's for real.

hooray!

library update

"You did it! After hearing from more than 20,000 of us, the Bureau of Prisons has reversed its book banning policy. As they put it in an official statement:

In response to concerns expressed by members of several religious communities, the Bureau of Prisons has decided to alter its planned course of action with respect to the Chapel Library Project. The Bureau will begin immediately to return to chapel libraries materials that were removed...

We can't thank you enough for the crucial role you played in winning this exciting victory for federal prisoners and religious freedom. It couldn't have happened without you."

thanks, guys. well done.

Prison Libraries

i got an email this morning from a friend of mine that was disturbing to me. here's what it said:

Dear friend,

Imagine walking into your local library, planning to read a
theologian such as Reinhold Niebuhr or Karl Barth, or a popular
inspirational work, such as Rick Warren's _Purpose-Driven Life_
or Harold Kushner's _When Bad Things Happen to Good People_.

But instead of finding such important and popular titles, you
discover that the religion section had been decimated - stripped
of any book that did not appear on a government-approved list.

That's exactly what's happening right now to inmates in federal
prisons under a Bush administration policy. As _The New York
Times_ put it, "chaplains have been quietly carrying out a
systematic purge of religious books and materials that were once
available to prisoners in chapel libraries."

I've just sent a message to the Federal Bureau of Prisons
protesting this absurd policy. Will you join me?
Just click here:
http://go.sojo.net/campaign/prisonlibraries?rk=_dSEq5E1p0BpW

Do it.

it has a head!

hey, look! i'm not sure if this is petri or dish, but it looks like a baby! hooray! they're both in there, but this is the best picture, i think. and their little hearts are beating 170 times a minute. wonderful.

in other news, stuff is going well here. i started my new job a few months ago, and i really love it. i had a full day of supervision today at grove city, and i got to visit one of the students who was in my youth group at the church last year who is a first-year student there this fall. he's doing really well, and it was good to catch up.

my mother told me this weekend that my blog is boring, so i felt convicted again to update. i'm not entirely sure what to write about though... i'll tell you one thing i've been loving lately though is my new church. these last few weeks, i've been thinking a lot about it, and i've really been understanding the song of ascent in psalm 122, where it says, "i was glad when they said to me, 'let us go to the house of the LORD.'" the church i've been going to is in my neighborhood, and it is committed to two things: being centered on Christ, and on being intentionally cross-cultural. they (we?) really believe that Christ can unite us over all kinds of barriers, and even though sunday morning is the most segregated time of the week, that's not true at my church. it's a really beautiful picture of the Kingdom, and i love it.
well, that's it for now.

twincredible

so, great news! my older sister, sarah, is pregnant! and better news: it's twins! i'm so excited to be an aunt. and i'm going to be the best aunt ever. look at these babies! the first one is right before they were implanted, at two days after conception, and the second one was taken this week, at six weeks. look at them! if this were a video, you'd be able to see their hearts fluttering. they're about the size of raspberries right now, according to this website that tracks their progress. i'm so excited! be prepared for a lot of talk about Petri and Dish. i'll try to restrain myself from going overboard, but i can't make any promises.

haircut city!!

so, i let someone cut off most of my hair today. it's short. i like it today, but i am afraid i won't be able to do it myself tomorrow. but, i think it makes me look more professional, which, according to justin bratt, is my life's ambition. what do YOU think?

committed

who's licensed to drive in the state of pennsylvania? I AM! and registered to vote to boot. i'm in it for the long haul, folks. it took me awhile (a titch longer than 60 days), but i'm officially a resident of the state of pennsylvania. it only took two hours at the dmv. (wow, is that place slow.)
i got a little nervous over the weekend, as we neared the date my license expired, since the state was locked in budget talks, laying off all "non-essential" government employees until they got it taken care of. i was picturing myself getting pulled over next week without a valid license, trying to explain that it was not MY negligence but the state's that caused me to be living (and driving) outside the law. but, no reason to worry; i am a licensed driver.
alright, gotta go. happy trails, y'all.

where i've been sleeping

after reading a scathing post on duderus about small-time bloggers' lazy posting, i have decided to update my site. due to the severe lack of comments, i had all but given up on my blogging project, but i've been assured that i have at least two people still coming to check occasionally. so, nate and sam, here you go.
i've been all over the country of late, spending a lot of time away from home. i'm going to tell you about it by explaining where i've spent my nights, sleeping in strange beds. over labor day weekend, i moved into my new house. i spent the first night on the hardwood floor, because i needed a new bed. but then the next morning, my parents bought me a new mattress for graduation! (oh, i graduated too. that was a little over a month ago.) so then i slept in my new bed, which is so amazing that i actually think about during the day. (it might sound pathetic, but if you sat on it, you'd understand.) then, after only three nights in my new place, i went to GR and spent a week at my parents' house in caledonia, listening to a chorus of bullfrogs singing from the pond behind the house. in the daytimes i enjoyed my own private resort, lounging by the pool doing crosswords and reading books, thoroughly enjoying the backyard while the rest of family was at work. i also attended my cousin's wedding and had a lovely luau party for my supporters. the next week i slept in a stateroom in the bottom of a houseboat, floating around dale hollow lake somewhere between kentucky and tennessee, getting rocked to sleep by the waves. oh, sweet bliss. while we were there, my family and i went swimming, boating, jetskiing, hot-tubbing, and star-gazing, and it was wonderful. then i drove back to the real and not imaginary place where i live, and stayed home for five nights. i started my new job and hung out with full-time. then i went to the o.c. in new jersey for four nights and visited my students at the beach project. i got to sleep in my old hammock-shaped bed in my old room with the sea breeze wafting in the through the window. it was glorious. it rained most of the time i was there, but i hung out with my students, met some new ones, visited two supporters, hung out with my staff friends, and went to the beach. on the way home, we got 83% lost in south central PA, somewhere around shippensburg. it was a good time, and a funny story. then i came home for one day, and then i went to grove city college for four days. i slept in the nicest dorm i've ever been in. every student has their own room, it has wireless internet, common lobby space, front-loading washers and dryers in EVERY APARTMENT, dishwashers, and a classroom in the basement. it was super nice. then i came home again, and i think i'm going to stay home for a bit. all that traveling was fun, but i've had about enough. so that's why i haven't been blogging.
right now i'm at the union project right by my house, which has a great little cafe with wireless internet and pretty stained glass windows. and my friend morgan works here, which is an added bonus. i'm going to finish my iced coffee now and go home.
the end.

the o.c.!

i'm in new jersey! i'm spending the weekend visiting my students at the beach project in ocean city, where i spent all last summer. i love it here. i love the students, the staff, the project, the island, the ocean... it's wonderful. i still think this is (one of) the best thing(s) we do at the cco. please pray for these students. this is a big summer. and go check out the beach project website too: http://www.ccojubilee.org/ocbp/
meanwhile, i'm in my sixth state in a week and a half, which is one reason for the lack of posting. i spent a week in grand rapids, visiting friends, family, and supporters, then a week on a houseboat on a lake between kentucky and tennessee. i was home for a minute, and now i'm here. it's been a lot of travelling, but i get to see lots of people i love. hoo-ray. well, i gotta get back to the students. peace out.

i heart pittsburgh

so i moved. fuller and i got ourselves a new apartment, and it's fabulous. i'm unpacking as we speak. well, not RIGHT now; it's getting boring, so i'm taking a break. i think i'm done in my bedroom, and so i'm about to tackle the kitchen, which is probably the biggest hassle of them all. but i want to get done before i head to g-rap to see my family, so i have motivation to keep at it. if you want my new address, email me. i'll be sending it out soon via email, if i remember, but just to be safe, if you want it, ask for it. all right. peace out.

a fond farewell

this is my last week at the church. today was my last day of my after-school program, and it was bittersweet. the kids were terrible today, but they're still great. it's weird to think it was the last one... i was so busy putting out little fires the whole time that i didn't have time to get sentimental until now. afterwards, a bunch of people from my church took me out to the japanese steakhouse and said nice things and ate good food and sang "you are my sunshine" to me and made me cry. i've been so busy i've barely had time to think about the sadness of this time. of course it's exciting to start a new life, but old things have to come to an end for new ones to start. i'll really miss these people who have been like a family to me out here. it's a good thing i didn't move to baltimore. that's too far away.
well, it's ten o'clock, and i'm still at the office. i think i better head home. but here's a picture of my kids last week, running down the hill to go to the after-school program. it's one of my favorites.

home sweet home

last week, a report came out that listed the top ten "most livable places" in the country, based on nine categories: housing affordability (cost of living), transportation, jobs, education, climate, crime, health care, recreation, and ambience (museums, performing arts, restaurants and historical districts). they surveyed 379 places, and came out with the top ten. and the winner is.....

(drumroll.....)













(photo by Darrell Sapp, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
PITTSBURGH!!

just in case you think it's a fluke (or you've never been here to visit), let me just say that over the last 25 years, pittsburgh is the only city to have finished in the top 20 every time. so that settles it. it's awesome here. you should probably move here.

just in case you're curious, the other finalists (after pittsburgh, of course) are:

2. San Francisco, California
   
3. Seattle, Washington
4. Portland, Oregone
5. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
   
6. Rochester, New York
   
7. Washington, D.C.
8. San Jose-Sunnyvale, California
9. Boston, Massachusetts
   
10. Madison, Wisconsin

so come on out and see. it's awesome. i told you.

the end of an era

today i spent the whole afternoon with stephanie, one of my students from rmu. we've been meeting together every week for the last three years, and today was our last campus minister-student outing. we went out for lunch at the spice island tea house (otherwise known as the isle of pleasure café), and then we went to the mattress factory, which is a really cool art museum on the north side. (you should come visit. we'll go.)
i drove steph back to campus, and realized that that was the last time i'll ever have occasion to go there. i may drive through whenever i want, but as all my students are gone now, with graduation this saturday, my time there is done. it was quite strange to drive through campus and back out under the cast iron gate for the last time. it's over. weird.
i'm not sure that it has hit me yet. i still have two and a half weeks left at the church, so maybe that's part of the delay. the next few weeks are going to be quite strange though. i'll try to keep you posted. that's it for now. adios.

international justice mission

did you know there are 27 million slaves in the world today? that's more than there ever were during the transatlantic slave trade. and yet most people don't even know about it. well, now you know. and you should tell somebody else.
tonight at rmu, we're having an end of the year event with a band that raises awareness for the international justice mission, an organization committed to bringing justice to people who are being oppressed in the world. i'm in my office right now, making a few copies of the speech given by the president of ijm, gary haugen, at jubilee this year, so we can give them away at the show. some of my students are starting a chapter of ijm on campus, and they're using this event as a kick-off. please pray for them as they try to raise awareness for change at rmu.

"never doubt that a group of committed citizens can change the world. indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
--margaret mead

Happy Easter!!

happy easter everyone! here's a poem i love that i heard at last year's tenebrae service back home. it's by luci shaw.

judas, peter

because we are all
betrayers, taking
silver and eating
body and blood and asking
(guilty) is it i
and hearing
him say yes
it would be simple for us all
to rush out
and hang ourselves

but if we find grace
to cry and wait
after the voice of morning
has crowed in our ears
clearly enough
to break our hearts
he will be there
to ask us each again
do you love me

i did it.

so, in regards to yesterday's post, i did it. i told them. and i only cried a little bit. and when i sat down, the woman i was sitting with told me that while i was talking, her seven-year-old daughter whispered to her, "mommy, can we go with miss katherine?"

way to break my heart.

i will miss you, riverdale. thanks for everything.

making it official. and public. publically official.

so, in 20 minutes, i'm making an announcement at my church that i'm leaving. whoo. i'm pretty nervous about it. i'm not sure how they're going to react. this part is no fun.
for those of you who don't know what i'm talking about, let me fill you in! a few weeks ago, i accepted a new job with the cco! in june, i'll be starting a new hybrid position as an area director/development associate. basically, that means i'll be supervising our campus staff and raising money for the central region's general fund. i'll be moving to pittsburgh this spring, and sharing space in our main office in east liberty.
that effectively ends my employment at my current church, and so i need to tell them today. the pastor and the session know, and a few others, but this is the big "spill the beans" day to tell everyone else. it's so hard, because i've been a part of this family here for three years, and it's never been just a job to me. it's my life, and it's hard to say goodbye.
however, i am enjoying the "certainty of call," that i know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God prepared this new job for me. and so this is what i'll do. and it will be good, because it's the right thing.
(and for those of you who were helping me discern what i should do over the last few months, i went to erie last week, and i am more sure than ever about never moving there. ever. look what we saw!)
the inscription in front of it says, "i only have flies for you." well, erie, i only have flies for you too. gross.

free coffee and good news

God is good. do you know that? this morning something good happened that i was not expecting. yesterday i got an email from starbucks that said they were hosting a "coffee break" this morning from 10-12, and if you came in, they'd give you a free tall drip coffee. i don't normally go to starbucks, but i thought, "hey, free coffee!" so i went in.
while i was doctoring my verona blend, i ripped the plastic top. so, i went back up to the counter to ask for another one, as i've spilled coffee in my car a few too many times already. there was a woman at the counter, and i was surprised to see that it was one of the mothers from my after school program. i said hello, and we started talking.
she started to tell me how much her son loves our program, and especially that he loves his small group leader, who is one of my students at rmu. every week when i pick him up from school, he asks me eagerly if sarah will be there today. the first thing he is does when he gets to the church is run to her room to greet her. this past monday when his mother picked him up, she told us that he won't be able to come anymore, because for the next few months, she's going to be travelling every monday afternoon, and she's unable to pick him up. she was talking to his small group leader about how sad her son is that he won't be able to come, and so sarah offered to drive him home herself every week. and now the little boy is thrilled because he loves sarah, and he gets to keep coming to our after school program. so his mother was thanking me for having it, because it is really making a difference in his life. the other day he said to her, "mommy, i want to give my life to Jesus." he is nine years old. i almost started crying, because it's not very often that i get to see how our work is really making a difference. and she said to me, "thank you so much for doing your program, because he wouldn't have said that if it he wasn't with you."
that little boy surrendered his life to Christ, partly because of the faithfulness of a college student, serving in the local church. through her love and influence, he has decided to live for Jesus. this is exactly what we strive for with the cco, partnering the university with a church, transforming college students to transform the world. this is a success story.
my job is not like other jobs; most days it's hard to see progress, and the work is never finished. it can go on for weeks, and even months, without visible signs of progress or improvement. God calls for faithfulness, even when we can't see the immediate fruits of our labors. but i feel so blessed lately, because God is being so faithful to show me where he is working, and that all my efforts have not been in vain. he is using me, and over the last few weeks, he has allowed me to see little glimpses of his kingdom coming on earth. and not only does he let me be part of it, he lets me see it too. so God, thanks for free coffee, and good news.