Where I live...

I live in the city. Not just any city though. I live in the city people dream about. I live in New York City. I used to live in the suburbs. I miss the stars, the sunsets and rises, the land, and the sounds of rain on a tin roof and bugs at night. As much as I love the suburbs and country, there is also something about the city. The sounds of the subway train, and the feeling....cradle, rock, rock, cradle, rock, rock. The way the snow falls and the wind blows out of Old Man Winter's icy lips. It is a though snow flakes are just something he makes in all of his spare time...individual, beautiful, and unlike New York, but as beautiful as the country.

By Addison Jones

The Return Home

I haven't posted anything about our summer yet. It keeps bothering me. I don't know what to say except it was fantastic. Addison, Parker and I left New York in July to return home for 5 weeks without Brad AND three weeks with Brad. During our five weeks alone, we had a blast. Two weeks were spent at Camp Mikell....our favorite place in the world. One week was spent at my family's lake house with cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. Two weekends were spent in Jasper with grandparents, an uncle, a great aunt, and birthday friends. Then there was time with family friends. We swam and ate and hiked and ate and tubed and ate and laughed and ate and relaxed. Did I mention that we ate? It was a time of what summer is all about.

Brad joined us in mid-August which was a welcome relief. We continued our time with friends and family upon his arrival. It was so nice to be with the ones we love and miss throughout the year. Our trip concluded with Labor Day weekend at camp. We could not have asked for a better way to end our time home. We left with plenty of mosquito bites and a soul that had been replenished with a healthy dose of loved ones. The drive home was uneventful. Three days after we arrived in New York.....school began. We had returned home.

It is weird to type that......we had returned home. As we enter into our second year of seminary, we begin it with a sense of this is our home. Yes, I still say I am going home when I go to Atlanta. But New York City is my home too. It was wonderful to walk into the community and see the faces of the friends and loved ones here. Returning to New York made me realize just how much I missed GTS over the summer. Wherever the summer had taken our friends, I longed to know how everyone was doing. Facebook can only update you with so much.......a conversation while walking to the mailbox is much more enlightening.

As this year began, I realized the growth that had come from the past year. Our family has had to let go of so much in order to be a part of this journey. Yet, we have gained so much by letting go. Experiences, strength, friends, community, etc. have all come from the ability to let go and step into the world of uncertainty. I have greeted this year with with the willingness to explore life through a "new set of eyes". In this exploration, I hope that I can begin to understand the path before our family and before me as I heal from the "blisters" of the past adventures. The journey ahead is never known.... nor is it ever easy. But once I finally make it to the mountain top.....I will be met with an amazing view and a peace that surpasses all understanding!

St. Francis Day

Today, we went to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine for the celebration of St. Francis. This is the 26th year the cathedral has invited anyone to bring their pets into (and I truly mean into)the service for a blessing. This service attracts an estimated 3,000 people. Members of St. Savior (the parish worshipping within the cathedral) are able to reserve places to sit while anyone else gets to wait in line in hopes of getting a seat.

From our perspective, it was a packed house. The building was fuller today than it was last Easter (which breaks my heart). They do this service up big too. The Bishop of New York is there. Several singers and singing groups perform. Dancers lead in the processional. The congregation does motions to a song. Parts of the service are made to sound like wolves and hump back whales are somewhere in the building trying to worship. At the end, the is a procession of animals......anywhere from camels to llamas to reindeer to bunnies to chickens to monkeys....you name it!

And this year, right there on the altar beside the Bishop of New York was my husband Brad. Sorry to be so boastful...but it was cool. AND the one thing he asked for was a picture of him on the altar. Guess what?!?! The camera died!!!! God's funny little sense of humor. So, I have made a little clip of some of the pictures we were able to get. Notice that my view through the service was of a parrot. There is a man holding a goat as well. And Brad is sitting by the Bishop (you can only see the back of their heads!). The videos do not begin to capture the power of the music or the beauty of the dance through out the service. The whole thing was incredible. Enjoy what few shots we were able to get!!

Carlos's Bake Shop (Hoboken, NJ)

So for those of you who are into the show Cake Boss, you know what I am talking about. We ventured beyond the walls of the city to Hoboken to just possibly get a glimpse of Buddy (with no luck). But we did get to see his nephew (Mario's son). After waiting in line for about 20 minutes, we entered the bakery which was a packed house. We got our goods (3 chocolate chip and M&M cookies and one lobster tail) and left to eat them on a pier overlooking the city. Over all impression of the day:

PATH Trian to get there: Two thumbs down (little confusing for first timers)

Wait in Line:

One thumb up and one thumb down
(there were some good laughs while waiting)

Number of people in the bakery: Two thumbs down

Baked Goods: Two Thumbs up

The view of NYC from NJ: Two thumbs up

Watching Buddy's nephew bump into Addison after she took a picture of herself in the bakery mirror: PRICELESS

Rewind (written in July)...

For many reasons, May came and time flew by. With May came the end of the second semester. Finals came. And finals went. Graduation snuck up on me in a way that I was not expecting. The hype around the end of the year was wonderful and festive. There were appreciation dinners and ice cream socials to attend. The reality of the first year being over was something to celebrate. We had made it and it felt good! Then graduation came. With this came a lurking feeling of change. A third of the students were going to move on. Suddenly, we started to see moving vans and began to feel the Close empty out. I found myself grieving the change that was happening ever so slowly. Each day brought one more person moving on to the new journey ahead. Once again, change slapped me in the face. I was faced with the realization that this is not a word that will be eliminated from my vocabulary any time soon. In fact, I am beginning to wonder what part change plays in the process of our journey.

June brought much activity. Addison’s play ran us like nothing before. The two weeks before opening night was filled with rehearsals that began in the late afternoon and ran until 8:00 that night. Dress rehearsals required hair and make-up to be done. She had many late nights getting to bed. Bruce, Kitty, and Stuart arrived the Thursday of opening night only to see Addison briefly while she was whisked off to the performance. Friday, Mom and Dad joined us. With a house full of guest, I was like a ping-pong ball. It went something like this……Take Addison to her performance…… Try to visit with everyone…… Relax some (Ha! Ha!)...... Meet you where…… Take Parker to baseball…… What is for dinner? ...... Go get Addison…… Watch Parker’s baseball game…… Go back to start and repeat…… Needless to say, when I finally got to see the play, it was amazing. Addison did fantastic!! I was once again filled with awe watching her perform. She just seemed so natural on stage.

While Addison was busy with the play, Parker was busy with baseball. He had practices on Friday evenings. Usually, Brad and Parker would bike the 2 ½ miles to the field while Addison and I would take the train (her bike was stolen earlier in the year). On Sunday’s, it was back to the field for the game. His season ended with three hard losses. BUT, he came away from it still loving the sport and looking forward to next year. On the Sunday that all of the parents were in NYC, we ventured down him play his last game. He scored twice and had a fantastic game.

Addison and Parker got out of school for the summer on June 28th. This gave us a few days before we left for Georgia to have fun in the city. We went to the Bronx Zoo and Brooklyn Botanical gardens. Both of these trips with did with a family we have become great friends with. It is so neat to see these parts of the city. They are hidden jewels.

Brad began his CPE (this is where he is a Chaplin in a hospital) in June at Beth Israel. He has enjoyed his group and the experience so far. Due to him having CPE this summer, he will not be coming to Georgia to meet us until mid August. It has been hard for him knowing this is where we are going to be for the summer. But, he has been very good about it.

So here we are……in Georgia! Home sweet home!

The Fourth of July

Wow! It has been too long since I last posted something. I figured that I would post the most recent and work my way backwards through the time warp we have been caught in!

The fourth of July was wonderful!! We began with a bike ride on the third through Battery Park. The weather was great....wind coming off the river and the smell of salt air as you rode. We caught the ferry to Governor's Island where we rode around the island. On this ride you have a great view of Hoboken, NJ and of course the Statue of Liberty. As I rode, I could not help but thinking about how cool it was to start the fourth weekend with Lady Liberty right there. It was a great day that ended with an incredible sunset that we watched from the top of our building.

We woke up early Sunday morning to catch the train to Stoney Creek, Connecticut. Friends of ours family had rented a home for the week. It was amazing! The home was a cute beach home that overlooked the ocean. There was a small private beach for us to enjoy. The kids went canoeing, fishing, and swimming. They had a slip and slide and water guns to play with. Really, the view, the weather, everything about the trip is beginning to make me fall in love with New England! If there was only a church there!!!!

We came home yesterday to rest and have dinner with Liza and Danny. It is like having dinner with family every time we see them. With a great game of Apples to Apples and incredible chip-wich sandwiches, the evening was fantastic.

I hope everyone had a wonderful fourth of July!!

How could I have been so blind to not see you?

Monday night I was able to see Addison perform at a benefit for the first time since she was cast for the part of Violet in Willy Wonka Jr. She and about 15 others were chosen for this event. They were on stage with leading actors and actresses from Broadway. These are performers from the shows Mary Poppins, West Side Story, Oklahoma, Grease, Legally Blonde, Chicago, etc. The list goes on and on of what these actors and actresses have done.

And there was Addison amongst them singing and dancing. I was floored!! How could this be my child? When she was on stage, her face beamed and her eyes sparkled. Of course, I am partial towards her.....but really, she was great! After the first number, Addison came to center stage and introduced herself. Poised and confident, she told of her hopes and dreams.

I guess that I was amazed because it was a little more than two years ago that she was a broken soul. Addison was struggling in school which influenced her self esteem greatly. Watching this process slowly break down our child did so much more than break our hearts in two. It killed her soul and shook her innocences. I remember telling her teacher, tutor, and learning specialist that I was more concerned with Addison's confidence and self esteem than I was with her academics (I know, I still can't believe I said that.....though I still will stand behind it). It was a trying time for us all.

Changes were made to accommodate Addison. Some of these were intentional. Her new school began to help rebuild Addison to the daughter we knew was buried deep within her......the one that was free and loving. The move to NYC was NOT part of our intentional plan. In fact, I had many sleepless nights about what this move would do to her. But by the grace of God, this change has been one where Addison has blossomed. She has come into her own which has been a joy to watch and learn from.

As I was just listening to a song by Third Day, I heard following lyrics:

"How could I have been so blind to not see you? The more that I look the more I find you've led me to the truth......You opened my eyes and helped me to find.....You took my heart and you changed it with your words of life. You took my eyes and you opened them and you gave me sight."

Even though this song is about a person’s relationship with our Lord, it fits our journey with Addison. She has more than opened our eyes as she has stepped into the person God created her to be. Traveling this long road has taught Addison to be a strong, confident, beautiful soul. Two years ago, I would have never predicted that she would be on a stage singing and dancing with stars from Broadway. But there she was in the spotlight….

... and yes, God does have a funny little way of working things out!