Greetings!

My name is AJ Schwanz. If you ever come to visit me, you will see a lovely park across the street from my home in Dundee, Oregon. By positioning yourself ever-so-correctly in my living room recliner, you can look out the window onto green, evenly mowed grass and orchards, missing the primary-colored playground equipment. In those moments I pretend I have a “country life” which would be lived at a slower pace than my reality “suburbia life.”

My real life consists of eating lunch every day with my husband of almost four years while working on the newspaper's sudoku, going on library and grocery store trips with my extrovert son, feeding the dog and the cat and the fish and the plants, and pouring over way too many cookbooks without actually making anything. It's a simple but good life.

Currently I'm facilitating a Bible study at Newberg Friends Church on how/why to read the Bible. I'm also working with Northwest Emerging Women Leaders in providing space for women leaders to connect, share resources, and learn how to discern personal and corporate direction. I wonder about the lack of young adults in traditional faith communities, the meaning of living a life of true worship, and the place for words of prophecy and healing ministries within my worship gathering.

But I really enjoy watching the Park and Rec person mow the park's grass: It's like having my own personal grounds caretaker.