Without any further delay here is the October-November update before December is gone!
First of all, lets’ get started with a recent Haiku that friend Sailor Bob wrote for ME !
COME ABOUT – Ashbyhaiku
I sail “Change of Heart”
But not Alone
God is here
With oceans of Love.
How many people have sailing instructors that write Haikus’ about them ? eh ?
November is gone and December pushes with a steady speed right into 2005. As I relate some of the events of the last couple of months I also will attempt to go beyond just the ‘chronology’ of these events but try to draw some at least, short term impressions of what these events are meaning to me.
For Margaret the weekends are full to overflowing. In particular working with the teens in their Catechism class including writing study questions and grading movie reports that they are writing. Other agenda items for her have been New Member Classes, teaching a session for the women’s’ Dorcas Circle, Council and Internship Committee meetings, writing front pages for the church newsletter on a regular basis, community wide Thanksgiving service and Reformation Service participation, “Lost and Found” synod youth weekend, and at least four “opportunities” to preach that I can see coming in the month of December.
But as an old boss of mine used to say, “was this an activity or is there a result?”
Well, I see Margaret taking on more and more over a wider range of spiritual, teaching and administrative areas. To me it is like looking at the career of a race car driver as they start at 60 mph racing around the streets, then go to 90 mph racing around the local circuits and then going in to professional racing at 150 mph on larger circuits. If from the start Margaret had been asked to go 150mph she’d probably say ‘no way’ but what I see is that ever increasing experience through the empowering of the Holy Spirit that will let her say at some point, ‘this IS the way’. Of even greater importance is Margaret continuing to find her own “voice” in this empowering as the well meaning pulls and tugs of peoples direction cause fears that keep her from finding her own voice and doing her own work that the Lord has intended for her. This of course is a work in progress as we race around the weekly trial runs and endurance races of the church schedule.
For Gerald the list is made up of working tours at Jamestown and Yorktown for the State of Virginia Dept of Education, leading a Bible Study Fellowship Bible discussion group (my 7th year), teaching an adult Sunday school class on the Parables at St Mark, weekly choir rehearsals and singing at multiple Sunday services, leading song as the cantor for the newly added Taize services at St. Mark, and of course sailing and working on the boat.
It was a busy October and November for Gerald at Jamestown and Yorktown. Attendance of school aged children was up 25% at both locations for the two school months of Sept and Oct which translated to 20,000 children that went through Jamestown and over 9,000 visiting Yorktown. It’s quite a sight to pull into work in the morning and see 35 full sized buses lined up or pulling in for tours! Just think of the latent 4th grader and 5th grader energy represented there! Because the Jamestown/Yorktown tours are made up of school field trips, that source of work will come to a halt right about now and not really pick up again until March. This means I need your prayers and I need to get out there and find some other work. I’ve really enjoyed the teaching/questioning/touring that I’ve done with the Jamestown Yorktown Foundation and I hope that whatever the Lord works out for my next job, that it allows me to do more tours when they are available.
My prayer for work here in Yorktown was that it would something that would not only provide income but also add to my value as a Pastoral Spouse. The teaching preparation that I’ve received through the Foundation has been an answer to that prayer in a way that I never would have imagined. The Sunday school class that I am leading now is already getting the blessing from what I’ve learned!
My 24-foot sailboat, the “Change of Heart” still is a thrill every time I get to work on her or take her out sailing. I’ve taken the boat out solo several times and come back not only safely, but also better educated of what to do differently next time. The days here in VA still provide opportunity for sailing in between the rain and I plan to keep sailing any days that I can until what I hear will be a January of no sail days. In the meantime I’ve been doing electrical work and moving some things around inside the cabin of the “Change of Heart” in preparation for solo trips and overnight trips as I gain confidence. I have a profound respect for what I still do not know and also a respect for going around in a 5,000-pound object with no brakes! The sailboat provides me a gentle mix of tinkering with and ongoing repair project, fiddling amongst fear while sailing and then moments of getting the boat trimmed out and sailing on, as Sailor Bob put it, “ oceans of Love”.
For Margaret and Gerald the most recent cause for praise is the safety and joy that our son James is having in Nepal and India. James left for Nepal on October 11th and after arriving in Kathmandu and heading into the mountains (18,000 feet plus!) we didn’t hear from him again until November 14th. He is updating his incredible travelogue on his blog site: http://whatyoumakeofit.blogspot.com/ Read all about it and make sure to go to the right hand column and click on his ‘photobucket.com’ where he has some really great pictures. James will be back in New Mexico in March to defend his Masters thesis in Geology.
Tracy and Nick are also working along both at their respective jobs and their first house. Purchased this past summer the house is getting lots of well deserved attention ranging from Tracy and Nicks’ art touches inside the house to the more mundane but needed rewiring of the house and new foundation under the garage/Nicks’ workshop. Sort of like my ‘todo’ list for the Change of Heart, there’s always plenty to do.
All I can do is give praise for the protection and joy of heart that James, Tracy and Nick are participating in. Don’t get me wrong, they’re having their bumps and grinds along the way but I just give praise for their abundant lives and we will continue our prayers for the joy in their hearts no matter what hills they are having to currently climb.
In the combined ‘Ashby Clan’ category, we were able to drive to Asheville NC on Thanksgiving Day after Margaret and I participated in a community wide Thanksgiving service on Wednesday night. We left about 5AM and had clear sailing over during the 7-hour drive to arrive at Tracy and Nicks’ charming home and hospitality. The pies were already laid out in quantity when we arrived and shortly thereafter Nick prepared the bird for it’s journey to the Thanksgiving Table that evening. Tracy read a passage from ee cummings and we ate the first of several great meals on what was laid before us.
The other additional highlight of the family Thanksgiving was including James in the festivities. At 10PM Asheville NC time James called on the phone from Varanasi India at 8AM the next day and we all got a chance to speak with him. See the 2004 Ashby Thanksgiving picture with us on the phone with the missing member of the crew, soon to be posted !
