The First Day

Patrick's first day at his new job was today. He was ready to get there is about all I can say! After 7 1/2 hours of driving and then staying the night and driving 2 1/2 more, he was more than prepared to go to work!!

The children and I on the other hand were more than ready to start our vacation! The accommodations are wonderful (big huge thanks to Patrick's new company). They let us check in really early, therefore the children have already been swimming and are now vegging in front of the TV. They plan to go swimming again later, which is fine with me.

It is cooler up this way, but it's still hot. At least the air conditioners can actually keep up and for that I'm thankful!

Not sure how much I'll be blogging this week, but no need to worry about me, I'll just be relaxing by the pool!!

Question

So if the bible tells you not to go to bed angry and you're totally ticked off, does that mean you just don't sleep for the night????

Go! Go! Go!

Wow, was I busy today! I had a nice little schedule planned out. Study during the morning hours, then break for lunch with a friend, then off to take care of politic stuff in the afternoon, home by 5:00.

Yea well, that didn't quite work out.... Instead I didn't get to do any studying, I did politics from mid-morning to mid-afternoon. I drove 45 miles to get my van dropped off for some maintenance work, then 65 miles to go do politics, then back 65 miles to get my van, and then the return trip of 45 miles back home. Meanwhile, I cancelled lunch with my friend and ended up skipping lunch all together because I was busy with the politics stuff. Whew!

Next week we will go with Patrick to his new job's office. Even though Patrick will be working, I am looking forward to some time off with no e-mail, no computers, no drama, no time restraints. Just reading a book by the pool after a lovely stroll on the treadmill! (Thank goodness it's cooler up north than it is down here. I'll be thinking of you while I'm relaxing in 85 degree weather. Hope you enjoy your 98 degree weather here at home!!)

Bad News

It was all over the papers today. The election board went through the signatures and counted 59 signatures as not registered. Then later that afternoon came back and said they had cross referenced some of them and that 5 more were counted as registered. That means we are still 12 short of the needed 500. So off to work we go trying to figure out what we can do.

Meanwhile today is an election day which means the election board is busy with that. So it will be Thursday before we can do anything with it. So for now we wait....

Have I mentioned to you before how much I HATE waiting???????

My husbands new job

I'm really excited for my husband. After 20 years with one job he is moving on to a bigger (and hopefully better) company. It is in the same industry and he will continue doing sales. Actually he will only be doing sales, which will be a big change for him. It is a welcome change, but change none the less.

We will leave next week to visit his new work place as a family. The children and I will get to see the plant and meet his co-workers. The bad news for Patrick is he will get to work the rest of the week, while the children and I will be vacationing!!

I am looking forward to the time off and I am looking forward to new beginnings. I'm sure I will be sharing more as time goes on.

Transparency

Today was a difficult day for my husband and I. We recently had Martha Tennison and her husband, Don at our church. During one of our many conversations, Martha and Don corrected Patrick and I for withholding personal information from the congregation. So today, we walked in obedience to our elders and talked with the congregation.

The two areas that we don't discuss openly is team ministry, and salary. Withholding the salary part, well, that's easy, because we're certainly not in this for the money, so its easy to not talk about the money. The team ministry part? Well, it just never occurred to us that we needed to address it. We have always operated as a team and its normal for us. Martha asked if we had ever addressed it from behind the pulpit, we told her no, and she told us we needed to. Patrick was actually the one who did the majority of the talking, I can't really tell you what he said, because I was so uncomfortable with what we were talking about. My insecurities were determined to push their way through, but I kept fighting and pushed them back to the pit where they came from!

The salary part, well that's a whole different story. Over the last year and half we have chosen not to take over $14,000 of salary due to us simply because it's not in the best interest of the finances of the church. Over the past eight years we have used our salary money to re-invest in the church buying equipment, decorations, or any other needed item for ministry. We also personally paid for retreats and gifts for leadership in the church. None of this was done to promote ourselves, it was just what we chose to do. Martha and Don helped us realize that the enemy of our souls is using our silence against us.

So, this morning we exposed ourselves and we stand on the scripture John 8:32 (KJV), "You will know the truth and the truth will make you free." We believe that exposing the choices we have made concerning our salary will bring closure to the enemy's attempts to destroy us and the church.

I'm a Superstar!!

I know, it's hard to believe, but little ol' me has turned into a super star!!!

Okay, so I'm just kidding.....yesterday was another lesson in politics. I had a television interview with a local station in regards to the petition for a grand jury. I was somewhat nervous, but not too bad. The reporter said I did well, and asked me if I wanted her job! No doubt she was trying to feed my ego, but none the less!

The one thing I flipped about was my jewelry. (I know, of all the things to be worried about!) I chose an all black outfit, but the jewelry I wear with that outfit is a little gaudy. It's not tacky, just big. I have very little jewelry that's not big simply because I like big jewelry. So I took along some silver, but then that would make my jewelry bling, bling and I wasn't sure if that was a good choice either. I just couldn't decide. I know, I know, I know, I sound like a girl. Well, I am, can't help it!

So back to the interview, it was actually very easy to answer the questions, since I'm passionate about the cause. It was a great opportunity to communicate my opinions about the whole issue. The interview aired last night at the 6:00 and 10:00 editions of the news. I've heard they will send you a copy of it, so I'm hoping I can request it since I didn't get to see it.