Giveaway!

In celebration of my 50th post, and in a somewhat shameless effort to get more people to read my blog (hee hee), I'm having a giveaway! The winner will receive (at least) a slightly smaller version of the zippered "humbug bag" you can see a picture of in my previous post. I think these bags are good for keeping small things inside of other bags. For instance, I'm using one inside my sewing tote to keep all my little spools of thread. And I'll use another one inside my large purse to keep some of the things that are floating around the bottom. It could be good to keep a few makeup items in, or your cell phone and ipod, or whatever! I personally love the tree fabric I chose for the bags. And the inside has a contrasting fabric. So, as I said, the giveaway will include at least this bag, and probably a few other little surprises! To enter the giveaway, all you have to do is comment on this post. If you would like an extra chance to win, put a link to this post on your blog, and then make an additional comment to tell me about it. (Separate comments are best, because I will probably use a random number generator to choose the winner.) You will have until *noon on Thursday* to enter. Thanks for reading and good luck!! :)

Highlights

Here's what has been happening in my life in these last few busy weeks:

• Philly has had a taste of spring! All the snow is gone, and we've had a mixture of some rain and some sunny days. This has helped me get back to a running routine, to start training for the Broad Street Run in May, which is 10 miles.
  
• I was invited back to my internship congregation to preach, and enjoyed visiting with the wonderful people there.
  
• I learned that TWO of my seminary friends are pregnant! This is in addition to my cousin, and my high school friend. All four are due around the end of summer/beginning of fall. Congrats, ladies! You're all in my prayers!
• I'm on break this week, aka "Reading Week". My intention was to be super productive, but I'm also sick, so that will come after I recover a bit more.
  
• I have been assigned to the New Jersey Synod of the ELCA! This synod was one of my top choices, so I'm excited. I think it helps that I'm somewhat familiar with the synod and the people since I did internship there. New Jersey is all I know at this point. I will be in conversation with the Synod staff more about a potential congregation in the coming days.
• I've continued to knit and sew. I've completed two more projects in my sewing class (a bag and a pillow that you can see below), and just have to put the finishing touches on another. Tomorrow is my last class, so I'm excited to see what we'll make. (Also hoping I'm feeling at least a little better by then!) Also, keep an eye out for my next post. I have extra material to make smaller versions of the zippered bag and I'm thinking that since my next post will be my 50th I should do a giveaway.
  

Of Mice and Muslims

I spent this past weekend at Mar-Lu-Ridge, a Lutheran camp and retreat center in Maryland. Along with my friend Steven, I helped lead a retreat for confirmation aged youth on world religions. I am incredibly grateful for opportunities like this that I somehow get to be a part of. I love any chance to work with youth, and the fact that it was at a camp made it extra awesome. Teaching a group of middle-schoolers about the world's religions in one weekend was a rather daunting task, but I think we were pretty successful at giving them an overview of at least some of the major religions, especially focusing on Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. One of the things we emphasized the most over the weekend was the importance of respecting others and their beliefs. I'll be honest, it was difficult to plan this curriculum so that it would be interesting and engaging, but we did our best, and even though the youth weren't as responsive in large group sessions as we would have liked, the feedback we got was good. And it was great to hear them including people of other faiths in the prayers they wrote to share at our closing worship. I think everyone that participated, from the middle school youth attending, to the high school youth who helped lead small groups, to the adult chaperones, and those of us leading, all learned something. And it gave me a chance to apply some of what I've learned from my Muslim-Christian relations class that I'm taking this semester. I could have done without the mice who wanted to hang out in my cabin, but overall, it was a great weekend!