It's about who you Gno[sis]...

Here's a copy of the flyer I made for an assignment for History of the Early Church.  It was a really fun assignment and a genius idea for an exam essay.  I really enjoyed it--as you know, probably too much.  The question was released to us about a week in advance and at first, I panicked, thinking "How will I even pick a font in that much time?!"  Those of you who have been around me when I'm designing will have observed this aesthetic angst and likely have laughed at me, at least once in my life :)

But, anyway, here it is.  Would you attend this class?  Does it sound intriguing?

In order to see it, you will have to click on it, which will open a new window and then if you click again, you can read it in large print.  Sorry for the trouble!

...interruption...

I have promised a couple of people that I would post photos of some banners that Greg and I made for Trinity Sunday (weekend after Pentecost). So, I'll put these here. The inception was mostly mine, but execution I owe to several people who gave me their two cents...and especially to my husband who helped immensely and even went by himself one night to finish filling in the letters.

So, that's how people saw them as they walked in and I included a couple of close-ups for your viewing pleasure. We learned a couple of helpful things in the process. Neither of us had ever projected and traced before so that was new...though not very difficult as we soon found out. It did however take much longer than originally thought. I remember, after one night of spending several hours at the Ministry Center, Greg said that he would've preferred if I had just told him what to do. But, I realized that what he was feeling was the result of my choosing to sort of make things up as I went along. As you know, this is not usually my style. However, a couple of things came to light, a) I am a visionary in matters of art and aesthetics in the church, b) we did not have lots of time to complete our project, c) I could have done a better job of splitting Rublev's Trinity into 6 pieces which perhaps, would have helped it go a little smoother and d) as much as I love helping set up the banners and using art to represent Truth, I lack the skills, in particular with the medium of fabric to achieve much on my own. Now, I did have some help with d), but there were several issues which ensued once we began the project that required fixing by much double-sided tape, velcro and a willingness to experiment. But, I actually thought that was pretty fun. It was quite the project in ghetto-rigging. You know, though, when your church actually takes place in a high school and all materials reside on carts lovingly manhandled weekly by the RezBearers, ghetto rigging just seems to fit. :)

Speaking of which, we also were responsible for the banners in the front of the church. I really wanted to use the three colors found in the Trinity icon to tie it into the front. We actually saw the deacon who was preaching that Sunday earlier in the morning and he said he was speaking about the colors in Rublev's Trinity! So, at that point, we knew it was the Holy Spirit (we previously had no idea that he had planned to speak about this icon at all!). So, we went up front only to discover that the t-bar which is almost always with the banner supplies, was nowhere to be found. So ghetto rig we did (after Greg made an emergency trip to the Ministry Center). I stayed, armed with the three colors and an imagination. So here's what we came up with:



Now that I've actually completed this blog, it makes me think how silly it is that I didn't finish it way earlier. I even already have ideas for the next ones. However, Greg and I need to get crackin' on our pfeiferpfiles site so you can check us out over there for a little bit. Also, pictures of our other art project are soon to follow (as soon as I take them).

Archives' online exhibit!

We've been working on this for a while now and I did the sound editing (believe me, it actually was way worse than what you hear now!) for it. It's our newest online exhibit featuring Billy Graham and we'll be adding a new talk everyday just as events unfolded at his 1949 crusade.

http://www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/la49.html

proverbs blizzog

So, instead of blogging on our own sites, we blogged on our fellowship's!
I'm not even sure K can reach this by proxy anymore so I won't bother CGifying the things we wrote for posting here just yet. But, K, if you need me to, I will.

Anyway, our fellowship has decided to do a sort of outreach event for 4 weeks. We busted out the big guns the first Sunday with animal balloons and hot dogs and celtic dancers and an art show and root beer kegs. I've also noticed the singing of fairly common hymns with our own brand of flair of course. The choir's also back in gear and Lisa did a cool set-up of banners. Also making a wooden sign post that goes with the talk's series that we're on which is "Stop and Get Direction". As funny as I might think it is to be trying seeker-sensitive models now (like a few years past when it was "cool"), we are supporting our fellowship in the ways we know how. Oh, if I didn't mention, everyone was thinking about who they would invite to this event, etc and were supposed to bring someone out of fellowship with the Father.

So, there were these booklets handed out that are basically a devotional guide for the next 4 weeks. It is based on proverbs and are loosely based on a theme. The staff asked different people to share their thoughts on the blog so a different person is taking each day. Greg wrote on Integrity and I just did Pride and Humility. So click on those to find our thoughts and click around our congregation's blog to find other peoples thoughts as well.

my Lenten trials...

Here's my recounting of what happened the day after Ash Wednesday:

So, I walk in this morning and there's no less than 3 kinds of girl scout cookies tantalizing me with their sweet goodness at the coffee cabinet right by my desk! So I go over to heat up my turkey sausages in the mail room and there are brownies on Jean's desk and then more Girl Scout cookies in the mail room right next to a scrumptious looking cheese danish! What the @()$&A@#(%&? Honestly, I've never seen so many sweet morsels in our offices...EVER.
So, I groan and a co-worker hears me groan and says, "Yeah, I know but you should definitely try the girl scout cookies- they have this yummy lemon on the bottom..."on and on. And I said, "Does no one around here celebrate Lent?!" And she said, "You're not Catholic..." sort of incredulously and then added tentatively, "...are you?" I said, "No I'm Anglican". Not that that is really the reason why I celebrate Lent either. But I was surprised and dismayed at the ignorance of my co-workers and everyone's disregard or ignorance to put it more positively for the Lenten season. I honestly can't imagine my life without the fellowship's seasonal calendar. How odd. So I'm praying for grace and not being judgmental...and thanking the Father that I made it through the schmorgasborg of tempting treats obstacle course this morning--I guess it really does build hope--what do ya know?

So there ya go, there's the full version story of my google away message that made you laugh :)
It's hard bein' female, lower middle class and anglican :P...

Falltumn

Well, I said I wouldn't post more or about things for which I'm thankful. Well, I'll pretend I'm not thankful for the following or for the great season of Falltumn, which is drawing to a close rapidly in 20 degree Chicagoland. So, here's a tribute (in combo with general things I love):

we miss you boys! can't wait for you to come back and wrestle greg to the ground some more!

Dad and I on the long walk to my doom...jokes!

my veil that my mom and I made

mm..beef stew, for warming the cockles

there's nothing wrong with cutting a
pumpkin with a reciprocating saw, right?

the cute old people neighbors by my old house

our hallway is this color!

our berry tree right by our porch

shouldn't be allowed to exist, but oh, it does.
dancin' with the sister and the bro at the wedding

yeah, he's totally a roman soldier

an Alabama autumn

remember this? we all got a hole in one! i'm a goofball in this pic, but good times!

a little too much fun with the stamps...miss you, MJ!

invitation making party

the cutest baby ever, my nephew, Ethan, who loves his toes...he makes an aunt so proud!

my famski!

before going on a date...showin' off my new do

fave pic of Mink ever

the dezwaan boys...and Benedick of course.
just chillin', watchin the Olympics.

Autumnal Awesomnity!

How does one celebrate Fall--even on an 80 degree day--in the Midwest?

Pumpkins!

So, the lovely Mink and I steadily made our way out to a Pumpkin Harvest weekend in Waterman, IL. However, we couldn't mosey on out without stopping at the Midwest's largest thrift stores or a Waterman estate sale now, could we? No, we couldn't.

it was fun even though the patch was pretty picked over, still got some good gourds and mini guys!

mmm...enjoying pumpkin pie more than a girl should ;)

PS. Also, I got my hairs cut! But that was about 3 weeks ago, that must've been right around the same time. Will post more pics of the shortness that you can actually see very soon! Gotta upload them, you know how it is....

long time, no write?

I can't believe I haven't written since May! I suppose Katherine came home in June so figured she didn't need my updates desperately and as for the rest, my blogging energy went into our couple blog which was fun but there will be more news than just couple news...not to mention that it's not CG.

Anyway, well, I'm married now! How crazy is that? I leave for a few months and come back with an MRS. Just kidding, but hey at least we went through with it this time...hooray! We got back from Seattle/Mt. Rainier/Vancouver this past week, after almost 2 weeks away, it was glorious...literally. I will do an entire story with images re: the honeymoon later. For now, I can let some of my itchier friends who could not make the wedding get a few tasty morsels so that when I speak of the event, they can have a picture in mind. Though, mind you, these are not the professional photos, they are still fine for painting a general idea.

More to come!

p.s.--Happy Hobbit Day and first day of Fall!

rear window

On April 10th, I sat in my office. It was raining outside and I was just bumbling on with my work. Then I got news that there were police outside on the tracks (which I can easily see from my window). I prayed at first that this didn't mean a suicide, but really, what else could it mean? Isn't that what it always means? Another Wheaton man had killed himself about 4 days before that. And 3 Wheaton students this year, though not by train and not even in Wheaton, IL.

And as people approached my window wanting to see what the police were doing and perhaps even to see if they could have proof of a body. That, along with irreverent comments like, "wouldn't the person just be bits and pieces anyway?" fueled my already discontented self. The last news came when a friend and colleague walked in and said she'd actually walked out back to look. And she saw the body of a man in a hoodie. The other details not need be repeated and really I didn't need to hear them either. But, I did. I only had about an hour before I had to leave or else I might have thrown up on the spot and left. I felt and knew that the Son wept at this man's death and that the fellowship should have felt holiness at this troubled passing. But, perhaps I just read into things too much...

Anyway, I was so disheartened. Why all the deaths? What sorts of devils had a hold on these men? I did look up online to see if there was anything in paper or on the news about it. There was a police transcript, nothing else for days. Then today I looked again and was glad to see that there was a name: Kurt. (He also had a last name but I don't want to take the Google searches away from those who deserve much more than I do to give final words for him). Anyway, I was led to his myspace page where I found he was a wanderer but much loved by those who knew him. From there I went on to a page by the Detholz!, the best obit probably anyone could have asked for. It was a beautiful memoriam and representation of Kurt in life. They'd even written him a song (well before his death which is perhaps even better) which is more than most receive in this life, I think! He is loved and grieved by people who loved him in life as still in death.

I received a sense of peace (and a stranger sense of relief!), along with a sense that I could weep. It was really restorative and healing to read that this man, plagued as he was by devils, was loved, fed and blessed by lives with brothers. So, I lift up the family and friends that survive Kurt and also hope that no one feels at blame for it. I also lift up Kurt and commit him into the arms of the Father.

Anyway, just wanted to share that experience. It was a very troubling one and as I explained to Greg, one that sent my sadness farther and yet, now, I think, I've been given a grace to let it go...at least for the grieving at death and suicide. Help my unbelief!