Busy Work Day, Relaxing Evening

Spent most of the day working on art and illustrations for the February issue. Jim Nieman and I met with Mark Haas in two different hour-long meetings. Chose dates for web postings for the month of December (none too soon, since tomorrow is December!) and handled some correspondence. Evelyn and I decided to eat in and stay home this evening rather than our usual Friday night out. I stopped by Fresh Market and bought some food to heat in the microwave for supper. We needed a night just to be at home after a busy, busy week. Tomorrow we're up at 5:30 to be at church by 6:45 (that's a.m.!) for a daylong outing with Evergreen (our first!) to the Christmas show at Purdue University.  We're due to be home by 7:30 in the evening, which is earlier than I figured, and I'm sure it will be fun.

Our January issue goes to the printer Wednesday. It's in proof now.
Final tweaks and late copy happen next week.

It's All About the Rhythm

They've decorated all
the evergreens around
our offices with white
lights and red ribbons.

"Are you settling into the new rhythm of producing a monthly?"
My daughter-in-law asked me the question over Thanksgiving. I want to answer in the affirmative to all  questions about our new format, because I'm so pleased with it. But on a scale from completely yes to completely no, I do believe my answer to her question would fall past the halfway mark toward the "no" side of the scale.
Finally, today I finished editing all the copy for the February issue. It always takes me so much longer than I anticipate to edit a whole issue's copy. Meanwhile the proof for January is waiting to be written, along with incidental other copy on the proof, and MY COLUMN  for the issue. And it goes to the printer Wednesday, the same day Paul Williams will be in the office for our semiregular planning meeting (which I need to get ready for before then).
But the February issue is going to be a good one. It's all about spiritual formation. One quote from one article stood out to me, and I offer it here as a preview:

We want spiritual growth to be straight, predictable, and controllable, yet true growth is more circular than linear. It occurs in cycles where we move forward, then find ourselves moving backward. It's the old "three steps forward, two steps back" mantra. Much like a baby who is learning to walk, we develop spiritually through a process of forward momentum, followed by failure, pain, and stumbling. If we don't get discouraged and bail, but stay with the process, we will find that the backward loops often result in the greatest growth.

Encouraging words to me--I hope to our readers, too!

Robert and the Aulens

Enjoying a pleasant evening with Evelyn's brother, Ken Aulen, and his wife, Susan, and Robert Mwangala. As I mentioned yesterday, Robert is here as a part of his visit in the U.S. with friends and  supporters. Ken and Susan stopped by here on their way to their winter stay at the ski resort in Montana. They arrived about 6:00, and we went to P.F. Chang's for dinner. After visiting awhile in the living room in front of the fire, we retired to the kitchen to enjoy some of the fudge cake from Graeter's we had brought home last night for dessert.

Meetings and a House Guest

Spent the morning editing material for the February issue (not nearly done with it), ate lunch at my desk, and then drove over to Cinti Chr Univ for two meetings. Met at 2:00 with Steve Carr, Beth Rogers, and Chuck Abbott to talk about the school's desire to get out the message, "The reports of our demise have been greatly exaggerated." They have a clear vision of the school's direction and the message they want to convey to constituents and prospective students, and they think advertising with The Lookout and Christian Standard is a good way to help get the message out. I agree!
At 3:00 met with Rick Cherok about the Cane Ridge Tour he will lead Monday afternoon before the opening session of the NACC next summer. I'm going to help him with it by helping to publicize it and probably hosting the brief program we'll have there. It will be great to work with him.

Evelyn is watching a video of Robert's beautiful
little girl on his computer.

Then at 3:30 I met Robert Mwangala to drive him to our place to spend the night. We became acquainted with Robert when he was a student at the school several years ago. Evelyn had him in class, and we've been giving some support to the ministry he's established in his native Kenya since he returned home after graduation. He's back in the states for six weeks to attend ICOM, touch base with supporters, and contact potential new supporters.
Evelyn fixed her wonderful chicken and dressing casserole for dinner, and we enjoyed visiting with him and hearing about his work. He's going to spend the day here resting tomorrow while we're at work, and stay again tomorrow night. Ken and Susan (Evelyn's brother) are spending the night with us tomorrow on their way to their winter gig in Montana, and we're guessing they'll enjoy getting acquainted with Robert.

After Thanksgiving, Christmas

Back to work after most of last week out of the office. Sorted through a pile of e-mails. Waded through my envelopes full of receipts to complete my November expenses. Handled some other correspondence. And began editing material for the February issue.

I arrived at work Monday morning to find decorations in the office.

 

Everybody's thinking Christmas these days. Made reservations for our staff Christmas lunch. We're going to Ferrari's Little Italy next Wednesday. We're having our all-office Christmas party December 12. Sorted through Cyber Monday offers on the Internet to see if there are any I may want to take advantage of.
We're having overnight company at home tomorrow and Wednesday night, and I did a little to help  Evelyn get ready for them after supper. Also sorted through a mountain of direct mail, catalogs, magazines, and newspapers to throw out most of it in anticipation of trash day tomorrow.
Then I spent the rest of the evening uploading wedding pictures to Shutterfly, hoping to take advantage of their Cyber Monday discount offer for Christmas cards.

To the East and Back

This is another example of lots to write about/no time to write it. We left the Starbucks in Newtown, PA this morning at 7:30 and pulled into our driveway a little after 6:30 this evening. Not bad, considering a stop at Cracker Barrel for lunch and thick, can't-use-the-cruise-control traffic for a hundred miles east of Columbus till we got to I-270.  This post is going to be more pictures than words.

We saw snow on the ground at the higher elevations on the PA Turnpike today, but none on the roads, and the sun was shining by the time we got to Columbus.
To recap the week:
We arrived at Newtown Tuesday evening and spent Wednesday morning exploring the little shops in the village. Wednesday afternoon we visited and ran errands with Jennifer, and Evelyn did some food prep for the next day. Then we went with Jen and Matt to a diner for dinner Wednesday evening.
We returned from our hotel to Matt and Jen's place Thursday morning to watch the Macy's parade on television and await Miles and Nina's arrival from their mom's place at noon. Geoff and Lisa (and Frankie!) arrived about 1:30, and we enjoyed a walk with the dogs through the fine neighborhood next to the church. Dinner was about 4:00, and it was a sumptuous feast. My pictures give only a hint of how tasty and abundant was the food. I did not get a picture of the spatchcocked turkey! It was as good to eat as it was fun to say!

Miles and Matt and Geoff and I played Settlers of Catan after dessert (Lisa made the cherry pie pictured above as well as a wonderful pumpkin pie.) The ladies watched the dog show Jen had recorded earlier in the day.
Friday Jen and Matt and Evelyn and I took the train to New York and the subway to Long Island City  for 24 hours in the city with the New York Taylors. It was a great time. We walked down to the East River to see the expanding park along the riverfront and enjoy the always captivating views of the city.

Soon we took the subway to Tribeca and enjoyed a wonderful dinner and then took cabs to the movie theater to see a sold-out showing of Lincoln. I started with a head cold on Thanksgiving evening and was feeling a little ragged by Friday evening, and I'm afraid I even dozed off a couple of times during the movie. It is a bit wordy, but maybe I'll watch it again when it's available on DVD.
We stayed in Long Island City that night and enjoyed a gourmet brunch at Geoff and Lisa's favorite Long Island City breakfast spot, Cafe Henri. After 1:00 we took the train back to New Jersey and then drove back to Levittown. Matt had church work to do in the afternoon. I checked into our hotel, ran to the grocery store, and then took a nap on Jen's couch. We ate yummy Thanksgiving  leftovers for supper, and had a nice visit before we headed back to rest up before an early departure this morning.

Just 10 Hours

What can you do in 10 hours?
If I ever had 10 hours straight to work in the yard, I could mow the grass, do the edging, trim the bushes, clean the gutters, get rid of weeds, sweep the walks, and enjoy several breaks for big glasses of cold water.
At work I could proofread one whole 68-page issue of the Christian Standard in its new monthly format, proofread one weekly issue of The Lookout, enjoy a lunch out of the office with a colleague, handle some correspondence, and waste some time checking Facebook.
In 10 hours I could pull out and test the Christmas lights, go to the store to replace the strands not working, string 'em around the bushes in my front yard, come back inside to unpack and assemble our prelit living room tree, hang the ornaments, and take a few breaks to find my favorite Christmas CD's to enjoy while I'm decorating.

Obviously, I didn't drive every minute.
I couldn't resist playing with the camera
on my computer while Evelyn was driving.

In 10 hours I could drive to the airport, check bags, go through security, and fly to Europe with time to spare.

And in 10 hours, or maybe a little more, I can drive from 7056 Darcie Drive in Liberty Township, Ohio to the Brick Hotel in Newtown, Pennsylvania, having stopped three times: once for gas, once for a late lunch at Eat 'n Park, and once more to visit the restroom and snag a tall decaf mocha at a Service Plaza on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

We had a good trip yesterday. Left exactly at 9:00 a.m. as planned. Enjoyed perfect weather (off and on sunshine and clouds and 50+ degrees), reasonable traffic except for one stretch on I-276 toward the end of the trip, and a nice assortment of classical music and NPR news on the radio, mixed with two editions of "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" I had downloaded to my computer from iTunes.

We checked in to the hotel and then got to Jen and Matt's by about 8:00 for a nice visit along with pumpkin cheesecake and decaf. We oooed and ahhhed over their latest round of renovations (a professional tile job on the kitchen floor by Matt, the amateur, and an amateur paint job in the living room and dining room by some workmen, the professionals) and visited till past 11:00.

This morning we're taking our time with showers, breakfast at the hotel, catching up on e-mails and some other work, and hopefully browsing the little shops in Newtown before heading over to Jen's by noon or so to run errands, start cooking for tomorrow, and enjoy more relaxing and reading.

Ten hours is a small investment for the chance to enjoy time with our family (Geoff and Lisa will be here tomorrow!).