google.com, pub-4503055424083402, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 MY COUNTRYLANE: In a Whopping Month

SEARCH MyCountrylane blog

23 July 2019

In a Whopping Month

A whopping month since my last post? Well, in defense it has been super busy over the last 30 days.

Me, Melissa, Rob, his cousin & my SIL
(Photo courtesy of Donna Henry)
The first weekend in July my sister-in-law and I drove to Richmond for dinner with my daughter, Melissa and her husband and his extended family in celebration of the kids' 10th wedding anniversary. They had chosen to revisit the Jefferson Hotel where they were married. It was so much fun seeing everyone and I must say I have never spent the night at a swankier hotel ever! So elegant!

My delay in posting has mostly been due to church work though and the timing couldn't have been worse. At the end of June I had to finish writing the July quarterly church newsletter and get them out the Sunday before July. I hate getting mail of any kind after events have already passed, don't you? Like "Here's a coupon for something that happened 10 days ago"... no thanks. I try to be pro-active, especially about agenda items.

We also had a June 30 business meeting. As Clerk I had to prepare by coordinating decisions from two council meetings into the business meeting agenda, double-check that all upcoming events were correct on several calendars, and then make copies of new minutes and agenda. Before Sunday music had to be selected, learned and practiced in two groups; bulletins had to be updated, and insert fliers invented before my good friend, Gail could make copies and have them in church for Sunday. It's all just an orchestrated system of events that makes my church world go around each week.  It sounds simple enough, but it all takes time.

After the Church Council was in favor of producing a photo directory ourselves I had been prepping, figuring we'd have 50-75 families involved. As June tuned into July a participant call list was created. Then, for five hours one morning I met with Debbie and Phyllis to call every local family and friend that attends Blackwater Baptist Church on a fairly regular basis. I spent 16 hours over the next two Saturdays with our photographer, Andrea as family after family came in for their portraits. Of course, nothing works perfectly we've also held photo sessions before and after the last two church services and even during the ice cream social. There are still 10-12 families waiting for out-of-town family members to arrive to complete their family picture. Luckily we don't have a deadline. (If anyone was accidentally left out and wants to be included in the directory please let me know asap)!

It's been a true labor of love, and I must say that we have had an absolutely wonderful time meeting with each family. When multiple families came in it was almost a party atmosphere. And now I am finishing reviewing previous directory names, verifying memberships and updating information for the new directory. Did I have bite off more than I can chew? I sometimes worry that I may face problems formatting all these photos into a cohesive order. I'm a bit scared and excited all at the same time, but I know God has my back and everything will work out as it should.

In what's left of my home life I have been crocheting blankets for babies, reading "get away from it all" books, visiting my chiropractor to keep myself upright, and recently checked in with my knee surgeon who says eventually I will have to get a replacement because I'm headed for bone-on-bone. Lucky me.