I had big plans for today.

To do nothing.

And in a way, I suppose I succeeded, but not as I had hoped.

After yesterday’s whirlwind, I decided that no matter how long the to do list was (and it just seems to keep growing!), I was going to come home from church and relax. If I felt like doing anything around the house, it would be because I chose to, not because I felt like I had to.

Today was our first Sunday doing full-service children’s ministry. We’ve been working up to this for years and decided it was finally time to leap. Basically, when the kids arrive with their parents, they now can come into Adventure Theater where we have games & crafts set up and music playing. We have a somewhat unstructured time together, hanging out, and then break into our groups for a connection question before worship time. Before, we would have the kids stay with the parents until after adult worship time was over and then come in and worship. Needless to say, they weren’t digging it. Plus, there wasn’t anything for them to do except run amok through the church before service started…and run amok is exactly what many of them did.

So, we put out the crafts and activities, turned on the music and waited for the kids to arrive. We didn’t have as many as we had hoped in the beginning but we did have a good time. And I got to actually spend time talking with the kids instead of being so focused on teaching them…and that was really nice. I think it is going to make a huge difference in our lives – ours and the kids – and in our church.

But toward the end, I started to get a terrible headache. This has been happening for some time on Sunday mornings. I actually had one week where I had to sit down afterwards and Kym & Kim were bringing me water & taking care of me because I felt so sick and totally wiped out by a headache like this. I went to the dr and he felt it was low blood sugar, caused by my breakfast of Starbucks. So I cut out my weekly Starbucks treat : ( . This morning, knowing I had a full morning, I actually ate some cereal – which is unusual for me. But again, the same deal. I chalked it up again to blood sugar and ran through a drive thru on the way to a baptism of two of my youths but still felt increasingly crummy. I convinced myself it was allergies and tried to lie down and rest but it turned into a full blown migraine. Joy!! So my day of rest was indeed one of rest – but not a comfortable, relaxing rest as I had hoped.

I just can’t figure it out. I understand the low blood sugar theory and all that. Maybe I just waited too long to get something to eat when it came on? I don’t know but I can’t keep ending up like this every Sunday. I end up in bed most Sunday afternoons…which in theory should be a good thing. But I’d rather be watching a movie or reading a book or watching the race.

I think my diet needs a massive overhaul. I was doing well with smaller meals and such during the week and felt a lot better but the weekends I fall back into my patterns of no breakfast, quick lunch and dinner…nothing really in between because I am constantly running. Any suggestions?

I couldn’t find anything witty to post about that began with “F” yesterday. (I kept coming up with “frantic”, “frenetic”, and “frenzied”…which would have been accurate but hard to put down in words). So today we have Scrappin’ Saturday. I spent several hours last night working on the scrapbook for The One Who is Leaving. I’m almost finished. I want to write something nice on the last page and I have to do a personal page from me as well but that shouldn’t be a big deal. I’m pretty pleased with it and hope that everyone remembers to bring me their pages tomorrow. I really don’t want to have to scramble next Sunday to put it together before the picnic.

ANYWAY, today was also a big scrapbooking day. My aunt is up from Florida and had asked if I could help her with a Red Hat scrapbook. I said sure and she & my mom came up. Neither of them scrapbook but after an hour or so they were cropping and putting on embellishments and having themselves a good old time. I’ve never done a whole scrapbook in a day – until today! She still has some things to add and needs to journal in about what everything is but for the most part, it’s together. Whoo! And we also had lunch out and went shopping. What a day! I’m pooped. But now I have to prepare the Adventure Theater lesson for tomorrow and make dinner. After that, though, it’s all about lying on the couch watching tv. Ah, how I dream of not having anything to do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Since I’ve been busy and the creative juices are definitely not flowing (posting my to do list??? – please!) I’m going to try lifting some ideas from other renowned blogophiles. And today, I take “Thankful Thursday” from Nic

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1. My youth…no, I don’t mean my age…I mean my youth in my youth group. We had a really awesome night last night and I was reminded, as I often am, of why God has me working with them. My heart was overflowing last night when I left and I was just singing my praise to God for him putting me where I am and allowing me the blessing of working with these young people! I love you guys!

2. My health. I am struggling this week with fatigue again and am about to cut my head off so my allergy symptoms will abate, but overall, my health has been much better that last few weeks. I’m thankful that I do have good days and sometimes even good weeks like right now.

3. That I am seriously able to consider buying a house. I really feel like it will be a stretch – a big one – and things may be so tight they squeak for a while. But I feel like the time is right and I need to invest in something. And investing in a home, ultimately will be investing in myself and my financial health. I am going to look at two condos tonight. I just looked at them online and am very interested in one. I keep saying this is going to be a long, drawn out process but it may not be if I find the right place. I am just not willing to compromise.

4. Ramona, Nellie & Norm. Some people might think it is silly to put them on this list but they are my furry children and I love them so dearly. I’ve had some trouble sleeping this week and each night, they all climb in with me and snuggle in until I am able to fall back asleep.

5. That my aunt Delores is visiting from Florida and wants to spend the day with me & my mom on Saturday. I’ve always struggled with feeling somewhat extended family-less because we never really did things together since I was a small child. With the loss of my grammy and then my uncle last year, I feel like there has been a strengthening on my mom’s side of the family – more effort being made to keep in touch and be in one another’s lives and that makes me so very happy.

6. For all the men & women serving our country. We may not always agree with the President or whathaveyou, but these folks choose to risk their lives each day so that we can be free! How amazing is that? Sometimes it leaves me completely awestruck to think of it. Please keep Ron Dangler in your prayers, too, the friend I met at Tom & Keri’s at Christmas, who has been serving in Iraq. I think he’s due home this month sometime. Please just pray for his continued safety and that of his friends & unit.
I’m sure I’ve got a lot more to be thankful for but I’ll save some for next week’s edition!

The list:

1. Do 87 loads of laundry
2. Change the sheets
3. Vacuum
4. Clean up around the house
5. Clean the fridge
6. Fill bird feeders
7. Clean cat bowls
8. Buy & plant flowers
9. Look at houses to buy
10. Move office stuff from Pastor’s house
11. Organize spare room to accomodate church copier & supplies
12. Create staffing list and orders of service for Children’s Ministry through June
13. Run nametags for children for the next 10 weeks
14. Label tags so children are grouped
15. Run errands
16. Look through, choose, compile, print & crop (from approximately 1000 down to about 200) photos
17. Create a scrapbook for The One Who is Leaving
18. Print & copy VBS fliers and registration forms
19. Copy skits for VBS
20. Schedule VBS meeting
21. Schedule workcamp meeting for adults
22. Schedule a workcamp meeting for youth to work on projects
23. Buy tshirts for youth
24. Buy dye
25. Buy buckets
26. Review all workcamp forms
27. Get transportation form completed
28. Get adult background check verification forms signed
29. Ask for insurance info on all youth
30. Make copies of all forms and send to workcamp powers that be
31. Plan youth group lesson
32. Find out where our Women of Faith seats are
33. Unload Women of Faith seats on someone else
34. Start planning women’s retreat
35. Order women’s retreat kit
36. Buy new ink cartridge for printer

12 down (in no particular order…can’t figure out how to make Blogger do strike-thru), 24 to go!

I had such high hopes for the long weekend…but my to do list is still a mile wide! How does that happen? I’ve been busy constantly…yet I feel like I have gotten nowhere. I really need some time off of work to get things done but that isn’t happening any time soon. Hopefully I can get some things accomplished in the evenings this week…we shall see.

I hate being a grown up.

What a joy it is to not have to go to work!!!!

Things have been crazy busy in my life lately. We’re getting ready for a huge conference at work, so that is taking up a great deal of my time. I’ve had to work late some and also work on the weekends to get things done in time. I know everyone hates doing that, but I REALLY hate doing that. I’m often very good at separating work from life but when I have weeks on end where they blur together, it’s not good. But, so goes life.

The pastoral search continues. Our pastor’s last Sunday is June 18th and we won’t have a permanent pastor in place by then, so we will be lining up some other pastors to fill in in the interim. I’m really praying that we find the right person by mid-summer – not just for us, but also for him and his family. If he has children, it will probably be a difficult transition to move anyway but it would be nice if they could begin the school year here. I’m glad that is going to be how it works out for our current pastor and his family. It’s so hard to uproot kids in general but to start school mid-year is just rough.

The career change plans – at least the ones to become a teacher – are on hold. The cut in pay is substantial and I really have to consider it. I feel like I have finally reached a point where I am not struggling financially as much…and do I really want to go back? If I were in a dual-income situation, it wouldn’t be as hard a decision to make. But I’m not, and so it is what it is. Who knows what will happen down the road. So for now, I think I mentioned before that I am going to take some courses in children’s ministry. We’ll see where that leads. I already lead the program at our church but I’m interested in learning more and growing, both my skills and our program.

And the latest news – I’ve started looking for a house. I rent right now and love my place. I love my landlords – they have been nothing but wonderful. But a townhouse across the street came on the market last week and I really got to thinking. I could rent for the next 25 years or I can take a leap of faith and try to get into a home. I’ve mapped out several things that I want in a home and that I will not compromise on and called a real estate agent many people at church have worked with in the past. I told him it could be a long road, because I am in no hurry and I am going to be very specific. He said he has had clients who took two and three years to find something. And if that’s the case, that’s fine with me. I don’t want to compromise on something like this – it’s a very big deal! Michelle & I looked at two townhomes on Friday night. When we drove up, I wasn’t sure about the neighborhood…and after I spoke with one of the neighbors, I KNEW it wasn’t the place for me!!!! Not a great area, let’s just say that. But I’ve got a list of 32 properties in my price range, two of which are in very nice areas. I may get a chance to see those next weekend…and we shall see.

So that’s about it for now. My life seems to be in a constant state of flux at the moment…I guess it is what it is!! I’ll try to be better about updating. Things are slowing down at work and hopefully, with summer arriving, things will take on a slower pace in life in general. I’m looking forward to some lazy days!!!!

Sorry, friends in the blog-o-sphere.  My life is absolutely crazy at the moment.  Unfortunately, even throughout the madness, there is not much new to report.  I’m off for a long weekend starting tomorrow so hopefully you will find updates galore here throughout the weekend.