My Surrogate Mom

I have been blessed.

During my thirty short years on this earth, I have had the privilege of knowing some pretty neat people.  Debee McGovern is/was one of those.  She went home to Jesus last night.  

Today I have been thinking about her impact on my life, and reflecting on some of the things that will always remind me of her. 

1. Royal Blue.  It's both the Cambridge-Isanti and Mora school color.  Debee served on our school board for 18 years and you could count on her to wear a royal blue dress to every graduation ceremony.  She wore one to mine and made sure she was the one to hand me my diploma and give me the first congratulatory hug.  She also gave me one of her royal blue dresses when I was in college because it reminded her of me.  It would be fitting if there wasn't a stitch of black at her funeral, and people only showed up in royal blue. 
2. White chocolate satin mochas.  Not just a white mocha - a white satin mocha.  I'm sure that's just what the local coffee shop called it, but she made it sound classier.  When we worked at Bob's together, I could count on at least a couple deli runs for white satin mochas during the summer.    
3. Fresh flowers - specifically lilies.  Robbie and I went to my senior prom together, and Debee did the flowers.  She used stargazer lilies as the focus.  I was the only girl at prom that had a legitimate (read: huge!) arm bouquet to carry, a spare wrist corsage, and another wrist corsage that she went a little overboard on and told me to give it to my grandma as a table centerpiece (true story!)

And then there are just those random things that I appreciate about her: 

She loved capturing photos of people doing all sorts of things, and then went the extra step of creating keepsake journals, mini scrapbooks, or even matted and shrink wrapped those photos as gifts.  There is/was always at least one surface in her house covered in some photo or scrapbook project.  She loved arranging photo shoots, too: we did one with all the girls who had ever worked at Northland, she arranged one for Clint and his buddies when they were in high school, and the last McGovern family photo is displayed near her kitchen where everyone can see it.  The fridge is plastered with photos of people she loves, and the piano is loaded with framed photos of special memories.  She knew those moments were meant to be saved. 

She was SO good at making people feel cherished and important.  For my sixteenth birthday, she gave me a silver charm bracelet, and then faithfully purchased additional charms for different milestones in my life (a watering can for working at Northland, a princess crown for homecoming, personalized engraved markers for random accomplishments, a bride charm when Jeremy and I got engaged, etc.)  Debee made me feel special.  

And she didn't take herself too seriously.  She laughed a lot.  And she said funny, honest things ALL the time.  When I first got married, she told me about her first two years with Chuck and described it in a way that only Debee could.  She told me once that she wanted me to kiss Drew 'just in case' before I got married - in case sparks flew like they do in the movies.  She would go shopping and try to hide the bags from Chuck.  She used the words 'sweetie' and 'cutie' when referring to people.  She learned Swedish and used to write me notes in it for practice.  She was just fun like that.  

I went to a random graduation party with her years ago - someone who hadn't seen her in a while asked her if I was her daughter.  She said yes without batting an eye.  And I LOVED it.  Debee was (and is) like a surrogate mom to me.  She will be missed by so many, and I'm sure there are lots and lots of people she adopted this same way - and we were the lucky ones.  

Two weeks ago, I went home to say goodbye.  I sat in the living room talking with her and other friends who had dropped by to do the same, though none of us ever said it out loud.  Even at the very end, she didn't complain that her hips hurt, that she didn't have enough strength to walk the five feet to her bed by herself, or that there was only a few strands of her blonde hair left on her head.  She didn't complain that the sun was in her eyes, that her foot was swollen or about any of the things that a normal person would be quick to take issue with.  She was a living example of Colossians 4:5 "Let your gentleness be known to all.  The Lord is near."

I got to pray with her that day; that Chuck, Drew, Robbie and Clint would know what a gift they were given in her, and that she would be able to tell them how proud she was of them and how much she loved them.  That will go down as one of the most significant prayers of my life.  

I love Debee, and I am SO glad that Jesus shared her with me.

One of those... months.

I feel incredibly frustrated and crabby lately.  I'm certain it's because I currently have no margin in my life, and when I do find an hour before bed free I end up watching an episode of 24 with Jeremy (as a date... for real). 

Last night was at least fun - I invited another couple over for dinner.  Having them over gave me the motivation to clean up the living room, kitchen and dining room, so I at least felt decent about some things before I fell asleep.  They have a a little girl who is a little older than Peter, so the kids entertained themselves while we ate BLTs, brownies and ice cream.  That also meant they were out the door around 8 PM to tuck her in to bed, so I got quality time with Stinky Pete, too.

Part of my crabbiness is stemming from work, because I've been given added responsibilites (that's what you get when you're a good employee, I guess) but that also means I've got more to do.  And I don't really want more to do, because I want to be able to leave early on Fridays and not worry about finishing things so I don't have to do them on Monday. 

Blargh.

Really?

So. It's been awhile. There are a million things to write about. Peter. Church. School. Marriage. But what's rolling through my head right now is just a comment made by someone who checked out MainStreet last week and emailed Jeremy letting him know that our church will not become their church home because it's 'too casual'. (Full disclosure - they also live like a half hour away, so they are also looking for something 'closer to home', which I totally get.)

'Too casual'? Maybe. I have worn jeans every single Sunday so far, but I think that's primarily been driven by unshaven legs and trying to get both myself and Pete dressed and out the door on time. Although I don't think they meant 'casual' in the dress code sense. If I was an outsider, I might think MainStreet is a bit too casual, too, but more from what I'm coming to think of as a style of 'abundant grace'. Jer mentioned that we have more liturgical elements than, say, the other new church down the street (scripture reading, etc.) so the service isn't exactly 'casual' in a biblical sense. However, our attitude regarding performance (read: presentation) might be.

I can't think of a Sunday yet that has been completely polished, with all people involved hitting their transitions at just the right moment, announcements and such being totally engaging and fun, or Jeremy not forgetting to mention something like prayer partners at the end of the service. The week this couple visited, Jer jumped ahead of the service order printed in the bulletin, only to realize it after a minute and backtrack. So... if someone is/was looking for a completely perfectly polished service, they probably won't find it at MainStreet (at least... not yet). I can excuse these blips because I know one of our core values is abundant grace. I would much rather (I think) attend a church that can laugh at itself when things don't go quite-so-right than attend one that gets high-strung and tense when a microphone stops working. All that to say, though, I wouldn't want to go somewhere that always felt like the service was thrown together last minute and was completely unorganized...

What a crazy line to walk between being a church that is too performance driven and/or too sloppy. My prayer is that we will get it just right for what we want to be at MainStreet. I hope that we can be a church that has high standards, but that also practices grace. And if that means we seem 'too casual' to some, I think I'm okay with that.

Sometimes Things Stink

Last night was one of those wonderfully awkward nights that I both loved and hated.

We got some stinky news from a dear friend who is being called elsewhere (as in not MainStreet). It left both Jer and I sort of shell shocked (though we saw it coming) and feeling like we're not enough. And then we have to remind ourselves that we don't have to be enough because God is enough. And He's building this church, and He's brought people into and out of this journey before. But it still stinks. Jeremy said our church planting director told him to expect that we will probably turn over every person on our team before the church really starts, so it's at least comforting to know that it's not just us that have gone through this.

And from this news to our new LifeGroup kickoff... only to have everyone we invited not show up. Argh. BUT. Jer and I got to have dinner with our host couple and hear their story... Cliff and Ruby have been married for 61 years. It was fun to sit back and listen to people who have gone before us and to hear their journey with the Lord and with the church. AND... Ruby has a history of praying things into fruition. Those stories were cool to hear.

Growing Fast

This is Peter at 11 weeks old. He has outgrown all of his 3 month clothing. Jer and I assumed we would have a tall baby, but this is nuts. He is growing fast, and he is healthy. We are grateful.

I pray that MainStreet would grow fast and healthy, too.

Baby Pete, meet Baby Church.

MainStreet Covenant is a real church!
Jer and I have always thought that, but now we look more like a 'real' church according to American standards. We had our first Sunday morning preview service in September, and are now one week away from our second one!
There were 147 people - which includes tiny people like Peter - that joined together to break new ground in Mound on September 18th. God showed up and took care of all the silly things for us, and we had fun watching person after person come through the door. It was a little overwhelming, but then again, we've been saying that God will build his church and it really has nothing to do with us. There were people there we've never met before, so that was really fun to see. According to church planting 'rules', at least 50% of your church body should be from new contacts. Jer and I were talking afterwards, and I think of the 147 people there, we only knew 20 or 30 of them when we said yes to this last spring. God is building this church.
I am excited.
I am especially excited to see how Baby Pete and Baby MainStreet grow up together.

Meet Pete

This is our son.

Peter Bjorn Berg
Born July 18th, 2011 @ 4:54 PM
8 pounds, 21 1/2 inches