Phew!!

Sorry for the long time since my last post - the last couple of months have been a whirlwind!

First, we were living in 3 places for a little while:  1) Old house, 2) Dahmon's parent's farm house, 3) house sitting a house for the Antioch program that operates out of Minneapolis.  Living in 3 places at the same time is disorienting...to say the least.  Dahmon was picking on me a bit because I became slightly neurotic about knowing where a few specific items were at all times.  What can I say, it becomes important to know where a few things are when everything is all over the place.  After we got all of our junk into the farm house, I went through and got rid of a bunch of it.  I really didn't need two winter coats.

Today Dahmon started school for the year.  Only a few more years and the only one of us in this family who will be in school will be Drexel.

Oh Drexel, my son.  He's growing a TON (16ish pounds, 27ish inches long) and is doing so much more quickly than I was ready for.  Life became a lot easier once he could hold up his head and I could carry him upon my hip.  He is definitely a babe who appreciates the outdoors and will grump and fuss when it is time to bring him inside.  Now he has discovered that these things that move around him, and that he can make move, can help him scoot across the floor...we have a mobile baby!  Now, he isn't exactly fast or coordinated (and kind of reminds me of a lost inchworm), but he is moving and will purposefully go towards specific items.  :)

Here are some new pics of our babe:

How does God see me?

So I'm gonna be very real here - I have serious body image issues.  A psychologist told me about 4 or 5 years ago that I was flirting with the border of an eating disorder (anorexia namely) but my symptoms were not strong enough to actually warrant a diagnosis.  According to her, I would have to rely on my friends to tell me if I was having problems with food because I would be unable to recognize the symptoms in myself (denial is a major factor in making such a diagnosis).

I just had a kid.  While I adore my child (seriously, I'll keep talking about him if you let me), I'm less than fond of the changes that he caused in my body.  I don't recognize myself - there are bulges where I've never had bulges, softness where I have never been soft...and stretch marks.  Pesky things.  The latter item on that list didn't show up until after he was born.  They don't warn you where you can get stretch marks. Traditionally, we expect them on women's tummies after they birth a child...and I do have some there.  I also have them on my upper torso and the back of my legs....it seems the only place on my person that was unaffected by stretch marks were my arms and face.  Aargh.  AND I weigh more right now that I am accustomed to weighing.  Yeah yeah yeah, I just had a kid, I shouldn't be worrying about that (Dahmon tells me that all of the time) but I can't help it.  Many of these changes to my body bother me and make me feel much less than anything resembling attractive.  Please understand, I'm not a vain person - it does not require undue amounts of vanity to care about one's appearance.  I had even made the decision to not pursue any acting roles until I get much closer to my pre-baby weight.

And then I went to church yesterday.

Tommy Wesley was the person giving the sermon yesterday morning.  He is not the regular pastor at my church, but the pastors have been taking turns giving the sermons lately, and this Sunday it was his turn.  He's awesome - he likes to rattle peoples' boxes.  His sermon yesterday was all about how God sees his children...well-timed for this chica.  Now, I know that physical attributes mean nothing to God.  He does not care how tall, short, fat, skinny, blonde, brunette, freckled, dark, pale, whatever we are.  In fact, I tend to think he likes variety and that is why there are so many different kinds of body types.  He does not care that there are now roadmaps on the back of my legs, nor does He care that I have now run into the true meaning of vericose veins, nor that I have bulges and am obviously fluffier than I was at this point last year.  I care, but He does not.  Those physical things that bother me, those preexisting and those caused by baby, are mental baggage I carry around that God wants to take off me.  I knew this, but sometimes it helps to be reminded.  While my favorite shirts and pants don't fit right now, that is not what matters - what matters is how I operate as the hands and feet of Christ.

Now, the sermon yesterday did not help me completely overcome my self-image problems.  While that is baggage, it is baggage that I have carted around a long time.  Do I believe God can heal my brain in that sense?  Yep.  But I will continue to live and love even if he does not.  The reminder that God's ways are not my ways, and God's ways of seeing his kids are different than his kids ways of seeing themselves is helpful.  I'm glad he is not as picky about my physicality as I am - yeesh!  :)

Gadgitated!

Elnora Romness, M.A.

Two letters added to the end of my name.  Two letters which signify two years of hard work that went towards studying theology, doctrine, church history, theory of ministry, etc.  Two letters which signify many hours reading, papers written, and relationships began with colleagues.  Two letters, one baby, and much brain stretching later, and I have a master's degree in children, youth, and family ministry.

Needless to say, today I graduated Luther Seminary with a Master of Arts in Children, Youth, and Family ministry.  What am I going to do with that?  I have no idea whatsoever, but I do know that God very clearly brought me into that program.  Originally I had signed up for a dual degree program between Luther Seminary and Augsburg, but due to circumstances beyond my control, the Augsburg piece became a non-option.  Hence I finished the CYF degree at Luther as I could not bear the thought of quitting a degree when I 1) had already finished half of the work and 2) was in the program on scholarship and so wasn't paying for anything anyways.

Master's Thesis

Okay, so here is my thesis written to conclude my Master of Arts in Children, Youth, and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary.  It needs some work yet before I am happy with it and there are some changes that I already see that need to be made, but if you have suggestions/questions/comments, please comment on this post or email me at elnora.romness at gmail.com.  


(Note: the formatting is all messed up because I copied from a Word document - if you want a PDF of this document, I'll email one to you.)

_____________________________________________

GOD AND…GAMING?!  THE PLACE OF GAMING VOCABULARY IN

MINISTRY WORK WITH CONTEMPORARY YOUTH

                                                                       

by

Nora romness

A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of

Luther Seminary

In Partial Fulfillment of

The Requirements for the Degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

THESIS ADVISER: Terri Elton

ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA

2012

This thesis may be duplicated only by special permission of the author.

Drexel's birth story

     Ah the joys of learning to type with one hand as required to help make sure a newborn sleeps.  : )  As the previous post indicates, our son Drexel was born nearly two weeks ago during the late afternoon hours of April 9.  Up until that point...

     April 8 - I was feeling pretty tired the entire day, but that can happen when one is nine months pregnant and due to birth any day.  Dahmon had helped with the Easter service at the Good Samaritan place where he is doing CPE (a contextual internship type thing where he is serving as a chaplain to individuals in a convalescent setting). Paula was staying with us because I was due to birth any day and she had been asked to be there.  You'll have to ask her if she wanted to be there or not. ; )  We returned home and found that Dahmon's parents had already arrived to have Easter brunch.  Usually we do Easter at their house in Cannon Falls, but given the impending life change that required close vicinity to the hospital and Dahmon's Easter schedule, they came to us and brought all of the food with them.  During brunch (which also included Dahmon's Aunt Sue), we were laughing and joking about how right then would have been a good time for me to go into labor since they were already in the Cities.

Drexel is here!

Drexel Enoch Romness

Born April 9 at 5:15pm, 7lbs 13ozs, 21 inches long.

Haiti - a snapshot of the impact it had on me

I was recently asked to write a newsletter about my experience in Haiti in January 2011 for World Wide Village.  Just thought I'd share the newsletter that I wrote:

I Went To Haiti and It Changed Me By Nora Romness  My grandmother's reaction upon learning that I was going to Haiti in January of 2011 was to say I had "gone and lost all [my] good sense." In Gramma's mind, Haiti was a dangerous place full of every stereotype about Third World countries possible, and there was no way her granddaughter was going to go to such a place. After assuaging her fears, I boarded a plane with Ali Funk (WWV staff) and we both set off for our first trip to Haiti.

...aaaand, ACTION!

Acting is a hobby of mine.  I love acting.  No, that's not quite right...I LOVE acting! Two years ago at about this time, I answered an open call to an acting school in the Cities.  Upon enrolling, I completed one acting class and one modeling class.  Since then I've taken part in several gigs of each variety in the Cities area, and have realized that I LOVE acting and modeling is, well, going to be put on the backburner for awhile except for those things I've already committed to.

Acting is so expressive, and I have met some absolutely wonderful people through this particular art.  One of the films I was in recently ("The Humanity Code") won an award at a local film festival.  Next week a friend and I get to attend the premiere of another project I was in.  The past two weekends have seen me traveling to Wausau, WI to act in a movie by Jarrod Crooks.  I've even served as crew and helped hold booms, maintain continuity between takes, etc.  (For my IMDB profile, click here...but note that it is a work in progress).  To tell you the truth, I think every actor should be on a crew or two at some point - it really helps to know what the crew is going through when trying to make a shot "right".  BUT somehow the thought of Charlie Sheen in control of a boom makes me nervous  : )

For now, my acting/modeling is limited due to being 8 months pregnant, still in school, and working 30 hours a week.  This summer, I hope to get back into the acting more, actively seeking roles and such, and modeling with a group that I am part of.

So yah, that is this week's installment of "random tidbits about Nora".  Tune in next time to hear the squirrely details about getting ready to have a kid.  : )

/inhale "We can do this."

Not gonna lie, the last few weeks have been super stressful on a number of levels.  My academic load has been heavy and will continue to be so for awhile.  Work has not been the most restful of places (though anyone's work usually isn't unless they are paid to test mattresses or something).  AND a baby is on his way, due to make his appearance in just over 6 weeks.

Six weeks.  Good grief.

Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to having my little boy in my arms, but there is an overwhelming sense of "can we really do this?" that has been plaguing me for awhile.  Dahmon says that he is experiencing abject terror, a terror that will subside after Young Son is out of college.  :)  I've just been very "how in the world are we going to do this?"

And then God brings friends to mind, wonderful friends who have supported us through this entire pregnancy and offered words of encouragement, kindness, and prayer.  Family, people from both of our schools (Hamline and Luther Sem), people from our various work places, people who live and have lived with us, friends from church - all of these people have helped me remember to breathe and to feel like we can actually raise this child, that the first few months are always tricky, and that no matter what God is present.

I am not kidding in the least by saying that without our friends and family, I would not have thought that raising this child, finishing school during the first few months of his life, and continuing to work would be possible.  Through God things are possible, I know, but worry is easy.  You have all been amazing - you will NEVER know how much you have all helped me in this time of preparation (especially given that my family all live so far away).

OH, and a recent belly pic:

Week 32:

Don't judge, people! Yeesh.

So here's something I didn't expect.  If you've glanced at this blog you know I'm pregnant - 31 weeks and counting (one website says that makes Baby 7 months along, another says 8).  At this point in the pregnancy, I've gained about 30 lbs.  Only approximately 3 of that is currently Drexel (whose middle name has been decided upon, by the way: Enoch)...which leaves 27 lbs to everything else...including a decent amount of retained water.

As a consequence of this retained water and other poofiness due to the ingestion of much vanilla ice cream, my fingers are poofier than they were even a month ago.  Typically I'm sporting 4 rings: wedding/engagement, a man-made sapphire, and a flower.  About a month ago the sapphire ring broke, so it is unwearable.  The flower was getting just a bit snug, so I took it off.  Then about a week ago, I had to remove my wedding/engagement rings because they were getting so tight that Dahmon and I were concerned about the possibility of their having to be cut off in the delivery room once Drexel makes his arrival.  Makes more sense to take the rings off now while they can still come off than to wait until they are in danger of choppage.

So I've been ringless for the last week or so.  No big deal, right?

Keep in mind that I also look young for my age.  Despite the fact that I'm 23, I can easily pass for 16 or 17 and in fact have caused a few jaws to drop when I've told people that um, yeah, I've been married for 4.5 years.  = )  Now, in life Dahmon and I are each accustomed in our own ways to being the oddball.  He's the super smart one who knows a little bit about everything and a lot about a lot of things.  I'm the quirky one who says off-the wall things sometimes.

However, being ringless + being pregnant + looking young for my age = lots of judgmental looks from people who don't know me.  I walk around in public, and people first try not to make it obvious they are staring at my tum tum (okay people, news flash: I know I look like a pear, it is okay to stare just don't touch without asking or you might get slapped).  Then I see them look for the ring, and then a frown suddenly appears on their face.  Hmmmmmmm.

Now, I am of the firm opinion that sex is something to be held within the confines of marriage.  Let's just get that right out there - I think sex is a wonderful, beautiful act between a man and a woman who love each other and are bound by marriage.  I'm not happy when I find out a teenage girl is pregnant, BUT I still love her.  I find it interesting that so many people jump to frowning when they don't see a ring on my finger and they think I'm a teenager.

Today I went to Target and bought one of their cheapo rings that is big enough to withstand the rest of this pregnancy, hopefully.

Let's try being a little less judgmental, people...mmkay?  Good grief.