Endings, Beginnings, and Change

Today begins a new chapter in my life. In our lives as a family. Yesterday was my last day of full-time employment.

It is a decision I made - it was not forced upon me - but if you know me at all, you know how much I hate change. (Strangely, I rather like change of the coin-sort. Go figure.) It is the right decision for me, right now. I do not regret it, but I will miss my coworkers, my friends, my family... those whom I've worked with for over 13 years and love, whom I've celebrated with and cried with. I will still have a connection with them, working part-time from home, but it won't be the same. 

But it's the right decision.

And my reward is to see this sweet face each day.

tmm

December Live

On Friday, September 21, we did a Moody Radio event in Elmhurst, Illinois, called "December Live!" It was our third year doing one of these events, but the first time it wasn't on Moody's Chicago campus. It's a lot of fun to do the event because 1) I love Christmas; 2) we get to work with a great group of creative people in ways that we don't always get to at work; and 3) it's always great to meet listeners, many of whom are avid fans of Moody Radio. We recorded two hours, one for December Live and one for Valentine's Live with a focus on love in general and, more importantly, God's love for us. The one-hour specials will air in December and February respectively.

Here are a few snapshots of the event (L-R):

Row 1: The Segard family read Luke 2 beautifully; Musicians: Doug Hastings, Jon Hemmer
Row 2: Musicians: Larry Shackley, David Gauger; Tricia keeping time during rehearsal
Row 3: Bill Davis and Jon Gauger tweak scripts; Lee Rugen (as Carl) and Nate in the Laugh Box; Running through "Pew Zapper" (Jon Gauger, Heather Segard, Lee Rugen, Bill Davis, Dan Anderson)
Row 4: Meg and Clara Segard; Practicing the commercial for "Pulpit Cam"; Musician Ken Rothaker


tm

Commencement 2012

I know I’ve skipped the rest of Israel, among other blog-worthy events, but I promise I’ll come back to them. I wanted to briefly update you on a major achievement in our lives. As of May 12, 2012, we are both officially Masters! We each graduated with our Master of Ministry degree from Moody Theological Seminary in Chicago.

 

On the same day, our brother-in-law Jake (married to my sister Amanda) graduated from Moody Bible Institute with his bachelor degree in Pre-Counseling. 

 

And my dad graduated with his Doctor of Ministry from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Boston. My mom was the only one who was able to travel to Boston for Dr. Boyle's commencement, but the rest of us were able to watch it online (and a few of us during MBI’s ceremony….gotta love technology!)

It was a busy day for all of us, but a great day to celebrate. And we’re all relieved to be done with the work – or at least I am! Haha!

Celebrating with four of our nieces: K, M, C, and G

Many of our family came to the ceremony - Boyles, Lewises, and McMillans

 

The question I’ve gotten the most has been, “So what are you going to do now with your free time?” An excellent question if ever I heard one.

Still working on that.

I realized that this past semester was the most intense one that Nate and I had. We didn’t have much time for our normal hobbies and stress-relievers (woodworking and baking, respectively). In the past week or so, we’ve worked on a woodworking project for my sister (I have the orange and blue paint still on my nails to prove it) and I’ve baked a couple sweets for my coworkers. I guess I’m trying to get my “fix” in before it ends. But what we’ll really do with the time, I’m not sure. I feel like I put a lot of life “on hold” for this semester, being in transition but not actually living. I am looking forward to living and enjoying life this summer.

I spoke a little bit about it on Moody Radio’s Midday Connection recently (May 18, 2012). And the inspiration for my topic of “Living in Transition” came from my friend Karen’s blog (this idea came from October 2011).

We’ve also been listening to baseball games on the radio, but that past-time doesn’t seem to be helping the team win. But we’re only a quarter into the season, right?

And with all of this free time, I should be able to get fairly up-to-date in the blog. Stay tuned!

tm