A Wonderful Weekend

Friday was my birthday, but we decided to cut grass instead of going out for a big dinner! Afterwards we went to the Raja India restaurant in West Chester and had a wonderful meal.
Saturday morning I was up early to get the oil changed. Then I met Dave Lautzenheiser for breakfast (he treated--at First Watch) before driving to the new Natorp's Garden Center on Snider Road. They have 3-1/2 acres under roof, resplendent with perennials, rose bushes, blooming annuals, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, and herbs and more, much more. We spent at least 90 minutes there oooing and ahhhing over the beautiful, bountiful displays. Checked out some bushes and trees outside too. I didn't buy anything Saturday, but I will be back!
Evelyn and I rode to Indianapolis about 2:30  to join a family-and-friends celebration of Peggy Sweeney's 60th birthday. Peggy is our daughter-in-law's mom; she and her husband, Ed, have been friends almost since the time Geoff and Lisa started dating. We've been with them on family vacations at least twice, and they hosted us at their time share in Hawaii once; and we've been with them unnumbered other times for family gatherings: recitals, weddings, and other times.

Shannon and Lisa ALMOST got
through their sweet tribute to their
mom without crying!

Lisa and her sister, Shannon, and Ed planned a surprise birthday party for Peggy and invited us and the Webers, who have become mutual friends, and Shannon's in-laws, and two dear friends of the Sweeneys from Taylor University.
We were waiting for them at a private room at the Meridian Restaurant in Indy when Geoff and Lisa ushered Ed and Peggy upstairs. I think Peggy really was surprised, which was the first delight of a wonderful evening.
 The food was remarkable. The laughter and fellowship was special. The testimonies offered by Lisa and Shannon and Ed were tender as well as funny. And all of us around the table offered tributes to Peggy. (I even wrote new words to an old tune: "P is for how pleased we are to know you; E is for your energy--you glow! G is for the giggles we've shared with you. Gee, we've had such fun together on the road. Y is for the youthful way you've lived dear: hiking, biking, boating--you have done it all. Put them all together, they spell Peg-gy. Happy birthday, we think you're a doll!")

After dinner we adjourned to Shannon and Craig's house for more visiting, coffee, and a mini birthday cake for me! (Yesterday was the third anniversary of MY 60th birthday!)

Shannon and Craig Lewis's house was the perfect place for picture-taking!

Evelyn, Peggy, and Verna catch up

Lisa, Geoff, and Bill stopped to pose in the middle of a serious conversation.

Larry and Betsy Lewis, Shannon and Craig Lewis . . . and Binkley!

The Sweeney girls, with their handsome husbands and wonderful parents.

We stayed overnight with Bill and Verna, and then the Webers and we and almost the whole party from the night before met at the church where Shannon is events coordinator: College Park Church on the north side of Indy. It was an inspiring worship service, wonderful in every way.

Shannon gave us a tour of the large building, and then the Sweeneys, Shannon and Craig, Geoff and Lisa, and we drove to Taylor Creamery for a superb brunch. The restaurant is tucked into one corner of a huge, working farm. The food is organic and fresh. The time together was as special as the whole weekend had been. Lisa showed me some tricks for using my new camera. 

Two fine and fine-looking people!

We stopped by the little dairy store that's a part of the complex, and then stood in the parking lot and visited for another 30 minutes probably. We were on our way home by 2:00 and arrived here by about 4:00. Just the right amount of time to rest a bit, gear up for the week ahead, and have a nice, long phone visit with Jennifer. We ate popcorn and split my mini birthday cake while we watched an On Demand episode of "Elementary."

I Was the Spouse in the Corner—It Was Evelyn's Day

Today was the faculty and staff reception to congratulate Evelyn on her upcoming retirement, and I decided to come share in the party.
It was very nice. The cake was VERY good. A nice crowd of Evelyn's colleagues came to wish her well. Paul Friskney hosted and said that, although they had found someone to teach Evelyn's classes, no one could replace Evelyn.
And two former students, Mackenzie Fordyce and Rachel Sinclair, gave brief, sometimes tearful testimonies about the influence of Evelyn on their lives and their gratitude for her example as well as her teaching. I'm so proud of her!
She had a bowl full of cards with well wishes, and her colleagues had contributed to buy a $100 gift card to Playhouse in the Park (that will be fun!).
It was a very nice afternoon, and I'm glad I got to share it.

Mackenzie Fordyce couldn't finish her tribute without crying.

Rachel Sinclair used to grade papers for Evelyn and claims she drank her weight in coffee.

Evelyn's fellow English teachers, Paul Friskney (left) and Brian Derico planned the party.

Checkin', Tweakin', Meetin'

Jim Nieman and Scott Ryan checked out a QR code in the proof to see if it was readable.

Next week we give the June issue of ChristianStandard to the printer, and today we invited Scott Ryan, our art and design consultant, to come look at the proof of the whole issue to suggest any tweaks or changes he'd suggest to make it look better. He had already given us good advice, and he (and we) are pretty pleased with the way it's turning out. 

I spent much of the morning finishing reading the proof. (I had spent about an equal amount of time with it yesterday, suggesting some repaginations and a couple of other changes to the layout that Jim completed yesterday afternoon and this morning before Scott arrived.) Late copy--some cover copy, the "coming next month" copy, and a couple little changes here and there--all that was part of the day yesterday afternoon and this morning. This afternoon I worked on the editorial for the issue, getting all the way to a draft I'll read in the morning to see if it makes sense.
Shawn McMullen and I attended a meeting with Stephanie Woeste and Jared Alexander this afternoon to talk about the possibility of a monthly presentation to readers and potential readers via a service on the web called BlogTalkRadio. We'll see if we'll be hosting guests on the Internet sometime soon!

A Team to Thank

Diane, Lori, and Sheryl were first through the food line.

Today is Administrative Professional's Day, and Carla Johns in our office decided it would be fun to have a big spread of food to honor the three admins in Editorial and Magazines. So she distributed cards that we all signed, we got small gift cards and colorful bouquets, and I wrote a song that four of us sang to Diane Jones-Dunham, Sheryl Overstreet, and Lori Davis. 

The tune is (generally!) "If You Were the Only Girl in the World, and the words went like this:

1

If you were the only admins in the world,

And we were the only bosses . . .

We’d still have no fear, ‘cause you’d be right here;

You work like a team of hosses!

You pay all the bills and keep Accounting glad;

You keep going on, Elan won’t drive you mad!

Computers can’t rile you; you have such style, you

Work like a team of hosses!

 2

If you were the only admins in the world,

We wouldn’t be in a bind.

We’d still give you tasks, and you’d never ask

If we’d lost our bloomin’ minds!

Peter, Mark, and Margo have become your friends.

If you weren’t here, we know our lives would end!

Deadlines can’t throw you, we always know you

Work like a team of hosses!

 3

Problems with the warehouse or the U.S. mail—

They won’t make you grouse or let your products fail.

Our mission’s secure, you always endure;

You work like a team of hosses!

A colleague wrote me an e-mail after the party. "Thanks. It was good to laugh again!"

Morale-building, some moments of fun, LOTS of good food, and three worthy administrative assistants thanked: I'd say we did pretty well for one day!

The Blossoms in Our Backyard

The crabtree behind our house is blooming beautifully, but very few are seeing it. I decided to snap some pictures of it, as well as the lilac blossoms that are getting ready to pop.

Evelyn mowed the front yard to make it match the height of the backyard. I've already lost track of how many times we've mowed this year, and it's not May yet. We're enjoying the green, though. I'll be bemoaning the dry weather sometime in July or August, so it shows no wisdom to complain now. 

A Verse for the Worst of Spring

When grass is green it's really keen, 

But when it's long it makes me mean.

We cut it daily; it keeps growing.

Now and then and then again, we're mowing,mowing, mowing.

Weekend Update

A fine weekend, it was. Sunny, but cool. (Yesterday was chilly, but the temperature today got to the mid 60s.) Here's the line-up of our activities:

SATURDAY
Started slowly, as usual. Facebooking, bill paying, coffee drinking. Enjoyed some of Evelyn's
homemade raisin bread toasted and homemade granola with yogurt and fruit.
Ran the Corolla to Toyota for an 8:40 appointment to have some little recall repair done.
After we got home, I continued with some e-mailing etc., and we waited for Wendy to get home so she could Skype us. We had a nice time visiting with her. It was nice to see her smiling, and I entertained her by showing her my new camera and its handy-dandy flip-up LCD screen to make taking self-portraits easier.

While we were talking with Wendy, Toyota called to say the car was ready, and by now it was almost 11:30. Evelyn had a $5 gift certificate to McDonald's she had received as a thank-you for sponsoring a group at Community Service Day at CCU last week, so we used it for lunch on the way to pick up the car. (I can't remember the last time Evelyn and I ate at McDonald's.)

After we got home, I went to the grocery, and after that we talked with Jennifer. It was her birthday, and she had been out a lot of the day having a wonderful time alone, doing things she likes: shopping, browsing antique stores. Matt had baked her a cake, and the four of them were going out for dinner to celebrate.

Evelyn and I got ready and drove to Dan and Cindi Cooper's to pick them up for supper and the Cincinnati Pops. We saw Mandy Patinkin (he's much older than this picture). He is an amazing performer, with a remarkable vocal range. He sang everything from Irving Berlin tunes written in 1918 to Steven Sondheim Broadway hits. I'm really glad we got to see him (although I might not make an effort to see him again). We ate dinner at the Bistro in Josepth-Beth's on the way downtown, meeting a couple there. Cindi works with the woman and had arranged for us all to eat together.

SUNDAY:

I hosted at the 8:30 service, and Evelyn decided to just get up early with me and go with me, especially since the bell choir was playing for the service. Brad Wilson preached and had a fine message on "Greater Than My Sin." I really appreciated his transparency when he spoke about the brokenness we all experience  because of our sin. A quote I jotted down: "God can use our broken pieces when we give him all the pieces" (D.L. Moody).

The bell choir had a nice arrangement of "Holy, Holy, Holy" with "The Revelation Song" and accompanied some of the hymns.

We had breakfast at Cracker Barrel (used up the remnant of an old gift card) and got home early. I did 

some e-mailing for work, and about 1:00 slipped on my jeans to play weekend warrior for the afternoon. I mowed a little grass (Evelyn finished it; that's number 4.5 for this year--she mowed the front Thursday and then gave up because the yard was so wet). While Evelyn was mowing, I  did the following:
1) planted a Knockout Rose I had bought at Costco this week.
2) dug up a big clump of daylilies growing beside the deck.
3) planted some of the daylilies behind the rosebush (this is the spot where our white pine was before it died).
4) gave the rest of the daylilies to two neighbors who were out working in their yards too.
5) edged all the sidewalks and driveway in the front of the house.
6) cleaned up the huge mess created by the edging and the mowing.
7) planted two pots of herbs from plants one of the neighbors gave me in exchange for the lilies.
Around 5:00 I came in, took a shower, and then flopped down in the armchair to check Facebook--and fell asleep, just for a few minutes.
We had a wonderful vegetarian Boboli pizza for supper while we watched "60 Minutes" (more Boston coverage).
A fine weekend, all-in-all.

An Evening to Relish

A pleasant evening after a productive day. Evelyn picked me up at 5:15, and we went to Stein-Mart to see if we could use some catalog coupons to snag some bargains. Evelyn found a couple of nice things for this summer.
Then we drove back toward to Mason and ate dinner at Relish Modern Tapas, a delightful little restaurant we had discovered only a couple of years ago. A Groupon for the place popped up a couple of weeks ago, and that was the prod to get there tonight. We had hummus and homemade pita chips; spinach, mushroom, and goat cheese empanadas; and spinach stuffed wild mushrooms. Then churros for dessert: fried dough dusted with powdered sugar and grated chocolate, with hot chocolate dipping sauce. It was very, very yummy.

Then we zoomed up to Kenwood Mall, and Evelyn picked up her new glasses at the Pearle Vision store.
While we were driving to Kenwood, and then back to Standard to pick up my car, and then home, we heard the news about the capture of the second Boston Marathon bomber in Watertown, Massachusetts.

Special People

Jason and Vangie Rodenbeck were in the office yesterday and today to work with children's editors and marketing folks on special education emphases in Standard's HeartShaper and VBS curriculum. Shawn McMullen and I had the pleasure of meeting with them awhile this morning to talk about how we could use them in The Lookout and Christian Standard.
What nice people! And what cool things Standard will do on behalf of students with special needs because of our work with Vangie!

ICOM and WebEx

Dave Butts will be the president
of the 2014 ICOM  in Columbus.

Yesterday morning began with an area minister's meeting at White Oak Christian Church. Dave Empson, Keith Wood, and Dave Butts were there to promote the International Conference on Missions in Kansas City this November and its meeting in Columbus in November 2014. The men at White Oak cooked a wonderful breakfast, and I enjoyed hearing news about the upcoming gathering and seeing the passion, especially of Dave Empson and Dave Butts, about what this conference has accomplished and their dreams for it in the coming years.

Yesterday morning I did a trial run with something new we're going to try tomorrow: "Beyond the Standard," a call-in webinar offered to select subscribers to Christian Standard. The WebEx interface has been a bit confusing for me to navigate, but our test went well, and I feel mostly confident that I'll be able to host the event without looking like a dork tomorrow.

Dave Faust (left), Dave Empson, and Keith Wood posed before we enjoyed the breakfast

buffet served by the men at White Oak Christian Church.

Weekend Update

"April prepares her green traffic light, and the world thinks Go." I heard that quote from Christopher Morley Sunday, and I knew it couldn't have been more perfect for the beautiful, sunny day we were having. This is the time of the year when every lawn is green, and the flowering trees surrounded by daffodils and forsythia make every turn, every suburban neighborhood, another garden show.
To recap the weekend:
Saturday we Skyped with Wendy, and I paid bills. We decided to mow the lawn (for the record: mowing number 3), and Evelyn and I finished it just in time to get our showers and meet Bill and Verna Weber

Sev had a greeting for us
as we arrived Saturday.

to drive over to Paul and Sev Friskney's for a late afternoon meal. I think we're getting together now that the Webers are out of town more than we ever did when they were here! But it's good for all of us, and Bill and Verna come regularly to see Verna's mother at Mason Christian Village. And Verna was teaching a parenting class at White Oak Christian Church Sunday, so it worked out well for them to be here.
Sunday I hosted at the 9:00 service and was blessed by the worship and the sermon. We spent a lot of time after church talking with friends in the hallway. John and Mary Jane Burgess were visiting, and so were Bill and Joni Baker. John and Heather Turner have decided to remake Christ's Church their church home, and we got to see them for a few minutes Sunday too.
We grabbed breakfast at Bob Evans and were home and at work by 12:30.
Evelyn graded papers; I read through/edited the 40 profiles for our July "40 Leaders Under 40" issue and took some stabs at improving an editorial/column draft that I had started Friday. All of it together took me more than 3 hours.
We took our walk, had a nice long phone visit with Jennifer, and ate leftover ham and bean soup while we watched TV. 
Today I was busy finishing up the copy for that "40 Under 40" section to hand off to a designer, dealing with some web issues/problems, approving/tweaking an e-mail that's going out to 344 churches tomorrow, writing an e-mail number 2 that's going to about 150 churches to invite them to a special web seminar this week, writing a letter to those I've recruited to join our group for our cruise/tour this summer, and a couple of other things.

I decided at lunchtime to try to snap a picture of the beautiful blooming trees in the courtyard formed by my office building and the one next to it.

Communicating via Many Mediums

I spent more than two hours this afternoon learning how to use the WebEx Event Center interface we've bought for the web seminars we plan to offer to select Christian Standard subscribers this year. I THINK I can successfully schedule AND conduct a meeting. This after scheduling and failing to conduct two or three meetings and then spending a LONG time on the phone with a cordial young man from India who walked me through the process and showed me buttons, menus, and drop-downs that I hadn't discovered before. We even were able to see each other via webcam!

I'm going to try this again next week more than once, to make sure I can handle the interface when our real meeting happens Thursday morning.
Handled a bunch of correspondence this morning and also wrote a draft of the column that will be posted next Tuesday. It needs some more work, which it will get Sunday, I hope.
Evelyn and I ate at Abuelo's after work and then retreated home to handle around-the-house tasks
involving clean-up from last night's company and work that needs to get done before our outing with friends tomorrow about 2:30.

One thing I did this week was write letters that will go to the 344 churches listed in our May issue, whose copies arrived in the office this week. Megachurches, emerging megachurches, large churches, and medium churches are listed with their attendance figures; and 3 congregations from each category are profiled in this special issue. We're giving them each a sample copy, offering them more sample copies, and encouraging them to subscribe. We're sending our thanks and invitation to each of them via snail mail (with the sample copies) and via e-mail. Maybe we'll get some new regular readers! The extra copies to mail them came in three heavy cartons today.

What's Yours Like?

Evelyn has met most weeks this school year with her "D-group," a circle of women students at CCU. They've talked about life, discussed that week's chapel sermon, and gone for outings to the bakery or the yogurt shop. Tonight we had them for dinner, and it was a most pleasant and fun evening.

Evelyn fixed her stand-by company meal, and it was wonderful: party chicken, applesauce Jello, and peanut butter ice cream pie. After dinner we played "What's Yours Like?" a great game for a group of friends. It was fun! Evelyn hates to see this group end, but she's hoping to be with at least a couple of them in a group next year.

Serenity, Change, Courage, Wisdom

A mixed day, ultimately good, but not without its concerns. A variety of tasks and duties, several of them handled well. Frustrations that probably won't change: "God, give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." It's the last two parts that are the biggest challenge to me.
A beautiful sunrise on the way to work, 80-plus degrees for a lunchtime walk to a restaurant, and even warmer on the way home. I ran the air conditioning in the car!

Today was open enrollment day for health insurance, vision insurance, dental insurance, long- and short-term disability, etc. etc. We're changing carriers (we're hoping United Health Care serves its

customers better this year than the last go-'round), and the prices are going up about $10 or $11 per pay period. I'll pay $10 higher copay (from $40 to $50) to see my specialists. But UHC has a plan that earns you gift cards for completing health profiles and receiving online or personal counseling for health and nutrition issues. The carrot approach is much more palatable than the stick approach we had a year or two ago. So, all in all, it's not a bad deal.
In spite of frustrations, I feel very grateful for all the material blessings I have, my special family, my church, and the chance to do work that seems meaningful and is fulfilling. So many—so very many—people in the world would trade their situation for mine in a heartbeat. It's true for folks in the Two-Thirds World, but true also for men my age within 10 or 15 minutes of me.
So I'll end the day with a prayer of thanks, along with that prayer for courage and wisdom.

Little Blessings for a Good Day

I diligently packed my lunch last night and then ran off without it this morning. But it was a good day to run out for lunch: sunny and warm. When I walked to my car, I noticed a food truck parked at a sidewalk path nearby. Bones' Burgers. I decided to investigate and discovered the guy was selling more than hamburgers. He offered a salmon burger and a choose-your-own-fillings gourmet grilled cheese option. I chose the special of the day: smoked bacon, munster cheese, and thin-sliced Granny Smith apples--all on fresh made, thick-sliced rosemary bread. Very tasty! I decided to try the sweet potato fries to go with it. I ate 'em all, but it was a big helping. Not only were they seasoned with sea salt but also with pepper or some other spice. They had a kick to 'em. But I ate 'em! It was wonderful standing in the sun waiting for the sandwich, and I ran back down after I ate to snap a picture of the food truck.

Soon afterwards, Scott Ryan came over to help us with design and art in our June issue. He was very pleased with the cover that had been designed by Plain Joe Studios (we are too!), and he gave us some tips for several ways we can make the issue work. He noticed my new camera on the desk and wanted to see it and learn all about it. I showed him the 180-degree flip-up LCD screen that lets you take your own picture, and we decided to give it a try.

This evening Evelyn and I mowed grass: she did half before supper and I finished afterwards. That's the 2nd mowing of the season so far. My car thermometer said 82 degrees on the way home. The grass is green and beautiful in response.