Hello, friends!  Patrick and I are settling nicely into our new apartment in California & I am sure enjoying the SUNSHINE down here!!  Patrick is excelling at his studies whilst I search high and low for a job, and we are big fans of this marriage thing so far .

For your enjoyment, here are some links to the wedding photos and to the slide show we played during the ceremony:

WEDDING PHOTOS (use the password amyandpatrick)

WEDDING SLIDESHOW

Thank-you notes are still being written and plans for the California reception are underway…

with love,

Amy

I was thinking of making one of those construction paper chains to count down ’til the wedding, but with still a very long to-do list until then, this is much easier:

COUNTDOWN

Just in case you missed it on one of the four million other places I’ve posted the news , my new Christmas EP is ready & waiting to get into your hands & ears.

I’m offering free shipping on all orders placed through my new website until midnight on 11-30-08.  After that, it’ll be available through Indieheaven

At both locations, the new songs previewed before being purchased .

Happy listening & happy holidays!

This is one of those posts that is important to write, but remains a bit uncomfortable in the writing. Amy grew up being taught that nothing about gifts or registry stuff is appropriate for a wedding invitation. So, she didn’t include any of that.

A wedding is a celebration, however, and a celebration that traditionally involves gifts. If we hide from talking about it, we’ll almost certainly still get gifts, but it’ll be a lot more likely what we get won’t quite match up with what we want, can use, or understand.

So, in the interest of full openness, here are the places Amy and Patrick are registered:

• Macys
• Target
• Amazon.com
• REI

Each of these has a fairly different focus. To be honest, we’re most excited about our Amazon list, because there’s a lot of just plain fun and interesting stuff there.

REI is also exciting. We’re hoping to make the great outdoors a key part of our relationship, and while I have some gear, Amy has none, and it’d be really great to be set up right from the start.

Target is for our standard stuff, and Macys fulfills our nicer things and decorations and accents and such.

We also would very much value gift cards, leaving us flexible to get what we need as we get settled.

There’s another curious thing related to our gifts.

Where to send them?

I have listed my present home address, but I’m driving up to Oregon on December 17th. My parents, who I’m living with now, are driving up on the 19th. So, no one will be at this address from the 19th to January 9 or so, when my parents return.

Amy and I aren’t moving into our new apartment until about January 7th.

Any gifts delivered to her present home address or to the wedding have to be driven down. My dad is renting a trailer to bring Amy’s things and wedding presents, so that’s being addressed.

But still… our location for a couple of weeks is, well, complicated.

We are making arrangements for the other possibilities, so nothing gets lost or ignored. All this to say that, ideally, gifts are best sent before the 17th or after January 7th.

There, this important bit of uncomfortableness, is done.

Thanks so much for thinking of us!

A lot has happened this year. Sure, we’re getting married, and that by itself would be a major event for a year. But, both Amy and I have more going on than a wedding. Which is good, as we have just enough to almost help us pass the next month and a half without entirely obsessing about our upcoming celebration.

Amy, if you hadn’t heard, was back in the studio this past summer and fall. She recorded a Christmas album. Eight songs. Four of them are brand new, written by her. Four are classics, given a unique Amy approach. The CD is called That Holy Night. It’s not for sale quite yet, but just about. We have a website where you can learn more and listen to some excerpts: That Holy Night.

As for me, I’m now fully engaged with the PhD in Theology program at Fuller Seminary. This is my first quarter and I’m taking a class called Theology of Beauty. I have inspiration for this class. Every time I look at Amy I know that God is a maker of beauty. The course, of course, isn’t nearly as delightful as my bride to be. It’s mostly pretty intense readings and deep discussions, that fairly make my brain feel fuzzy and light after a session. But, it’s good for me. My main paper topic is likely to be discovering a theology of beauty in the writings of Jurgen Moltmann, with beauty to be found, I propose, in the intersection of his pneumatology and eschatology. I know what you’re thinking… yes, you can borrow it to read when I’m finished.

This quarter also got me a wee bit of teaching experience as I took over five class sessions for Systematic Theology II. I’m a TA, and the professor, my mentor, was traveling. So handed me control. It was good fun, and I got some encouraging compliments. Seems like maybe there’s a career in that for me.

I also have another bit of news. My second book was accepted to be published by Barclay Press. The basic idea of the book is to look at the idea of Christian spiritual growth, especially as problems and frustrations try to pull us down and away. I used the story of Israel’s exodus from Egypt as the model of how God seems to work in our lives. He doesn’t bring us problems, but he doesn’t always shield us from them. And while we can’t often know the why of evils, we can know that we can trust in the God who has called us and will bring us to His end. No settled title or publication date, as it’s currently in its initial stages of hearty editing.

Life presses on for both of us, each of us seeking to follow God’s call in our lives, as we have for so many years. We press onwards, now no longer in a solitary pursuit but soon to be joined together.

Isn’t life fun?

Pictures from my brother’s October 25th wedding weekend, the last time Patrick was up in Oregon (read ‘too long ago’).

Hello, friends!

Just a quick update:  Though the original plan was to get married in Canby, we have–due to a long, drawn-out explanation involving a whole lot of polysyllabic words & complex mathematical formulas–recently changed the venue for our happy day to Grand View Baptist Church in Beavercreek, OR.

Fortunately, the change was made before the invitations were sent out, so those of you receiving invitations will find the correct address & directions included.

Speaking of invitations–holy cow!–this is a more complicated process than I anticipated, and I am still working my way down the guest list.  So please don’t be offended if you are expecting one & haven’t gotten yours yet .  It’s coming.  Eventually.

46 DAYS ‘TIL I AM MRS. PATRICK ODEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(sorry, little splatter of  bridal excited disbelief there)

Love to you all!

One of the vital aspects up in the air was our housing situation.

The plan was to live in Pasadena. I started school there this last month.

But I don’t live there.

In fact, I live an hour and a half away.

Amy lives quite a bit farther away.

The plan was to get married and move together to our new place. Only we didn’t have a place lined up.

That has changed.

We now have a new address, a school owned apartment a block north of Fuller Seminary.

Our back window faces the 210 freeway across the street. Our front window faces the apartment complex pool. We officially can move in on January 3rd.

That date might sound familiar. We’re getting married on January 3rd.

We’re starting a drive down to California on the 4th. We should get to Pasadena on the afternoon of the 7th, just in time for us to begin moving in, and for me to start classes on the 8th.

Our new address, to which all mail after January 7 should be addressed, is:

296 N. Oakland Ave #3
Pasadena, CA 91101

Hooray!

Now that this is settled, prayers for a new job for Amy are now even more appreciated.

I wonder if my bridesmaids would go for this…

Though we might have to widen the center aisle…hmmmmm…

My first weekend here in Portland capped off a very busy half-week in which every day had something important to get done.

We finished it all with quite the flurry yesterday.

On Friday, it seems we may have nailed down where the wedding will take place.

Canby Grove Conference Center. The papework and details have to be signed still, but Amy and I went there and we felt a lot of peace, had a lot of ideas, and very much enjoyed the tour Shelly gave us, and her enthusiasm.

If you go to their website have a look at the Mt. Hood Pavilion. That’s where we’re getting married… and maybe/possibly/hopefully/likely also having the reception. It’s going to be a bit of a creative setup, but we got excited about the possibilities. Plus, in an Oregon winter who wants to go outside, walk around to a different location, and thus leave the cozy fireplace?

Saturday was just about us. I insisted we don’t do anything wedding, and don’t do anything that involved other people. We went to an art festival in Portland, after which we did a little, tiny bit of wedding shopping at Kathleen’s of Dublin. Looking for wedding bands, don’t you know.

Then, a relaxing afternoon and an amazing dinner at Salvadore Mollys. My favorite restaurant.

And a relaxing evening capped it off. I can’t remember the last whole day we were able to spend just about us, and so we needed this.

Sunday had a different focus. Morning was church. Amy led worship. There was communion. It was a great time–even if all the distractions before hand didn’t exactly enhance our eagerness beforehand. God still works in bringing nice surprises. Plus, I was able to catch up with the fine folks at Two Rivers, which has been so supportive of Amy, and oddly enough the church most supportive of my efforts as well. Curious that. Check it out if you’re in the Milwaukie, Oregon area.

That afternoon, I went to Starbucks. Amy went to her producers to record more Christmas CD goodness. Went very well. I’ll post some of the videos I took.

For a total change of pace, we then went and saw The Dark Knight. It was dark. And quite good. And dark (did I mention that?).

Monday brought all manner of busyness. In the morning we went to the Dahlia festival in Canby (pictures posted soon). Amazingly beautiful. Amy has a bunch of Black Satin dahlias to remind her of the morning.

Then over to the Gustafson family picnic, where I met again aunts and uncles and grandmother, and for the first time met cousins. Quite fun!

Then, it was off to business for us. First Macys. We walked through Macys and picked out all manner of new home goodness.

Then coffee and icee.

Rejuvenated, we made our Target walkthrough.

So, have a look at target and macys websites for updated registry fun.

A long day, a late evening. Definitely, a weekend well spent.