Stac’s Place

It was a good Thanksgiving Day at the Sublett House North.  My family is all here, and we spent a good day together.  I am fighting something, either a migraine or something similar.  Loud noises and busy-ness seem to make things worse.  But that’s the way it goes sometimes, right?  I had to grab a nap this afternoon, but I’m thinking that tomorrow will be better.

I was reminded several times this week that in spite of the present state of the world (wars, economic downtrend, sufferings, hunger…just watch the news) I have much to be grateful for.

*I have a wonderful wife, fabulous kids, and a great family on both sides of the tree.  I can’t say enough about the blessing that my family is to me.  God’s goodness is ever-shining through them.

*my church–I have the privilege of serving alongside an incredible team of Kingdom-minded people, folks who look for ways to go the extra mile, thinking outside the box to bless the community, ready to jump in and join God where he is at work.

*our youth staff–God has put together a top notch team of highly capable, highly committed leaders who want to invest in teenagers, who believe that God wants to move in our midst.  I am humbled and challenged to be part of this group.

*Our God, who continues to love and pursue me, even when I mess things up, miss his leading, and stumble along.  He never gives up on me!

*teenagers–I am continually reminded that the best is yet to come, and almost every week shows me a glimpse of young men and women taking strides to live as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.  Truly, hope springs eternal…

*there are thousands more things, great things, little things…all reminding me that I am a man blessed by the God who Is, the God who loves…

Thank You

With the fam in town (or at least my folks and MawMaw), we’ve decided to head out to the Amish country to do some sightseeing and raise our cultural awareness.  We’re all headed out to Belleville tomorrow, where we’ll drop by the Amish Auction Barn, stop at the mercantile, and sample some of the home cookin’.

Tonight was kind of low-key around the house.  My mom brought another family geneology, so we sat around reading through the family history, back to the 1800’s.  It was pretty fun!  Kim’s a big fan of old-school names–our kids are Levi, Lilly, and Sadie–so she was on the lookout for names for the new baby boy.  There were lots of interesting ones, that’s for sure.  If I was listening well, I believe that my grandmother’s great-great grandfather was a dude named Meredith.  What’s up with giving a guy a girl’s name?  Wait just a second…oh well, at least I have a family precedent, and I don’t stand alone in the family history.

I also got a little Christmas present today.  A few weeks back I pulled out my Parker 51 (PawPaw’s pen) to do some writing, and the whole thing was snapped in two.  Fortunately, the ink didn’t leak into my bag.  There’s a world-class pen restorer (Bruce Martin, Parson’s Pens) in our neck of the woods, and he was able to fix the broken instrument, and swapped out the nib for a finer point, to boot.  So I journaled with PawPaw’s Parker 51 today.

And a good time was had by all…

My family is headed to Happy Valley, so we’re busy making preparations.  I spent a good chunk of the day knocking things off the HoneyDo list, and Kim is up much later than usual, cleaning, doing laundry, and getting the kitchen ready for tomorrow’s marathon baking session.  We actually went out to the tree farm our friends own to cut our Christmas tree Saturday.  Our favorite is the concolor fir–it makes the house smell like oranges!

Ever since I started working in a church we’ve done the Sublett family Christmas at Thanksgiving.  It’s pretty tough to get away at Christmas, so my side of the family gathers for the Turkey, then exchanges Christmas presents.  It’s been a pretty good tradition, I suppose.  The kids and cousins all get to spend some time together, and that’s always a good thing.

My Maw Maw (grandmother, for those of you who don’t speak Southern) is coming.  We weren’t sure she’d be up for the trip.  So we’re really excited.

Our house isn’t spacious by USAmerican standards, and we’ll all be fighting for bathroom space, but it should be fun.

Last year Levi decided that he wanted to join the time-honored tradition of Pennsylvania hunting.  He took (and aced, btw!) his Hunter Safety Education Class, and we started thinking about getting his set up with a rifle for the upcoming deer season.  The start of every season finds the men of our PA clan gathering a couple of days prior to opening day to shoot our guns, making sure that they’re shooting straight.

It didn’t go so well for Levi last year.  The gun was too loud, kicked too hard against his shoulder, and was flat out scary.  He ended up carrying a small shotgun, and slept under a poncho (it was raining) for most of the first morning!  Not exactly what I had in mind…

But this year might be different.  He’s bigger and stronger, and not afraid of the loud bangy stick.

He and I went out to the shooting range yesterday after school.  It was COLD!  There were a few other guys out shooting, and I felt a little pressure to perform, to look like we knew what we were doing…

I shot a couple of rounds, then let Levi take a few shots.  He did really well!  He was teachable, and I was patient.  As the darkness began to overtake the valley, we had time for one more shot each.  My shot was pretty good, but Levi’s was inside the center ring!  What a way to end the shooting!

I am absolutely enjoying my relationship with my son.  He is turning into a young man very quickly, and I am pumped about hm!

Nope, not the classic west coast burger joint (although it’s a good place to grab a burger)  I’m talking about our experience with the Immigration and Naturalization Services today in York, PA.  Kim and I left State College at 5:45 this morning.  It was a stunningly brisk morning–the stars looked like jewels in the clear, cold sky.  We prayed in the driveway, looking at God’s handiwork, thanking him for his amazingosity.

2 hours and 15 minutes later, we pulled into the INS building next to the State Correctional Facility in York, PA.  We passed the home of York Barbells and Harley Davidson on the way.  A nice young lady put our fingers on the snazzy inkless fingerprinter thingy, and less than 30 minutes later, we were out the door.  We hit a Cracker Barrel for some breakfast (my second of the day, just to be honest.)

It was a long way to go to spend very little time doing what we could have done in State College.  But the ride gave us time to talk, to process where we are, how we’re doing in some other areas of life.

I’ve said it before, but I am a man blessed by God’s goodness.  I love my wife.  She is a godly, wise, creative, beautiful, resourceful woman.  She makes life fun, and helps me keep perspective.  She is optimistic, cheerful, and thoughtful.  I am a better man because of her influence.

I am thankful!  And a little tired…

I am sure you’re chomping at the bit to get to York, PA.  Turns out that there’s a plethora of attractions in the greater York area.  Did you know that it’s the Factory Tour Capitol of the World?  Yes, indeed.  It says so right there on the banner…

Kim and I are headed to York, PA tomorrow to get our fingerprints re-done for our adoption.  It was necessary for the Chinese adoption anyway–the powers that be want the prints to be less than a year old.  I thought it was perhaps that fingerprints change (mine have, anyway–I have one less fingerprint than I did last time).  It’s actually so that they know that our criminal activity hasn’t increased since the last time we were printed.  But this will also be necessary for the adoption from Ethiopia, so we’re glad to get this done.

One of the law enforcement officers in our church offered to take us downtown and print us, which would have been awesome!  I was thinking that he could pull up to the church with lights and sirens at max volume, drag us out in handcuffs…any press is good press!  But the agency needs the prints to be electronic, and our local PD only does the old school ink 10 card.  Oh well…maybe he’d still roll the squad car on us!

So we’re of tomorrow to York.  Our appt is at 8, which means we have to leave the house at the crack of dawn.  I’ll be twittering about all the cool factories that we tour.  Maybe I’ll buy a Harley Davidson while we’re there.  You never know…but it’s more likely that we’ll settle for some pretzels.

I told you about our new friends at Ugly Mug Coffee, right?  Connected with John (hi John!) at the Pittsburgh NYWC, Kim ordered the starter kit to raise some funds for our adoption.  The kit arrived last week, and Kim dove right into it.  We took the kit with us on our staff retreat, reading all the info, laughing at the creative packaging, and then we hit this little piece of information.  We found ourselves choking up, tears forming in our eyes…this is not your run of the mill coffee company.

We’ve been talking up the coffee to everyone we meet.  Kim lugged the samples around to a bunch of Bible studies and worship gatherings this weekend.  We brewed some for the folks to taste at the Encore (Sunday night gathering).  I think Kim sent a gazillion emails today.  She tells me that every time she takes the coffee out, she sells 25 bags.  That’s not too shabby!  On top of that, she got an email from someone today saying that they wanted to give us 500 semolians for the new baby fund!  And last week one of our youth staffers slipped a Benjamin into my hand with a handshake, saying that it was for the adoption!  We are so blessed!

We did the math on the way to our staff retreat.  We need to raise $5600 for the next stage of the process.  That works out to 1400 bags of coffee.  If we can get 50 people to sell 25 bags for us, combined with the gifts from others, we’re good to go.

I am at such a different place regarding adoption than I was a few short years ago.  God has totally wrecked my heart for these countless boys and girls, desperately wanting a home, a family…I may write that story later this week.

You may not have heard of Punch Brothers.  Nope, they’re not distant cousins of Mario and Luigi, or super-pro rasslers…they’re a world-class folk/bluegrass/eclectic band fronted by former Nickel Creek mandolin player Chris Thile.  He happens to be dating the niece of a nice lady in our church, who scored a couple of tickets for me and my lovely wife!

The Brothers were simply amazing.  I love bluegrass music and instruments, and the way these guys own their instruments kept me smiling all through the concert.  But this was far from a bluegrass show.  Thile has written a 40 minute, 4 movement long piece that is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.  You can read the review here if you wish.  It’s hauntingly painful and cathartic, with room for each player to express himself.  There are soaring highs and sparse lows.  The piece parallels Thile’s failed marriage, and how that affected his worldview.

To top it off, I got to sit beside an old friend who is now in the luthier business.  His work is stunningly beautiful.  You can see some of his work here.  Incredible.

Levi started it off–the flu bug has officially invaded the Sublett Compound.  He was sick last week.  Today, Sadie stayed home from school.  I didn’t mind staying home with her, and she wasn’t too sickly during the day.  But she’s been bowing at the porcelain throne tonight.  Perhaps chili-hotdogs weren’t the best choice for supper.  I’ll keep you updated on the outbreak.

It’s funny how things spread through families and friends.  Not ha-ha funny, but you know what I mean.

Do you think good things are as communicable?  Things like kindness, generosity, optimism, and love.  Are those things as catchy as the flu?

I sure hope so…

Kim and I got home today from a little jaunt down to Sandy Cove, MD with the rest of Calvary’s staff.  Dan’s back from his sabbatical, and he wanted to take the staff away to say thanks for our hard work in his absence, and to talk about some of the things that he learned while he was sabbaticalizing.

It was a good time away.  We got to relax a little, eat a lot, and (more importantly) hear about how God is moving in the lives of our fellow staffers.  It’s easy to get caught up in all the DOING of the stuff, easy to get isolated from the lives and love of the rest of the team, easy to get my eyes on my stuff and off of the big picture.  This time away was good for re-focusing our efforts as a team.

A few things that Dan shared really touched home with us:

We all need to make sabbath a priority in our lives.  There has to be margin in our lives for play and pray, for God to refill our tanks.  That should look differently as it plays out for each of us, but it’s vital.

We committed to sharing more about how God is speaking to us through his word.  We’re all going to be reading the same passages of scripture, journaling using the SOAP (Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer) method, and sharing what God is teaching us.

Dan shared more about his heart for the Centre Region, and for what our role might be as God continues to lead us, bless us, equip us, and call us to be his people.

I am so glad that Kim got to go with us.  She’s not officially part of the staff, but she is absolutely every bit the youth pastor that I am, and I’m not truly whole without her.  It was good for her to hear the stories that people shared about God moving, to get to know some of the newer people on the team, and to hear Dan cast vision for the future.