LAST Weekend

October was a busy month. And November has turned out that way, too. We were busy all day Saturday or the whole weekend every weekend, and I've been leading two small groups and attending a Tuesday morning (6:15 a.m.) "No Man Left Behind" group at church. I've posted a some pictures on Facebook without making comments or adding descriptions here. I have a "month at a glance" post in my head, but this will be "weekend at a glance" for LAST weekend! Yep, I started this blog post last Sunday and gave up, tired, before it was finished. Now, a week later, I'll finish it.
Last Friday evening we ate Mexican at El Rancho Grande and came home to watch a show or two we had been saving on the DVR. Saturday was a blessed day at home all day long--at least for me. I was up early to run to Kroger's to get the stuff Evelyn needed for supper. She put her casserole together (an old stand-by, Party Chicken), with instructions about temperature and time for be to get it started.
She and Tammy Weatherly drove to Louisville to attend the funeral service for the mother of a friend and former colleague, Carrie Birmingham. Evelyn taught with her years ago, before Carrie moved to California to teach at Pepperdine, and Tammy and Jon were friends and classmates.
Before she left I peeled and cut up a Crock Pot full of apples with a little brown sugar and cinnamon to make applesauce. It was finished about 3:00 in the afternoon.
While Evelyn was gone, I pulled up my zinnia bed and the tomato plants, dumped out most of the hanging baskets and patio pots, ran the lawn mower over the leafiest areas in the backyard to mulch the leaves, and planted a pot of bulbs that I hope will be glorious next spring. I put away the tomato stakes and all the empty pots, arranging it all in the garage.
I got the idea on the Internet for my bulb garden in a pot:
Fill a large pot with soil within about 11 inches from the top and plant a layer of late-blooming tulips.
Cover with dirt within about 6 inches from the top, plant a layer of daffodils.
Cover with dirt within about 3 inches from the top, and plant a layer of crocus. Finish covering the bulbs with dirt.
The idea is that the crocus will bloom first, and then the daffodils, and then the tulips, making a grand display of springtime color on the patio for several weeks. I hope it works.
I swept the deck, brought some of the deck furniture into the house, and arranged a few cool-hardy plants on the deck for a few more weeks of display before we have winter.

I had bought more bulbs than I could use, so I planted a tulip patch close to the driveway where we'll see them every day as we come and go.
 The air was cool, the sun was warm, and it was a wonderful day to get so much done.
I came inside, took a shower, and read a bit while waiting for Tammy and Evelyn to get back. They arrived here a bit later than they planned, but I had turned down the oven to delay the "done" time of the main dish. Evelyn threw some peas in a pot to cook and got the meal on the table quickly. We enjoyed visiting with Tammy for a couple of hours before Evelyn left to ride back home with her, where she'd left our car earlier in the day.
Sunday we were at the first service and then off to brunch and back home early. On the way home, we stopped at Home Depot and bought one more box of gutter guards, which I installed on the last quarter of the house in good time. Evelyn mowed while I worked, and then I finished mowing, edged, and blew off the driveway and sidewalks. I planted my leftover daffodils at the front of the house, looked at my watch, and saw 3:30. "Good, I thought, I still have some time left in the afternoon." When I came inside I realized I hadn't set back my watch (it was Time Change Sunday), and the time was only 2:30! Lots of time left.
So I cleaned up and then tackled a pile of filing that had accumulated over the last couple of months or longer. Not a favorite task, but it was very nice to have the time to tackle it.
Before it got dark, I took some pictures in the backyard. Our beautiful maple tree hadn't lost most of its leaves yet (this week it has), and the Knockout roses were still blooming profusely. It was a good weekend to be home, to be outside, and to be able to get so many jobs done.

Happy Boss's Day!

 

"I read your blog, and I think you had a good idea."
"A good idea?"
"Yeah, we should have a dinner for all of us who are STAYING at Standard Publishing."
Well, we didn't have a dinner at work today, but we did have fun! It's Boss's Day, and the good people in the editorial department got together to assemble a whole platform of goodies to celebrate.
People were talking all day about the sugar shot they got from the spread. There WERE a lot of donuts, cookies, and brownies. And they were WONderful!
But I did save the pie in my lunch to eat another day!

Matt Lockhart, Jon Underwood, and Carla Crane led the line for the goodies (top) after five of the bosses (including me, Shawn McMullen, and Lindsay Black) posed in front of the spread.

Another Good-bye

The buffet line of goodies filled tables on three sides of the room, and the big cake was on the fourth side. As I waited my turn to fill my plate from the Crock Pot creations, salads, snacks, and desserts, I said to a co-worker, "We need to plan a pitch-in for all of us who are STAYing!"
"That's a good idea," she agreed.
It seems we've had several goodie-laden send-offs for colleagues leaving for greener pastures. And more than one has left without a celebration.
Today we said good-bye to Bob Wallace who has worked in a variety of sales and marketing positions at Standard Publishing for, I think he said, 12 years. He's excited about his new position at Lifeway's headquarters in Nashville.
"Everyone there treated me so nice, even the HR department."
"They're big on their history. They have a whole section of one floor reproducing the founder's office."
"My boss has been so flexible with me. 'If you need to take a three-day weekend to get back home to  Cincinnati for your kids and do some work at home, that's no problem. If you need to come in late some Monday, that's no problem; just call me.'"
"They're very committed to family. My boss said you need special permission to work in the office after 5:30. The garage is locked and you need to go through channels to be allowed to stay. He said it's not worth it."
"They're all about the business, but there's a sense of mission you can feel in the meetings and conversations."
"They explained to me their two-year and five-year plans for the department where I'll be working."
I'm happy for him.
And for us who remain behind? I'm glad we have such good cooks and generous buffet contributors!

Meeting with the Stone-Campbell Dialogue

Drove home today from Indianapolis after attending the Stone-Campbell Dialogue meeting in Indianapolis starting Sunday afternoon. I always enjoy this opportunity to fellowship, worship, and learn with leaders from the Disciples of Christ, the a cappella churches of Christ, and friends from the Christian churches and churches of Christ.
This year we met at Allisonville Christian Church on the north side of Indy. Sunday afternoon's session consisted of three messages about the healing power of the Lord's Supper, followed by a fellowship meal hosted by the Allisonville congregation, and then a brief Communion service.
I suppose about 100-150 folks attended, with representatives from each of the three groups attending.
The local committee members that had planned the event were the speakers for the 4:30 session:

Kent Ellett, Speedway Church of Christ

Diane Spleth, Allisonville Christian Church

Mike Bowling, Englewood Christian Church

This is the beautiful Communion setting at the Allisonville church

Monday morning featured a challenging, convicting, and informing session on the theme of "Soul Repair" led by Rita Nakashima Brock, founding co-director of the Soul Repair Center, Brite Divinity School, Ft. Worth, Texas.

"Soul repair" refers to the task of helping soldiers (and others) who must do acts in war (or in some other line of duty) that contradict their moral or ethical values. Such men and women suffer from a condition called moral injury, which is a condition distinct from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Dr. Brock has written a book (Soul Repair), and I want to read it.

In the afternoon we reviewed the history of the Stone-Campbell Dialogue and considered options for its future. 

This morning we visited the Disciples Center in downtown Indianapolis, took a brief tour, enjoyed a Communion service together, and then were adjourned. 

Happy Birthday, Evelyn!

We've been celebrating Evelyn's birthday since Wednesday night when the Coopers came for dinner and brought a gift for Evelyn and a candle for the chocolate chip cookies!

This morning we met Terry and Shirley at Half Day Cafe in Wyoming for a wonderful brunch.

Bill and Verna Weber are here tonight. Verna's been attending a conference in Cincinnati, and needs to go to Louisville for the NACC meeting Monday, so she's staying the weekend. We said, "Well, Bill should come over Saturday night, too, and we'll celebrate Evelyn's birthday." We've had a wonderful evening. They took us to dinner at Raja India in West Chester, and then we came home to have birthday cheesecake (from J. Annette's in Mason) and lots of laughs as well as serious talk about faith, the past, and the future. It's been great!

Sunday, Workday, Funday

We attended the 9:00 service this morning. Drew Sherman, minister at Compass Christian Church in Colleyville, Texas, was our guest speaker. He ministers where Trevor DeVage was associate for 11 years, and I know Trevor was delighted to be with him this weekend. We were pleased too, because he brought us a WONDERFUL sermon on the life of David, challenging us to allow ourselves to be used by God as David was.
We had breakfast at Marie's Scrambler. The food is fine, but in spite of the fact that the place is always packed, I just can't convince myself that it's a place I really like. It had been a long time since we'd been there, so I decided to give it another try, but my feelings about the place haven't changed.

The proof page for our November cover. Scott Ryan designed it, and
we think it will attract attention.

Mostly what I did this afternoon is read the proof for the November issue of Christian Standard, which goes to the printer Wednesday. For some reason, I've gotten a little behind this month; it's been awhile since I've read proof on a Sunday afternoon.
The November issue will center mainly on missions; we'll distribute it at ICOM in November. There's some really good stuff in it! :-)
I was at it from about 1:00 till about 5:00, with a nice break to talk with Geoff on the phone somewhere there in the middle. Jennifer called not long after I was finished, and we had a nice visit with her too. They're each involved in meaningful and important things. Geoff is editing his doctoral dissertation proposal down to the right word length before emailing it tonight. He and Lisa have found a new, larger apartment they'll move to on October 16. Matt and Jen are making final preparations for a 10-day trip to India to speak at a huge youth conference sponsored by Central India Christian Mission. They leave October 7.

Evelyn and I ate butternut squash soup from Costco for supper and watched the season premier of "60 Minutes." If we can stay awake, we'll watch PBS's "Foyle's War" at 9:00 before bedtime

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Weekends Are Made for This . . .

• Eating out (at a new Mexican place, Blue Agave beside LaRosa's in Tri-County for supper last night, [new for us, that is] and Bronte Bistro at Joseph-Beth Bookstore for brunch today).
• Running errands: Visits to Costco, Home Depot, Lowe's, the Apple Store, Staple's, and of course my favorite, Kroger's.
• Good times with friends: the Wuskes last night and Bill and Verna Weber and Paul and Sev Friskney today at brunch.
• Doing stuff we love: After Costco last night we picked up the Wuskes and drove to Newport on the Levee to hang out and see the fireworks after the Reds game. We stumbled into a big Oktoberfest celebration on the river bank below the stores at the Levee. We'd already eaten, so we passed up the goetta balls, brats with sauerkraut, and funnel cakes (although that last one really tempted me).
• Doing something on a lark: In addition to trying the Mexican restaurant when we'd really driven over there to eat at LaRosa's, we and the Wuskes decided to try the giant ferris wheel set up at the edge of Oktoberfest. It was a beautiful evening to see all the lights at the riverfront and feel the cool breeze.
• Laughing: with the Wuskes, and always with Sev Friskney and Verna Weber. The Webers, Friskneys, and Taylors used to get together every six weeks or so, but we hadn't been together since before school was out last spring. It was great to reconnect. And laugh. We sat at Bronte for at least 2 hours together.

On the way home, Evelyn and I decided just to stop at the Apple store and see what they're saying about iPhone 5s availability. The guy said a) they're getting new stock every evening, b) the online "order and pick up at the store" option had been disabled; maybe it would be reinstated this week, and c) if you show up at the store when they open, at 10 a.m. weekdays and Saturday, you'll have a pretty good chance of getting the phone you want. That's encouraging, because I thought with the hot interest in the new iPhones (9 million sold in the first weekend), maybe they'd be out of stock till next month or something. Also discouraging, though, because taking two hours on a work morning to drive down there, wait in line, and get the phones set up before driving back to work is almost impossible. We're thinking we'll be there when the store opens NEXT Saturday.