Reason(s) for the Season

Well friends, I hope you all had lovely Christmases this year, wherever you spent them. Even though it started out just cloudy and rainy, we ended up getting a little bit of white stuff here in Davidson. :)

There's no doubt Christmas is a hectic time of year, but also inevitable are the requests to remember the "reason for the season." (Namely, the birth of Jesus of course.) These reminders are good, I think, since it's awfully easy to get wrapped up (Ha. Wrapped up? Like a present? Anyway...) in the excitement of Santa, gift-giving, and the host of other secularized traditions. I've been thinking about it though, this year...maybe all the hooplah still has it's benefits. I mean, don't get me wrong, I avoid malls as best I can in December and sometimes all the money people spend on each other seems a bit ridiculous. But Christmas Eve after church, I sat in the kitchen with my parents and brother talking about random stories from our childhood, thinking about how nice it was that we all were sitting there doing that. I feel like even though obviously the reason Christmas exists is to celebrate the birth of Jesus, maybe the not-so-religious traditions can be a benefit of the season too. I'm of the opinion that God means for us to be in community with each other, so having a big turkey dinner (or a brunch, in the case of this year for the Wehrungs) can't hurt, right?

This of course assumes that one has a family with said traditions...or that one has a "family" (whatever that may mean) in the first place. Over at Preston Taylor Ministries (roommate Mary Kate works there), they substituted their traditional angel tree for a "nativity store," where parents of kids in their programs could come pick out gifts and buy them (for a small fee). The idea was to empower the parents, and to eliminate the need for them to rely on the charity (at least as far as Christmas is concerned) of other people simply giving them gifts. We YAVs went over to help with one of the stores on a Sunday night, and it was really incredible to see how much the parents appreciated it being able to be actively involved in what their kids would get on Christmas morning. Maybe if this whole idea of gift giving every December 25th had never been thought up, these parents wouldn't have gotten to experience that. Of course this doesn't mean all of their hardships are solved, but it's something, I suppose.

So maybe this is all just me rambling, but it's just what I've been thinking about these past few days.
See you in 2011!
Love,
Allison

Baby, it's cold outside.

Disclaimer: I realize that I still live in the South, and that the snow I'm about to talk about is not "real snow."

But it's snowing in Nashville!!! Has been all day actually, and with a high of 19 tomorrow, I'm not thinking it'll melt very quickly. Anyway, the winter weather makes for quite the cozy feeling in the Shed, so long as you stay under your blanket and keep sippin' hot chocolate. Here are some pictures from the adventure Beth and I went on around the house/block.

MB's not used to this!

Some YAV lovin' for the winter weather.

Home sweet Richards Street

One advantage to living behind a church is that you get to see how pretty it is in the snow...

Decorating the 2PC parking lot.

A little decoration I added to the porch. :)

All of this snowy fun aside, as we were wandering around the block with the snow falling around us, I couldn't help but think about all of the people that don't have a constant roof over their heads. Fortunately there are programs like Room In the Inn, and some churches in Nashville (like 2PC) volunteer to be extra hosts on certain nights when the temperature drops below a certain degree. It still makes you think, though, when in our minds a snowy day means running around in the cold for twenty minutes and heading back to our houses. As drafty as the Shed may be, it's still a house to be thankful for.

All my holiday love,
Allison.

Getting my learn on.

I went to another lecture at Vandy this past Sunday night (confusingly enough, they too have a Furman Hall), this time on what the Bible says about homosexuality. The evening consisted of a showing of the film Fish Out of Water and was followed by comments from and questions from Vanderbilt professor Dr. Amy-Jill Levine (who also happens to be a famous New Testament scholar whose work I read in several classes at Furman).

If you want to know more about the documentary, check out the link above, or watch the trailer on YouTube. It discusses the seven Bible verses most commonly used against homosexuality, and and has clips of interviews with people on both sides of the debate. This is obviously a controversial subject, and it's undoubtedly a biased film. These things aside, I personally enjoyed seeing it (perhaps because I agree with the side toward which it leaned) and I've been thinking about it on and off since Sunday.

I know this is a touchy subject with a whole lot of people, but one of the comments that Dr. Levine said stuck out to me: "The Bible should help us ask the right questions. It's not an answer book." Now, I do think that there are some answers to be found in the Bible. But I also think there's something to be said for challenging things and asking questions. As Dr. Levine also commented (forgive my paraphrasing): the people on both sides of this argument are just trying to live out their lives the way that they believe God wants them to.

I think I enjoyed seeing this film partly because I've never really known specifics about the arguments on either side of this debate. And whichever of those sides you fall on, I think it's worth seeing.

Love,
Allison

12 Days of YAVness, and other thoughts.

Last night 2PC's youth had a talent show fundraiser and Sally, Mary Kate, Beth and I contributed our rendition of the 12 Days of Christmas. Complete with sparkly Santa hats and tinsel scarves, we sang our lil hearts out. Unfortunately (or...fortunately?) there is no photographic/video evidence of this performance, but for your reading pleasure:

On the twelfth day of YAVness, Susan gave to us:

12 country songs

11 community nights

10 days discerning

9 honkey tonks

8 pounds of coffee

7 nonprofits

6 free dinners

5 (pretty/smart/beautiful/compassionate/brilliant/perfect/kind/modest) girls

4 Presby churches

3 brown recluses

2 smelly boys

A Cabana and a Toolshed

And yes, I did just sing that in my head as I typed it. I hope you sang as you read, as well. And just fyi, the adjective before "girls" changed each time five came along. Luckily the audience seemed to think our lyrics were as funny as we did. :)

Today, Westminster Presbyterian Church had an Alternative Christmas Market that was basically their version of AGF, except all of the nonprofits there were organizations that are supported by Westminster's outreach. So, PSF was one of them. Looking around the room, I realized that most of the groups there had been represented at AGF, and all but two organizations that have YAVs this year were there. As I talked to a couple different people, I realized that there's this little nonprofit world where people know each other (even if it just means saying hello at various alternative gift giving events). Kinda cool if you ask me.

Also, it snowed for the better part of the morning. None of it stuck at all, but I don't think I've ever lived in a place where it snowed in early December! I'm fairly certain that this is just a few days of legit cold, and then it'll warm up a little bit. But it's still next to be cozied up with a fleece blanket. Leeeet it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

Love,
Allison

Adventures of a Non-Baker

Well friends, I think I might've found a new hobby. :) PSF's been helping sponsor this even called Alternative Gift Fair, which happened today. It's a super cool event during which 22 Nashville nonprofits congregated in St. A's, and people could come "shop" for intangible gifts by making donations to the organizations in honor of friends/family/whoever. As part of our contribution we decided to chip in some baked goods in the form of cookies. Two students and I headed to a former board member's house on Tuesday to make the dough (which Jennifer and I would bake later) with the expectation of the standard chocolate chip business. But by the time we left to head back towards campus, we had seven different kinds of made-from-scratch dough! We only ended up baking six of them (the last is going to make an appearance at our PSF Advent party Tuesday night), but AGF-goers got to enjoy sugar cookies (in the form of green and read Christmas trees), lemon glazed ginger snaps, crescent cookies, thumbprint cookies with raspberry jam, gingerbread men, and molasses spice cookies!

Now, those of you who know me will probably know that the extent of my baking ability has up to this point largely involved boxed mixes that just involve adding some combination of eggs, water, milk, and/or oil. Why would one think to ask for an egg separator when you can just crack the whole thing into a bowl and pick the yolk up with your hand? While it definitely took some trial and error to not completely mangle my Christmas tree creations, and I may or may not have scorched the bottom of the first batch of molasses spice, all in all it was a lovely experience! And obviously I was obligated to eat the cookies I broke taking off of the cookie sheets. Oopsie daisy. So, who knows if I'll actually keep up this whole baking-from-scratch thing (there'll always be a place in my heart for break 'n' bake), but I've quite enjoyed my latest culinary adventures!

I ended up leaving my camera (and phone) at home today, but here's some documentation of yesterday's pre-AGF baking...

All sortsa dough, complete with baking instructions. :)

I rolled out the dough and everything!

Molasses spice.

Reject trees and experiments. A.k.a. the best cookies all day.

Day one of baking adventures: four doughs down!

More festive happenings coming up this weekend: Christmas lights at Opryland and Elf tomorrow with PSF! Oh how I do enjoy the holidays. 

Love,

Allison

UPDATE: A picture of the finished products, courtesy of Jessie, one of our lovely dough makers. :)

We did not, in fact, make the apples from scratch...

365 Thanksgivings

Turkey Day, along with its delicious and indulgent culinary traditions, gives us the opportunity to outwardly express our thankfulness. Not that we shouldn't be thankful every other day of the year, but the fact that it's tradition, I s'pose, makes us actually really think about it and talk about it.

There's a website called Cool People Care that publishes "5 Minutes of Caring" everyday. (If you're interested, you can get it in email form every morning or just check the website.) Anyway, their 5 Minutes for today involves...wait for it....giving thanks! I know, big surprise right? At any rate, it's about being thankful all the time, not just on the fourth Thursday of every November. Start today, the article says, but don't stop after all the turkey's gone. Today write down a few things that you're thankful for, and then keep it up every day. At least think about them, if you don't make an actual list.

So here goes the beginning of my "Things I'm Thankful For" list...and after this, I'm going to try and include at least one thing I'm thankful for every time I make an entry on the good ol' blog.

I'm thankful for...

home

a loving family

Baxter

coffee

Camp Grier

Nashville

pumpkin flavored things

...and so many more things, but we'll get to those later.

I'm thankful to have so many things to be thankful for, and I hope you have a lovely Thanksgiving, friends!

Love,

Allison.

Jesus Mints

Yes, Jesus mints. We'll get to that part eventually.

As per usual for a Tuesday, I went to Luke 14:12 today. Well, not Luke 14:12. As it turns out, now Tuesdays and Fridays are being run by a group called Isaiah 58, which is the homeless ministry of Belmont Church, where lunch has been taking place. At any rate, the same thing happens, just someone else is in charge.

Today I made a couple new friends. I met a woman who was also volunteering. In the process of getting ready to serve the meal for the day, we started talking and I got to hear a little of her story. As it turns out, through whatever chain of events, she was homeless for a few years, but is now back on her feet working as a cosmetologist (did you know that wool coats can damage long hair that rubs against it? Grab a scarf, girls!). She was so willing to talk about how God is working in her life, and how incredibly blessed we are. Then as we were pouring water and tea, she says: "You know, this is what we can do for others. We're pouring ourselves out, pouring God's love out. We're so full."

We. Are. Full. 

Really, we are. At least I am. I've been so blessed. While the whole quote in that last paragraph may not be precisely word-for-word accurate, that part is. Now I could've told you before I had this conversation that (in my opinion) God's love is in everyone and part of what we can do as Christians is to share it, whatever that looks like. But it struck me that something as simple as pouring water or fruit tea can have such a deep meaning. Talk about something to make your heart smile.

At one of our YAV vocational discernment times on a Friday morning a few weeks ago, I made comment somewhere along these lines: we hear so much about how God blesses those that have struggles in life (you know, "the meek shall inheret the earth..."), but I haven't had many struggles. I've often wondered where we that haven't struggled so much fall in God's plan. The man that was visiting us that week responded that perhaps the loving support system I have around me can be a basis for me to go out in the world and reach those that don't have one. Maybe pouring tea is part of that.

So, after all of this pondering and pouring, I was about to leave lunch and a nice man eating there walked up and handed me a mint. One of those Wint-o-green Life Saver ones...I mean, it could be peppermint, but you know what I'm talking about. Well, I looked down and the was a little fish-shaped sticker on the wrapper with "Jesus" printed in the middle. Again I was reminded of the liberation theology lecture I saw last week (check out the last blog entry to read more about that). That people that have so little and still make such an effort to share the love of Jesus (on a mint wrapper or just with a smile) is pretty wonderful.

Until next time friends. :)
Love,
Allison.

Theology, country music, and sports.

The father of liberation theology, an awards show, college basketball and the NHL...all in less than a week! Sorry it's been a while since my last update, friends. Life in Nashville has been pretty exciting lately, so here it goes...my latest Music City adventures, and in all likelihood some rambling to go along with it.

This past Monday I cashed in on the living-near-a-div-school aspect of my life and went with three of the other YAVs to see Gustavo Gutierrez speak at Vanderbilt. For those of you who don't know about Gustavo Gutierrez, he's a priest/theologian from Peru who's widely seen as the founder of the liberation theology movement. So I was pretty excited about it. I know Wikipedia is far from a scholarly source, but here's their page on liberation theology if you're curious and want to know more. One interesting thing that stuck out to me over the course of the talk doesn't even directly deal with the specific theology of liberation. It's more of a context thing: until this movement, really, theology was for the most part coming from the developed, Western world. Europe and North America, basically. Liberation theology brought with it studies of religious practice from the perspective of the poor and marginalized. Now, to be perfectly honest, this is not a population that I feel I can easily relate to. I do, however, think it's so important for bubble-dwellers like myself to try and see things through a different lens. One of the things Gutierrez mentioned is that it is not sufficient to just help the poor...that we must be against poverty itself. This sort of thing, if perhaps in different words, has crossed my mind more than once over the course of my life...volunteering at Luke 14:12 and in the other relatively few experiences I've had working with the homeless. Yeah sure, it's great to go serve a meal (seriously, it is), but at the end of the day I know I'll go back to my house, pick something out of the fridge for dinner, and go to sleep in a bed. (Toolshed or not, it's still here and it's still far more than a lot of people have.) Now, that's not to say that I necessarily know who to or would be able to start fighting poverty itself, but it's something to think about. Despite the severity and expansiveness of injustice and poverty in the world, the fact that those in its grip can still be so strong in their faith and in their convictions of hope for the future is truly and incredibly inspiring to me. I'm obviously not the most educated in the field of liberation theology and injustice in the world, but listening Gutierrez on Monday sure got me thinking.

Well, fast forward to Wednesday and totally switch gears: I got to go to the CMA awards! Definitely a different world than that of liberation theology, and not one much concerned with the "simple living" we YAVs in theory subscribe to (but our tickets were free, I promise). Through Mary Kate's friend's friend, we ended up with two tickets! We laughed as we were deciding what to wear though...I wasn't exactly planning on going to an awards show when I packed for my year as a volunteer! I'm definitely far from a die-hard country fan, but it was still super exciting to be there. I was all prepared to take my camera and document this adventure, but alas the tickets specified that photography wasn't allowed. Little did I know that everyone else would take their cameras anyway...oh well. At least I've got a ticket stub to prove I was there! Part of me couldn't help but feel guilty as we walk.ed towards the arena, passing right by homeless folks on Broadway. Granted, we weren't part of the ball-gowns-and-tux crowd, but there's still so much we have. But guilt or not, it was still a pretty exciting night

With Friday came more (free) tickets, this time to a Vandy basketball game! Our tickets came from the Presbyterian College side though (thanks again Mary Kate...), so we put on our blue and garnet and cheered for the Hose. Sort of. Those of you who know me well know that sports are not exacltly my life's greatest passion. But Beth and Sally got to see their alma mater play, and despite the fact that it didn't end so well for PC, it was still some lovely community bonding time. A couple pictures, stolen from Beth...

Nashville YAVs (minus Michael)

The Shed

As it turns out, there's this great website run by a group called Hands on Nashville (there are "Hands on..." groups in different cities, too) that has a giant project calendar of volunteer opportunities in the area. In the process of looking for things to do with PSF, I happened across a can drive for Second Harvest food bank that was going on a Nashville Predators (hockey) game. Turns out that if you signed up to volunteer, you got a free ticket after the game started! So off we went, four of us YAVs, to experience another part of Nashville. And I think I may have found a new favorite sport to watch. I was mostly joking when I said in the first period that I hoped it would go to a shoot out (and that we'd win of course), but as it turns out that's exactly what happened! And, in what I can only assume is the typical Nashville fashion, there was a live band playing music between periods. Admittedly, before this game the extent of my hockey knowledge came from the Mighty Ducks movies and Miracle, but hey...gotta start somewhere right? I actually took my camera and remembered to take pictures, so here's the photographic evidence of our Preds adventure...

Collecting cans/money before the game.

Bring it on Chicago...bring it on.

With Sally, Mary Kate, and Vic

Mary Kate and Sally are fierce fans...

Shootouts are exciting!

Preds win!!!

And despite the fact that little to none of this post has involved my talking about work, I promise I really am still working for PSF! We're going ice skating next week...maybe my new hockey experience will help me make less of a fool of myself in public? Probably not, but I'm looking forward to it nonetheless. :)

Love,

Allison.

Devo #2

Twice now I've written the devotion (aka devo) for PSF's weekly newsletter, and I thought I'd post them here too, for those of you that are interested but don't get the email. The first one was back in September in a post titled Grace. Here's number two:

Back in August before I had settled in to the YAV life here in Nashville, all of the Young Adult Volunteers had a week-long orientation together at a conference center in New York. The week was filled with plenty of worship, singing, and lectures providing us with the information we’d need to make our 11 months of service a meaningful experience. There was also ample opportunity for discussion with the other YAVs--what we thought our different cities and countries might be like, what we thought the challenges and rewards would be. In one of our large group discussions, one new YAV made a statement that still, two months later, stands out to me. 

“You will never go where God is not.”

Now just think about that for a minute. At first it took me a little while to truly appreciate the significance of that one small sentence. And sometimes, I think, it can be really hard to believe it. How is it possible that God is keeping a watchful eye over places consumed by poverty, natural disasters, war and other tragedy? Or even in that stressful week with two million tests and papers, when not a single thing seems to go right? I don’t know, exactly, but it reminds me of one of my favorite Bible verses, Joshua 1:9. It says: “I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." (NRSV) The world in which we live may challenge that idea from time to time, but the notion that we're never going it alone can certainly be comforting as well.

Love, Allison

Life as a tourist...

One of the advantages of having your parents come visit you in a city they've never been to: they want to do all the fun touristy stuff you haven't had the chance to do yet! (And, while our somewhat humble YAV stipends are actually plenty to live on so long as you're intelligent about it, it was still nice to be taken care of for a few days.) So if you haven't figured it out by now, the lovely Margo and Dave Wehrung were here this past week, and we sure packed in the Nashville experiences. Here's the list...with pictures!

Tuesday night:

• firstly Mom and Dad got to experience the excitement that is PSF on Tuesday nights. :)
• Live music at the Bluebird Cafe (we saw Marshall Chapman and Will Kimbrough...neither of which I had heard of before, but both of which were great!) 

Wednesday:

• Lunch at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge, complete with live music, "world famous" barbecue (the menu said so...), and maybe a fermented beverage or two. 
• Some wandering around the Bicentennial Mall, admiring the capitol building and the nifty map of Tennessee that's in the ground (turns out I know more about Nashville than I thought...I could actually tell my parents what things were!). This was in lieu of a more exciting activity that was supposed to happen but fell through...but it was nice, anyway!
• Chihuly at Cheekwood = some of Dale Chihuly's awesome glasswork on display outside in this botanical garden...we walked around during the day and saw it in the light, then saw it again once it got dark! 
• Deeeelicious dinner at the Germantown Cafe.

Thursday:

• tour of the Ryman Auditorium, which has a bunch of really cool history that I didn't know until now! Still kind of bitter I'm not seeing the Avett Brothers play there this weekend, but one day...one day I'll see them live!
• tour of the Parthenon in Centennial Park. I'd been around the outside several times, seeing as the park is right across the street from my office, but it turns out there's an art gallery or two inside, and a giant statue of Athena. I mean, who doesn't need a lifesize replica of the Parthenon in their city? Totally normal, right?
• Annnnd then Mom and Dad came to TOT with me.

And that, my friends, is probably the busiest 2.5 days I've had since I moved here. I don't know, maybe not, but it's definitely in the running. Here's the photographic evidence for those who are interested...

Lunch at Tootsie's

Bicentennial Mall

Chihuly

Mom and Dad

Being good tourists at the Ryman

Athena's nobody to be messed with...

So there ya have it, my past week. I didn't realize how much I'd missed having close friends/family around, so it was a good few days. Hiking with PSF today, and some Halloween festivities later...then playing handbells in church tomorrow morning. Life in Music City continues!

Love,

Allison.

Homecoming...or one of them, at least.

Hello once again, dear friends!

This past weekend was homecoming at Furman, so Madame Blueberry and I headed down to Greenville, SC. It was a strange thing, though, to be in such familiar territory in such an unfamiliar context. Gone are the days of being around for and participating in the week-long competition between sororities and fraternities, and the days leading up to it looking forward to seeing those older friends that had already graduated. Instead, I am now for better or worse one of the "older friends," and homecoming week has become something more like homecoming 36 hours. Strange it was, but a good strange. Thanks to a lovely certain Delta Gamma little sister of mine (and her roomies of course), I had a futon to sleep on for the weekend...and delicious nachos to snack on at night. :) And I mean, it didn't hurt that DG and Beta Theta Pi (the fraternity we were paired with) won that homecoming competition I just mentioned.

I'll admit that I'm not the best at keeping in touch with people from far away, but the fact that I could still go back for a short weekend and that people were so interested in what I was doing, or so willing to tell me about whatever they're doing...it's a special thing, I think. In a way it was kind of like we never left. Not to mention the entertainment of reminiscing about various events of the last four years. So, to any Furman folks who may happen to be reading this...thanks for being lovely, friends. :)

The reason I titled this post the way I did: I started actually thinking about the word "homecoming." Home. Coming. Coming home. I've been blessed with multiple homes, each of which I hold close to my heart, for different reasons. There's Davidson...home home, and a place in which I'll forever be comfortable and content. But Furman is home, too. Camp is home. Nashville isn't, yet, but I think there's a good chance Music City'll make the cut by the end of this whole YAV deal. I'm so so thankful for all of these places that have people I love, and it's pretty wonderful to feel at home (whatever that phrase means, exactly) in all of them. So, this post talks about one of them.

Mom and Dad are in town this week and we've been doing all sortsa touristy/fun things. Be on the lookout for another post in a few days after they're gone...with pictures, too!

Love,
Allison.

Fun Fact

Hey friends! 
So, as I learned at church on Sunday, 2PC is a More Light congregation, which means they officially support More Light Presbyterians (which in turn supports "the full participation of LGBT Christians in the life and ministry of the Presbyterian Church"). Now, personally I think this is pretty awesome, and the fact that a group like MLP exists makes me like the good ol' PC(USA) even more than I already did. I'm fully aware of the fact that not everybody agrees with that, and that maybe some people will be pretty uncomfortable when they read this. But it's just something that I think is cool and wanted to share.


Off to Furman for homecoming this weekend, and I'm quite excited to see everyone! :)


Until next time...
Love,
Allison.

Peace and Playgrounds

Hey friends! 

All sorts of things have been happening lately (including a lovely weekend with some very dear camp friends), but I'm just going to write about a couple here...in all likelihood this'll still probably turn out to be a lengthy post. It won't hurt my feelings if you just want to skim...


The sermon at PSF this past Tuesday was about peace. About sharing it, and about receiving it, with and from the most unlikely of people. We heard about how most people nowadays (myself included) worry too much about "stranger danger" to really consider sharing the peace of Christ (or whatever sort of peace you believe in) with people that are different from us. As unfortunate as it is, we live in a world where sometimes you really do have to worry about strangers...there are just some really mean people out there. But I'm hoping that this year I can challenge myself to go out on a limb and share a different kind of peace. Or if it's the same kind, maybe share it in a new way. Passing the Peace is common practice in a lot of churches (at least the ones I've been to), but as with a lot of things we say in church, I think it sort of becomes a reflex. "Peace be with you...and also with you." That's not to say it's not meaningful, but once we say something enough, I think we tend to stop really thinking about what it means. The beginning of passing the peace during PSF worship is a little different...in a really great way. Before the standard hand shaking (or ideally, if you ask me, hugging), whoever happens to be the liturgist that night says: "Not an easy peace, not an insignificant peace, not a half-hearted peace, but the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you." I don't mean by saying all this that the regular kind of peace we pass is bad. But if the peace of Christ isn't easy or half-hearted, why should sharing it with other people be? So...I don't know. Just something to think about.


I've spent the past few days on PSF's fall break "trip" doing flood relief work here in Nashville. The first two days we worked on houses through Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, and the third day we cleaned out a (mostly) dry river/creek bed. If you don't really know anything about the flood that happened this past May (I didn't, really, until I came here) and you're interested, here's a Youtube video somebody made. On the first day we (the four students and four PSF staffers that were there) arrived at a house with an empty dumpster and huge piles of stuff in the backyard. We left at the end of the day with a full dumpster and significantly fewer piles. :) Seriously...there was some legit strategy going on to pack that dumpster. The entire first level of this house had to be gutted because of the water damage, so the piles we cleaned up consisted of everything from soggy drywall and wood to a sink, carpet, and broken tiles. We even came across two black widows in a dresser we had to take apart...yes, the sledgehammer I used to kill one might've been a wee bit excessive, but hey, the sledgehammer was already in my hand. One of the students did the other one in with a shoe. Day two's house was being rebuilt by Habitat for Humanity, which in the Nashville area has added rebuilding/flood relief to their usual building-houses-from-the-ground-up agenda. We PSFers worked on several different parts of the house, but I spent the day painting baseboards and pieces of door frame. Six hours of the same white paint got a little tedious, but it was still great to be able to help get a house that much closer to being livable again. Day three was my favorite...maybe the hardest, work-wise, but the best nonetheless. We cleaned debris out of a (mostly) dry river bed. Now this was some serious debris. Like...there was someone's wooden porch in a tree. (Also in trees: a gas can, and a couple hoses.) I think I might now be somewhat of an expert in using a crowbar to pry apart pieces of decks/porches. It was crazy though, some of the stuff we found. I mean I'd heard that the flood was really bad, but finding a little girl's shoe, a pink Crayola marker, a stuffed monkey caked in dry mud and practically squished flat...I can't imagine just having life as I know it washed right away. It was pretty surreal to listen to the chainsaw cutting the washed up playground into pieces small enough for us to carry away. And to think of all the new things that have happened to me since May, compared to the fact that there are still so many people here just trying to get back to life as it was. 


Well, congrats if you made it through that whole post...until next time, friends.
Love,
Allison.

Weekend Happenings

Hey friends!

Some fun stuff happened this weekend, so I thought I might share them with those of you who are interested enough to be reading this blog...nothing too intense in this post, just some weekend happenings. :)

So there's this First Friday service at Christ Church Cathedral downtown that happens every (you guessed it...) first Friday of the month. It's an Episcopal church that puts on this monthly service for the community. In place of a sermon, each month there's a different...expression of faith, I guess you could call it. We YAVs have gone both first Fridays we've been in town, and it's been really great. The free wine and snazzy cheese hors d'oeuvres that happen afterwards may or may not be extra motivation to go, but it really has been a cool experience. The first time we went it was Labor Day weekend, and the "sermon" was a local group performing songs from the musical Working, about different professions. This past Friday there was some liturgical dance goin' on while a woman read something having to do with creation. I can't remember what exactly the reading was adapted from, but it wasn't biblical...just kind of having to do with a vague spirituality and the interconnectedness of things. I liked it. There was also a lady that, throughout the service, was working on a chalk drawing at the front of the sanctuary. It's the kind of worship service that's just different enough to be refreshing, but not so unfamiliar that you're made uncomfortable by it. That's not to say that getting out of your worship/religious comfort zone is always a bad thing, but you get the idea. I also like that all of us can go together. I've really loved being at 2PC, but worshiping with all seven YAVs is pretty lovely too.

Saturday was such a lovely day. Started off hiking at Radnor Lake with Vic and a new friend, Kenna. It was far from a super intense trail, but it was wonderful to spend more time outside in the fall weather. (And hey, the trail went uphill some!) We saw a few deer chillin' out right off of the trail, and later some wild turkeys (one was eating a snake...cool stuff). Here are a couple pictures of the lake...

After hiking and some chill time in the Shed (as in Toolshed/my house), I went with Mary Kate and her friend that was visiting to a cultural festival in Centennial Park. Las Paletas (seriously, best popsicles you'll ever have) had a stand, and I decided to try out the hibiscus flavor. Kiiind of worried it'd be like eating a flower, I decided to try nonetheless. It was kind of odd, but good! And I mean hey, how many times do you get the opportunity to try a hibiscus popsicle?

Post-park-wandering, it was back to the Shed for a while, then we YAVs headed downtown towards Broadway, where we found a trailer park themed bar, and, including at the karaoke place where we ended up, about 2039842 bachelorette parties. Quite the entertaining night, and quite the excellent weekend.

Love,
Allison.

Grace.

So today Holly and I went to Luke 14:12 and helped serve lunch to the homeless folks there. We'd just finished pouring the last of our milk and water when a friendly man walked up to the table and said one simple word.

"Grace."

After a pause (the length of which admittedly made me mildly uncomfortable), he began to explain. He explained that between dawn and 11pm you have the grace to be in the park, but after 11 at night, you can be arrested for the same activity--just being there. On game day at the Titans stadium, you have the grace to sit in the parking lot and drink a beer, but at any other time the same activities in the same parking lot would be severely reprimanded. "Grace is a period of time," he said, "but God's Grace is a lifetime."

Now at this point he began sharing his opinion that the King James Version is the only version that's really the Bible, and that the other versions and translations out there don't count because humans have messed with them. I s'pose we'll leave that discussion for a different day though. Back to the grace. Our new friend said several times: "I teach definitions." It's incredible to me how much a word can change when God's behind it. We Presbyterians like the whole idea of salvation by grace. That's not the kind of grace that lets you chill in a park or tailgate before a game. It's the kind that lasts a lifetime. The kind that says that no matter what you do, you will have God's love. My aunt and uncle gave me this book for graduation called God Never Blinks: 50 Lessons for Life's Little Detours. One of those lessons is: "God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do." And that right there folks, that's grace. We don't deserve it, we take it for granted all too often, but it's there. And it's the lifetime kind.

Love,
Allison.

How NOT to settle in to a new city...

I would not suggest, my dear friends, that you welcome yourself to new surroundings by wrecking your car. For the record, some stop signs in Nashville are not in fact four way stops like they might appear to be. Tuesday was a rather stressful day, and it's looking like I'll be car-less for a couple weeks, but no one was hurt, so it definitely could've been far worse. And having gotten past the really scared oh-#$&*-I-just-wrecked-my-car phase of the experience, I've been thinking a lot about the ways that the Big Guy (or Girl?) Upstairs was looking out for me throughout the whole thing. There's the obvious one, that no one got hurt, and then there are the littler things. Like all of the people I met or talked to that day, for most of whom I never even learned a name. There's the nice businessman that gave me his handkerchief (don't worry, it was clean) and told me to stand in the shade, the random guy who told me which phone number to call, the kind policewoman and the friendly tow-truck man who helped get MB where she needed to go to be fixed. There are the facts that I have a boss that was willing to come get me from the car place, that my co-workers and fellow YAVs are willing to drive me around, and that my parents aren't too mad about me for messing up my car. (Or if they are, they did a really good job of hiding it during the multiple it'll-be-ok phone calls.) And I think the worshiping and dinner-ing of PSF was just what I needed that night. So to all of the people that helped me that day whether they know it or not, thanks friends.

Despite the aforementioned dramatic events (yeah...aforementioned), the week wasn't all bad. I had my first couple appointments with students (if you ask me, the word "appointment" makes it sound super formal/kind of awkward, but they were neither of those things), which involved delicious food and coffee. For real, I think Bongo Java and I are going to become good friends in the next 10 months. Next week should be good too, because I'll be starting our every-Monday lunch in the Commons (Commons is to Vandy as the DH is to Furman...dining hall) for any PSFers or others that want to join. Coloring books will be present, along with my Crayola 120-pack. Admit it, everybody likes coloring every now and then, and every college student can use some stress relief! Also on Tuesday, Holly (div school intern at PSF) and I are heading to Luke 14:12 one more time before we start taking students every week. And by "one more time" I mean the first time was supposed to be this past Tuesday, and we all know now how that went for me...Holly made it there though.

TOT (Theology on Tap) happened again on Thursday, as it does every week, and the Live on the Green concert downtown this week was The Wailers! In the company of some of my fellow YAVs and some new friends too, it was pretty awesome. (And I mean, after the past few days I'd been having I think it was good to hear some happy reggae guys sing that "every little thing is gonna be alright...") For "community night" last night we all went out to dinner to a place called Copper Kettle, and it was aaabsolutely delicious. It's a meat-and-three type place (I'd never heard of this meat-and-three concept until I got here...) and I had fried catfish with mac n cheese, green bean casserole, and some other veggies. Mm mmm good (Campbell's Soup blessing, anybody?).

So, things have been looking up since Tuesday, that's for sure. Church in the morning and my second handbell practice tomorrow afternoon! Hopefully some more YAV bonding tonight too. :) But that's all the news for now, friends.

Love,
Allison.

P.S. - Furman 31, Citadel 14. Despite the fact that football and sports in general are pretty far down on my list of priorities in life, it's still pretty fun when your alma mater wins!

Chicken Tetrazzini and a Night in the Woods

Hey friends!

Well, two weeks of work down, and things in Nashville are still going swimmingly. I'm slowly but surely getting to know people at work and at church, and I think it's starting to sink in that I actually live in Nashville (and that I'm not just hanging out here for a couple weeks). This week a couple new things happened at work. I figured out how to set up the projector on Tuesday night almost all by myself (so many cords...), not to mention the delectable leftovers I got to take home after dinner at PSF. Chicken tetrazzini two days in a row? Yes please. Anyway I also started working on taking a group of students to Luke 14:12 for lunch once a week. It's a place that serves lunch to the homeless every Tuesday and Friday out of a church fellowship hall, and we're going to hopefully go volunteer there on a regular basis. Still a bit of organizing/advertising to do before that one can actually happen though. Other thrilling parts of my week included entering donation checks into our database, and updated email addresses in said database. Whooo non-profits! Good stuff.

Favorite part of the week, though, was going camping at Fall Creek Falls State Park with PSF on Friday night. I got to build a fire and eat a delicious TFD (Tin Foil Dinner). Seriously though, no lie, forget the frozen burger patties and consistent potatoes/carrots/onions of camp and add some red and green bell peppers and shredded cheddar cheese...mmmm. Can't go wrong with that. As it turns out it gets pretty cold in the middle of the night in Tennessee in September, but spending the night in my hammock was still quite enjoyable. :) Also we went on a hike Saturday before we left the park, and ate lunch here...

The camping adventure was followed by girls night at the Toolshed, given the fact that Vic and Michael abandoned us for the weekend. Girls night consisted watching a girly movie, but also keeping track of our dear old alma maters...four football games at a time!

Ok ok, so Mary Kate's school is the only one that won, but hey, Furman could've done a lot worse!

This morning was church as usual, which has been quite a lovely experience so far. Turns out there are a lot of Furman/Davidson connections here, too. The plus side of only going as far as Tennessee is that people have actually heard of Furman before. Hooray! Anyway tonight I decided to check out 2PC's  handbell choir (2PC = 2nd Pres). I was one of four people there ringing, plus the director, but apparently there are more people that couldn't make it tonight. At any rate, it's lovely to be making music again.

In all seriousness though, it kind of blows my mind how many different pieces of my life so far have gotten me ready for this year. Everything from playing bells to being a religion major to building a fire for TFDs. God is good, that's for sure.

And that's all for now, folks.

Love,

Allison.

Throwback to Good Old Junior Choir

So today in church we sang a song I've known ever since I can remember, largely thanks to junior choir at DCPC. "Spirit of the Living God." A lot of you probably know it, but it goes...

Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.
Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me.
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.

It's not that complicated of a song, and it's one of those that's so familiar that nine times out of ten you probably don't really think about what you're singing. But this morning it hit me that I really meant those words. I want God and the Holy Spirit to fall on me in a new way this year. I may not know how that'll happen yet, but I want Him to melt me, mold me, fill me, and use me in whatever I'm supposed to be doing this year. Maybe in an expected, outwardly visible way, or maybe He'll mold me into something new and use me for something I never saw coming. Either way, those words are legit.

Love,
Allison.

P.S. - Yeah I just said legit...I'd like to think the Holy Spirit doesn't mind a little abbreviation every now and then.

It's off to work we go...

Hey friends,

After a pretty chill Labor Day, we Nashville YAVs started our jobs this week! For anybody reading who may not know, I’m spending the year working with Vanderbilt’s Presbyterian Student Fellowship (PSF), which really is more like Nashville PSF given that some Belmont students come too. There’s a link to the PSF website to the right, if you’re interested. Anyway, I work in the Religious Life office, also known as the Tarpley Building (it’s on Vandy’s campus). I have an office and keys and everything! I mean I share my office with two other interns, but still. Real life...weird stuff. 

That's my desk!

This week’s biggest event was the weekly worship/dinner that PSF has every Tuesday (what a day to start on!), which went well. I met lots of new people, and it's never a bad evening when free dinner's involved. We worship and eat at St. Augustine's Chapel, which is a little Episcopal chapel near the office. Other than that I'm slowly but surely figuring out what I'll be doing this year. One of the things I'll be doing is sending the weekly email for TOT (Theology on Tap), which is a group of young adults in the area that gets together for dinner once a week and talks about a difference theological topic. For September though, we decided to make our TOT time this cool (and free) concert series that's happening in downtown Nashville called Live on the Green. This past Thursday was awesome...heard this new (to me) band called Hightide Blues, plus Five for Fighting and Tonic. Hooray for free music! 

Live on the Green. The zoom on my camera is currently not functioning, but that's Hightide Blues on the stage. The building behind the stage is the courthouse downtown.

Yesterday we visited the last two agencies at which Nashville YAVs will be working for the year. I realized that I don't know if I've said a lot about these places, but they're all doing pretty incredible things for the community. In case you want to know more, here's the list of where we spend our days...check out the links if you're interested.
Preston Taylor Ministries (that's Mary Kate's placement)
Nations Ministry Center (Beth)
Room In The Inn (Sally)
Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penatly (Vic)
Martha O'Brian Center (Michael)
Conexion Americas (Emily)
And there's me, at PSF.

This morning we went to a Greek festival in town. We didn't last very long because it was approximately a billion degrees outside, but we saw some cool Greek dancing and got some delicious food...and hey, it was something interesting to do with our early afternoon!

That's all for now, friends. If you want to know more you know where to find me. :)
Love,
Allison.

P.S. - Furman 45, Colgate 15. Gooo Paladins!

Settling in in Music City

Hi friends!
Since we got back from New York the seven of us Nashville YAVs have been orientating here in Nashville. Some more sitting down stuff, plus going around and seeing the agencies where we'll be spending the year. I still only know where a handful of places are, but eventually I'll figure it all out. Apparently Nashville is designed in a circle, not a grid. Hm. Anyway, we went on a scavenger hunt of sorts around town yesterday, so here are a few pictures for those of you who may care to take a gander...

Nashville YAVs at the Tennessee state capitol. (I know we're tiny but that's Beth, Sally, Michael, Emily, Vic, Mary Kate, and yours truly.)

Country Music Hall of Fame (It's supposed to look like piano keys and a radio tower, if you're like me and needed someone to tell you that...)

LP Field, home of the Tennessee Titans (on the Cumberland River)

This morning we worshiped at our churches for the first time. Mary Kate and I will be hanging out at Second Pres for the year, and met some lovely people this morning. The plan is to check out Shakespeare in the Park tonight, and tomorrow there's a Labor Day cookout in the works for the Nashville YAVs and YAVAs (YAYAs = YAV alums, of which there seem to be quite a few in the area). Then Tuesday we all start our jobs, so I'll update you all again after that!

Love,

Allison.

Watch out world, here we come...

Here I sit at Stony Point, waiting for our ride to the airport. Nashville’s the only national site left here, but Northern Ireland, Kenya, and India people are still here. It’s strange how emotional it was watching people leave. We’ve only known each other for a week, but it’s so inspiring to see us all heading our separate ways to (at least we hope) do good things. Ok so we maaay not be able to totally change the world in 11 months, but I admire everyone here so much because they’re trying to plant the seeds, in a way. Here’s this group of people committed to going out into the world for the PC(USA) and promoting what they believe in, whether it’s teaching classes or fighting for social change and justice (or maybe just getting to know some college students). So much for the frozen chosen...

There’s another song we’ve been singing that I like a whole lot (surprise) and I feel like it fits this post well...

“Canticle of Turning”

1. My soul cries out with a joyful shout
that the God of my heart is great,
And my spirit sings of the wondrous things
that you bring to the ones who wait.
You fixed your sight on your servant's plight,
and my weakness you did not spurn,
So from east to west shall my name be blest.
Could the world be about to turn?

Refrain: 

My heart shall sing of the day you bring.
Let the fires of your justice burn.
Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near,
and the world is about to turn!

2. Though I am small, my God, my all,
you work great things in me,
And your mercy will last from the depths of the past
to the end of the age to be.
Your very name puts the proud to shame,
and to those who would for you yearn,
You will show your might, put the strong to flight,
for the world is about to turn.

3. From the halls of power to the fortress tower,
not a stone will be left on stone.
Let the king beware for your justice tears
ev'ry tyrant from his throne.
The hungry poor shall weep no more,
for the food they can never earn;
There are tables spread, ev'ry mouth be fed,
for the world is about to turn.

4. Though the nations rage from age to age,
we remember who holds us fast:
God's mercy must deliver us
from the conqueror's crushing grasp.
This saving word that our forebears heard
is the promise which holds us bound,
'Til the spear and rod can be crushed by God,
who is turning the world around.

Love,
Allison.

Ewe Thina

...more or less you say it "ay-way teen-ah," and it means "We Walk His Way." That's what we're trying to do here, at least. I'm in Stony Point, NY with somewhere around 90 other people, the majority of us getting ready to go to 16 different places around the world. Given the fact that we'll be going to so many different places, and the fact that the Stony Point conference center is generally driven towards mission-related projects/groups, we've been singing a lot of songs from other places around the world. Don't get me wrong, I love songs like "Prince of Peace" and "Light the Fire" (a lot), but to hear the same meaning and belief in a new and refreshing (not to mention catchy) way is pretty lovely. I've always been one to find God's presence in music, but let me tell you, hearing 90 people sing those two words in four part harmony is powerful stuff. It's a simple phrase, but I think it sums up a major goal for most of us in the coming year.

Everybody's doing different things, from rebuilding houses in New Orleans to working near the border in Tucson (to campus ministry in Nashville...), but through all of this we're trying to take God's love out into the world with us. That's not to say that it's not already there, because if you ask me God's love is already everywhere, just maybe manifested in different ways. And I can't say that I know exactly what this year holds (I highly doubt anyone here can, at this point), but I can tell you one thing. God's love is most definitely here. Here in this program, here in this place, here in these people, and here in the relationships I've started building just in a few days.

So today (well, it's after midnight so technically, yesterday) was my birthday. Hello 22, nice to meet you! I kid you not, I have known most of these people for three days (my fellow Nashville YAVs for four or five), but it was a really lovely day. Despite the fact that I'm kiiiiind of uncomfortable with 90 people singing the birthday song to me, it happened....twice. And there was a big ol' cake and my new (and wonderful) Nashville friends made me a paper crown (which I admittedly wore for only an hour or two...) and a card. And all birthday happenings aside, I can really tell that this YAV community thing is for real. The fact that we all have this common experience to share, and that we're all quite uncertain of exactly how the next year will go, is a really special place to start. All I can say is that as of right now, I'm pretty positive I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be.

Love,
Allison.

"I would drive 500 miles and I would drive 500 more..."

Ok so maybe it wasn't exactly 500 (almost, though!), and maybe I'm not too keen on driving that far again, but I made it to Nashville! I live in the "Toolshed" with two other girls and so far things are going just swimmingly. Beth and I have a room together, and our other roommate is Mary Kate. We've got a little kitchen too, and a living room. Eventually we'll (hopefully) figure out how to work the wireless in our humble abode, but for now we're chillin' in McDonald's. We leave tomorrow for Stony Point in NY for a week of YAV orientation, then back to Nashville we'll come, to have a little bit of orientation here, and then to start our jobs! So far I think it's shaping up to be a lovely year. :)

That's all for now, friends.
Love,
Allison

"All my baaaags are packed, I'm ready to go..."

When it's almost 3:30am and you can't fall asleep because your mind's racing all over the place about the fact that you're moving to a new city (or a city in general, for that matter), what better way to spend your time than by singing songs like "Leaving on a Jet Plane"??? (And yes, I did sing the first line in my head when I typed it to make it the title of this post. That's why those extra a's are there.) Ok ok, so I'm not leaving on a jet plane, per se, but Madame Blueberry counts right? (Madame Blueberry is my Civic, for those of you who have yet to meet her.)

Alrighty folks, here's the part where I try and make myself go to sleep. Leaving tomorrow morning (or I guess later today...) for my new adventure! Cross your fingers and say a prayer that all will go well and I won't get lost! Though, armed with a Nashville map, a Tennessee map, an Atlas, and a GPS, I'm fairly confident I'll be able to make it. :)

Sweet dreams, friends.
Love,
Allison.

P.S. - I promise when I actually get to Nashville this blog will have worthwhile things to read, and not just my late night ramblings. Though there are sure to be some residual ramblings (and a little alliteration?) too...