Fresh Start

Yesterday I took my first trip to Seattle to attend a meeting of the Fresh Start program. This is an intiative of the Episcopal church designed to help clergy and congregations manage the transition when a clergyperson first enters a parish.

I enjoyed meeting the other clergy, who are in various stages of transition. There were 14 of us there, and I'm probably the newest to the diocese of this whole group.

We talked about how the move to a new parish happens quickly, but the transition from "before" to "after" takes a long time -- about two years. Everyone in the parish has to figure out how to relate to the new clergy, and the clergyperson has to figure out how to relate to the entire congregation.

So far, I can honestly say the transition has been very positive. Katy and I feel welcomed and we're beginning to learn names and faces. That's a good start!

Trip to Denver

Last Thursday I flew to Denver to attend the Eagle Scout ceremony for my nephew Will Fulton. I'm very proud of him for earning his Eagle. His dad (my brother, in the photo above) and I are also Eagle scouts.

The trip was a whirlwind tour because I had to return to celebrate and preach at St. Antony's today. But it was well worth it. We had a mini-family reunion while I was there.

Moving the mountain

We're packing everything we own into cardboard boxes and furiously pursuing the last minute details of our move to Silverdale. It seems like we're moving a mountain!

The cardboard box shuffle

We're boxing up everything in the house, and it takes a lot of cardboard boxes! Luckily our friends have been giving us the cardboard boxes left over from their moves.

I guess cardboard boxes are sort of a transferable resource that travels from one family to another depending on who's moving. Never throw a good cardboard box out....you never know when someone might need it!
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