Friday, October 16, 2009

This is the Day!

Today I packed for my weekend off at the retreat. Bob and I will go out to the church later this morning and run off the bulletins for Sunday. Bob is in charge. Karan will preach. She is one of our better preachers. We have Bob, myself, Karan, Sue, Leslie and Bill now. John R. has asked to be taken off the schedule as has Carletta D. They are both sick. John has Parkinson's Disease and Carletta has something I can't even begin to pronounce..let along spell. Myleo...something or the other. It's a form of cancer of the bone marrow. There's an entire family of these diseases. The bone marrow has stopped producing blood. She has a transfusion every so often and that has kept her going. Unfortunately this disease is fatal in the final analysis.

Anyhow, when either Bob and I are presiding or speaking, I do the bulletins...as does Leslie. That gives Phyllis F. a break. She is our only pianist and has enough to do. She also has a job.

I am looking forward to this retreat as an opportunity to spend some time away from my responsibilities. Leslie and I will go over to the Crackerbarrel and pick up John's rocker for their porch. I gave him the money for it for his birthday but they have not been to Joplin to get it since they have been working on their deck and patio.

Next weekend I will attend our Peace Colloquy at Independence, Missouri. Then the last weekend of the month, we have our "girls weekend away". For several years now, Leslie has taken a group of mothers and daughter to Branson to their timeshare.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Catch Up Time

This will be a day to do laundry and clean house before I leave tomorrow for the retreat with Leslie. We will leave sometime after 4:00. I didn't clean on Monday which is my usual day because I had an appointment with the Optometrist in Caney. I had no eye problems and got a clean bill of health. By the time we got home, something else had captured my attention.

Last night the papers were full of the conflict at our city commission meeting Tuesday evening. We have one commissioner who is trying his best to block anything that might be an improvement in the city. If it isn't his idea, it isn't a worthy idea. I wrote a letter to the editor suggesting he should resign. He is a thorn in the flesh for all the other commissioners.

Not much else going on today.

Next weekend will be my church's Peace Colloquy. Several friends are attending with me. I hope to have a good time and hear the speaker and the honoree's presentation.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Another Hectic Day

This morning I go to Independence to get my hair done and afterward meet Juanita for breakfast. I will have some time to kill until my noon meeting for the Independence Ministerial Association. We usually visit until 9:30.

I may go look for a new pair of black shoes. My black shoes are really worn out. I also need to start thinking about beginning my Christmas shopping.

Our son, Keith, called last night. He's received his contract to go to Afghanistan as an IT contractor. If the company gets the contract, he will probably go. It will be for three years. I dread that because it is my belief that no place over there is secure. We watched Frontline last night on PBS and that war appears to be a never ending conflict. The program was called "Obama's War". As long as our military people refuse to consider the culture over there, we will be pouring money and lives into that place to no avail. The military is wanting to continue to fight the war but then they are simply guaranteeing them selves a permanent job. Only the soldiers are putting themselves in harm's way. They and the civilians, of course.

The new IMA president wants to hold the meetings in the various churches instead of at Mercy Hospital. I don't think that will encourage membership because those who don't attend on a regular basis will not know where the next meeting is to be held. When we were meeting in the basement room and buying our own lunch, we had about six that attended. When Mercy's CEO moved us up to their conference room ad began buying our lunches, membership grew to 18-20. We will have to wait and see. I hope I am wrong.

I was wrong! We had 16 there!

Then tonight we have a weiner roast planned at the church at 6:15. I think it will rain and we will have to cancel but that too will have to wait to see. Wednesday evenings have not been well attended. We are too scattered and our older people do not like to travel at night. Again, we will see.

Hooray!! They canceled the weiner roast!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Busy Tuesday

I am getting ready now to go stay with my sister while my brother in law goes to breakfast. My Bob did not sleep well last night so he went back to bed a while ago. When I get home from Phyllis' we will go to Independence where I will renew my driver's license and go to my board meeting at 11:00. Then Bob will pick up Leslie for lunch and we will go have lunch.

After lunch we went into the cell phone store and Bob bought a new cell phone. he saw Leslie's on Saturday and the keys were larger and the screen larger too and nothing would do but that he bought one just like hers. I took his other one. It was only a year old. Men!!

We have nothing planned for this afternoon but it is raining and rained some yesterday so we have to postpone our painting. Bob may be able to get it done while I am at the weekend retreat. Rain, rain, go away!

This evening we will just stay home and watch TV. Last night we read.

Slinky came in this morning for his cinnamon toast. He has not yet eaten his dog food breakfast. I changed it back yesterday to the weight control Iams and he really preferred the small bites. He is getting quite fat though and that is not good for him. He is so old.

Monday, October 12, 2009

A Quiet Day

This should be a quiet day...and I am due one after last weekend. Bob and I went to Caney to the optometrist this morning. It was time for my checkup. Everything was good. No changes.

The rest of the day should be quiet and I will read my book. I am reading "Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium" I have read it before many years ago but since I have been reading the writings of the Jesus Seminar, I decided to re-read the other side of the question. My favorite author is Biblical Historian Bart Ehrman and when I asked him why he wasn't one of the scholars of the Jesus Seminar, he replied that he did not hold to their views about Jesus. They have dismissed the theory that Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet. Ehrman holds that view. So I am re-reading his book and posting on my church's website.

Bob and I went to the market after lunch and bought some groceries for the week.

We had "Living the Questions" group here last evening and I served brownies with ice cream. One of the members of the group, Mona, a Muslim woman, fixed a wonderful lentil soup. I served it to those who had not yet eaten.

We got to bed about 10:00 and I had the best night's sleep I've had in a long time.