The Inviter

Earlier this week I asked Cordelia if she'd like to have another sleep-over. She was quite excited! 

One thing about Cordelia, she is an inviter.  That's a word, right? She loves to include others in fun times. She kept inviting so many people to her birthday party her mom had to finally tell her she couldn't invite any one else. I happened to be there when she said to her Sunday School teacher, "Sorry you can't come to my party. My mom said I can't invite anyone else." 

Maria said that last week, when Cordy was a flower girl in a wedding, she invited people all over town to come to the wedding!

Well, when we were going through the line at Subway earlier this week, Cordelia invited the sandwich artist person to come to our sleep-over. That wasn't at all awkward or anything. 

Anyway, we are having our sleep-over and even as I type this, we are watching Tangled. I don't want to use my precious granddaughter time blogging so for now, I'll just leave you with a photo from this afternoon.

OK, one more.

I Will, and I Ask God to Help Me

Thank you all for indulging me as I documented the celebration we had for Mike's 25th ordination anniversary. I also thank you for the kind comments.

When Mike was asked if he accepted the call to the ministry of word and sacrament he said, 

I will, and I ask God to help me. 

He agreed that the holy scriptures are the word of God.  When he was asked if he promised to preach and teach in accordance with the holy scriptures his words were, 

I will, and I ask God to help me.

He's been a man of his word.

And that is why we were celebrating!

We all enjoyed the stories people told, some tender, some funny.

Cordelia took the microphone to say,

"This is my Grandpa.

I love him..."

Ordination Celebration Part 4, Wyoming

...and still continuing with Sunday's presentation for Mike's ordination celebration of 25 years...

When Mike started feeling his work was done in Alamogordo, he heard from or about other congregations but none seemed like where he was supposed to go. THEN one evening the phone rang. I answered and it was a guy named Bob on the line. He made some comment about making "first contact" and I knew he was going to hit it off with Mike. You see, that "first contact" comment came from Star Trek and Mike was most definitely a Trekkie.

So.... on to Casper.  By that time Sam was the only one living at home. He wasn't thrilled about leaving his friends but he was brave.

We found Prince of Peace to be filled with angels!

Mike had his 50th birthday here. Some of you may remember that he was rather cruel to the ladies in this congregation who turned 50 just a few months before him.

Well, we got even as we inducted him into his own little Red Hat Society. Doesn't he look pretty?

One of the most memorable experiences here at this church so far has been the crazy idea of swapping buildings with another congregation.

What an absurd idea, to pack up our congregation and to move to such a big facility!

It was most definitely a God thing!

This photo was taken at one of the several hayrides we've enjoyed at a parishioner's family farm.

The people of the congregations are what Mike's ministry is all about... the people.  Now you will see that I found it hard to edit photos. I found quite a few of sweet people here and I just thought you all would like to see them as well...

Betty and all of us enjoying a picnic.

.   (I am omitting some of the recent photos of kids as I didn't ask permission to put them here)

And here's Renee, in her natural habitat, serving in the kitchen.

(Here I have omitted a photo of my friend, Renee...at her request.)

Mary and Diane look like they were praying but I don't think they were as I don't think I'd be rude enough to photograph during a prayer.

One of the things you may not know about Mike is that he is a photo-hog. I'm not kidding. I was wondering recently, "How many families have photos of him in their photo albumns for weddings, confirmations and such?"

Do you know how hard it is to take a photo of Susanne? This may not be a great photo but it sure captures her spirit. She is always, always working for this church.

The amazing thing is, she has been the only secretary Mike has worked with here and they've worked together for 10 years! That may not seem so unbelievable to you all but consider this... during his 9 years in Alamogordo, Mike went through 9 secretaries! Thank you, Susanne, for putting up with him as he is obviously quite difficult to work with.

Here you have witnessed Mike developing as a grandfather. It has been fun to see "Pastor Grandpa" in motion here.

Mike has had the joy of baptizing our two granddaughters into this congregation.

We've enjoyed a lot of years of Christmas Caroling here, and felt warmed by the parties that followed.

One thing about Mike, he's always so serious about his work...

a pastor does a LOT of teaching.  Here he is teaching the fine art of office golfing with his shepherd's staff...

This is Mike in his favorite fabric... denim.

Mike's parishioners are always so excited to come to church!

I don't know WHAT to say about this photo...

...Or this one...

So... Mike,

For delivering 1500+ sermons, 

for welcoming so many into God's family, 

for braving confirmation students, 

for inspiring preschoolers, 

for caring for the sick, 

lonely and wounded, 

for preparing so many couples for marriage, 

for praying with the dying, 

for comforting the grieving, 

for counseling the hurting, 

for showing God's love to the lonely, 

for sacrificing your days off over and over, 

for being on call around the clock, 

for sharing your strength and insight, 

for your gentle but dependable leadership, 

for sharing your quirky sense of humor 

and for your steady example of letting God guide the way...

We, your flock, say "Thank you".

Ordination Celebration Part 3, Alamogordo

...continuing with the presentation from last Sunday...

Mike's next call was quite a surprise to us as we ended up in Southern New Mexico...Alamogordo. Although we were flown down there for Mike's interview, we were back in Montana when he was offered the position. We couldn't really afford to go back to house hunt so we had a member from that new congregation go with the realtor to pick out a house. We bought the house our new friend and the realtor agreed on. We didn't actually see it until we moved down there!

There Mike perfected the fine art of coffee time with the quilting ladies every Thursday morning. You'd be surprised at how much pastoring occurs during quilting time.

Mike turned 40 when we were in New Mexico. One of my favorite memories is the HUGE turnout for his 40th birthday party. We totally pulled off a big surprise party.

Over the years, Mike has had to balance his family with his work with his need for solitude.

Sometimes, his family time and work time merged. While in Alamogordo we found our son-in-law, Eric.

It meant a lot to Mike that he was able to walk the bride down the aisle then turn around and perform their wedding ceremony.

Mike even had times when he got to preach to his own mother and sisters.

I included this photo just because he looks so handsome, don't you think?

Mike's quiet leadership and thoughtful insight made him loved by many.

This was a sweet day. Mike and our two sons were serving together.

These two ladies were special in their own ways to our whole family. Actually, they were characters!

It is a bit bittersweet to look at this photo as both of them have since died. We know, though, that we will see them again.

New Mexico was a good place for Mike. I love this photo!

...to be continued...

Ordination Celebration Part 2, Harlowton Parish

I'm continuing with the presentation I prepared for Mike's ordination celebration held this past Sunday...

This was taken our first summer in Harlowton .  One of Mike's favorite songs is "Lift High the Cross". I guess that is why he is wearing it on his head!

Mike's first parish was spread out over three counties. Once a year, all the churches came together for an outdoor service. This one took place in the mountains and we all actually camped there. It was fun and Mike got a chance to use his guitar for worship.

I didn't put a photo of all the church buildings in this slide show but this one is Trinity Lutheran in Lennep, MT. Lennep isn't really a town anymore but at that time they did have a sweet little school. This church, like two of the others, did not have indoor plumbing. I just thought you'd like to know that. One unique thing about this congregation was that almost everyone had fantastic voices. Listening to them harmonizing in that little church was pretty close to heaven.

Sam was born during our time at that parish. He became quite the little church baby and was actually baptized at one of their outdoor services when all the congregations came together. Later, Sam sometimes even went calling with Daddy.

Sam and Mike both enjoyed the quiet times in the mountains.

...to be continued