The Coming of Fern: The We-Wu for January 19-23, 2026

Are your hatches battened?

If you were wondering, a batten is a long, flat strip of squared wood or metal used to hold something in place or as a fastening against a wall. So, with that definition in mind, no, I don’t actually have any battens. I don’t think I technically have hatches, either.

Whatever. I’m honoring the spirit of the phrase by preparing as much as possible for Winter Storm Fern this weekend. As names go, Fern doesn’t exactly inspire a lot of fear. But her potential to make history is undeniable. I’ve been watching the models creep further north, which is super fun. (Not that I want to consign our southern friends to torment, but they didn’t have to share quite so much.)

In other news, I’m 40 now. Do I feel differently? Yes and no. There’s an awareness now. But as far as the day to day, I don’t feel that different.

I did have a wonderful birthday celebration. I slept in on Friday and woke up in time to do a little cleaning before my parents and Uncle arrived. I introduced them to Korean hot pot, which was definitely an experience, and we did a little thrift store perusing before they went back home. That night, I walked over for craft night and found highland cows!

Cardboard ones, of course! But still cute, nonetheless.

Then, on Saturday, I had a mystery date! Well, I knew the participants, but not the destination. Sarah, Lori, and Cris took me to the Johnson County Museum of History to celebrate Benjamin Franklin’s birthday (He’s only 280 years older than me!) and then on to a couple of salvage stores because they know I like old stuff.

And then we got churros con nieve! And other food, but everyone knows the churros were the most important thing.

They don’t let you take the cannons from the museum for some reason. Rude!

Finally, we went to a birthday lunch on Monday. I’m sure I’ll keep finding ways to celebrate my birthday, but so far, it’s been pretty great.

I have definitely kept busy this week. I had a lot of meetings (eight of ‘em!), which is apparently part and parcel of being a supervisor or leader, and I guess that’s fine, but it does cut into actual work time. I still managed to finish my Kiluba project (finally!), a short Amharic project, and I started a Hausa project.

I also did something I haven’t done in a while, which was run chapel A/V. It went fine, especially since I only got the nod the day before. I think technology might be passing me by, though. It’s hard to keep up with everything. So much of it is just not intuitive for me, anymore. Maybe a switch got flipped when I turned 40. Maybe my brain isn’t as flexible as it used to be. Oh, well.

That might be it for the week. I’m off next Friday to travel to a speaking gig in Michigan, so you can pray for good weather and new supporters.

In the meantime, batten your hatches, hatten your batches, roll yourself up like a burrito, and say hello to Fern. Maybe do some small stuff while you’re watching the snow.

Bye!