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No longer on the river and, again, an empty nester. Back to living on Fleming Island and making some more friends!

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Meetings of the minds

Monday was a lovely day weather-wise which allowed Gretchen to make the trip across the river to Bible study. Sunday was overcast and a bit drizzly so she did not make to church. Her back-up ride, Darwin and Ethel, were not available to give "Miss Daisy" a ride. At least she made it to Bible study. Our study in the penitential psalms continued.

Six of us went to lunch, with Gretchen and I hungry for burgers. The fries were so delicious, we both licked them up! We even commented to the server how yummy they were and he guessed it was perhaps the seasoning. We each took half of our burgers home with us, but none of the fries!
                                                 
Monday evening we had a good turnout for Ladies' Group, our first 'real' meeting since recessing for summer. Since Pastor was tied up with the Elders and Council who were also meeting, I read a devotion from a book titled, "My Hand in His". The lesson was about making good use of the wastebasket in our lives, not necessarily for our physical lives, but our personal and spiritual ones. Later, one younger lady who is dear to me thanked me for choosing that particular reading as she'd had a rough day at work and needed to hear this. Both of us were glad it worked out the way it did. 
                                           
The reason I chose this devotion was because our congregation is being served all week by a mission counselor, who is, in fact, the pastor who helped this mission grow back in the late 1970's. He is meeting with members all week long, hearing from us, mentoring the congregation. A wastebasket would be so useful before such a meeting...He calls it 'old home week' but I think there are more newer faces than old ones since he left in the early 1990s.
                                                           
At the Ladies' Group meeting we discussed a few things which have happened since last meeting, including Judy C.'s trip to the LWMS Convention in North Carolina. Judy set up a display of some of the items she  garnered from the convention, some of which Linda will love to see, and copy!

We had a nice 'laundry' list of things for our Elder to take before the Council, primarily as a result of the remodeling to the Fellowship Hall being completed. Those odds 'n ends which need to be addressed at the end of a project. I got a call last night after I got home from Bible study reporting how each item is going to be addressed. Very nice! 
                                   
One lady had found herself in tears as she explained how hard she worked to clean the men's bathroom this past weekend---apparently the bathroom had not been cleaned since January, when the construction began. Obviously, the men don't care what the bathroom looks like, it might as well be in a gas station! Carol had cleaned the ladies' restroom before the Mystery Dinner so no one besides Carol knew the condition of the men's room, or said anything about it.

To make matters worse, she could find NO cleaning supplies to use anywhere on the property, so ended up scrubbing the commode and urinal with a Brillo pad! She was totally grossed out by all this, and downright ashamed that our members and possibly guests have used this bathroom in this condition since mid-August. According to the report I got last night, the needed paper and cleaning products will be paid for by some fund which just became available to restock our depleting supplies on a one-time basis. But we do have a 55" flat screen hanging on the wall in the Fellowship Hall....

We did get much covered in the meeting, and somehow I managed to keep things reigned in. Usually it was me who was off track but as Queen, it falls to me to keep order. Betty treated us to double chocolate brownies as our reward. Oh my, so delicious! 

In January, our congregation will be hosting the circuit pastor's conference, which is quite exciting. I cannot wait to hear the wonderful singing. The ladies will be called upon to serve a continental breakfast two mornings, plus two lunches, and one dinner. Our resident chefs are planning to serve a Mystery Dinner, with the menu yet to be determined. This time, the ladies will be in on it!

Marlena came yesterday afternoon to begin the task of dusting. Justin scolded me (ahem, ahem) to not have the doors open before Linda gets here, to keep things dusted. Not dust-free, as that is hard to have happen, especially around here. She is coming back today after water exercise class to finish it up. 

My friend, Carol, called me as I was leaving my time with the mission counselor. We each had some time between appointments so she asked me if I wanted to come over. While I was there, Amber's husband called to tell me she was sick so was not going to make it to my house for our study. Shoot! I so look forward to it, too....Hopefully she will feel well enough to come today, and Marlena can work around us! We are covering two chapters so I hope she has her homework done.

Last night at Bible study, only two of us were there. We are now studying the commandments, finished the 5th and worked through the entire 6th. Gulp! This was interesting with a married man at the table, plus a single young man, and this old divorced lady. It is a comprehensive study and I am glad we went through it. Brett often has such good questions and last night was no exception. 
                                      
What a nice young man he is! I really should eat at Bojangles once in a while to help his business. After all, he treated my VBS guests and me to breakfast in July, and was that ever delicious!!!