When I got my quickie ordination in December so that I could marry Serenity and Jose, I told my pastor that I felt like I was finally getting to use my Pastoral Ministries degree. It was the first time he had heard what my bachelor’s degree is in. He asked if I’d like to make my ordination real and I said yes. That’s a whole process that will probably take me until next year to complete.
Continue readingI can’t recall if I’ve mentioned that we have neighbors on either side of us here behind the church this year. To our right (looking from the inside toward the windshield), we have a 5th wheel with a youngish man living in it. His name is Davis. To our left, in a 24-foot trailer, are Serenity and Jose. The 2 couples haven’t really had a chance to get to know Davis very well, so tonight, I called everyone together for a neighborhood block party!
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This is a different kind of Thanksgiving than I’ve ever had, I think. I really missed being with my family, but I scheduled something fun to make up for it.
Continue readingMy sister and her family have been staying at Mom’s house, although Rob has had a bad cold for the last few days and hasn’t been able to do much. But I’ve gotten to do some things with my sister, Lauryn, and my nephew, Nate, as well as Mom.
Continue readingWhen my sister, Sherill, was alive, she always used to have the whole family over for Thanksgiving. It was potluck-style, but she’d assign a dish for each person to bring. The table was long and the conversation was boisterous. Thanksgiving has slowly dwindled down to family members having their own celebrations. It’s kind of sad in a way, but Mom made it a little happier for Mark and me today…
Continue readingYesterday, the first of our Turkish kids to leave was Aleyna. We don’t know if she’ll be returning next summer or not. The others took her to the airport in Chicago and she flew back to Istanbul.
Continue readingA man in my church has a grandchild named Ashton who came for a two-week visit starting during the 4th of July weekend. Gene and his wife work all week and he didn’t want Ashton to be home alone, so he asked if Ashton could come to my place while he works. I readily agreed!
Continue readingMark is taking a three day weekend for the holiday, so of course, he worked on some projects around the house. He mowed the front lawn, started trying to clean one area of the garage (where he found a whole bunch of mouse droppings), and…
Continue readingUsually, Mark and I wait until Christmas Eve day to get our presents for each other at the Dollar Tree, but we weren’t sure if Mark would be working the day shift and me the evening shift on Christmas Eve, so we did our shopping yesterday. Then I was going to have us wait to wrap them on Christmas Eve, but Mark threatened to go looking for what I’d gotten him, so we wrapped them yesterday too! Continue reading