Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Kim has a job!

We knew it was only a matter of time. Kim was offered a full-time position with Kid's Place in Lexington, Kentucky. She will be the front desk supervisor beginning next Tuesday. She is getting ready to go in today to go over the benefits program they offer. It's right next to a big Gold's Gym and she has been told that she will have a membership there as a part of her benefits. So, in three months she will be "Body Builder Kim", or maybe not. She has also taken a part-time job at Legacy Gymnastics in Lexington. She will work there a couple of nights a week and Alexis' classes will be 1/2 off that way. It's a huge gym! So all of this couldn't have come a moment sooner. If she didn't get a position in the next two weeks we were looking at a very large Federal loan- that's no good. Alexis went to preschool screening on Monday. It's in Wilmore and its supposed to be fabulous (of course, everyone knows that Jesus lives in Asbury's backyard). It's a public preschool for mostly poor folks like us, so it will be a lot of seminary kids and local kids. We will find out shortly if she has been accepted, which will be very necessary now that Kim has a job. So, we are taking a deep sigh and looking forward to a schedule.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Take the good with the bad

Well, on my way to Starbucks last night I received my first traffic ticket in a long time. I was going through a yellow light (let me emphasize yellow) when someone pulled up on my tail pretty quickly. When I saw the lights go off I thought it would be a good idea to get off the phone with my dad. Could we correlate the cell phone use with the unwise traffic decision . . . . . maybe??? Anyways he slapped a fantastic ticket on me. The fine for running a light is squat, it's the court fees that get you! I'm thinking about pleading my case to the judge- wet roads, fast yellow lights (as opposed to Springfield, MO), poor seminary student. But on a happy note I had an iced zebra mocha at work last night- WOW! It is definitely my new favorite drink. If you haven't had one yet you need to! Maybe I could add that to my court case- I'm hiped on Starbucks. Speaking of Starbucks, every Starbucks in the nation will be closed tomorrow from 6-9pm to learn our new national quality standards for baristas. So, make sure to get that iced zebra mocha before 6pm!

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Book title idea!

Okay, I have a book idea for someone out there to jump all over. I checked out the title on Amazon and no one has published this idea yet. It can be kind of a historical, ideological, cultural book. It's name??? The name is "Affirmational to Transformational: The last 50 years of the Christian Faith". The idea is that it covers the current trend of American (very limited there, but that is where you are probably living) Christianity in the last 50 years. It'll unpack the understanding of the popular movement of Christian faith moving from a confessional movement (you know- saying the prayer, the creed, the affirmation of faith, etc.) to a lifestyle/missional movement. Now, let me emphasize the word "popular". Both of these church styles are still operating within our culture, but one is a response to recent culture and one is a response to culture 50 years ago (regardless of whether they would admit it or not). So, as much as I hate for someone to make yet another post-modern/emerging church book- that's kind of where it would fit. I've got a couple of scripture ideas for it too. The first is from the Old Testament: Amos 5:22- the prophet speaks about God not accepting their burnt offerings but desiring justice and righteousness. The second is from the New Testament: Matthew 21:28-31- the parable of the two sons; one said he would not work and did, the other said he would work and didn't. I'm ashamed to say it took me about thirty minutes to find that last one. So, as much as I'd like to unpack further, I need to study. You can unpack it when you write it:)

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Asbury Chapels are Amazing!

I have attended chapel now, twice a week for two weeks in a row. Wasn't really my plan when I started classes but I just can't help myself. The worshiping community here is amazing! There are three things that make chapel amazing:
1) The people attending- there is such a feeling of awe when you come into worship with hundreds of people who have a heart and a thirst for God. You can feel hearts flowing from voices when they open their mouths. This could be a wrong assumption, but most of the individuals there are singing out of a fullness as opposed of an emptiness. The campus community is well known for that. And even those that are there and empty are looking for a fullness; that's why they are there.
2) Worship style- they really do blended worship well. It doesn't feel pieced together or disjointed. They have a guy on a piano who plays hymns and modern songs incredibly well! He composes music so well that most of the time you can't tell what's a hymn and whats a modern piece. The songs flow very well, the musician sings and plays well.
3) Speakers and Chapel Pastor- We had an incredible speaker today who spoke about prayer and her connection to the Holy Spirit. Tuesday we had a guy who was local who spoke about Mary and her love of Jesus. Everyone they bring in has more of a practical spiritual message as opposed to a dry theological message. And then there is the Chapel Director- JD Walt. He is a very soft spoken man who seems to have a real spiritual sense to him. Whenever he preaches he shows a great deal of insight and faith. Overall, the the speakers are always deep in knowledge and faith encouraging.
Well, now I'm going to go play with Alexis. Our classes were canceled for the afternoon because of the ice storm. A little bit of play time and a whole lot of reading- fun, fun!

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Blaughhh!

So, I guess I'm sick. I don't remember being sick much until I moved to Springfield. Then I started developing headaches and having days where I just feel crappy. I don't know if it's part of getting older, stress or allergy changes? Probably all of those things. I'm not bouncing back well from working the weekend closing shifts at Starbucks. When I go to bed after 1am I generally don't bounce back well. This morning I woke up with a headache and have had one most of the day along with a lot of coughing. It is interesting that the temperature shot up about 16 degrees today, too. Seems like whenever we have big temperature jumps my head aches. I'll be better tomorrow after a full nights sleep. Speaking of blaughhh, Kim wasn't offered the position that she interviewed for three times. We are both pretty bummed. She was offered a position with another company here in Nicholasville, unfortunately it starts out as part-time and not a whole lot of money. She interviews with a placement agency tomorrow morning for positions that guaranty a little more money than what she was offered with the other company. So, the saga continues. We all went to a $1.50 movie tonight to break free of the homestead. We saw the VeggieTales- The Pirates that do Nothing. It was pretty good- I enjoyed it, maybe you will too?

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

A scatter minded persons dream come true- OneNote

So I recently bought a Sony Vaio laptop from someone at Asbury that was used but only 8 months old. It came with Microsoft Office, Student Version. One of the software products that comes with Student Office is called "OneNote". OneNote is a program that is like Word on crack, with tabs! The tab system allows you to keep every document open, organized and editable in a few clicks. You can basically organize everything in the following way: Theme>Sub theme>Page. So I have a theme set up for Seminary/Spring '08. Off of that I have all of my classes each as it's own sub theme (ie.- Concise Greek, Methodist Polity, Matthew, etc.). And then off of each I have my lectures listed as their own pages off to the side (ie.- 2/12/08, 2/14/08, 2/19/08). I also have the syllabus listed as the first page of every sub theme. This has also been great because I am blitzed by ideas all the time and have always struggled with finding a way to keep and organize ones that I like. So, now I have a "Church Planting" theme folder. I have it broken up by the following sub themes: ideas, resources, events, rules to live by. Since I just attended a Wesleyan Church Planters Event I made a page off of "Events" named "Wesleyan Church Planters Event" and took all my notes there. So, instead of accessing "File", then "Open" and then opening the file "Church Planting" it's all one the page in front of you. So, you go to the left and click "Church Planting", go to the top of the page and click "Events" and go to the right of the page and click "Wesleyan Church Planters Event". Now that I have thoroughly confused you, let me just say I highly recommend Microsoft OneNote to anyone who could use a software system that will organize and compile all of your thoughts, ideas and work! I think it would be invaluable to anyone who is writing a book, in marketing, enjoys chaos journaling (yes, I made that up) or is in ministry and enjoys brainstorming. It has tons more features that make the software three times as user friendly as any other Microsoft Office software program. So, two thumbs up!!

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

D-Day over, but not over

Well, it's been a long day. It didn't help that I got to bed late. I closed at Starbucks and got home around 12:30pm. Then if took me until 2am to fall asleep. And in my anxiousness for the day I woke up two or three times until I finally got up around 8am. My classes were great, though! I was very impressed with my professors. My "Pastoral Crisis and Intervention" class was like listening to a heart wrenching sermon for over an hour! He used several different stories, songs and videos that ripped your heart out for those who have experienced loss in their lives- very powerful and very well done. Once again, at Asbury there is a continual focus to make what you learn ministry applicable from the very get-go! So, that was my day. Kim had a good interview and was told that she would receive an offer or not on Friday. So, once again, we wait. She was told that they now have another store that has an assistant manager opening, so now they need three. Kim was very nervous about the interview and is relieved that it's over. As for Alexis, school was canceled today because of snow and ice. So, maybe that'll happen tomorrow. Thank you for everyone who has been praying for us- we're getting closer!

Sunday, February 10, 2008

D-Day for the Voigts

A lot happens for us this Tuesday. I start classes at Asbury, Kim has her third interview with Kroger for an Assistant Manager Position and we turn in some initial paperwork for Alexis to hopefully attend Nicholasville Preschool. So we would appreciate any prayer support we can get for Tuesday the 12th. I got my first taste of what a slammed Starbucks tastes like yesterday. I worked an 8 1/2 hour shift and it only calmed down in the last 30 minutes. It was nutso! So, if you live in Nicholasville and ordered a tall, decaf, skinny, cinnamon dolce latte and received a venti, triple, breve (also known as 1/2 and 1/2) mocha then I apologize that you gained 5 pounds and didn't fall asleep until the sun came up.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Church Planters Event with the Wesleyans

The first day of the Wesleyan church planters event was pretty good today. They shared a lot of helpful books, websites and resources. All of the presenters today were very intense. Not so much a serious intenseness as much as a hyper intenseness. At times they were serious intense, but mostly hyper- but good presenters all the same. It was good to hang out with my Wesleyan (denomination) brothers and sisters. The Wesleyans seem to be pretty focused church planters. I would have never known that because I don't know of many Wesleyan churches in Missouri. I'm sure they are there, I just don't know of many of them. I go back tomorrow to close it out. I'll have to list all the resources and most important statements over the weekend sometime. On a family note, Kim and Alexis worked on Valentines today. Evidently Alexis left the kitchen for a few minutes while Kim was doing something. Kim found her in the living room cutting her hair with a pair of scissors they used on the Valentines- not a happy mommy. I guess part of their plans tomorrow include some time at a hair salon to trim up- since Alexis focused her cutting focus only on one side.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Crazy Storms!

Family and friends have been checking in on us because of the crazy storm activity here in Kentucky. We had an actual squall come through here yesterday along with a few tornadoes. It did a lot of destruction but fortunately we didn't incur any loss in Nicholasville. We have more high winds moving through tonight and the temperature dropped about 20 degrees this afternoon. So, no more 65 degree days:( We went to an indoor swimming pool today so Alexis could utilize her built in fins and gills. She is a swimming machine- 2 1/2 hours straight. Kim and I are pretty exhausted tonight and looking forward to a full night of sleep. Kim has the sniffles tonight and is starting to feel a bit under the weather. Hopefully just a short term deal. Tomorrow I start a two day church planting seminar with the Wesleyan church. Hey, I'm not picky- any information is good information. I'm sure I'll have more to share on it over the weekend.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Newport Aquarium Visit

Last week we took a great trip to Newport Aquarium- one hour away from Nicholasville, right outside of Cincinnati Ohio. I uploaded the pictures on Facebook. Here is a link that will allow anyone to check out our pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=90097&l=060ff&id=527555092

Monday, February 4, 2008

One month as Kentucky residents!

Well, it's been over a month now. We moved here to Nicholasville, Kentucky at the end of December. It's taken a while to get adjusted to all the changes that come with moving. Transferring everything over from Missouri to Kentucky has been immensely time consuming but has almost come to an end. I received a job at Starbucks pretty quickly after moving. They offer health benefits at part-time which made it pretty alluring to me; not to mention free drinks and coffee beans. I didn't sleep for the first week of training. I have to put in three months with the company before benefits kick in- one down, two to go. Kim has had several interviews with one company and has a third next week. On the day of her third interview I start classes and Alexis goes to a local preschool screening- it's a big day. We went to the Cincinnati-Newport Aquarium last week. I'll upload some pretty cool pictures and movie clips of it later. I'm looking forward to sharing my thoughts on my Asbury classes and Voigt family life here in Kentucky!