February Project Life

February was the coldest month on record in Rochester. It never got above freezing the whole month. But despite the cold, it was a big month in the life of our family, and almost all the photos for this month were taken during the week prior to and right after Sarah’s ordination as a Teaching Elder in the Presbyterian church. In the Presbyterian church there are Ruling Elders (I am one), and Teaching Elders who are the pastors or ministers.

Although Sarah was eligible to be ordained over eight years ago, just finishing your Masters of Divinity, and passing all the ordination exams is not enough. You must receive a “call,” and while Sarah was pursuing her advanced degrees, that didn’t happen. Last fall, however, she received a call to be Acting Associate Pastor at a Congregational Church, and that started the ordination process.

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I took advantage of a sale at Shutterfly and had quite a few photos printed. I couldn’t justify the expense of reprinting them in my usual “Simply White” templates. All these photos are from the Sunday morning service.

The photo in the Title card is of the Ordination Commission getting ready to process after the choir. I wasn’t present for that because my part in the service was the Call to Worship, so I was in the sanctuary. The members of the Ordination Commission are set by the Book of Order, and must include pastors from different congregations and ruling elders from at least three congregations. The young lady pouring the water into the baptismal font is the granddaughter of our friends, Bill and Tina. The bottom photos are where the acting Moderator of the Presbytery (our head of staff) presented the questions to Sarah, and of the Laying on of Hands by any Teaching or Ruling Elders present at the ordination.

I cut out the announcement of the ordination from our church newsletter, and finally found the perfect use for the letter press filler card from a Cocoa Daisy kit.

It is customary for family and churches to present the new minister with stoles. Sarah received several beautiful ones. They are different colors that are to be worn during the different liturgical seasons (white for Easter, for example.) Although Sarah wrote the whole service (except for the sermon given by our pastor), her only part in the actual worship service was to give the benediction. Adam’s parents flew in from Washington state for the service, and spent five days here.

We spent one morning while they were here with Matt, Betsy, Skylar, and Ella at the Strong Museum of Play.

There was another big event in February, Matt’s 32nd birthday which we celebrated rather quietly. I included my favorite photo of Ella from February looking at herself in the mirror as she tried to roll over. It wasn’t long after this photo was taken that she was successful.

I also included some photos from our trip to the George Eastman House with Adam’s parents. Just by chance, one of my very good friends happened to be the tour guide that day. The journaling card here was created with some of the Monthly Moment stamps by Papertrey Ink—just perfect for the occasion.