Chicago

Right about this time most years I travel down to Chicago for a gathering of pastors who work in the context of Evangelical Covenant Church.  And so tomorrow at 4 am I am leaving home for the 12 hour journey there. Field, Edmonton, Seattle, Chicago.

We will take workshops, worship together, share ideas, build relationships, and take pictures of Chicago. It is a beautiful, photogenic city. (See Here,  or here,  or here,  or here.)

Hopefully this year they won't have the Blizzard of the Century, like they hosted for us last year. That was also the first time I ever experienced snow thunder.

Wildlife Society

I think this morning started about 8 am when the doorbell rang. It was someone needing to get into the church and they were having difficulty. Eight am this morning felt like five am on normal days. It's my Thursday morning, Youth Wednesday night, hangover morning. You know, thick tongue from communicating with 12 junior high boys, eyes that won't focus from keeping track of everybody the night before, and a groggy mind from carrying maybe too many details. Its usually a rich trade off. I get to hang out with the wildlife society, and some of them speak into my life at deep levels.

But the new twist last night was that I got to do the study with 12 junior high guys.  We talked about anger and so I gave them a demonstration of what it can look like when anger takes over. :) It seemed to position them nicely to listen.

So, it isn't clear yet, but I have hope that the fuzziness should clear up before long.
Today is an office catch up day, and Moms Of Preschoolers is happening here today too, so at least I'm not alone.

That's a good thing.

I miss my dentist.

It is not lost in me that my dental care for the past ten years has been quality grade A, number One work done by a caring friend, Dr. Linea Lanoie. I will forever be grateful for how she made dental work a regular part of life for me and took the fear out of most of it.

I grew up with terminally bad teeth no matter how hard I would try, and because we were not that well off, most of my dentists were little old men who couldn't speak or understand a word of English, and who didn't want to use more pain deadening freezing than was absolutely necessary. So dentists for me were always associated with a freak show, involving pain.

Until Linea came along.
I sure miss her these days.

I got in to see a dentist today because of the pain in my mouth. It's nagging and troublesome and I'd like to be free of it. But after pictures and an $120 exam, he couldn't find the problem.

He did find other things that need attention in the next three visits, to the tune of nearly $700. Which I don't doubt. But I left $120 poorer and the pain still there.

I have to decide if I will continue down this road. I nearly used up my $1000 a year dental plan in one day, and I understand that in Alberta the fees are not regulated so you are encouraged to shop around.

But thanks to Linea, I wasn't freaked out about going.

She made a difference.

A winter morning in The Field.

Over three years ago we moved to this field as a part of my work. For me, it's resulted in a stronger sense of connection with the land. The rhythm of the seasons continues to shape our days.

A winter sunrise in the field.