February-week one.

So I have been a blogging loser lately! I pretty much have no life lately, but there were a couple of interesting things last week so I will review…
Monday- Had an all day advisory council meeting to develop our 5 year strategic plan for our capital campaign. I have to say it was ok- our AC is getting a bit more engaged which is good. I however was frustrated by our overall lack of preparedness- I could bore you with a lot of details of how several people dropped the ball in preparation for this important meeting but will spare you. After our council left we as a staff, local and DHQ sat around and discussed how it went. Everyone seemed to think it was WONDERFUL! I tried to keep quiet and stay polite but… someone asked me a direct question and… well I spoke the honest truth as tactfully- (at least at first) as I possibly could. There were several things our “team” should have been prepared with and to me it was embarrassing to not have answers to basic questions like how much money we have in the bank for the project! So I think I am on the naughty list at DHQ for the time being. I went home from that picked up the boys and I just could not shake my insanely irritated mood. Poor Tabitha had stopped buy and I just couldn’t even pretend to not be stressed out. I visited for a little bit- but was not very social, she had some homework so I sent myself to my room for a 30 minute time-out to pull myself together and move on! That mostly worked, I hung out for another 30 minutes with the kids and then headed to another meeting, from their to my Monday night high school youth group. Man that is a challenge sometimes to completely put yourself away and have fun with kids when you just do not feel like it. I did and I had fun so I am glad I had to go! I got home at 10:30 after a 7:00am start at work so I read a little in Ezekiel and then went to bed.

Tuesday
Another ALL DAY meeting! Bummer. – slightly less stressful than the day before though. Worked on some projects while the boys had music lessons at the church. Got home, had dinner. Read more in Ezekiel- that dude was committed- makes me feel like a total wimp whining about the little things God asks me to do. I mean seriously can you imagine God asking you to lay on your side for 430 days and only eat a piece of bread cooked over manure each day? I want that kind of commitment. (I don’t want that job though!) Story found in Ezekiel 4.

Wednesday
Well today was special indeed. Jeremiah turned 7. I cannot believe my baby is 7! He is such an amazing little guy and I thank God every day for him. His little personality is so sweet. He is such a people guy and it is fun to see how he just brightens up wherever he is. After youth programs we went out to his favorite restaurant- Road House Grill- where you can throw peanut shells on the ground! Had a nice dinner together, got home late and read and then went to bed.

Thursday
Went to lunch with my good friend Whitney. We went to the restaurant of one of our advisory council members and ran into a quite a few community folks it was a pretty much a whose who of our city. The mayor, police chief, city councilor, -none of which were there together and our corps officers and Judy the owner of the restaurant! Whitney shared with me how they hunt for wolves in Canada- now I am traumatized.
Picked up the boys and heard some talk on the radio of open auditions going on for an upcoming movie with Harrison Ford and Brendan Frasier being filmed in Portland. They were looking for 2 boys aged 7 and 9 and you could come down and have their photo taken and fill out a paper and maybe they would call you and walllaaa movie stars! The boys heard and quickly decided that they wanted to be movie stars because then they would have enough money to buy whatever ipod they wanted! So we headed down to “audition” – with about 1400 other boys! GOOD GRIEF! I am almost embarrassed to admit we stood in line outside in the cold for over 5 hours to have their picture taken! Zachariah wanted to quit about 2 hours in but Jeremiah was determined! So we stayed. They finally got their photo at 10pm! They were both cranky by then and lets just say I am pretty sure that was reflected in their photos. I am not really expecting a phone call. Oh well it was an experience. Met some other nice parents whose kids like mine really wanted a shot. And some psycho parents who really wanted for their kids- kids not so much.

Friday
Sore throat, exhausted. Skipped my 7am meeting that I have EVERY Friday! Took Donald to work because he had his eyes dilated. I worked from home researching grant info and developing the budget in required format. Picked up the boys, picked up Donald and we went pre-shopping for food for our church event Sunday. Priced a bunch of food. Headed out to a few more stores to get Jeremiah’s birthday gift- a new bike without training wheels! Found the perfect one. Came home- it was late. Chilled read and went to bed.

Saturday
Slept in a little… Thank you JESUS! Took care of a few errands… dry cleaners, shopping- Costco for event. We then went to a few animal shelters to check out the dogs. We are thinking about getting a second dog as ours gets lonely and is very social.
Tried going on a bike ride. I will just say Jeremiah may take a while to master 2 wheels. I think we were somewhat expecting him to just get on his bike and go like Zachariah- Not so much! Had a little family celebration for Jeremiah’s birthday with dinner of his choosing (breakfast feast) and then went downstairs for movie and popcorn. The boys had never seen “Back to the Future” so that was great!

Sunday
Well here we are. I left the house this morning at 8 and got home tonight at 9. It was a LONG but good day. I had our teen youth groups and bible bowl as always after church and then most of the teens stayed to help with childcare for a metro united meeting that we hosted. It all went well but most of our main volunteers for things like that were sick or out of town so we had very little help. It was pretty thrown together but I don’t think anyone but us noticed! It all came together quite nicely and no one was the wiser. Next time we definitely need to plan for more help! I am supposed to be doing some last minute cramming for a bidders meeting for the grant tomorrow. I guess I was looking for a diversion. But must get back to it. Goodnight- or to Ed good morning!