~Fall~

~Fall~

     Tonight, I do not have much to say, so I will throw in a lot of pictures because, as we all know, they "are worth a thousand words."

     Well, a whole month went by since my last post, and it is still fall, but it it moving towards winter. It snowed here last Friday, just a little bit with some flurries throughout the day, nothing stuck, the ground is not frozen yet.

     Here are some pictures from this year so far!

First off, here is my wonderful, beautiful family! Words cannot begin to describe how much I love and miss them!

The Baldwin Main Street!  

Strolled around while I was visiting school at home! Great friends! Great memories!

Some scenery from home sweet home! Our front yard! I miss the openness and clean air and good water and the good people there!

I am quite certain that this pond will be a pretty place on campus no matter the season! Leaves!

The next pictures are some banners hanging on the lamp posts around Trinity that tell what we are about. This first one is in honor of the inauguration of Trinity's 15th President, Dr. David Dockery! Everyone has great confidence that, with God's help, he will lead the college, seminary, graduate school, and law school into a new future of seeing God's continued work on the campuses!
This one says "Heritage & Hope."  "Church Connectedness"

The yard at the front of the chapel, a fall wonderland! :)

An interesting little place behind Rodine, looking like it belongs in Europe!

The Mansion!

Throwing in a few selfies here!

Feeling very Swedish, which got
me started on a
genealogy project!

Feeling very chilly at the football game! We won!

A beautiful fall morning!









      That's what I have been up to, and it is ccccoooooolllllddddddd and WINDY here today! Stay warm and God bless!

Small Town Pastor: What Should You and Your Family Expect?

Beautiful sunny day earlier in the semester!

     Hello! Here I am back on my pretty much non-existent blog! I thought I could be consistent with this, but never mind that theory! I will likely post when I should be doing homework, but my mind is on other things. So, here I am at Trinity International University, thinking about life, cold weather, and ministry. I am loving it here and it is really beautiful as the leaves change and fall really sets in!

Chapel steeple and changing leaves!

     The title of this blog sounds so official, but really, it's not. Today I have been thinking about ministry and ministry in a small town, like where I am from and where my dad is the pastor! I was inspired by our guest speaker in my Introduction to Ministry class today. He grew up in a very suburban area and his first job as an associate pastor was in a very rural community. He mentioned how big of an adjustment is was for him and how some things that seemed normal for the people in the congregation were really shocking to him. It is the opposite for me, coming from a very small rural community (population approximately 600), school, and church, to a suburb of Chicago (28th largest city in the world), a much larger school, and much larger churches! I thought that in light of this all, I would make a list of 10 things that you and your family should expect while living in and shepherding the flock in a small rural community.

Disclaimer: There is a lot of variation from church to church, but from my experience, these are some tips that might be useful. This is also NOT meant to be in any way disrespectful to anyone! I love love love being a small town pastor's kid! I love my family, I love the church, I love my school, I love my community!

1. You will have people stopping in unscheduled on a regular basis.

     If the pastor is at the church, he is available, no appointment necessary.

2. Everyone knows who you are.

     If you are the pastor's kid, you very well may include a note that your dad is the pastor of such and such a church, because people will recognize his name. Chances are though, that everyone in town will already know who you are anyways.

3. Being your own associate pastor, secretary, worship leader, etc.

     If not all the time, the occasion is very likely to occur. You are probably the only paid staff of the church.

4. Similarly, pastor's wives, you may be the Sunday school teacher, pianist, and children's church teacher all on the same day.

     Alright, maybe that is a little extreme, but you will likely serve all three of those roles during your tenure at the church.

5. Farm talk.

     If you have not been exposed to farm talk, prepare to be exposed. This will show up anywhere from general conversation to prayer requests. Learn to ask questions about how the crops are doing, how the cows are doing, if your buddy got his tractor fixed and what was wrong with it (even if you don't necessarily understand every word), what the corn and bean (soybean, but referred to as "bean") prices are like for the year, things like that.

6. Do not schedule guy things on the day of the deer season opener. Also, expect to see dead animals and appreciate their size.

     Your congregation will be out hunting- especially the men. All around town you will see deer in the backs of pickups and in trailers - these should be admired, learn to appreciate how many points they have (and in turkey season, how large the turkey is). You may be gifted with some venison sausage (it is delicious)!

7. The rules for opening doors are not the same.

     If people are bringing something over, they may knock once, but if you don’t respond and the door is open, they very well may open the door and bring it in themselves.

8. Traffic, but not the kind you are used to.

     There really is not a lot of traffic, but the busiest times are spring and fall - planting and harvest. Expect tractors! Also, hay, corn, and manure in the roads is not uncommon.

9. Workdays and delicious food.

     I love workdays! Some days, the workdays are a guy thing- at least the outside work- but I always tagged along with Dad and loved hanging out and working with the guys! Workdays really do have men and women though. The women do a lot of the detail work like pros and the guys do the heavy lifting. Another definite plus is food! Workdays have good food! Eating together really builds community! The ladies bring in amazing casseroles (please know what this is), the guys bring in some meat, there are baked goods, pop (or "soda" if you must), and coffee of course! Workdays are a beautiful thing! Working together really creates a sense of community and ownership! I could go on, but really, just try one, they are great!

And finally...

 

10. Expect a lot of love!

     You are a family! All a part of the body of Christ! People will love you, you will love them! Some people might take a little bit of getting used to, but really, you will appreciate them! People will help you out, they will help you at crazy hours! You will help them, you will help them at crazy hours! Whether it is plowing someone's driveway so that they can get to work and school (tractors are really handy!), or staying with a family as their loved one is dying. You will feel the pain and the joy in your congregation and in the community. It is really something to be treasured and I would not trade my experience for anything!

Thanks for reading! Leave any comments or questions below!

     In Christ,

          Kristina

Finally!

Dear Readers,
     I finally write again! The end of the year craziness is in full swing!
     Today marks a big achievement among the Baldwin Christian School senior class. This morning we presented and defended our senior thesis papers! Our papers themselves had to be 18-20 pages long and our speeches needed to be 6-8 minutes long. We had two wonderful judges, Mr. Swanson and Mrs. Hanson, who were compassionate on us, but challenged all of us students to think over weaknesses in our papers and gave ideas of how to strengthen them. Everyone was nervous, but everyone did a wonderful job presenting and answering questions! There were many papers this year, as there are six seniors, so the whole defense took almost 2 hours. All the topics were very interesting and each student made their view clear. The order that we presented in and our respective topics were as follows:
     Philip - Social Liberalism
     Karsten - Steroids in Major League Baseball
     Mickey - Gun Control
     Kristina - Homosexuality
     Abby - The International Criminal Court
     James - Ethanol
Everyone is relieved to have the defense over with, but I think everyone is proud, and can be proud of what they accomplished.
     This weekend we have our next big event coming up. This is our Protocol outing, as we call it. This is essentially our prom, but we would rather not refer to it as that. The illustrious Mrs. Swanson teaches etiquette classes to the high school students, and the big test and culmination of this is our yearly Protocol outing. In past years we have gone to events such as the UWEC Viennese Ball and a riverboat tour on the Mississippi, and we have gone to restaurants such as Fischer's On The Green in Eau Claire, Fanny Hill in Eau Claire, and Mama Maria's in Hudson. This year we will be going for dinner at Lowell Inn in Stillwater, then we will be attending a performance of Hamlet at the Guthrie Theater. Every year is fun, and this year is sure to be no exception!
     After our Protocol outing this weekend, we have another very full and busy week ahead of us! Our school play, The Mouse That Roared will be performed on May 8 and May 10. We have done plays in the past, but never to this scale. This year is exciting because we are privileged to be able to preform on the stage at the Baldwin-Woodville High School as well as having an actual director to direct our play. Mr. Halverson is the executive director at the Menomonie Theater Guild. This is bound to be a wonderful experience as the Baldwin Christian School students will get to see what they are truly capable of! The week will be full of practicing and really attempting to perfect the play. I encourage you all to come and see it! You can buy advance tickets through any of the BCS High School Students or at the Baldwin Bulletin or the Hazelnut Tree in Baldwin, WI, just let them know!

     Still another busy week to come after the play, but we are wrapping things up! The week following our performance of The Mouse That Roared, is graduation week! The seniors will be wrapping up high school forever and busily working on perfecting their senior solo pieces! Graduation is on Friday, May 16, 2014 at 7 in the evening. Then it is graduation party time and recital time! The last week that the BCS students have school (except for the seniors!), they participate in the annual "Wilderness Survival" outing. Many, if not all the seniors are planning on joining back in the fun for this event! For our "Wilderness Survival" we camp out in one of our teacher's woods, play intense capture the flag in the pine woods, and do some orienteering the next day along with whatever other fun activities our teachers dream up!
     It is crazy crazy crazy! I cannot believe that high school is coming to an end! It is only 115 days until move in day at college! Life is moving at breakneck speeds, hold on! It is an exciting and wonderful journey, I appreciate all your prayers!
     I should really wrap things up, but, in closing, I have to share a verse from our Bible reading that is encouraging during this rainy week. "Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord; His going forth is sure as the dawn; He will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth." ~Hosea 6:3
     I really have no clue when I will be writing again, so have a blessed week, or month, or 2 months! Thank you for reading!

Beginnings

Hello blog readers!

     I have never blogged before, but am going to give it a whirl! Blogging seems like it will be a good and convenient way to stay in touch over the summer and for the next few years of college. Forgive me if my posts are few and far between, but the rest of my senior year is pretty full! I will try to be a more faithful blogger over the summer and as I begin the college chapter of life.
     It will be a busy next month and a half - the final months of high school- ever! It is a very strange feeling! This Saturday the Baldwin Christian High School will be holding their annual pancake breakfast, which is always a good time and a good fundraiser. At the end of this month, BCS will be having the spring concert and the senior class will be presenting their thesis papers and defending them in front of a panel of judges, a scary but good experience! Every weekend in May is full with our high school protocol outing, our performance of The Mouse That Roared, graduation, recital, Brat Fest, and graduations parties rounding out the month. It will all go so fast, I'm not sure if I am ready!

     As to the title of this blog, and it's significance, really it is pretty random. I was trying to think of a good title for this blog that was alliterated and sounded interesting, feminine, and vintage-y. "Peaches" was put in there because that is one of my color obsessions right now. I am not a huge fan of peaches the fruit, but I am a fan of peach the color, it is somewhat vintage-y and very feminine. I couldn't have "peach" singular, so I had to go for "peaches plural", whatever works! "Pearls" seemed like a decent choice for the next word because pearls are so classic, and "pearls" starts with a "P"! "Promises" is probably the most significant of the three words in the title. Promises are precious and need to be kept, who doesn't love a kept promise?! God never breaks His promises to us and that is one of the most reassuring things to think about, especially when your whole world will change next August like mine will!
     The title of this post, "Beginnings", seemed like an appropriate title for the first post of my blog, which I hope will interest some enough to read future posts! Another beginning, other than my blog, is spring! Spring has finally sprung in Wisconsin (I think)! Even though we had freezing rain last night and snow this morning and it is cool today (33.4 F), it was super warm yesterday (57.3 F) and there is hardly any snow now, so it is close enough!

Here is yesterday evening, storm clouds brewing!

Here is today!

I am so thankful for the warmer weather, and I think I speak for most everyone in Minnesota and Wisconsin when I say that! The changing of the seasons is one of the many beautiful things that God has orchestrated and the change from winter to spring is my favorite! One more quick beginning! We started up dance lessons again today at school and started to learn the Lindy Hop! We plan on learning the Lindy Hop, the Cha Cha, and maybe the Salsa this year! I highly recommend ballroom dancing, it is so much fun!
     I had better skedaddle for now, but I hope to keep writing soon! Thanks for reading!

"God thunders with His voice wondrously, doing great things which we cannot comprehend." Job 37:5 NASB