UPDATE!!!!!! Amycoxmusic.com

Hey Friends!  I thought it only fitting and fair that if www.amygoesmidwest.com was going to go officially inactive, that I should also mark it over here.  I've spent the last ten months settling into Fort Wayne, Indiana, making friends around town, and loving on the people at Saint Joseph. NONE of that is changing, but I am adding in some new elements of recording an EP, and booking some local coffeehouse gigs and house concerts.  To that end...all info, blog posts, ramblings and schedules can be found over at my new home www.amycoxmusic.com.  I'm excited to share what I've been working hard on, it's incredible the ways that I see God moving in and around me and my church these days.  Keep in touch!

Finishing Well

This morning I am cuddled up with a mocha in hand, sitting in a comfy, christmasy living room in Troy, Ohio...home to new friends Abby and Lucas. The past year and a half has led to now...full-time employment as a Worship Pastor. Operation Westward Expansion took me to Colorado and brought me back to Virginia and is now launching me into the midwest state of Indiana. This is a move of permanence....and it feels good and right and exciting, if not mildly terrifying.

This summer, a friend spoke on the idea of "finishing well." When you know you are going to be leaving a place, you do everything you can to end on a strong and positive note. He was motivating us to keep pushing through the endless details of packing up summer camp, making the smoothest transition for the next summer, but that idea of a strong finish has stayed with me.

And so these past few weeks have been just that. I subbed a week and a half straight, finishing up the majority of prearrangement jobs that I had, spending time at both schools that have been such a support for me this fall.  I continued leading at New Season UMC in Fredericksburg, which sadly enough, has decided to close at the end of the year.  And I had dinner and coffee with numerous friends.  This past weekend was time with my family...to go on a caroling hayride, to make gingerbread houses, and to eat family dinners with four generations. I'm glad these last weeks were full of people and stories, and that I leave at a time when my family's chapter in Springfield officially closed.  Even not being home for Christmas hasn't been a disappoint, new traditions will be made as the family figures out what holidays look like in Colonial Beach!

As with all endings come new beginnings, and while my story is far from over, the "Amy Goes West" saga is. But that just means you can continue following the adventure over at  Amy Goes Midwest or amygoesmidwest.blogspot.com. After a couple of weeks to settle in, I am sure that I will have it all decked out in blogging finery.

Friends, thank you for all of your love and support and encouragement. Thank you for continually reminding me of who I am and how God wired me.  I love you all!

Fort Wayne here I come!

Big News....I'm Moving to Indiana!

Friends, I am quite the excited gal this week.  I flew out to Indiana the few days before Thanksgiving to interview with a couple of awesome churches.  It was a whirlwind trip with airplanes, rental cars, pouring rain, and many, many new faces.  I drove through roundabouts, stayed in host homes and hotels, and thoroughly enjoyed the adventure of it all.

But the biggest news, is that I have accepted a position as Worship Pastor at Saint Joseph United Methodist Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana! It's a terrific church with five weekend services, some traditional, some contemporary, and I am excited to join the staff there.  I'll be overseeing the contemporary services, the multiple worship teams already in place, leading weekly, diving into the people of St. Joe and learning their stories....seriously, how cool?

So in a couple of weeks I'll be midwest bound, the green bullet accompanying me on yet another adventure.  It's looking like I'll head out, look for a place to live, get started in the job, and Mitch will join in on the fun in January.

Maybe there's more to share in this whole new venture, but I am filled to the brim with the excitement and anticipation that comes from participating in what God is unveiling and knitting together.  Be watching for a new blog to roll out as time permits... I'm thinking...

Amy Goes Midwest: I've been East. I've been West. Let's meet in the middle.

I mean, it's pretty awesome, don't you think?

Guess It's Time for an Update?

Wow....blogging has taken a backseat to the craziness of life these days, days full of people and odd jobs and the ever pressing in to what's next....not so many days of eclectic festivals and exploration.  Compared to all my crazy adventures of last year, this fall has been tame and restful...somewhat....:o)

We did spend a day in Fredericksburg last week, I'll have to post those. And Halloween was a fab time with family and friends. Trick or treating with toddlers is pretty entertaining.

Currently, I'm back house sitting in Chantilly with my two fav doggie pals, Aspen and Vermont.  It's fun to spend some time in a stylish townhome complete with internet, cable, and a very comfy couch.

I have been blessed with substitute teaching this fall. After September there have only been a few days I haven't worked, and those were more by choice than a lack of jobs.  I enjoy the constant change and challenge that comes with different groups of students. Tomorrow I'll be spending the day with my favorite class by far, a really cool 6th grade class. We have an understanding: they behave, and I look like an amazing substitute.

There may be a move in my near future. Nothing is even close to being definite, but prayer for discernment is my heart's desire.

This weekend is my grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary. 60 YEARS! After a hard spring and summer we are grateful as a family to have both my grandfather and grandmother healthy and ready to celebrate! Then I have a very quick jaunt to the great state of Indiana and back for Thanksgiving ready to see what December holds..... we'll just see!

Parades and Pumpkins

I love fall. There is something invigorating and awakening as the trees shift their colors, the temperatures drop, and we leave behind the nasty humidity and mosquitos of summer. I deeply missed autumn colors last year...not even the beauty of aspen trees with their united yellow front of sunshine could do for me what the vibrant hues of red, orange, and brown leaves blend and weave among one another.

And I love fall for its festivities.  The family recently went to the King George Fall Festival with the LONGEST parade ever that thankfully ended well with the Redskins Marching Band bringing up the rear. And just today since everyone was up in Springfield for various appointments, we hit up Nalls Produce and Pumpkin Patch..... I cannot wait to carve a pumpkin in the next couple of weeks....did I mention that I love fall?

But life is nonetheless a whirlwind these days. I'm been job applying, and substitute teaching, and taking the weekends with family and Mitch and spending a lot of time with a very special Vietnamese family whose daughter has been diagnosed with leukemia. They have introduced me to quail eggs, fish sauce, and chopsticks and I have in turn showed up to the hospital with my ukulele in hand...pretty sure I have the sweeter end of the deal!

These periods of waiting are always hard for me...I am inclined to have a plan, be working towards something even if it isn't for the longterm.  But for now, I'll just enjoy the colors and parades and pumpkins.

How 'bout them apples?

This past weekend brought a sweet, delightfully sunny afternoon of apple picking in Winchester, VA with family.  We had been tempted to cancel based on discouraging weather reports of rain and more rain, but we took the gamble and it paid off! We went to Marker-Miller Orchards, the land of apples trees, wagon rides, and playground equipment. There was even some sort of festival going on so there was face painting, booths of kettle corn and barbecue and a bluegrass band set up playing.

Nate was all about getting the best apples, although it took both hands and a leaning-back-pull for him to get them. Turns out apple picking with a toddler becomes a gigantic photo-op...so fun!

We spent all afternoon among the trees, taking the wagon ride around the farm, and running around the playground trying out all the different pieces of equipment: a pirate ship, a castle, a small train, among some swings and a sand box.

I did end up riding the kiddie cow-train with Nate, there were two cars big enough to fit an adult and kid....although it was a bit of a tight fit! The second time Nate sat in his own car, but since there weren't enough kids to fill up the train, I rode along too. As I settled in for my second go round, the nine year old sitting in the cow in front of me looked back and said, "I feel too old for this."....I had no response.

We left with a solid two bags of apples....my plan is to attempt a homemade apple pie sometime this week....I'm sure there will be pictures of that to come!

Quantico National Cemetery

We said goodbye to my Grandpa back in March.  We held a small funeral for family and friends in an outdoor pavilion at Quantico National Cemetery.  Headstones take up to five weeks to come in after ordering and as of yet, I had not had a chance to go back and see where Grandpa had been buried.  So with another day of waiting for a job to come in, I decided on taking a quest, mainly to visit Grandpa's grave.

I had hoped vainly that I would remember the general location within the cemetery, but the simplicity and beauty of Quantico is in its uniformity of graves....everything has a way of looking the same. And so I headed into the information/admin building where a kiosk is set up to help visitors locate gravesites. When the computer didn't work, I had to flip through a binder alphabetically listing the basic information for each person and grave location. My second time driving through the cemetery successfully landed me in the right section.

This past summer in Christiansburg was difficult, I saw my grandpa everywhere: in the mountains, the houses we were working on, the bass players of bluegrass groups. Grief is a hard friend to adjust to. It sneaks up and hits when you least expect, a kick in the stomach taking one's breath.

And so I stood in that quiet, peaceful cemetery and I said all the things my heart needed to get out. There was a sense of closure, of freedom and forgiveness.  I loved that foolish man, who held parts of himself back, and I will always carry his love for music deep in my bones.

It is fitting where my Grandpa is buried. He was always popular with the ladies, and it just so happens that he is surrounded by ladies on either side. :o)