World Council of Churches 10th Assembly

I've spend the last few months preparing for the WCC Assembly which is taking place in Busan, South Korea. I arrived in Busan last night in preparation for the Youth Pre-Assembly which will begin tomorrow, the Assembly itself starts on October 30th. I am excited, overwhelmed and nervous - but it's all good!  I've been asked lots of questions about what the Assembly is so here is a starting point and a helpful history of the Assemblies of the World Council of Churches and the significant role they've played in the life of the ecumenical movement over the past 65 years.

Ten on Tuesday

Ten on Tuesday... Fall is here!

1. I'm beyond excited about tomorrow... about staff meeting, community, love, home. About conversations, preparations and planning. Tomorrow is the start of fall routine and I'm happy that is is here again.

2. It's quiet here at Sorrento Centre... here at home. The youth staff have left, the guests have left, the place is quiet. I miss the people who had gathered here, I miss the staff who are also my friends, but I'm also very excited for for the quiet and the slower pace.

3. I'm in teacher mode... and in sticky note planning mode... This is how I imagine planning children's ministry, youth ministry and young adults... will I still be using this organized and colourful system in a months time? Who knows...

4. I received an email this afternoon with an invitation that has me feeling like I can't say no (and I say this feeling honoured, not limited!). It sad the following, "I am writing to you today to invite you to accept to be nominated to serve..." and at the end of the email, "By this letter I am requesting you accept to service on the assembly..." Hehe... oh dear... I doubt I have a valid reason to say "no"!

5. I am waist deep in 2014 planning for Sorrento Centre... Summer has just ended, my fall programming soon to begin with 2014 already in the middle of it's planning. Wow!

6.  I have to decide in the next few days whether I'm going to a gathering with colleges, for a while I was thinking that I wouldn't because I'm already going to be away so much... but now I think that I might need that college time!

7. I spent my Saturday sick on the couch. But after one day I was back to (near) full functioning. It took: Emergen-C, Echinacea Water, cough drops, two boxes of kleenex, VapoRub and season 2 of Call the Midwife.

8. I discovered how lovely it is to have my radio in my living room rather than bedroom... CBC radio all the time! (yes... sometimes I'm like a 65 year old!)

9. I'm back to meal planning, life scheduling and ministry planning and dreaming. Love it.

10. 51 day until I leave for Busan...

Oh, Hello September

Woah - Hello September! When did you arrive?

September will always feel like "back to school" time. Time to bring out the pants and socks, the new notebooks, the pens and the backpacks. Time to leave the flexible summer days behind and enter into the schedule filled with school, extra-curricular activities, and youth group. It's time for packed lunches, late night paper writing, Saturday sleep-ins and life being organized by the agenda book.

For the second year, September does not have me going back to school (although late-fall may see an online course). September now means cooler days, a more relaxed schedule and the next set of projects and deadlines approaching alongside a very full schedule. September still has the joy of bringing out the fall wardrobe (I'm one of those people who love fall and winter clothes!) and doing some preparations for children and youth ministry in the church... which is sort of like school preparations!

My work has the summer months as the most full and most busy months of the year. The summer months are filled with some of the most joyful and holy days as people gather together to form community, to pray, to play and to learn. Which means that when the fall days come I have both a more relaxed and more flexible schedule alongside a more full schedule as commitments beyond Sorrento Centre come back to life and the meeting commitments I have made fill up many days and weeks of the year.

At the Cathedral everything starts up again in September: Sunday School, Youth Group, Young Adults, Staff Meetings, Bible Study, Parish Dinners, and the list goes on and on and on! And I am so excited and so ready to continue the planning and get back in touch with everyone. Alongside this my National Church commitments begin again: meetings, readings, writing, gatherings, traveling. There is much new for this year, namely - heading off to the World Council of Churches in South Korea as one of the handful of delegates representing the Anglican Church of Canada. Excited. Terrified. Honoured.

For me, the fall days also are the days when I get back into my cooking and preparing of meals. And I love cooking and baking - so when the time comes for me to get back into the kitchen I find myself filled with peace.

Fall means planning, traveling, preparing, cooking, resting.
Fall means new challenges and opportunities.
So, as much as I am surprised that September has already arrived I am also so very ready for it!

How to stay sane...

When your house goes from only you to 4 people overnight!

My lovely brothers and sister have come for a visit... Taylor, Rhys and Aaron are all here for the week. This is fabulous and so what I need and I like to think also what they need. The thing is, my schedule hasn't changed - it is still the middle of the summer with a full week of programming with 110 people on site ahead of me. The other things is - I'm still tired with no solid sleep time in sight. And we have a wedding this weekend in Vernon for a cousin (yay!) followed quickly by the start of our final week of programming! The season is full right now.

I'm grateful for the energy my brothers and sisters bring with them and the way they are able to be both mature and fun at the same time. We hit a few road blocks once in a while (getting up in the morning - eek!). So in preparation for their arrivial I tried as hard as I could to make sure that things were as organized as possible. Here are a few of the ways I attempted to do just that:

- We're all eating meals in the dining room on site, this is great because it means no food preparations, cooking and clean-up for me. But kids still want to eat snacks! On my counter is a container of all the "odds and ends" from my cupboard that they can enjoy at any time, including: trail mix, crackers, rice cakes, rye crackers, peanut butter, nutella, granola bars, etc... And in my fridge: pickles, pepperoni sticks, cheese sticks and sliced watermelon. And they grab something when they need it.

- A laundry basket is in a central location for all dirty clothes... once this basket is full laundry must be done ASAP!

- They are all registered in programming at Sorrento Centre. Why?! Because otherwise they'd be inside all day while I'm working and they'd end up so bored. I'm hoping for a flexible enough schedule that I'll be able to spend chunks of time with them in the afternoons. But if I can't, they are old enough to go to the beach (lifeguards on duty) and play around site without me.

- I'm aiming for a 10:30pm bedtime - earlier if possible! This means technology off, lights out and heads on pillows! The kids arrived at my house with their summer sleep schedule... stay up all night and sleep all morning/afternoon. Well, let's just say breakfast is served at 7:30am these days!!! So an early bedtime is a must! (If not for them... then for me!)

- I've entered into the week thinking about fun and flexibility. We all need to have fun but we also need to all be able to live with some flexibility. On my end (that work project CAN wait until a different time) and on their end (oh, Melissa needs to ditch basketball for a few moments and go help someone at the office).

It's already off to being a great week and we're having a great time together!

On Rest

It's hard sometimes working in this lovely fast paced world... in this lovely fast paced workplace.
It's hard sometimes to know that all I need to do is rest... to pause... to be quiet for but a moment.
And to also know that it's so hard to make sure it actually happens.
It's hard to make sure that I keep that time sacred and to ask that others be respectful of that sacred time.

I know it's not impossible to do this and have this time.

I'm grateful for the many mentors that I have to teach me how to do this by their example. It's by watching them take time to rest and pray that I am reminded of how important it is and how much my soul yearns for and needs that time. And I know that Jesus found that time, even though it was hard to come by. Hard to carve out those sacred moments of alone time.

And sometimes I'm good at trying. Sometimes I find myself on my deck with a book (which ends up not being as wonderful as I imagined it might be) and settle down in a chair and the phone rings, a guest needs help finding a camping spot. And so I go, because my time is not only my own but more importantly because I care. And I care deeply for the people who come to this place and their time here.

But then I try again... deck, chair, heavy eyes... this time with the cherry chocolate chunk Haagen-Dazs ice cream (aka: a little bit of heaven!). A bit of deliciousness to enjoy during the few moments of quiet.

In the next few weeks I hope to find more mini-moments for the restful, sacred, needed places of quiet and alone time.  And I hope to find more moments of conversation, sharing and laughter with friends. Why? Because I need to for my self-care and overall well-being and because I need to show myself that I can engage in work and ministry that calls for my time and attention minute after minute and also have the ability to pause.
To breathe.
To stop.
To rest.
To pray.
To sleep.
To be.

That I can find the balance and that the balance can be good.

(this may take a lot of cherry chocolate chunk ice cream! :) )

Sometimes I wonder...

Pizza Dough Recipe

Pizza Making... Gluten Free

Aaron and Taylor choose toppings 

So, I love to bake and I love to cook. I also fully believe that our young people (in today's case my family) should be engaged in the process of this creative creating. And that can't be fully enjoyed without some level of chaos!

I also love pizza. Like seriously, if someone would give me permission to eat pizza everyday I probably would. Pepperoni and mushroom; chicken, spinach and feta; spinach, artichoke and feta; roasted garlic, chicken, pesto... the list goes on and on. Mushrooms, olives, pepperoni, chicken, spinach and lots of cheese.

So, the fact that I love to bake and cook and that I love pizza means that when the kids come over I love to make pizza with them. And there is nothing as exciting as making personal sized pizza - each making there own! (Okay, I make the dough!)

Ready for the oven

I make a gluten free pizza dough because I can. Because at one time my love for baking was disappearing as it was just not challenging enough. I knew the ingredients I mixed in the bowl would turn out - there was no uncertainty in it. The excitement is back as I keep trying out recipes with flours and ingredients that I know nothing about and stir mixtures with this slight fear that it might all flop (that wouldn't be the first time!).

Okay, now that is all out of the way - back to what is most important!

Pizza's done baking

This is the best pizza dough I've made to date, so, so good! And it was easy. It is a yeast dough (my last recipes have not been) so deciding to make it 30 minutes before dinner will not work. It will require the necessary rising time! I commend this recipe to you - currently I'm planning on baking some more and freezing it for those days when I decide it's a pizza night 30 minutes before dinner.

I made two batches which made five personal pizza's out of it.
The recipe is below but be sure to visit Nicole's website: www.glutenfreeonashoestring.com and the direct link to the recipe here.

Enjoy!!


Pizza Dough
2 cups all-purpose gluten-free flour
1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup warm water (about 100 degrees F)
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (plus an extra tablespoon or two for drizzling)

1. In a medium-size bowl or the bowl of your food processor, place the flour, xanthan gum, yeast, sugar, and salt and stir to combine.
2. To the flour mixture, add the 3 tablespoons of olive oil and the water in a steady stream, either pulsing in a food processor or mixing with a spoon or fork to combine. If you are using a food processor, pulse while streaming in the water, until a ball begins to form. Otherwise, stir constantly while streaming in the water and continue stirring until the mixture begins to come together. If the dough seems super sticky, add some more flour a tablespoon at a time, and stir or pulse to combine. Press the dough into a disk.
3. Place the dough in another medium-size bowl and drizzle it with olive oil. Turn the dough to coat it with oil. This will prevent a crust from forming on the dough while it is rising. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in a warm, draft-free area to rise until doubled in volume (about 1 hour).
4. After the dough has risen, wrap it in plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour before rolling it out.
5. To make pizza, roll between two pieces of plastic wrap. Create a crust by rolling in the edges, brush the dough with olive oil, and blind bake it at about 400 degrees F (that is, bake it plain, before topping it) for 5 to 7 minutes, sot he crust begins to crisp. Then, top it with sauce, cheese, and whatever else you have in the fridge, and return it to the hot oven until the cheese is melted, another 5 to 7 minutes.

Enjoy your Pizza!