Oh, what a day!  It started with going to Community Friends Church in Sturgeon Bay this morning…

We walked in “fashionably late” this morning, and as soon as she saw us, my pastor, Nancy Bontempo, gave us a big welcome in front of the congregation.  Right after the service, there was a short business meeting wherein I was welcomed as a new member.  This is something I had initiated last fall before we left.  I asked her how to transfer my membership from my church in Oregon to this church and she told me I needed to contact the other church.  The Oregon church was in such turmoil (part of the reason I wanted to move my membership) that it took them a while to find the forms for transfer of membership.  When they finally did and sent one for me, Nancy did a conference call with me in Oregon and the elders of the church where she asked me to share my faith journey.  They accepted me as a member then, but today was the formal announcement.  Afterward, everyone came up to welcome me!

There were treats downstairs after the meeting, and the pastor’s husband, Dave, sat down to talk with us.  He asked if we needed help with anything because he was trying to come up with projects for the men at Community Friends to work on together.  We told him there were several things we are working on that they might be able to help with, so he said he’d come this afternoon and look to see what they might be able to do.

In the meantime, the president of my Wisconsin fan club, Judy Boldt, newly arrived at Wagon Trail Campground for this season, stopped by with muffins, some home-canned olives, and a card congratulating us on our new house.  We gave her a tour and told her what all we’d like to do.  She loved the house!  She’s going to come and pick me up on Tuesday to go shopping for furniture.

As she was leaving, Dave arrived.  We gave him the tour of the house and also a tour of the yard.  He said that he could get help with stripping the wallpaper in the living area, and he and another guy can help with the clean up Mark wants to do of some of the trees and shrubs.

When he left, Mark was kind enough to tear into the paneling in our bedroom.  We discovered that the walls underneath the paneling are unfinished, so we’ll need to tape and mud them before we do anything else.

What our bedroom looked like when we first moved in.

What that corner looks like this evening.

Looking toward the bedroom door.

I’ll post our progress as we go along.  This, at least, has to be done before Memorial Day weekend because my son and daughter-in-law are coming for a visit after that and I’d like to be sleeping in our bedroom by then.