Wow, where did the time go?

Things have been nice around here of late. G&T and I celebrated 28 years of marriage a few days ago. We tried to get out of town, but had several obligations and couldn't. So... we pretended we were out of town on Sunday and had a family day instead of church which usually has many obligations.

The weather has been nice here - highs only in the low 80's, somedays even in the 70's. It's nice to leave the office and not feel like I'm in a furnace.

What doesn't kill you will make you stronger - we hope.... manBoy's school experience has improved, but he still runs into issues that come up when you are working in groups. For those of you who don't know - he's at a school that has project based learning. Everything is group project based. They get the project first then learn what they need for it. Amazingly like real life. He's learning so much more than academic content, but man these lessons are not easy. I just keep thinking he'll be way ahead of the game in the real world. I know lots of adults that don't have the time management and interpersonal relationship skills he's learning.

Gifted and Talented is spending lots of time playing his guitars (yes plural). He's getting ready for the big gig on Nov. 1. The church worship band which includes Dogblogger and several other really talented musicians is doing a concert of folk, country, pop, and classic rock. G&T is looking forward to showing his stuff with leads on his newish Les Paul.

I have two big projects going at work. The Disability Concerns Committee wants to produce an awareness video while we still have money in this year's budget. Not much this year left to do that. I'm meeting with the videographer on Wednesday.

I have also been charged with updating the Conference Resource Center and moving it out of it's way underused status. The first thing I'm doing is adding a heading to each item. There was a system for shelving items, but no one who is on staff now understands it. The computer catalog system has provision for headings that can be included in the item number. Deciding the heading category of each item has been an interesting study in theology and logic. Does this study on Christian Living based on the book of Ecclesiastes go in Bible Old Testament or in Christian Living. I'm on page 104 of 151 of the entire catalog list.

Spookyrach did a meme and talked about fearing parents of other kids. This isn't usually an issue for me, but last week I found myself in a small group of parents from manBoy's school. I found myself wondering if I really live on the same planet as a couple of the other moms. It just seems like my values and world view are soooooo different from theirs. We just seem to have very different ideas about what's important. I'm so middle of the road, middle-class, and middle America that I rarely feel like I'm an outsider. I did at this meeting. No one there knew I'm clergy, so I don't think that's it. We are in the bottom half (more likely third) of the income range for this place, and that may have something to do with differeing priorities, but it's more than that. As I type this and think about it, I think the difference is that I don't have my life centered in Suburbia, USA. There's a bigger world out there that makes most local issues seem trivial. 4 years at somewhat liberal seminary and one year at big public hospital that serves the poor and uninsured have changed the way I see the world. At the same time, I have been reminded that people who live small lives often still have big pain. I must not discount the concerns of those other parents.

I asked manBoy if he feels the same way around his peers. This led to a wonderful loooooong conversation. Now its late and the alarm will go off early. Good Night Gracie.

Odds and Ends and Maybe Beginnings

Yesterday was one year since I went to the conference office for one month. Ya just never know. Yesterday I had a call from a pastor wanting to know how his church can address the "no's" on the accessibility survey they just did. One year ago, there wasn't anyone to tell them they needed an accessibility survey, much less a committee with an Occupational Therapist, a builder, an architect, and a pastor who uses a wheelchair to help this church. God is good.

In the Disciple Bible Study I'm facilitating, someone commented on the lack of awe and respect Moses shows for God in the whole burning bush - call story passages. I've been thinking how Moses wasn't exactly raised to have respect for God - not for the one true God anyway. Makes me wonder how we judge people who come to our churches but have never learned "how folks act in church." It makes me wonder if their coming before God isn't a little more authentic than those of us who know "how folks act in church."

Sunday our church will worship in our new building for the first time. This has been more than a decade in coming. Please pray for us that we will remember who it is we are worshiping and that the building is simply an instrument for our work as the body of Christ.

For those who have been praying for manBoy, the new school is getting better or he's feeling better about it. The teachers are learning that the students need direct instruction on how to manage their time. The students are learning they need to get their acts together and manage their time. Still a few kinks to work out, but progress is being made. He's in two groups he really enjoys right now. One member of one group is the daughter of a couple we met 16 years ago at adoption seminar. We kept in touch during our short waiting period. They went to meet a birthmother the same week manBoy came to us. Their baby came 4 months later. We lived in different suburbs at the time, but have both moved since then. If the kids were at mega high school, they might never meet. Now they are working on projects together. As the other mom put it, it just feels like coming full circle.

I went to the Y four mornings this week! Tomorrow we get an extra hour of sleep, manBoy doesn't have to be at school until 7:30! I get a break from (as my sister puts it) the cr*p of dawn carpool and from the Y on Fridays.

As I tell my mom when we're all talked out on the phone, "That's all the news I knows."