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Trying my hand...

Moving to Oregon left the options wide open. What should I do now? I heard that Sacred Heart hospital had an amazing CPE program, so I figured, why not? It was amazing. The weeks were long, the traumas were tragic, and the deep internal spiritual digging was tough, but I completed a full-time residency unit.

Then I got a phone call. A local University had some classes they were interested in having me teach. Sweet! So, that is what I've been doing. I'm teaching 2 classes and enjoying every bit of it. I feel a new found freedom to explore other options outside of pastoral ministry. At this point, I don't have much of a desire to do chaplain ministry, and I'm not even pressing hard to do pastoral ministry. Teaching is quite exhilarating and rewarding for me, and may fit into my favorite definition of call that I came across during CPE, "Where the world's needs and my joys meet."

In the midst of all of this, I had another kid! A baby girl (as if that is secondary to the above information. Trust me, it's not). Our son has been amazing with her, loving on her, hugging her and giving her kisses. He gets her a new diaper when it's time to change, and expresses his concern when she cries. He's been a great big 2 year old brother.

Holly's labor lasted a total of about 2 and a half hours, with about 5 minutes of actively pushing (through only 2 contractions). We were close to having a baby in the car! We were only in the delivery room for about 15 minutes before the baby came!

Holly is recovering remarkably well.

You can see updated pictures of the family at www.flickr.com/photos/thjmiller.

Many blessings,
-Tim

The Big Move...

Well, we did it. We off and went to Oregon.

We forgot how fresh the air is, and you can drink the water straight out of the tap!

We're out in the country now, basically in the forest. We went on a walk tonight and it felt like we were camping in the woods. Jude seems to love it. He always likes being cold, so this cold weather is making him really happy. Plus, he gets to play with his cousins all day.

The move went relatively smooth... relatively speaking. Jude screamed for the first 2 hours of the three hour flight. Then slept for the last hour.

Tim and his dad drove with all of our stuff. They spent two nights in hotels and blew a tire in the middle of nowhere on I-5. But God was there. A state trooper was right behind them, and there was a sign for a tire shop about a mile down the road in some crazy tiny town 6 miles away. 45 minutes later they were rolling again.

We've enjoyed time with our family. Tim is excited to start driving his car again. He's been meeting with old professors and pastors that he knew, and we're just taking it easy for the time being.

Holly spent the day planting flowers and picking weeds with her sister.

We miss our friends, but it feels right being here.

Check out our pictures at www.flickr.com/photos/thjmiller to stay up to date on Tim's beard progress, Jude's growth, and Holly's belly.

We love you all!

Blessings,

-The Millers.

The Moleskine Bible

For those of you who love your Moleskine journals, the ESV has produced and Moleskine type journaling Bible, and I've got to say, I love it. If there is a down side, the font is a bit small, but I absolutely love the ruled margins for taking notes. I'm not 100% sold on the ESV (English Standard Version). I'm ridiculously picky when it comes to translations, so it will probably take a bit for me to give this one a fair verdict for the type of Bible translation philosophy I like. It is an "essentially literal" translation where they seek to preserve the grammar and structure of the original authors.

So far I like the version. I haven't found anything super objectionable yet. There are a couple passages where I prefer the translation of the NRSV, and I'll have to get used to a Bible that doesn't use gender inclusive language, but I'm willing to get past that for the lined margins for note taking.

I lost my favorite Bible and can't seem to find it anywhere, which is a bummer because it had a lot of seminary notes in it. So, I got this Bible because I use a Moleskine regularly, and it matches, and also because i can use the journaling part to re do all my notes.

Anyway... here's what it looks like...

Earth Hour

Participate in Earth Hour today. Click here to learn more, and find out when to turn out the lights.

When I am weak

He is strong indeed. And through His strength I feel more clear about ministry and excited to be in ministry than I ever have before.

I find it's more of a challenge to keep up on my personal spiritual life in ministry than it was in seminary. You'd think it would be the other way around.

I find that God has brought me back to the values and convictions about ministry that he revealed to me towards the end of my time in seminary. I am excited to function in this.

Lord-lead-amen.

What is hell like?

Perfect Sleep Position

This morning while squirming around in bed trying to get comfortable to catch a few more minutes of sleep, I found the perfect sleep position. It was one of those things I just stumbled upon. All my life I've been trying to find the most comfortable position to sleep in, back, side, stomach, hard pillow, soft pillow, no pillow, etc. But this morning, I found it!

The only problem is, I can't remember what it was. Hopefully that elusive perfect sleep position will return to me tonight, but if not, I will not give up hope that I will one day find it again.