Weekend in Review

Well that was a pleasant and fast weekend. What a nice change over the last few of them.

Friday night we went to dinner on a gift card my boss gave me for Christmas. Yes I hadn't even touched it yet. So dinner was free and all we needed to do was pay for the tip.

Saturday Whitney and I spent two hours grocery shopping at three different stores. But I needed to go to three stores to get the sales and the best of each store.

Dan was busy on Saturday and Sunday installing the new bathroom hardware for the main bath. We had bought them last weekend and it was on the list of things to do around the house. He thought he was going to have to patch the hole in the wall from the towel rack (it kept falling down) but the way the new hardware worked it went vertically instead of horizontally so we didn't have to fix the hole. We also didn't have to paint because the new hardware covered up the spots. Double win for us.

Then I made a delicious caprese salad panini for dinner. I made up the recipe (although really it is only a few ingredients) and we all declared it delicious.

We tried to watch a movie, The Iron Lady, but it was horrible. Meryl Streep was fantastic but the story was not what we thought it would be. So we stopped after about 15 minutes.

Sunday our church was having a big thank you party for volunteers who helped with the tornado. They made 4,000 tshirts to hand out and had so many bouncy houses, a rock climbing wall and lots of free food. Whitney and I went to it after church. When we got to church the normal people who handle getting the ushers wasn't there and no one seemed to be in charge. So I stepped up and lined up enough people to do offering, even getting Whitney to help me out. We were hosting the church from Joplin that had helped us so much so it was important to put together a good impression. We even had to put out extra chairs. What's funny is that the far side of the church is the last to fill up so I thought we were overflowing. When I went to take the offering to the counting room, I found all sorts of empty seats on the near side. Oh well, at least everyone had a seat.

Then Whitney and I went shopping at Kohl's. She had been home for a month and we hadn't shopped at all. That is just crazy. We ended up trying on so many things. I got a pair of shorts and a pair of exercise shorts. She got shorts, jeans that were marked as capris but on her they are full length pants (yes she is very petite) and a top. With my discount and the sales, we ended up saving almost 50% of the retail cost. And I got some Kohl's cash to use this week.

While at Kohl's I had to call my boss and talk about some China plans. He has already started the trip to get there because he had to go to Africa for another research project while on the way. He was in Germany and about to go to a country where he can't take in his cell phone. There were several questions that had been raised in an email I received on Saturday and I thought I knew the answers but wanted to check while I still could. And it was nice to know that I did have the right answers after talking to him.

Then we ended the evening watching the Tony Awards. The opening number was pretty fantastic which always seems to be the case when Neal Patrick Harris hosts. I can't wait to see what he does with the Emmys. And I love how they finished pretty close to on time. You should check that out Oscar telecast.

J is for JourneyChurch

I thought today I would write about my church, JourneyChurch. I've been going there for about four years and I love going every week. I remember when I was younger, going to church seemed like a chore. I would rather sleep in than go to church. Well ever since I've been going here I never feel like that.

I love the fact that it is casual but if you dressed up you wouldn't feel out of place. People are friendly even though we have 1200 people at the service that I usher at. You can take your drinks into the auditorium. They provide free coffee, soda, water and you can purchase donuts which you can take in with you. Every week you get a guide with a handout that you can take notes from the message.

The pastor founded the church about 11 years ago and it is one of the fastest growing in the country. In fact it is the largest in our town. This week we are doing baptism and they use a big pool from Walmart. Nothing fancy but you don't have to be fancy.

They have so many different programs for children, high school, college, young adult, women. You name it, they probably have it.

But the most important part about the church is what I get out of every week's message. A feeling of peace and love and the knowledge that God loves me and wants me to succeed.

The church's motto is Ephesians 3:20 "God can go anything you know. He does it not by pushing us around, but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us."

How can you go wrong with that every week?