Final 2007 Friday Five

Singing Owl writes: It is hard to believe, but 2007 is about to be history, and this is our last Friday Five of the year. With that in mind, share five memorable moments of 2007. These can be happy or sad, profound or silly, good or bad but things that you will remember. Bonus points for telling us of a "God sighting"-- a moment when the light came through the darkness, a word was spoken, a song sung, laughter rang out, a sermon spoke to you in a new way--whatever you choose, but a moment in 2007 when you sensed Emmanuel, God with us. Or more particularly, you.

1. In January, I spent a long weekend in Dallas with old friends from college. Many of us lived together in the dorm and were a part of Kappa Phi, a Christian women's service organization, and many of them have had kids, gotten married, etc. It was a fun time with lots of talking and reminiscing. It just so happened that it was the just a few days before Trouble got home from her final deployment to the middle east. Her plane was delayed and there was bad weather, but our friends jack and Kristin were awesome to put us up and help with transportation until everything got sorted out. Trouble officially got out of the Air National Guard in February after more than 6 years.

2. In March, Trouble and I went to Louisiana to help rebuild after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. This was my second trip to Louisiana for rebuilding (the first time I went with several seminary students, including Hipchick). We were actually over in Rita territory and I was amazed at how much STILL hadn't been rebuilt after all that time. I posted about it earlier in this blog, including some pictures.

3. In May I graduated from seminary. It was a very strange experience to have accomplished something significant but not know what came next (when many of my classmates were moving on to full time church job appointments). My family came from Rhode Island and New Jersey, I got to meet my brother's girfriend (who is now his wife), friends drove up from Oklahoma, and a large bunch of us had a dinner after the ceremony.

4. In August I once again became a member of AmeriCorps. We had a week of orientation at a 4H camp in rural Georgia before coming back to KC and starting my job at Habitat for Humanity Kansas City. It's long been a dream to work for Habitat - a great non-profit with a mission I believe in and respect among people everywhere - and I love being a volunteer coordinator there. I'm hoping to learn as much as possible in my term and then see where it leads next July.

5. In September, Trouble and I moved into our new house. This was our first ever home purchase and I'm still adjuting to all of it - the mortgage, maintenance requirements, paperwork and taxes. It's a cute house in a cute neighborhood and I still wake up every morning looking around the room and reminding myself that this is OUR house! We can paint the walls however we want and not hear the music playing next door late at night.


Totally as an aside to the above post, I want to take a moment to remember a friend of ours, Kyra. She was a great friend to Trouble when she joined the Air National Guard, showing her the ropes and helping her survive her first deployment to the Middle East. Kyra had several tumors in her brain and went through years of chemo, radiation and surgeries. She was always one of the strongest (physically and mentally) we knew and she was loved by many in and out of the military. We last saw her at the end of October and knew it was likely our final goodbye. On Christmas Day, Kyra found eternal rest, and while we know that this is better for her, we can't help being sad for ourselves, her partner and her family members. Hers was an amazing spirit and she will be greatly missed. With prayers for comfort and strength as we move into the New Year...