A little introduction.
My husband was recently commissioned a provisional elder (ordination comes later) in the Iowa Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church and was appointed to his first charge this summer. A three-point charge. That means he is the pastor of three individual churches. It's not completely different from being a Methodist circuit rider of the old days. The first service is Saturday evening at one church, and three follow Sunday morning. Yes, that's four total services.
We live in a parsonage next to the smallest of the three churches, six miles out in the country. On the property sit the church, the house, a small barn, and an even smaller garage. Surrounding us on three sides is a scraggly, overgrown (and diseased) grove, and from our front stoop we look onto miles of terraced bean and corn fields. In our yard, you can find mulberry trees, two apricot trees, a sour cherry tree, asparagus, and rhubarb.
We came from an apartment in the city of Durham, North Carolina, where Jonathan received his Master of Divinity, to a roomy ranch style house in the middle of a lot of space in rural Southwestern Iowa. It's been five weeks since the move and we are still settling into the house. You can expect some future before and after room make-over posts, as several parts of the house will be repainted and rearranged. The necessary rooms like the bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom are "done", at least livable, but many other areas of the house still have unpacked boxes, odds and ends, and packing material littered about.
I have almost only ever lived in a parsonage, because I'm now a pastor's wife, but I'm also a pastor's kid. The house is owned by the church, and the church is responsible for maintenance, but we still have some degree of freedom to make changes such as painting, and make improvements to our liking. We've been told more than once that it's our house and to do what we like. We will take that to heart, as soon as we get the energy to pick the paint colors and get it done.
As Jonathan is very busy taking care of the needs of three congregations, I take care of the home and find other ways to be busy. Since college, I've worked in grocery stores in several positions, from chef's assistant to cashier to bookkeeping to assistant manager. For now, I do not plan to work outside the home. Instead, I get to spend time with our dogs, preparing meals, writing letters, taking pictures, and exploring our surroundings. All things which I enjoy very much.
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| The church property-- and home, right at the end of the center line. |
We came from an apartment in the city of Durham, North Carolina, where Jonathan received his Master of Divinity, to a roomy ranch style house in the middle of a lot of space in rural Southwestern Iowa. It's been five weeks since the move and we are still settling into the house. You can expect some future before and after room make-over posts, as several parts of the house will be repainted and rearranged. The necessary rooms like the bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom are "done", at least livable, but many other areas of the house still have unpacked boxes, odds and ends, and packing material littered about.
I have almost only ever lived in a parsonage, because I'm now a pastor's wife, but I'm also a pastor's kid. The house is owned by the church, and the church is responsible for maintenance, but we still have some degree of freedom to make changes such as painting, and make improvements to our liking. We've been told more than once that it's our house and to do what we like. We will take that to heart, as soon as we get the energy to pick the paint colors and get it done.
As Jonathan is very busy taking care of the needs of three congregations, I take care of the home and find other ways to be busy. Since college, I've worked in grocery stores in several positions, from chef's assistant to cashier to bookkeeping to assistant manager. For now, I do not plan to work outside the home. Instead, I get to spend time with our dogs, preparing meals, writing letters, taking pictures, and exploring our surroundings. All things which I enjoy very much.
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