Various thoughts

I'm so excited about our tax refund!!! It is better that it has been in years because husband is no longer "self-employed" (pastoring). We are looking at appliance updates since most of ours are "found" ones given to us by family members or work friends. Our list includes microwave, dishwasher (adding this new because there is not one in the house...at least the automatic variety :-) !!), chest freezer (our side-by-side freezer section is just way too small for a family of 6!!), washer/dryer, and a flat screen TV. Our larger size one frizzled out and we are now watching TV on a 19" TV that we got from Vickie (thanks Vickie!). Husband is certainly hesitant about all those items so for now we are looking at just the kitchen things. Those items will greatly improve our meals and operations in the kitchen. Now we just need to find a handy friend to help up rearrange our lower cabinets and change our countertop so the dishwasher can fit. This all very exciting stuff.

This last week, I attended 2 meetings at church. One was to work on a summer youth intern. We had a candidate who we were ready to go with and then he back out last weekend. So, we ended up putting the whole thing on hold. We are hoping to find 6 interested people/couples to tag-team work with our youth over the next year (each taking a month at a time). We'll see. The person that is doing it now really doesn't offer anything of substance and challenge. So hopefully this will be a better option. The second meeting was our board of elders. This is a fun group, however, we are facing some declining attendance and shortages in funds for the budget. So there was much talk on how to approach members who are not attending regularly. Many of those are young families. I think that our family is pretty much the exception at church. We are always there for just about everything. Many (actually most) just don't do it. We are really seeing this struggle between the older generation and their style and the younger set. The service is pretty traditional (really lacks charisma but the preaching is good). They even increased the amount of Sundays with organ accompaniment from 1 per month to 2. This just about drives husband nuts!!! We are really seeing ourselves as "missionaries" at this point. I think if it wasn't for the pastor....we wouldn't be going there.

The last thing that is on my mind is that today....the Iowa courts overturned a previous ban on gay marriages. So for now, we are the 3rd state to allow this. Can you believe it?!!! I just never imagined that Iowa would be that liberal!!! Anyway, been thinking about Christian school again and possible home-schooling. I just don't want some of that thought going into my kid's young minds.

Have a blessed weekend....Mary