Matt and I always go to chapel early on Wednesdays because we love to listen to the choir rehearse before worship begins. It's our favorite part of the week.
I mean, isn't this the face of joy??
It takes an act of God to get everyone to simmer down so chapel can begin, and professors are the worst.
Here's Kelsey with Skip (Assistant Dean of Seminary Students) who isn't nearly as clueless as he looks in this picture.
Sure, Kevin looks cute as a button when he's standing next to Kelsey...
...but he's actually a maniacal double-fisted pastry eater with a ziploc baggie full of cash shoved in his armpit.
The backpacks sit so patiently while the Presbyterians have lunch. They're like children waiting to be picked up by their parents after daycare.
This week's activity at Tables - racing to see who could finish the placemat puzzles first. Past experience has shown that we can't be trusted with MadLibs.
Snapping surprise pictures of Matt isn't nearly as amusing to me when they actually come out good. I don't know why he puts up with me.
Les (Professor of Discipleship and Teaching) is an all-around cool guy and TOTALLY the bee's knees even though he threatened to take my camera away from me for using flash photography in the middle of his lecture. (But I'm sure he was chuckling on the inside.)
Each month the Company of New Pastors meets for dinner at the home of Bonnie Sue Lewis(Professor of Mission and Evangelism). One of the highlights is getting to play with her dog, Jessie. He's such a good doggie that he almost makes me want to get a pooch of my own. But then I get over it.
I'm finding that one of the joys of carrying a camera with me everywhere I go is that I often find "surprises" when I download the pictures each week. For instance, I didn't take this completely flattering picture of Ryan...
...nor did I take this picture of Gary (although it's a keeper!)...
...nor did I take this picture snapped by Shakey the Cameraman. I suspect that Matt is the prankster behind these candid shots, but since he's taking them with a hot pink camera with a sparkly wrist strap, who is the joke REALLY on??
Apparently this series of pictures is an ode to the tongue.
God calls all kinds.
Even without knowing what Gary and Matt are talking about, I am entirely positive that this conversation is completely decent and in order.
The best part of the week was a surprise visit when my BFF Barb came tripping through town. Not only were Barb and I roommates for two years, we even shared the same bathroom and occasionally - though entirely unintentionally - the same towel. Barb is proof that there is not only life, but JOY after seminary!
Have I mentioned lately how much I love this choir? 'Cause I do.
As Elissa and Jordan demonstrate, chapel is often a family affair.
Rupe, launching the sleeve from my coffee cup to the other side of the room. But I must say, he had excellent form.
Kate and me in Forgiveness class.
This is Monte. At one point I realized that my camera was missing only to discover that Monte had swiped it and was snapping pictures down the front of his shirt. Oy vey.
But how serious can any class be when Dr. Phil is in charge?
Yeah, yeah...I know he's cute and he makes you want to bundle him up and take him home with you. But then you have to feed him and water him, take him for walks, get him house broken, scoop up the messes he leaves in the yard...
When Itsy and Bitsy decided to go on a four-day hunger strike this week, I threatened to replace them with this guy - a hairless rat that's for sale at PetSmart. Though he's trying desperately to avoid the paparazzi in this picture, he's actually quite personable.
He's got an interesting sort of charm about him, huh?
But I decided to keep the hamsters since I had already signed them up for the hamster races this weekend. Here we see the girls with Morgan and Hannah, their official "handlers" for the day. Check out the woman in the background with the bullhorn. I need a job with a bullhorn. I wonder what kind of job would require large groups people to listen captively while I talked into some form of amplification device for, like, an entire morning at a time? Hmmm...lemme think...
The girls stayed limber in their holding corrals (aka shopping baskets) while we waited for the races to begin. At one point, Itsy got so jazzed that she busted out of her pink ball, but she quickly realized that she was in the land of giants and voluntarily re-entered her ball.
Look at tiny little Bitsy on the end. How, I ask you, how were my little girls suppose to keep up with those enormous rats?? (Yes, they really were rats.) Still, the girls brought their mighty fighting spirits and each came in 2nd in their individual heats.
And like all great sporting events, it was followed by a trip to Dairy Queen.
Don't worry, the racers got a treat, too. This hamster "candy bar" should keep them busy for a while.
This is my new Sunday morning "home" - the First Baptist Church in Iowa City, just across the street from the University of Iowa campus. Imagine that...a divorced woman preaching in a Baptist church. And not just any divorced woman, but me. God's humor, huh? It means that I spend three hours on the road each Sunday, so even when I'm not traveling, I'm still traveling. There is, indeed, no rest for the wicked, my friends.
