Back to normal with a bump in the road

Today was an interesting day at school. The short story is that we had a lockdown. There was a local bank robbery and the armed robber had tried to escape on foot and headed towards the schools. So as a precaution, we locked down the school. There was scary moments when we didn't know why we were locked down or what was going on, but all in all it all worked out okay.

Ahren had choir practice at church after school, so I tried a new adventure - taking both kids downtown on our bikes. I was a bit of a nervous wreck, but they both did well. The three of us biked to church and then Sean and I biked to DQ and he got a milkshake, I got a drink and we picked up a Blizzard for Ahren. Then we biked back to church and chilled while we waited for Ahren to finish up and we all biked home.

Tuesday early evenings are a funny time at church. There are bunches of moms and kids and they have a little potluck-ish thing that they do, someone makes dinner and brings it for everyone and everyone has a little dinner while they are hanging out waiting for the kids and stuff. It's really pretty cool. I'm feeling like I'm going to need to start contributing to the meal stuff, since lately I've been waiting for Ahren while she is in choir.

My good deed for the week.

After work, with kids in tow, I headed over to our church for the Red Cross Blood Mobile to donate blood. I'd been wanting to donate blood for a while, but the last time I did was oh, about 19 years ago (actually it was when I turned 20 - on my birthday!). Last year or so, a friend had told me that he had donated blood and it made me think that it really is an easy thing to do and yet, oh, so important.

We got there around 4:30 and I started with the waiting in line – first reading the information, then waiting to tell someone that I was healthy, then waiting for a bed, then waiting to get stuck, then waiting for the blood to drain. I was finally finished at 6:00 – whew! Carl, one of the men I know from church, said to me that my kids were the best behaved kids he had ever seen. He was really sweet. The kids were really patient. But looking at Sean, I could see that he was really exhausted and by the time we got to the hallway, he brokedown in tears and cried the whole way home. Poor little guy. He did recover, but is still exhausted.

Suna asked how the church meeting went. All was remarkably easy. Our former church's annual meetings would go on and on and on, all about tedious mistakes and typos. Our budgets got passed and the new slate of officers went through. Many people thanked me for taking on the role of VP. I also will be taking over as the 'point-person' for the accessibility stuff. Long time friends will recall that I was very involved in that project for a while - mainly getting a lift/elevator installed in the church. But with 2 (sometimes 3) meetings at the church a week, I was burning out (I was responsible for 3 sub committees along with the over sight committee). Now the current point-person is burned out and needs a break. Honestly, I think this job will take more of my time than the VP thing. I did step down from the other 2 committees that I was on (Communications and Open & Affirming/Reconciling). I will really miss the O&A/R work, but I know I can always show up at their meetings. :)

Another Year Older

Friday was my birthday. I've really never been a big birthday person. Kinda goes along with not being a big gift person, I suppose. It was a fairly relaxed day, which is what I needed after this week. In addition to the regular schedule of teaching 9 classes this week, I also had 10 parent/teacher conferences (each about a half-hour plus prep time). So on Thursday evening Pete asked if I wanted to go out to dinner or a movie or something. I told him the only thing I wanted to do when I get home from work on Friday is to cuddle up on the couch and not move! And that is just what I did! It was nice. Pete even dropped off and picked up Ahren from theater (which I usually do).

Today Ahren and Pete were volunteering at the Soup Kitchen in the afternoon and Sean got invited to the Children's Museum with a friend, so for most of the afternoon I've had the house to myself. I caught up on some knitting (now I'm almost finished with the shrug I've been working on) and watched a little tv. If I had known that Sean was going to be out, I would have gone to the Soup Kitchen too. Years ago, I volunteered at our former church's community dinners (like a soup kitchen) and did that for several years, but I had to stop when I had Ahren and it was difficult leaving her to go there. But now, Ahren and Pete have been going about once a month to help out, which is really nice. Once Sean is a little older we will encourage him to go along, too.

Pete was talking about going out to dinner tonight at the casino, but I'd really rather not, just a nice, easy evening at home sounds best to me. What a home-body I've turned into. Now if he'd suggested I take a trip to the yarn store, I'd be all over it. :)

Tomorrow is our big annual meeting at church, which will be the day that I get 'officially' voted (along with all the other officers) to be the Vice President of the church. It's not that big of a deal, Sean is excited because they will showing Madagascar for the kids to watch during the meeting.

Interesting Sunday

Okay, so now looking back on the past two months (blog-wise, at least), I feel like I'm more interesting when I blog more (November = daily blogging; December = occasional blogging). Now, I realize that really, I'm not any different of a person in either month, but having taken the opportunity and time to write something - anything, seems to give a setting or backdrop for my mind. I'm probably not making much sense but the ending thought is that I'm going to try and blog more regularly. We'll see how it goes. :)

One interesting thing happened today - I had lunch with Barbara, the interim pastor at our church along with Ned, who is the current VP of the church and soon-to-be President of the Prudential Board at church. We discussed the idea of me taking on the VP position at church. This would be essentially a two year commitment (one year as VP and one as P). I've decided that since the timing works out well for me (having just retired from my API position and my LLL administrative role), I'm going to do it.

All of that has made me think about how much I really like my church and why. I think that really the crux of it comes down to the fact that it is a such a warm and welcoming congregation. People need not be perfect to be welcome there. I find that reassuring, especially in taking on a such a highly-visible position, *I* don't have to be perfect. (Some readers here know that I am far, far, far from perfect, despite my goodie-two-shoes impressions.) Many churches only want people who are *good* and don't make mistakes. I like that my church allows for people to be human -- no, not only allows, but accepts that people are human and will make mistakes. There is no need to go confessing to anyone about one's shortcomings - they are just between you and the Powers That Be (whoever that is for you) and that's ok.

Now to try and remove a nasty splinter that Sean has - hopefully a warm soak will make it easier to remove and he won't be screaming bloody murder for the rest of the night.