SHEs Organized

I have a few minutes!

And I'm connected to internet!!!!

Hellooooo!!!!!

Still having a blast.

All of the preachers are amazing.

Singing with a huge crowd continues to fill me with joy.

I'm tired but that will pass this evening. My minister has a migraine so we spent a quiet hour after lunch in the Ebenezer Baptist Church bride's room so she could lay down. And tonight she will not stay for the concert but come back to the hotel for a quiet evening after evening worship. I'll keep her company, so have an excuse to slow down a bit before our last day.

I've written two travelogs which I'll post now.

Hooray!! I'm going to have puppies to play with!!! DD#2's female will have pups around July 14th and we will be there about 2 weeks later for a couple of weeks. They will just be getting big enough to play with by then. DD#2 likes to have them socialized by lots of people as that seems to bring out their personalities. Wonder if she will get any colors besides black like the mother. Sire is a golden lab and mother had littermates that were brown. She has always wanted all three colors of labs in the same litter.

Temp is 102 on our back porch. 84 inside the house. We have all the blinds drawn and the AC on so it is quite comfortable.

I have to go find our passports. Hmmm! I put them somewhere I wouldn't lose them. DUH!! Can't find them now.

Awwwhh!! Thank you for the kind words. (((((Group Hugs))))

Twins - Congrats to your DKids grades!!

LO doctor appt went well. He does have some fluid behind his ears so we came home with antibodies to take the next 10 days. Then he will go back to be checked to make sure it is gone before doing a hearing test. Everyone is telling me to contact the school. Said they are required by law to provide speech therapy to children 3 year old and above if they need it. I did call the school but didn't get too far. The speech therapist won't be returning next school year and they haven't hired another one yet. Also they wanted to know if LO is enrolled in pre-school.....uhhhhmmmm.....No. I'm not sure how this will play out - if he needs speech therapy I think we might just by-pass the school and hire someone directly. Wonder if health insurance pays for that? Seems I've generated more questions than answers so far. However - at least we are started on the process!!

This morning LO said "Our house isn't beautiful anymore"
I asked "What do you mean?"
LO said "It is dirty"

YIKES! I knew I was behind.....but seriously? Enough for a 3 year old to notice???
Tomorrow starts some serious focus on cleaning cards!

This evening we are taking DGS17, DGS15 and LO out to eat at steak house before going to church. DH and I have already planned what we will order. We are going to share a meal because the portions are so HUGE.

Tuesday's Travelog:

It started with worship at 8:45 with Tom Long preaching on Psalms 70 and 40 and then moved into a lecture by Anna Carter Florence which was more a sermon than a lecture. The contrast between their two styles is stark but I enjoyed both greatly. All the preaching is a two step learning experience, first the content of the sermon and second the process and delivery.

Tom Long's style is more pastoral and I found myself crying in both the sermon and the lecture. Anna Carter Florence is more 'northern', direct, asking hard questions and answering them in an amusing fashion. She preached on Judah, tying in his dysfunctional family with the dysfunction of the mainline churches, pointing out we descend from a twisted line of people who are nothing to write home about. But Judah changes and so can we. Tom Long's lecture was more scholarly, suggesting that we preach a series of sermons on the psalms. That sounds a lot drier than the actual lecture which moved us from laughter, to 'ok this might be a good idea, to soul wrenching anecdotes, back to laughter and ending with an interest in exploring the idea further.

We are in the South so the hospitality is overwhelming wherever we go, and that adds to the enjoyment of the conference. Break food was abundant and wide variety, soda, lemonade, juices, fruit, cookies and pastries. At lunch we had fried chicken, coleslaw, potato salad, black-eye pea salad, chocolate pie and tea (not hot tea!) or lemonade. I have resorted to using the stairs at the hotel because there is no time for proper exercise, no matter how much I need it.

In the afternoon, I decided to change moods and headed over to the Buckhead theatre for the after-lunch worship service. This is where the less conventional and 'emerging' church is being discussed. The worship opened with a praise band that raised the energy level and pulled us all together, singing both new-to-me music and updated rhythms for old favourites. Peter Mayer (who would lead the evening concert) came and jammed with the band for a bit. It was lively and more informal than the music at the big church. There were still over 300 people there but it felt more intimate.

The preacher was Nadia Bolz-Weber, a Lutheran minister and the founding pastor of the House for All Sinners and Saints, a mission church in Denver. She blew me away. She was preaching on Pentecost, claiming the Holy Spirit is not a metaphor. The Holy Spirit will mess you up. Metaphors won't do that. Her description of her church is one that is anti-excellence and pro-participation. I love that! Then she talked about the crisis her church went through when suddenly their congregation of addicts, street kids, seekers and drag queens were faced with middle-class people from the suburbs coming to join the congregation. “These people were like our parents!” They wore Dockers, and ate at Appleby's. It was a fantastic sermon that ended far too early.

I debated whether I should stay for more of this unconventional discussion but music drew me back to the main venue for a workshop with John Bell, a liturgical composer from Glasgow. This was held in the fellowship hall and Bell proved we can make beautiful music with just our voices in a room not known for good acoustics.

John Bell talked about why congregational singing is so important. One of the points echoed something I heard during the meet and greet at Mt. Zion on Sunday – the church is the only place when we expect people to sing.

I met up with the Ottawa Presbytery group after the workshop (which ended late because we didn't want to stop singing) and we spent almost our whole 2 hour break back at the New Yorker Deli. The weather here is lovely so we ate out on their patio and talked for the whole dinner break.

Then it was back to the main church for the evening worship and concert.

At dinner, the others, who had stayed to hear Michael Curry, an Episcopalian Bishop, lecture had informed me that we were in for a rip-roaring sermon at evening worship and we were. He's a traditional black preacher, complete with the Amen! Say it! and other interjections from the congregation. As my dinner companions lamented that no-one would call out “Preach it, Sister!” in their services, I offered myself out for hire as a plant to help whip their congregations into a frenzy. Yeah, like that is going to happen....!

With over 1000 people coming in to worship, the sanctuary is abuzz and our leader at each worship simply says, “Peace of Christ be with you” and we all answer, “And also with you.” and settle down immediately. Nadia Bolz-Weber says that's the Lutheran way of telling us to shut up and sit down! Whatever – it works!

There is always a musical interlude to help us refocus ourselves into a worship mindset and then the service begins.

Michael Curry is a great preacher. He preached on the same passage I had used for the Easter Sunrise Service and his theme was Mary Magdalene was crazy but we need some crazy Christians because the sane ones are killing us! It was great fun and there was no use studying the delivery method, (there's no way I'll ever be preaching like that) so I could just sit back enjoy the message. I loved the blessing at the end. Actually, I've been blessed properly at all the services I've been to this week – it is my favourite part of the worship – marking the end of the worship and sending us out into service.

The concert that evening was by Peter Mayer, lead guitarist for Jimmy Buffet. He had a band with him and it was a nice mix of music. Grace Kelly (a sax player) jammed with him for a few songs and Ashley Cleveland came in on vocals at the end.

I had chosen to be up in the balcony again (better view and sound in my opinion) but after an overwhelming day of sounds, sights, and sitting, after almost an hour, I got stiff so came down and wandered the halls of the church keeping an ear on the concert. There was one particularly raucous song that drew me into the sanctuary and there I found the women of the Ottawa contingency starting a conga line so I joined in.

We bopped back to the hotel after and had a nightcap of water and tea before heading up to bed.

This is an overwhelming experience for me because there is so much to think about. Today's after-lunch sermon was particularly significant for me. And after yesterday's after-lunch sermon, I found myself sobbing in a bathroom stall. So this thread's title of New Beginnings might apply to me too!

I'm back from the financial advisor. I wish money would manage itself. I went to a bank and got $200 in ones. Mom said I would need it for my cruise. I am going to have to call her and ask why. DD10 has a Dragon Singers show tonight that I am going to, so I guess I had better get something for dinner. I am not really hungry. I just realized that I finished my document and don't know what to do next at payroll. If there is nothing for me to do, I don't get paid. The perils of the contracting world. Stress causes me to lose my appetite. I think I will go to Church's Fried Chicken. Often I go to church on Wed, but there is no time before the concert. Bye.

Elizabeth, your mom was probably thinking you'd need them for tips and buying trinkets from street vendors or taking taxis. If you negotiate something for $7 and only have a $10 you won't get any change or change in the local currency. I usually take about $50 in singles but seldom spend them since we schlep our own bags and our cruiseline is all-inclusive. All tips are included and they have arranged transportation for us in almost all the ports.

I'm back from the evening worship and part of the concert. We didn't stay for it all.

I've lost my clip sunglasses (special ones for my frames.) I'm sure I had them on the bus back from the MLK Center and walk home from the drop off point (it is very sunny here) but they aren't around now. I checked at the front desk - no luck. The minister went through her purse too, since we have the exact same frames and thus the same clip-ons. Just hers were in her purse. Sigh....

We also have husbands with the same name, our names start with K, we have the same travel toothbrush (she keeps hers closed and I keep mine open so we can tell them apart) and our hairbrushes are similar enough that if I don't have my glasses on I can't tell the difference between them!

She's in bed now, watching American Idol. I'm going to find a spot to do my devotions.

loved the description of the conference Kathryn. Sounds like something for everyone there. And great messages one can take to everyday life.

OKay - dd was perscribed antibiotics repeatedly before we got to see an ent specialist. the antibiotics did nothing except maybe damage the molars that were developing. Glad you are at least on the trail of this. Just watch out for reg g doc forever perscribing without referal to an expert.

Harriet story of my life - I need to be expert at my body and me and how to get the best out of it. There were some great success stories on everyday ordinary kids improving greatly when all the kids in a school/class came off artificals that are now deemed a problem for a 3 wk trial. Like headmaster who had no kids in detention instead of normal 6-10 chidren each week. These have been replicated over and over. Or the UK police district who put a group of their worst young offenders often arrested on a really strict diet - they supplied the food - and the results were staggering. The beginning had kids wrestling etc v physical in room w police and parents. 3 wks later - docile kids sitting by parents - able to learn in school. etc. All bar the 3 who gave up the diet have stayed out of trouble.
and wooh - all the things that cause ibs. I knew most. Artifical sweeteners ending with ol are in there.
Or the asthma drugs with sulphate in them - known to cause asthma.

fedup.com.au if anyone is interested. The version I did predates this - begun by feingold in the 70s. Still need to do that with the extras out I've found along the way. Like chocolate/cocoa, dairy, gluten, potato, cabbage, tea coffee, and the odd one sugar that I find addictive once I get started.
My annoyance is that I really need do this alone - as happened when I wasn't dx with low hypoglyemia when levels would dip below 1/2 what is now deemed hypoglycemic. I tried pretending that wasn't really a problem for a lot of years and suffered the crazy consequences. Good books can help. Hard to know which ones though. Gotta find the ones that suit what happens for me.

Harriet thanks for the response to my Q.
K in C thanks for that travel-log!

The roof is done h. is okay he was wondering if he could hold up doing that work and is better than he or I thought he would be at this point so that is good news. H. grilled our dinner tonight the wind died down so that helped.

Granny duty was over by 4:30 giving me time for a walk.

I've been knitting un-knitting and re-knitting this time I forgot the border in my stitch calculations sigh oh well this is learning right?

Time to think about my p.m. routine I've been skipping it. And it shows.