[Magdalen] Updates it is!

[Suzie Buchanan]

As someone who has also missed this list, and who is getting more leary of
Facebook by the day . . .

My husband Rick and I live in the foothills of western North Carolina,
where he is retired (first from the Navy, and then as IT staff of Union
Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond and then in Charlotte NC) and I continue
to work.  I'm in my 8th year as the Rector of St. James in Lenoir, and have
loved every minute in this parish.  It's not large, but it is healthy and
kind and known around the community as "you're that church that helps
people!" There is a breadth of spiritual journeys and people are gentle
with each other's faith.  But I'm also now past the 30 year mark in
ordained ministry (thus eligible for full retirement) and am pondering it.
My ideal might be to spend a few years in part-time ministry so I can also
spend a little more time with Rick before we get much older.  Our Canon to
the Ordinary has talked with me about one part-time spot open that actually
might be a fit, so I am beginning to explore that as a real option.

Hurricane Helene spared us the worst here in our area - we got a lot of
wind and rain, (and about a week or so without power) but none of the life
altering flooding that hit so much of the more western mountain area.   But
it has been hard as a diocese and we continue the work of recovery.  I'm on
the Standing Committee and there has been a need for a lot of flexibility
in diocesan plans and where/how we spend money.  There has been a
remarkable influx of donations, however, from other places and the diocese
has been able to respond in creative and very helpful ways.  I found myself
the hub of donations of handmade quilts (don't ask about the single
facebook post I put out, that went viral!).  I've been able to distribute
about 400 quilts already to hurricane victims and still have about 100 more
on hand to get out the door.  That's not counting the overflow of baby/crib
quilts.  Seems like many many people wanted to donate those, but there
really wasn't as much need for them as for bed sized ones!

My son and his wife and their two kids moved to Hawaii a number of years
back, so I head out there once a year.  Fortunately I'm able to do supply
work for two weeks there which helps pay for the plane fare - and that
church usually has a place for me to stay, and they now have a car for me
to borrow.  For those on the list from VA (Susan, Michael, Grace  . . .
others?) I supply for Dwight Brown there in Hawaii, who had spent so many
years in Berryville just down the road from my first parish work in
Winchester, lo so many years ago.

My daughter is still in New Hampshire, so I also get up there once a year.
And my three step-kids are all in the Boston area.

We're getting ready for our first snow here in three years.  My prayers are
focused on our unhoused population here (we've been going around the last
few days with lots of extra cold weather gear to hand out) and with
everyone in the Los Angeles area.  What devastation is occuring there now!
It is heartbreaking.

Now - I need to start taking the Christmas tree down!

blessings
Suzie