Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

Last week, on March 22, 2010, my grandmother, Margaret Edith Meyers Coonce, went home to be with her Lord. After a very short battle with cancer, it was time, and she was ready.

As our extended family gathered to share memories and celebrate her life, my sister, aunt and I took on the task of creating three photo memory boards, to tell just a little bit of her life story. It was difficult, but pretty therapeutic. And lots of fun to see Grandma's life in pictures. 

Here are a few of my favorites:

Margaret Edith Meyers
High School Graduation Picture

I love this picture, and how much I can see my mom in her. Grandma was a beautiful person her whole life, and never lost this smile and her zest for life.

Margaret & Charles Coonce; Linda, Jim & Tim
Easter, 1965 (?)

This one I love for several reasons: the pink coat, the closed eyes, my Grandpa's flat-top haircut, my mom's amazing hat and glasses, and my uncle Jim's open fly. Classic 60's Easter photo.

Charles & Margaret Coonce

Grandpa and Grandma, in more recent times. Aren't they just so cute?

Margaret Edith Meyers Coonce
One of the last pictures taken of her at home
March 2010

Even until the very end, Grandma was smiling and full of joy. My last conversation with her was about the Sunday sermon I had just heard, and music. Grandma's faith and the many ways she showed her love for our family will never be forgotten.

The Summer in Many Parts

First there was the part where I was really busy getting ready for Annual Meeting, and then actually going to Annual Meeting. (See previous post re: the fun and excitement that awaited me in St. Paul!)

The next part was a bit more relaxing, and a different kind of fun.

My roommate accompanied me on a trip across the Midwest to see my family in Kansas. We hung out in Lawrence for a long weekend with my sister and her family, including my two-and-a-half year old nephew. This adventure included a petting zoo where K got to feed some baby goats...

...and lots of moments of him just being super cute:

The next part found me back in Chicago with an extra day off work, in which I exercised my love of vegetables and support local producers at the Lincoln Square Farmer's Market. Those mushrooms are DELICIOUS.

I do seriously love eating food produced by people I can actually meet and talk with about how they farm their land. Makes for tasty meals, too!

This next part is not really about me... but it's the part where my friend and co-worker, Liz, found herself being side-hugged by Illinois' ousted governor, the infamous Blago, photographed, and published in the RedEye:

I find that part pretty hilarious, given who Liz is, and that Blago just randomly grabbed her out of a crowd to pose with.

The next part was extremely excellent:

a short, but sweet, visit from Emily, Fred, and little Dean Betcher. They rolled into town late last Friday, on their way to Michigan from visiting our other Emily in Minnesota. We stayed up too late, then got up early to a breakfast of biscuits and grave with good friends. Saturday morning I headed down to the John G. Shedd Aquarium with the Betchers, to take in all the aquatic life therein. I hadn't been to the Shedd in quite a long time, and thoroughly enjoyed myself in the company of good friends (and thousands of other Chicagoans).

Then there was the part with more good friends at Ravinia for a Chicago Symphony Orchestra tribute to Bernstein, Copeland and Gershwin:

(the company of great friends, like Christin, makes adventures worth it)

(Jon was there, as well. He's pretty serious about his Hostess Cupcakes.)

(with the always-lovely Ann-Marie)

Many more parts of the summer to come yet, I'm sure, including a second Ravinia visit, a trip to see family, and a brother's wedding. But so far, the parts are adding up to a great summer!

Good Weekend, Great Friends

This weekend was my second Memorial Day weekend in a row spent in Michigan to celebrate the weddings of former roommates. And, as it was last year, this event was spectacularly fun!

Lindsey, John, and their families were fantastic hosts, the wedding was beautiful, the reception incredible (best mashed potatoes ever!), and the dancing nearly insane. Just as weddings in our crowd of friends should be.

Lindsey & I at the reception

My good friend Jessie has come to Chicago for the month of June to sing in an opera program, and was able to make the trip up to G.R. on Saturday to join the festivities. Everything is more fun with Jessie!

Peter, Jessie, and myself

I was also able to spend a lot of time with my friends Stephanie and Devon, who were married last Memorial Day weekend in Michigan, and now live in Grand Rapids. They were fantastic hosts, for me and many of our other friends. Devon, as always, introduced us to some of Grand Rapids' great beers and brew pubs.

Stephanie & I at the reception

On Life Without a Television

This evening my roommate and I realized the extent to which we really do turn to the television for our continual entertainment in the evenings. Now that we are without one, and will be for a couple of weeks, we don't quite know what to do with ourselves. Talk to each other?!? Go outside and take a walk?!? Read a BOOK?? All of these shocking, new-fangled past-times.

I joke, of course. But now that we have rearranged not only our apartment and roommate situation, but our methods of entertainment (even if only for a brief couple of weeks), the question really does become: what is it that we have been doing with ourselves? How much have we come to rely on the television to fill the space and silence of our apartment? And how much can we change that pattern in the next couple of weeks so that when one of those big black boxes comes back into our home, it does not take over our lives?

I hope the answer to that, at least for myself, is very much.

(We can't be too proud of ourselves, I must admit. We do each have a laptop, a wireless internet connection, and little shame in keeping up with our favorite television programs online.)

Sawyer, & Oscar Movie #3

First of all, a big welcome to the world to Sawyer, the brand-new son of Sarah & TK! The fabulous friends of mine from both work and church are going to be amazing parents to this precious baby boy!

As Sawyer was adjusting to life outside the womb, I viewed my third of the 10 Best Picture nominees with my roommate, Lindsey, last night. THE BLIND SIDE, starring Sandra Bullock, is a touching story about a family that just does the right thing.

I guess I should start by saying that I really am a sucker for high school sports movies and television shows. Among the many I have seen, this stands out as maybe some of the best acting, but its story is similar to so many others. It is a feel-good film, where the characters confront major economic, social, and racial obstacles, but a young man's outstanding athletic ability opens doors for him. In this case, though, I would like to believe (as the film tries to prompt) that doing the right thing for this young man is not only the choice because of his on-field abilities. Instead, it is just the right thing to do. And, for that, I would say it is worth watching.

(And, who doesn't love seeing a bunch of awkward, real-life football coaches "acting" on the big screen?)

Check out Wikipedia for a little more information on the real story of Michael Oher.

Feasting on Cookies

Today at work, several office mates and I participated in the age old tradition: the holiday cookie exchange.

We each baked a few dozen and brought them to the offices. After decorating our conference room with candles to bring out the holiday spirit, we feasted on some of each kind of cookie together, and then filled our tins with a variety of goodies to take home. A great feast for the holidays!

I made my favorite cookies, which only come out during the holidays: Double-Chocolate Snowquakes. These simple, chocolatey treats are tiny, but irresistible. The best kind, in my opinion.

Double Chocolate Snowquakes
1.5 cups flour
.75 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
.75 teaspoon salt
.5 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
.75 cup dark brown sugar
.25 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1.75 cups chocolate chips
1 cup powdered sugar

* Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt; set aside
* Cream butter until smooth; add brown and granulated sugars and beat until smooth
* Add eggs and vanilla to butter/sugar mixture
* Gradually mix dry ingredients into butter mixture; mix until a soft dough forms
* Stir in chocolate chips
* Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour

* Heat oven to 350 degrees; line baking sheets with parchment or waxed paper
* Roll chilled dough into tablespoon-sized balls; coat liberally with powdered sugar
* DON'T shake off excess powdered sugar, and place on lined baking sheets 1-2 inches apart
* Bake until cookies are puffed and cracked, and slightly firm to the touch (10-12 minutes)
* Cool completely (will become more solid as they cool), and ENJOY!
* These store well at room temperature for about a week. Dough can be chilled/frozen longer; if frozen, thaw in refrigerator until soft enough to work with.

** Thanks to Sarah for the great pictures she took of our feast!

1 Year In

This week marked the end of my first year of employment at the main offices of the Evangelical Covenant Church. It is semi-baffling that I have been here a whole year already. Much has happened...

• I have learned a completely new position in a brand-new work environment, with great colleagues who have become good friends
  
• I have traveled to work events in Wisconsin, Michigan, and the outer-regions of Illinois (with a trip to Atlanta coming up shortly)
  
• I have (almost) completed 10 more semester hours of graduate work at NPTS
• My nephew was born 11 months ago (wowzers!)
• I have been to 5 weddings of my good friends
  
• I have moved out of the basement apartment
• I have met and mingled with more Covenant pastors than I thought was ever possible
• I have eaten, with my colleagues, at Tapas Barcelona (twice), The Cheesecake Factory, Semiramis, Tre Kroner (on several occasions), Subway (quite regularly), The Pit (until I stopped eating meat), and a variety of catered meals of everything from Chicago-style pizza to ARA wraps
• I have encountered some great new friends and joined a new church
• I have baked more loaves of bread, cookies, muffins, brownies, and other manners of sugary goodness than I can possibly count.
  

While this may not seem like a long enough list, it sure has occupied my time over the last 12 months. A few of my favorite photos, as well:

Always the crazy times.

Along with renewing my love of the written word in the past month or so by actually reading books routinely, it has been a busy season. Things are kicked into high gear at work, and many wonderful things are happening with friends and family. A pictorial tribute of some recent events:

1. Steph & Devon are engaged!
These are two very dear friends of mine, and I am very excited to be a part of the nuptials next May. :)




2. Amanda is married!
Bulldog, as she is known only to me, has been my roommate/protector for the last two years. She married a wonderful man in April, and we celebrated in early May with a great reception downtown. Woo hoo!




3. Great quality time with Aune before she headed back to A-K for the summer.
I love this woman! I will miss her greatly this summer, and am so glad she is coming back to Chicago in the fall. (I'm also a wee bit jealous she gets to be at Bible Camp for a month...)




4. Emily. ELM. Emann. And orange vests. What else is there to say?
(Or, "I wanna Walk & Roll all night!")
We spent an excellent Sunday morning downtown volunteering for an American Cancer Society event, fantastically put together by our dear friend Carissa and a gaggle of volunteers. It was crazy, and I'm sporting a sunburned face. But it was a great cause, I made some new friends, and I wore an orange vest all day. What more can a girl want?




4. One final laugh-fest with jswenson & AMOF.
j is leaving tomorrow for Ecuador, for an indefinite amount of time. Ann-Marie has recently taken a new job that takes her farther than 1 block away from me every day. Both changes are good, but also a little bittersweet for me. I love how this picture is pretty typical of the three of us... j is weird, Ann-Marie is normal, and I am laughing (though the red face is from a sunburn, and not just my normal hysterics).



A good, though slightly exhausting, beginning to this hesitant spring season. Now for the next 10 days of moving to a new apartment...

To those who inspire...

I received an email from a good friend, the kind of thing I generally glance over, but don't give a second thought. It was a "friends" survey. You know, a series of fairly silly questions that you answer and send to all your friends, in hopes they really are your friends, and respond in-kind. As if that is the definition of friend or something: 'willing to fill out stupid online survey forwards.'

Well, my friend (who really is a friend) sent me this, with 38 questions in it, under the title "Can you tell I have no motivation?" I had to laugh; it was exactly the same way I was feeling that afternoon. And because it was a simple diversion, I indulged the time it took to consider the questions and send my own answers to some friends.

Question 1: What is your occupation.

Typical; I have an obnoxiously long "official" title, so I delighted a little bit in the nearly 20 words I wrote in answer, and giggled at the people who would have to read it 7 times to figure out what in the world I had written.

Question 9: Favorite drink.

Coffee, of course. Do people drink other things?

Question 19: Hugs or kisses?
Question 20: Cherry or blueberry?

And so they went. Silly questions. Until number 29: Who inspires you?

I have a prepared answer to this question, which I have been giving for many years now, and it is still true. My sister is a phenomenal woman; she inspires me to be a better, more hard-working individual, and to believe that things can change in the world.

But the more I thought about it, I realized that I cannot just have one answer to that question. The more I considered who is inspirational to me where I am in my life right now, I knew that the answer had to be bigger than one person. So I named two more people, who represent both the ways they, as individuals, inspire me, but also represent the sort of life that is inspirational to me, and what I aspire to.

M & B astound me; I'm not sure I have known them long enough to admit how much I just want to sit next to them, to absorb who they are by osmosis, and strive to exhibit just a little bit of what they have become in my own life.

On the very most surface level, they have just about the coolest job ever. After serving for more than 20 years as missionaries in South America, they have joined the denominational administration of our church (for whom I also work) as directors of missionary personnel. Basically, they fly all over the world visiting, supporting, and encouraging missionaries. In about a week they are going to Africa to visit several countries and fellowship with a gathering of African missionaries from all over the continent.

M & B are also leaders in my own congregation. As two of a small number of "elders" they automatically (and rightfully) hold seats of wisdom and guidance for many with whom they worship. And they do so with gentleness, compassion, and grace; greeting all with a hug and a holy kiss, taking a true interest in the well-being of our church family.

I have been blessed to become good friends with M & B's son, and experience their expression of family a bit more personally. They have raised three boys into men, all of whom exude an sincere passion for ministry and families of their own, and care for their friends and family in a way I believe to be quite rare these days. I love to be present when they are simply being their family, with no pretense and a welcome for all who would join them.

I ran into M & B at our annual pastor's conference a couple months ago, in our professional setting, and was introduced not as a colleague, but first as a friend. It was kind of awkward, as I was in complete "professional" mode, having just joined the offices. I chuckled when I relayed the episode to their son, who looked at me very seriously and said, "Well, of course they introduced you that way. Why would they care more about your job than who you are?"

This, I think, is where I am going with all of this. M & B have, perhaps unintentionally, become surrogate parents to many young people around the world. And they have done so with only the utmost humbleness, love, and care for the people with whom they deal, taking care not about a person's role but about the individual.

And I find great hope in believing there are many others like M & B out there, living quietly the paths laid out for them, adventurous and windy as they may be. Though they may never read this, I thank M & B for the life they model in the midst of loud and exhausting busyness. I thank God for the blessing of being a small part of their lives, and for the part they may unknowingly play in mine.

***

Edit: When talking briefly about this post, and life in general, with my good friend I realized that I needed to make an addition to the list of people who inspire me. Ann-Marie demonstrates an amazing amount of wisdom in everyday life, and patience in situations where I would go crazy. She has become a dear friend, without whom I would go even crazier than I do on a normal basis. Thanks, AMOF, for all that you do and all that you are!

The Roommate Reunion Continues

I was blessed in college to share living spaces with some amazing women. As roommates and close friends we shared shoes, sweaters, dishes, dresses, food, (lots of) drink, bathrooms, and (sometimes) beds - with a surprisingly small amount of conflict. In the years since college we have come to appreciate that those relationships, though not always easy, created bonds that are not easily broken. And we're kind of addicted to each other. Though we (have) live(d) in Alaska, Canada, Washington, California, Minnesota, Illinois, Washington, D.C., Massachusetts, and Georgia there is an understanding that the distances will not separate us for more than about a year at a time. (And that email conquers all!)

The Roommate Reunion Tour, as we like to call it, made a stop in Chicago a couple weekends ago, bringing Julia from California and Carrie from D.C. to party-hearty with myself, Carissa, and Stephanie. (Added bonus: Carrie brought her man, Stephen, who is altogether fabulous, so we could finally meet him!) Some photo proof:

I took a vacation day from work to spend it with Julia eating nearly everything on the menu at Tre Kroner and making the hike downtown to the Field Museum to take advantage of Free February. It had been years since I had been to the Field, and I was not disappointed.

The famous Sue. She is pretty cool. And did you know that this is not her actual skull/face/jaw that is mounted on the skeleton? The real deal is in the balcony above the skeleton, in a case, because it weighs something like 400 pounds and could not be held up by the skeleton alone.

The museum was followed by the mandatory trip to our old watering hole, the Claddagh Ring, for some drink, word games, jukebox music, and all sorts of photos.

Yay, Stephanie!

The next day we grabbed Carissa and headed back downtown to the Art Institute, which was also free during February (and every Tuesday all year long!).

"Eve After the Fall" by Rodin. I love this sculpture. It is captivating.

We headed over to Millennium Park to do the "tourist" thing, which neither Carissa nor I do very often.

There was a fantastic Chicago sunset going on behind us, though it is hard to see in the photo. This was the first weekend I had spent much time downtown, and especially outside, in several months, and I was reminded how great this city is: it is easy to forget there is so much more to Chicago than North Park and Lincoln Square; and it is easy to forget how beautiful the city can be in the dead center of a dreary winter.

If you can believe it, this is the first time I've taken pictures at Cloud Gate (or "The Bean" as it is commonly known.)

During February, Millennium Park featured an art exhibit called "Modern Ice." These multi-colored sheets of ice sculptures were awesome looking - and were never the same two days in a row!


We warmed up with some Chari-tea at Argo Tea. Not only is this a tasty treat alternative to coffee, a portion of the profits from the Chari-tea drink at Argo are currently being donated to Carissa's fund raising event for the American Cancer Society.

Sunday afternoon we went out to Schaumburg to meet up with Carrie before she headed back to our nation's capital.

Here's one for you, Becca

For about 4 months in the middle of 2007 I enjoyed a daily email conversation with my best friend, Becca, who lived in Minnesota at the time. We both sat in front of computers to do the majority of our work, all day long, and decided that there was no reason NOT to email continuously. And, before long, I decided that each morning in my first email to her, I would include a picture of myself, taken with my iMac PhotoBooth at my desk, so she would never forget what I looked like. [So amazingly self-centered...but she loved it.] Normally, I sent realistic photos... but one cannot always resist the crazy photo effects our friends at Mac built into our computers (as evidenced above). Occasionally, other things/people also made it into the daily photos. Coffee mugs were a frequent guest.

This daily routine stopped when Becca and her husband abandoned the Minnesota life for the far west coast of Washington state, and Becca no longer has a full-time job that puts her in front of a computer all day long. Now our frequent conversations also come with the cost of cell phone minutes, and larger chunks of time. But I am happy to make those "sacrifices" for her!

Today, on the eve of Thanksgiving, I am reminded of the grace and joy that this particular friend continues to pour into my life, and how much I miss our daily email conversations. I give great thanks to God for her continued friendship, even across the (many more) miles.

Who would you send a photo to every day, if you could?

Confessions of a Professional Wedding Guest

I have decided that I will write a book.
"Confessions of a Professional Wedding Guest: Living the single life when all your friends are getting married."
I think it will be a bestseller.

The occassion for this decision? Another wedding this past weekend.
Now, I don't mean to sound so negative about it all; it really was a gorgeous, inspired event. One of the best I've been to in a while. The trouble is, I've been to A LOT of weddings in the past year, with many more still to come in the next. As the single-girl guest, I've learned quite a few things about entertaining myself when all my dating/engaged/married friends are dancing up a storm, reminiscing about their own weddings, or speaking sweet nothings to each other about that day still to come in their relationship when they, too, will get to wear those beautiful clothes, plan an entire day of celebration in which they will be the center of attention, take a fabulous trip where there are no expectations of visiting family, buy all sorts of awesome new flatware and draperies... you get the idea. For those of us left in the crowd (let's face it - when we're at North Park weddings, chances are, we're a bunch of single women, as we all know that 70:30 ratio is NOT working in our favor), there is hopefully a buffet meal and several other singles with which to stare wistfully at all the happiness surrounding while we secretly wish that someone would go ahead and trip over the bride's excessively long train straight into the table holding the cake that is adding pounds to your hips by mere proximity.

Come on - you know you'd laugh.

Reading this you probably think I am an angry, bitter single woman. Far from the truth, my friends. I'm having a great time...that is, when I'm not shopping for shower gifts, wedding gifts, gift wrap, and congratulatory cards... But, please, don't read this as a deterrent to inviting me to your own nuptuals. I will gladly celebrate with joy the days when my friends declare their commitments and love for one another. Just don't be shocked when I'm sitting there taking notes - I have a book to write, after all. ;)

And, for the record, if I pray I never again use the phrase "awesome new flatware and draperies."

----

In all seriousness:
A great big congratulations to Maria & Brian, who tied the knot last Saturday!

A Lazy Saturday

It is now five minutes until 5 o'clock on Saturday afternoon. I have successfully done just about nothing since I woke up at 8 o'clock this morning. Well, I guess that's not totally true. I made and ate breakfast. I watched a lot of stupid television. I searched for some things online. I ate some lunch and some fudge. I washed and put away some dishes.

But, nevertheless, the list of things I did NOT do is quite long:
- go to the store to get supplies for tomorrow's lia sophia party
- mop the kitchen and bathroom floors
- generally clean the house before tomorrow's soiree
- read
- work out
- pick up my Harry Potter book
- call my sister or mother
- laundry
- take out the trash and recycling
- watch "born into brothels" (like i need to before my roommate sends it back to netflix on monday)

It is days like this where I am a little annoyed at myself for not even leaving the house, but also oh-so-thankful that I have some days like this after the craziness that my life seems to welcome.

Some recent examples:

Things of the Night @ NPU: Meghann, Emily, Megan
(What they don't tell you is possible with a night setting on a digital camera and large, open spaces in the city.) This photo is just one of many examples of what is possible.

Taste of Chicago 2007: All day in the sun to "see" John Mayer "live" ... or on a giant screen so the back 40 of the crowded and crazy event can get a visual to go with hearing the concert. This, of course, is not actually John Mayer on the screen, but his openers who were FABULOUS Latin guitarists.

Garcias, over and over again.
This particular margarita celebration was to welcome Kerri and her friend Whitney to Chicago for a conference downtown. Good times here, to be followed by a trip to the Claddagh, which was filled with more middle-aged softball players than I ever dreamed possible to get in there.

So many roommate reunions, all the time.
Stephanie, Carissa, Kerri, Me

Sangria Sunday:
Emily joins Steph, Ker, myself, and Carissa at Carissa's Sangria Sunday party at which we all wore colors to match the fruit, wine, and guacamole. Also present, though not pictured, were some boys and a mean game of Catchphrase (which, I must add, we ladies won!).

Not to be outdone by Sunday, Monday brought a rather elaborate breakfast which was well-chronicled on film...

...a trip to Lincoln Park Conservatory where Kerri reminded us that Senior Pictures ARE cool...

...to the zoo, where Emily drank like an elephant...

...and where we confirmed that I am not much taller than a polar bear.

Monday night meant one more reunion, this time with Rachel Bergstrom coming down from the land of Mother Mayo to make us all laugh hysterically.

The best look of Luke ever (outside the best Monday-night-spot ever).

But what could be a better way to end this display of nutso than a picture of me and a squinty-eyed Carissa - don't judge, she can't help it! Flashes ARE frightening!