Fondue Fun

So our week this week revolved primarily around preparations for our Fondue party on Friday. Shopping, planning and organizing took up quite a bit of our week. On Friday evening we cleaned and decorated our humble home, chopped and prepared enough food for twice the number of people we were expecting and welcomed our lovely guests. The evening was spent around four fondue pots, representing four bags of chocolate chips and three pounds of cheese. It was absolute taste bud luxury and probably an extreme abuse of our arteries. Conversation flowed late into the night until it was only the three of us VSers and a few other girls. We continued to exchange valuable life experiences, sound advice and book recommendations until 1:30 AM. The evening was a success and we fell into our pillows, fully and pleasantly exhausted.

Job Update
We spend a lot of time discussing our lives outside of work so here is a little update on our professional lives.
Tiffany is beginning her third week at HeadStart and has already found it to be an extremely rewarding and challenging place to work. While her 3 and 4 year olds are at risk kids with a lot of behavior issues, she has come to adore them and looks forward to dedicating 6 more months to them.
Heather has only three short weeks left at the St. Louis Mennonite Peace Center. She is looking forward to the end of her term with both fear and excitement. She has enjoyed her time there whether working alongside elementary school children in the garden, observing mediations or tutoring 1st graders. She's ready to embark on a new adventure but sad to leave a very valuable job.
Amanda has faced many challenges since unexpectedly becoming Clinic Manager at La Clinica. She has honed her leadership and organizational skills and found herself capable of much bigger things than she would have ever expected. While being in management as a volunteer has its ups and downs, she finds great meaning in her job and is truly humbled by being able to provide medical service to a very vulnerable population.

Gettin' Out

We've found lately, that our once quiet, TV-filled evenings are becoming fewer and fewer. We've been working on becoming more involved and spending less time in front of our TV. Amanda and Heather attend step classes at the gym a couple times a week and we've all signed up for a cultural dance class at the community center. It feels good to us to get out into our community as much as we can.

Hummus with Friends
On Wednesday evening the three of us went to a cute little Mediterranean cafe with two of Amanda's work friends, Becca and Lindsay. The hummus, baklava and good company was enjoyed by all.

Support Meeting
Friday night we had the monthly meeting of our VS Support Committee. We had a fantastic curry meal (compliments of Scott) accompanied the delicious side dishes supplied by our other committee members. How did we manage to get a committee with such good taste? The meeting went pretty late with lots of issues and information being shared and compared.

Sunday Special
Sunday was a busy day. We went to church in the morning, appreciating, as always, the closeness of our church family. That afternoon we had our monthly Ed-Rec activity. Ed-Rec stands for education and recreation and each month we VSers have $10 each to spend on an activity that we, as a unit, can enjoy together. This month we went to a see "27 Dresses." Yes, it was our second movie of the month but what can we say? There just happened be some great movies this month and, incredibly, we had the resources to see them. After the movie (which was fabulous) we had a planning meeting for the young adult Bible Study that's soon to be starting up. After a couple of hours of discussion we decided on material and format that we're all really excited about. We'll be studying the books of Judges and Ephesians in an effort to compare community building in the the Old Testament to that of the early church. Our other goals are to become more familiar with often overlooked Old Testament literature and to overhaul our often less than sparkling opinion of Paul's writings. We are very excited to get started!

Fit and Fun

Our proud announcement this week is our new found affection for physical fitness. Amanda and Heather resolved that in 2008 they would go to the YMCA near our house regularly. Tiffany made no such resolution having a deep and long-running hatred for "the gym" (said with a grimace). However, her move towards healthy living comes in the form of Pilates videos. Sometimes all three of us do the fast paced video together, laughing at our "gracefulness." It's a good feeling though. Makes us feel much better for the cake, cookies and breads that are our constant counter top decoration.

Dinner Par-tay
On Friday night, we had Clay and Dave and Quinci over for a dinner party and game night. We had a fabulous curry meal and played some crazy rounds of Hoopla, Whoonu and Slapagories. It was a great evening and reminded us how fun our friends really are.

Saturday Movie
Courtesy of Heather's boss, Mary, the three of us went to see "Juno" in theaters on Saturday afternoon. The movie was hilarious and strangely touching and we couldn't have been happier to indulge in an MVS rarity.

Sunday School...it's Cool
Our Sunday School at St. Louis Mennonite Fellowship is, in our opinion, one of a kind. This fall we began a "potpourri" Sunday School in which different topics are discussed each week, each of them issues that all of us as Christians and human beings deal with on a regular basis. Some of the topics have been responsible consumerism, Mennonite history and racism. This Sunday, we talked about Sin, Salvation and The Church. Three huge topics that needed much more than a 45 minute class but the discussion was incredibly valuable. We truly love the way that our church gives respect and validity to many broad and varied opinions and that questioning even some of Christianity's most foundational doctrines is expected and appreciated.

Home Again

Well hello there loyal blog readers. After three weeks of holiday induced blog neglect, we are back in our fair city and eager to report our post-Christmas events.

Home Sweet Bitterly Cold Home
Just before leaving for Christmas break, our decrepit little heater's motor decided to quit. Thus, one half of our house was left without heat during our absence. We hoped it would be fixed when we returned but tragically, Heather and Amanda arrived on Dec. 31 to a half frozen house. When Tiffany got back on the 1st, heat had still not been restored and the three of us effectively transitioned our lives to one half of the house. Since both Heather and Tiffany's rooms were on the cold half, we enjoyed a couple of impromptu slumber parties on the other half of the house. By Thursday though, Reyes (our heater guy) came bearing a new motor and made our house whole once again.

Mokabees
Amanda's friend from home, Greg, stayed with us for a few days after bringing Amanda back to St. Louis from Virginia. We tried to give him an enjoyable St. Louis experience (not easy since the guest room was also on the heater-less half of the house). So on Tuesday night the three of us and Greg went to Mokabees, a cute little coffee shop a few blocks from our house. We sat, drank hot chocolate and played hearts for a couple hours, basking in the sweet, coffee shop aura. It reminded us of why we like living here. Cute, hole in the wall places that only the locals know about.

The Debates
On Saturday night, we invited Clay and Dan over for the Republican and Democratic debates on TV. We couldn't describe all four hours as riveting but it did give us a feel for the candidates and incite some interesting discussion/critical commentary.

Something New
Today Tiffany began a new placement at a HeadStart program not far from the VS house. Edgewood was a very good and beneficial experience but she wasn't able to stay there. And so today, she was immersed into an entirely new environment. It's exciting for another VSer to be working close to the neighborhood and getting to know the community through her work. It's a different culture, one where whites are a minority and gang crime is commonplace, but it's a beautiful one. One that Tiffany would say has a whole lot of really cute kids.

Oh the weather outside is frightful

but the VSers are so delightful...

This week has been filled with holiday preparation, mostly including expanding our stomachs to a nice Christmas size, ready for mom's home cooking. Our counters are filled with food, which we don't quite understand seeing as we all leave in two days...looks like we've got some over indulging to do...we guess more than usual.

The highlights of the week included, snow, a good five inches of it which sent St. Louis into a frenzy. Amanda in particular was not a fan of scraping ice or walking through drifts of snow the size of her flats. Heather was not a fan of sweeping the sidewalk so Amanda could make it to the car but Tiffany on the other hand mocked the lack of snow and her roommate inhibitions. The week also included a food filled Christmas party, the monthly VS support meeting, movies with friends, and a hysterical children's Christmas program at church.

Basically we are all geared up to head back to our respective states for some holiday fun with our families. See you in the New Year!!

SLMF

St. Louis Mennonite Fellowship has a lot of perks. One of its big ones: variety. Variety of people , ages, ideas, perspectives and styles. On Sunday we had the pleasure of basking in the glow of our church family all day.

After church, Plowsharing (St. Louis' version of 10,000 Villages) opened exclusively to SLMFers. A portion of all sales that day would go to St. Louis Mennonite Peace Center (where Heather works). The store was full and we all enjoyed shopping for something of long-lasting value.

Us three VSers then, were invited to Dave and Pat Naffzigers home for an amazing pot roast meal. After some fabulous chocolate cheesecake and watching the last few minutes of the football game, we hurried home to get a quick nap before our next gathering.

Pastor Sam and Rachel were hosting a young adult Christmas party. The best and brightest of our church's self-defining young adults were present and the evening was packed with good food, trivial pursuit and some decidedly un-pacifistic rounds of mafia. As we drove home (around 11:30 PM), the three of us discussed the impressiveness of SLMF's young adult group. We're an admittedly small congregation but we do in fact boast a strong group of energetic, fun and (let's just come right out and say it) darn good lookin' young adults.

Even though being involved in a tight-knit church family isn't always flowers and candy, it's good to know you will never be far from wonderful friends, supportive arms and delicious pot roast.

People

Our week this week was all about connections, soul sharing and generally discovering the beauty of people.

Candles
On Wednesday, the three of us attended a Party Lite (a little company that sells nifty candles) party at our neighbor Tina's house. It was a fun little gathering of women brought together by a common love of a wax, flame and pleasant smells. More importantly though, Tina made amazing Christmas goodies and one fantastic cheese ball.

When You Least Expect It
On Saturday afternoon, the three of us plus our friend Joyclyn decided to go visit the history museum together. On the way we stopped at a restaurant that we heard was having free pictures with Frosti the Snowman. One fabulously festive/mildly embarrassing picture later, we were off to the museum. There we discovered little known facts about American history and the 1904 World's Fair in St.Louis.
Saturday evening we went to our friend Melissa Roth's house for a ladies-only dinner party. Melissa is a brilliant and sensational 44-year-old who lives with a couple of poets and Rodney, a decorator. Melissa invited several of her friends over and the group of us had a grand old time eating amazing food, solving one another's problems and vigorously discussing the frustration and beauty of the "adult world." As the night became later, Melissa's housemate, Rodney, came home. As it turns out, Rodney had just closed his decor shop that day and had lots of stuff to get rid of. We VSers jumped at the opportunity and, in a flurry of activity, found ourselves at Rodney's store, waist-deep in free decorations. At about 1 AM, we loaded an entire car with everything from baskets, to plastic poinsettas , to unreasonably large bolts of fabric. And by 1:30 Rodney was gone, leaving in his wake a whole new decor in the VS house. Sometimes you're not sure why you end up somewhere, or what the point was. And sometimes it's as obvious as the giant gold bow now resting on your front porch. And while the new look was cool, it was the new shimmer and shine we all felt, the refreshed and refined outlook on the world, that made the evening a succulent surprise.

Curry and Caroling
Sunday we invited Clay, Katie, Natalie and Elizabeth over for lunch. Clay has been coming to St. Louis Mennonite Fellowship for several weeks and attends St. Louis Bible College. We invited Clay to come visit and bring some of his friends from college if he wanted. Those friends turned out to be Katie and Natalie. Elizabeth, of course , attends our church and is just plain cool. The seven of us had a great curry meal (compliments of Amanda) and some fabulously enthusiastic discussion.
At about 4 o'clock, the three of us went Christmas Caroling with the church to two retirement homes. There was a great turnout and we all had so much fun singing timeless songs and sharing smiles with the energetic residents.

It's so easy sometimes to get into a really cozy pattern: go to work, come home, eat, talk with your housemates and go to bed. It's very easy to stay with a few people that you know and like and are so comfortable with. It's easy to not make connections. But there's something electric, something essential, about those new connections. A person is a vastly complex thing, overflowing with absolutely individual views, thoughts, feelings. And as we connect to those great complexities, we have each become deeper, fuller. Shared experiences become bridges and differences, gifts as we are allowed to see the world through a different set of eyes. Maybe visiting Frosti and sharing some curry isn't as big as all of that, but we think that's what VS is all about.