recent suggestions from locals

Throughout last Saturday’s open house, neighbors and workmates brought up (as we’d asked) ways they’ve experienced the Mad City area that we shouldn’t miss. Here’s a sampling, for the benefit of other locals:

• the zoo (frequently free, we understand)
• Blooming Butterflies at Olbrich Gardens (reminding us of the Butterfly House whose bright stickers we’ve seen all over Mackinac Island but never visited)
• Kites on Ice (not being held this year)
• 4th of July fireworks (two of us witnessed these in 1987 with a crowd outside the Student Union – but on the wrong side of the lake, by our estimation)
• Michael’s Frozen Custard (already sampled in several flavors by the generosity of a visiting friend and former supervisor)
• Vitense Golfing (the Wisconsin minigolf course is highly recommended)
• canoe trip on the Wisconsin River
• free concerts on the capitol building square downtown
• other regular capitol- and campus-related activities (found while searching for another link)
• Farmers Market on Saturday mornings at the capitol square in warmer weather – plus Wednesdays in Midvale(?) and Thursdays in Middleton
• Wisconsin Dells water parks
• various restaurants and parks…

That should be enough to keep us exploring aspects of our new town for a while, even on our slim budget. And we’re still just starting to get to know neighbors, workmates, teachers, pastors and fellow Christ-followers in this context.

Ready to highly recommend one realtor – j

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back online, and in "Mad City"

Where did the last week (and a half) go? Somewhere in there was the final packing; great help loading and unloading on both ends of the drive south; learning our way around town and services, offices and schools; and lots of emptying of boxes and breaking them down for recycling. Everyone’s rooms and the shared areas of the house are taking shape, tho without pictures on the walls. (I decorated my cubicle slapdash in anticipation of A.’s redecoration.) DSL took off last night after a little extra help, thus this entry and the updated location for our homepage.

Theres’s too much to try to do justice to it all like this, but we are glad to be getting situated, exploring new classrooms and churches, meeting neighbors and coworkers, learning the shape of life and work in this new stage of venturing under the mercy. A good kind of tired – j

on purpose, and things found when moving

My initial idea for a blog was for facilitating on among our coworkers at the training center where we’ve lived and worked the past couple years. Captured in a journal entry tapped out a year ago tomorrow in the Detroit airport awaiting what I thot would be the last leg of a journey home from St. Louis (that’s another story):

“Maybe it should be an unblog – voices from the near-wilderness, not glued to the tube or wired to the blogosphere, but hearing God in the scriptures and serving in community.”

This is not that blog; we’re now transitioning to a different team (actually, at least two teams). But I’d still read anything written by these hardy camp staff and spouses. As we’ll continue to exchange newsletters and more, I look forward to hearing how things go beyond our stint here.

So what’s this unblog to be?

I’m aiming for:

• a household-wide sounding board, with entries written by (or dictated, or at least about) members other than me
• absorbed neither with individuality nor ideology, but attentive to the works and words of the I AM

– the same who interrupted ancient Moses’ quiet exile, and who leaves fingerprints all across our contemporary lives.

Back to content philosophy later. It’s getting late for old married folks like us.

With help from her mother, A.’s putting together a percentage-based paper budget to steward her net worth, which has been increasing lately due to a custom jewelry hobby-turned-enterprise. Dy’s great at the practical level of this process.

Meanwhile (able multitasker that she is) the near-emptied kitchen cabinets are getting dusted. The boxes are piled up on every side…tried to get a photo in here, but the service didn’t cooperate. (I’m sure it wasn’t me.)

The budgeting forms date back almost two decades to a packet her IV staff walked thru with her as she graduated. Now in Word, those should be on jdata.name for others to enjoy – along with a couple of decision-making grids our moving process helped us sharpen. [They’re going soon onto ministryexchange.org under our money label.]

Oooh! Dy’s sweeping beneath the pulled-out fridge yields an unopened packet of Smarties – but not for long. A. dusts them off, unwraps the bunch and declares, “They taste okay.” Maybe I’ll try one too.

If I post again from the land of the living, you’ll know those things were just as fine as they tasted – j