A very brave thing

this morning's service was again, interesting... The minister of the church stood up and announced that the decision to cancel/combine services made last week, had not been made with enough dialogue between board and congregation. So, rather than implement it on April 15th, they were going to now offer opportunity for discussion; including having prayer and fasting for 30 days as a church. he assured the congregation that the intention of the board had not been malicious (I am paraphrasing here from memory), and that the board wanted forgiveness for the clumsiness that had gone before. I have to say that I thought he grew in stature as he spoke. And that the board had made a very, very wise decision to allow a process to occur. I also thought that the call to prayer was vital. It is so easy to dig the proverbial heels in, or stubbornly pursue our own paths, and great grace was shown. And great sensitivity to the needs of the congregation. I hope that KC finds a good way forward. He made a particular plea to the people of the congregation, that as they work through it in front of teens and children, the congregation and her leaders model good ways of dealing with conflict, and reconciliation. Again, I know it doesn't matter in the least what I think, but I was impressed with a sense of grace and dignity in the struggle. It cannot have been an easy week for them/him.

So...

since I was quick off the mark last week, I thought I'd try and be as quick off the mark this week!

Yesterday I planted things: hostas, hollyhocks, pansies, astibles, day lillies. Beautiful. I love tilling the earth and planting.

The night before I assumed the persona of someone on TV here called Stacey London from 'what not to wear' and my aunt and I had a lot of fun. [she, stacey is not nice, quite brutally honest, and talks a lot with her hands. aparently her catch phrase is something like, 'shut up!' As in, I can't believe you're doing/wearing etc...). Anyway, as Stacey I was good! As in MEAN. As in, 'no, don't keep that!'. Since Aunty Raine and I are similar, it was fun... and since she has an enormous house, she has accumulated things over the years [a lot of us would'nt have the space] and now, she has much more space. Let's put it that way! Now i need someone to do that for me!

And today, I also experienced a 'sonic' which is like a place you'd see in a film. You drive up to a little box, and place your order from inside your car, and then someone brings your order out to you. It is called a 'drive-in'... I had a lemon-berry slushie (I think), and it was really delicious and cold - which was good since today it was 80 degrees (US degrees) and humid...

Other than that, there is some speculation here about war with iran. frightening thought.

And, just found out that one of my best friends in the world is pregnant. Very cool!

For those of you who are monitoring the PhD... I also have been reading A LOT, and thinking... Just so you don't think I'm dossing, I've had a 6.30-6 day most days this week.