Kontakion

There have been several reasons for the recent hiatus from blogging. Primarily it has been the fact that I have not been allowed to share anything that has been going on, but now I can talk. I have been re-appointed to Emmanuel UMC in Allentown Pa. (Sorry to the blogging folk, they don't have a web page yet but I'll see what I can do :)). This is a tremendous step for my family, we will be moving into the parsonage that is literally attached to this church, my wife will be quiting her job of 6 years, and we will be the farthest away from our family that we have ever been. All in all though it is very exciting. The reason that the move was decided was because I can't keep working two jobs, the possibility of burn out (these are two very high stress jobs) is just to great. Also financially we will be coming out ahead with just my pay at a full-time appointment. I haven't been able to blog also because of the general stress of the last few weeks. I have not had a

This week I finally finished JRR Tolkien's "The Silmarillion" I had tried to read it once years ago in 9th grade, needless to say I didn't make it to far. This time I loved reading it, it was definitely one of the best reads I've done for a long time. Tolkien's imagery and storytelling are perfect making the pages just fly by. One thing I have to talk about as well is Hairspray the movie. My family has been watching this movie a lot over the last several weeks, I recommend it to everyone. It must be noted that this movie deals with some powerful themes of racism and various forms of discrimination but in a playful way. I've also been spending some time cooking lately, partly because I nearly crashed last week. After doing two services and working 30 hours at my other job I needed ways to relax and cooking was where it was at this week. I made homemade marshmallows, as well as a full meal with flavored olive oil, pasta, and desert form my future si