Long Time No See

In what is apparently becoming Willow fashion, it has been a while since I last wrote something here. It is a goal of mine to be more consistent with these blogs and updates. Hopefully I can stick with my goal and you will hear from me more often. 

This post won’t have any new revolutionary ideas or include many artsy fartsy creative groundbreaking elements. Consider this me just checking in over some coffee (or soda if you’re like me). 

The Married Life

In case you forgot, I got married this past summer. At the end of June it will already be one full year. That is absolutely crazy to think about. Often people will ask, and I quote, “How’s married life treating yah?” It has been treating me very well. We have kept entertained with our growing collection of board games and the occasional semi-spontaneous concert. The hardest part of being married is definitely the realization that the rest of the world and our schedules don’t slow down to accommodate us. Jay and I are both very busy, with me in school, both of us volunteering with our church’s youth group, active in our own young adult group, Jay in different sports…it keeps us busy. Jay has also recently gotten a new job which has taken time to adjust to. He is now a hospice social worker, which is exactly the job he has been wanting to get, praise God! He has been loving it so far but we would still appreciate your prayers as he continues to grow in his new role. We are both looking forward to the summer schedule where it feels like we may have more time not only together but also more time to simply…be. The youth group has wrapped up for the year, our young adults group is about to take our summer break and I just finished the spring semester. Things are already slowing down a bit and while we love all we do, we are thankful for this time God has given us to slow down. 

My Education

As I mentioned, I have just finished the spring semester of this year at Concordia. It has been a busy year with lots of amazing classes, great professors, growing friendships and creative challenges. I even got an award at my university's art show this last month! While I am enjoying the rest of this week off of school, I start online classes Monday May 11th. I am taking some classes online this summer for a few reasons; taking some now will lesson my class load in future semesters, it also gives me room to take more variety of classes that may not be required for my degree but that I have a strong desire to learn, and as I have not done math and science for six years I would rather embarrass myself online than in person. So while some things will slow down this summer, other things will remain consistent. But I look forward to the flexibility online classes provide so that I can prioritize time with Jay and my ministry with the Art Chapel.

The Art Chapel

Yes, I am still working as Art Chapel Director at F Street Neighborhood Church. I took this last January off from putting on programming in order to pray, plan and prepare for the whole year in advance. It has been such a blessing to have had that time to prepare ahead of time. The Art Chapel has stayed consistent with our Open Studio times (every Monday from 3-8PM in case you find yourself in the neighborhood), and we have had more people attending consistently every week in order to create and connect in this growing creative community. Every month we also hold two classes. Typically each month is based off of a certain theme or medium, and one class is heavily based upon building foundation art skills and the other class has a very intentional spiritual or Biblical principle integrated into it. For example, last month in April we focused on water color. Our first class was simply learning how to use watercolor and different techniques and our second class was a paint and praise, where we talked about how art could be a form of worship and spent time praising the Lord as we created. The Lord has continually been present and moving in the Art Chapel and it has been great to see new connections being made. As summer approaches, I have a hope to be able to have some events and classes that weren’t initially planned in order to keep growing and connecting with our community. 

Thank You and Prayers

If you’ve reached it this far, I want to thank you for taking some time out of your day to read the words I’ve written. Thank you for all the prayers and support for the work I am doing in Lincoln, NE. I just ask for continued prayers for this season of life, that Jay and I are able to enjoy some slow times with each other and with the Lord, prayers that we stay renewed in His Spirit, prayers that God would continue to move and work through the Art Chapel and in the relationships we are building, prayers that God would help me with the fundraising, for both 50% of my salary as well as funding for the Art Chapel so that we can continue our work in the neighborhood.

As I mentioned before, hopefully you will be hearing from me sooner rather than later as I attempt to live up to my goal of posting blogs and updates more regularly, so that you can see what is going on with me, but also as a record that I can look back and see how much God has moved in my life.

Much love,

Willow Bernadt