2008 was a powerful General Assembly of the UUA for the CYF and for Young Adult ministry in general. The one and only business resolution on the floor of plenary, co-written by former CYF facilitator Kimberlee Tomczak, dealt directly with our commitment to youth and young adult ministries at every level of our association.

After a lively debate that included statements from Denny Davidoff, the Reverend Daniel O’Connell, CYF delegate Jonathan Craig and the whole of the youth and young adult steering committees, the resolution passed overwhelmingly, affirming our congregations’ support of ministry to these two essential populations.

Watch the video of the Plenary III discussion here >>>
(discussion starts at 00:58:00)

After a whirlwind week of packing, preparing a message and spending one last weekend in New Orleans with Kimberlee, I stuffed the rest of my things in the storage container, jumped in my little Civic that was riding lower than usual, and headed north…

After a brief visit with my friends the Breedens in St. Louis, I was home in my new home, in Stoughton, Wisconsin.

I will be writing and reflecting more on this year in the coming weeks, but for now, thanks to all of you who have kept up with me this year and especially to everyone I had the honor of working with in New Orleans.

These past few weeks saw a huge amount of action- so much so that I have been unable to post updates regularly. Here's a brief rundown of what's been happening in May...

• Jazz Fest with Dad and Katriya and Kimberlee
• Final service at First UU New Orleans
• CCUU website development
• Final internship committee meeting
• Final SLUUMs meeting
• Mother's Day service and song
• Ethical Living in NOLA DVD production
• Packing and moving preparations
• Trip to Wisconsin for Dori Davenport's wedding

These past weeks saw two services, a child dedication, a Groundwork training at CCUU, a trip to Austin to represent GNOUU at the SWUUC spring meeting, a new church website agreement for First UU Church of New Orleans, and a complete revamping of my final month schedule here in New Orleans.

I will be sad to leave sooner than I had anticipated, but I am working hard to make sure that some of the programs I have started here will be able to continue after I leave.