Things are still going good at Grace Family Church. We've been going mostly on Saturday nights, which is their contemporary/rock service. We've discovered some great new songs that we didn't know...The Revelation Song (check it out on Youtube, it's great!), At The Cross, Sovereign Hands are just a few. We went to an orientation last Sunday for the technical ministry. It was mostly for Jason, but we got to meet the pastor who is over worship. And he's a friend of Pastor Ron's. When I met with Ron to tell him about our decision, he had told me that he was having lunch with his friend that week, and he would for sure tell him about me. Sure enough, when we said we were from Idlewild and knew Ron, he said, "I think he told me about you. You were in the choir and you're an alto?" Ha ha. So, he said they'll be in contact with how to get involved in the worship.
But, in the mean time, Ron told my parents to let me know that I could be in the Christmas presentation, still, that you don't have to be a member. It was funny, because I had just had a dream that week that I was in the presentation. It was the first night, and I was saying, "I'm so glad I'm in it, and not just watching like I was going to, because I would cry if I wasn't in it." When I woke up, I was thinking, "Well, I'm not going to be in it..." But, now I think I will be :)
I really appreciate how supportive most people have been about our decision. Although, even if they weren't, it doesn't change the fact that this is what we know God wants us to do, and that's all that matters. I just talked to someone else who has recently begun attending Grace for similar reasons as ours. She was the one who said that all that mattered was her family and what they felt God was leading them to do. So that was a good reminder.
Let's see, we still have not started P90X like we were going to. I'm really not motivated to exercise that much, even though I can see how much weight I'm gaining. When Desmond gets a little older and has had all of his shots, I at least want to take him for walks and get some sort of exercise. It will be better than what I've been doing. I've also thought about at least doing the yoga workout from P90X, but that hasn't happened yet, either. It's hard to watch Biggest Loser knowing that I'm not doing ANYTHING like what they're doing. As for the diet, since we aren't doing the exercise, we haven't been that strict on that either. I'm not going crazy, but I'm not always making the best choices.
I'm trying a new recipe out tomorrow. I'm excited about this because I don't do this a lot. When we first got married, Jason said that he liked to cook. I like to cook, but I tend to follow recipes. Well, I've always said that, but in the last few years I've realized that I don't follow as well as I thought. I either go too fast or don't read carefully, and end up missing something important. So, since Jason liked to cook, I just let him take over on that usually. For the first 2 years of our marriage he was working from home anyway, and it wasn't that big of a deal. Now last year, when he started working as an electrician and having to go to school, I was supposed to start cooking more. But I got home later on Mondays and Tuesdays, so he still did a lot of it. Anyway, I was kind of getting that itch to find some recipes to try the other day. I guess I want to feel like I'm fulfilling the traditional role of planning and cooking meals. So, I'm looking forward to it.
My new school has been going well, too. For those who don't know, I work at a middle school for 2 days and at an elementary for 3 days. Last year I was at the middle school, but the elementary school is new to me this year. However, I have worked with the principal and the social worker before. I was very excited about this change specifically because of them. The school is a lot smaller than the school I was at last year, and that makes a big difference. I'm also hoping to do more this year than just evaluate students. I am looking into doing some group counseling for different things. One interesting thing at the school is that they have gender-specific classes. In fourth and fifth grade, they have a girls class and a boys class. They also still have co-ed class options. The premise is that boys and girls learn differently because their brains develop differently, and they should be given the opportunity to be taught in ways that are conducive to their learning. It's pretty interesting.
Final updates-currently reading Eclipse. I haven't got that far into it yet. I have not done any scrapbooking in a while. I need to get back on that pretty soon. That's what's going on with me.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
The Bookworm Has Been Found
Lately I've been able to read a lot more. When I was a kid, I read all the time. Somewhere, I guess when I hit high school, I didn't get to do as much reading for pleasure. I mean, I still have read some throughout the years, but not like I used to. So it's been fun to get back into it. I read part of the blog called "Stuff White People Like." I guess it's from the book, I don't know, I haven't read it. I laughed, though, because it said white people won't admit to reading a book after having seen the movie. Now, half the time, I didn't even know the movie was from a book. That's out-of-touch I've been with what books are out there. So I will admit, I read The Devil Wears Prada and Nanny Diaries after I saw the movies. And way back when, I read The Firm and Pelican Brief after watching those movies. I recently finished The Time Traveler's Wife, so I will be ready to see the movie when it comes out on DVD. I'm just starting Eclipse. (I did read Twilight before I saw that movie.)
People often ask me if I miss teaching, and I usually tell them no. Overall, there's things about it that I enjoyed. But I've realized lately that the main thing I miss is reading aloud to my class. That was always enjoyable! I got to throw in my own childhood favorites, like Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Superfudge (both by Judy Blume), and The Westing Game (Ellen Raskin). I also discovered other good ones, like There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom (Louis Sachar). Most people have probably read the Judy Blume books. They're about Peter and his annoying little brother, Fudge. They're good reads. The Westing Game won the Newbery award. It's about this guy that dies and makes a big game for his heirs. The heirs all happen to live in the same building even though they previously didn't know each other (for the most part). The story is one big word puzzle. I love it. There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom is about this kid who is not doing well in school. He's not well-liked by his classmates, basically he has no social skills. He starts to work with the counselor at school, and things begin to change. That one is great. It has funny situations, but delves into the emotions. I'm actually trying to think of a way to incorporate that in my counseling group. If you like reading children's literature and have never read those, you should check them out. Again, I haven't kept up that well with the newer children's books, but I hope to soon. Recently saw a series called The 39 Clues. I want to check that out.
All this reading has really made me think about writing something. I've always wanted to write a book. I have never decided if I'd want to write a nonfiction book, a novel, or a children's book. Who knows, maybe I'll get inspired one day.
People often ask me if I miss teaching, and I usually tell them no. Overall, there's things about it that I enjoyed. But I've realized lately that the main thing I miss is reading aloud to my class. That was always enjoyable! I got to throw in my own childhood favorites, like Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Superfudge (both by Judy Blume), and The Westing Game (Ellen Raskin). I also discovered other good ones, like There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom (Louis Sachar). Most people have probably read the Judy Blume books. They're about Peter and his annoying little brother, Fudge. They're good reads. The Westing Game won the Newbery award. It's about this guy that dies and makes a big game for his heirs. The heirs all happen to live in the same building even though they previously didn't know each other (for the most part). The story is one big word puzzle. I love it. There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom is about this kid who is not doing well in school. He's not well-liked by his classmates, basically he has no social skills. He starts to work with the counselor at school, and things begin to change. That one is great. It has funny situations, but delves into the emotions. I'm actually trying to think of a way to incorporate that in my counseling group. If you like reading children's literature and have never read those, you should check them out. Again, I haven't kept up that well with the newer children's books, but I hope to soon. Recently saw a series called The 39 Clues. I want to check that out.
All this reading has really made me think about writing something. I've always wanted to write a book. I have never decided if I'd want to write a nonfiction book, a novel, or a children's book. Who knows, maybe I'll get inspired one day.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Change Has Come
A few posts back I talked about worship styles and visiting a church with Jason. I alluded to the fact that I saw a possible change in my life as a result of that. Well...it has happened. Jason and I have decided to start attending Grace Family Church. Now, I am excited about this prospect, but it has been very hard to leave the church that I've belonged to for almost 22 years. And that's what I'm focusing on in this post.
In the month that Jason and I have been discussing this decision, I've thought a lot about my time at Idlewild. I was SO excited to start going there. I visited a couple of times with my friend, KayAnn, whose family had begun attending there. Then I went to the Christmas presentation in 1987. Back then, Idlewild was still meeting at the building on the corner of Hanna and Highland. The building seated roughly 500 people, and with the 2 Christmas "trees" on either side, there was hardly any room for a stage. But the presentation was so good! I liked it so much, I wanted my parents to see it, and my dad went with me a few days later. He said, "Yeah. That was good. I may want to go to this church." Yay! In January 1988 he and I went to a church service there. The rest of my family did not come with us, mostly because my mom worked at the church we had been attending, and felt weird about going. But after 2 weeks, my mom, Amy, and Kyle started going with us, too, and we joined that April. My grandparents also credit me with getting them to go to Idlewild. That's one thing that's been so ironic to me about my leaving. But I'll get to that later.
After only a few months of attending Idlewild, they made this big announcement that we were going to be meeting at Chamberlain High School on Sundays. It's funny, because I can remember that for the first few months at Chamberlain, I missed the atmosphere of Hanna & Highland. But now, I have such good memories of Chamberlain. And how fitting that during preplanning this school year, I had a training at Chamberlain, so I was hit with all of these memories from that time period...Christmas presentations, choir tour home concerts, college group, July 4th presentations, and so forth.
Of course, after 5 years of being at Chamberlain, we were able to move to the Bearss Avenue campus. Lots of memories there, too. More Christmas, July 4th, and Easter presentations, great times with friends, Saturday night services...and of course moving to the current building, which is where I got married.
One of the hardest things about leaving, for me, is leaving my music pastor, Ron Upton. One of my first memories of him is on a Sunday morning when I was visiting with my friend, Jackie. We passed by Ron. She introduced me to him, and he said, "Claire, what do you sing, alto or soprano?" I said, "Alto." He had his hand on my shoulder, closed his eyes, and said, "Lord, we need Claire." Now, if you know Ron, you probably can see him saying this, in a quick sort of way. But little did I know how much singing in his music ministry would come to mean to me. He has deemed me "one of his all-time favorites" and I think the same way about him. I always knew I wanted him to perform my wedding whenever that time came, and of course, he did. I've sung in the various ensembles, Ecclesia when I was in high school. Then One Accord and One Voice. For the last almost 10 years, I have sung on the praise team. It started as the Saturday night praise team when we added the Saturday service in January 2000. Then, in 2003, Ron wanted to add a praise team, for vocal support, in all of the services. So we quickly began doing the Saturday night, 3 Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night services. I don't remember how long that was before we started rotating, but we did. New teams were formed when we moved to the current building. And Sunday was my last day to sing on the praise team. Thank you to Ron's wife, Miska, who told me there's always a place for me on the praise team.
Speaking of my last Sunday at Idlewild, I was of course finding myself very sentimental. Then, in his sermon, Ken mentions the pastor who preceded him, who was the pastor when I started going to Idlewild. I won't go into details about the story, because it's not important, but I was first crying because gosh, another old memory during my last days at Idlewild. Then, I was crying, because the story provided some closure about the pastor that I was really glad to have gotten. And I thought, "Wow, God. Thanks that I was able to hear that on my last Sunday there!" So, that was very cool.
Needless to say, I've been sentimental and emotional about leaving. I think that's understandable after 22 years of being some place. But please don't hear me say that I am not happy with our decision to go to Grace Family Church. At Idlewild, Ron has the very difficult job of planning worship services that many types of people attend. You've got the older generation, most of whom grew up on and love the old hymns. Then you've got the next generation, who grew up on the traditional, but like some of the softer praise songs. Each generation likes it a little more contemporary, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's just hard, or impossible, to please every generation. Right now, Jason and I are wanting a more contemporary style of worship. That's why I find it ironic that I first got my family to go to Idlewild, because now I'm the one leaving. But God has used it so much in my life, and I still love it.
I've felt the last few days that maybe I'd been finding a lot of my identity in "I sing in the choir/praise team at Idlewild." Of course, not completely, but now that I can't say that, I realized how much that meant to me. Not that it was about me when I was up there, because I truly wanted to worship God and prompt others to worship Him, but it's real easy to find some significance in that.
Ultimately, it's all about God anyway. He uses His churches to reach people in different ways. He doesn't favor one church over another. And because I believe that He orchestrates the details in my life for a purpose, I know that He will do great things in my life, and in my marriage, as Jason and I move to, and become involved, at Grace. And of course, more memories are to come.
I know this was a very long post. Thanks for reading it, and sorry for the jumbled up emotions. I've had a lot on my mind the last few days.
In the month that Jason and I have been discussing this decision, I've thought a lot about my time at Idlewild. I was SO excited to start going there. I visited a couple of times with my friend, KayAnn, whose family had begun attending there. Then I went to the Christmas presentation in 1987. Back then, Idlewild was still meeting at the building on the corner of Hanna and Highland. The building seated roughly 500 people, and with the 2 Christmas "trees" on either side, there was hardly any room for a stage. But the presentation was so good! I liked it so much, I wanted my parents to see it, and my dad went with me a few days later. He said, "Yeah. That was good. I may want to go to this church." Yay! In January 1988 he and I went to a church service there. The rest of my family did not come with us, mostly because my mom worked at the church we had been attending, and felt weird about going. But after 2 weeks, my mom, Amy, and Kyle started going with us, too, and we joined that April. My grandparents also credit me with getting them to go to Idlewild. That's one thing that's been so ironic to me about my leaving. But I'll get to that later.
After only a few months of attending Idlewild, they made this big announcement that we were going to be meeting at Chamberlain High School on Sundays. It's funny, because I can remember that for the first few months at Chamberlain, I missed the atmosphere of Hanna & Highland. But now, I have such good memories of Chamberlain. And how fitting that during preplanning this school year, I had a training at Chamberlain, so I was hit with all of these memories from that time period...Christmas presentations, choir tour home concerts, college group, July 4th presentations, and so forth.
Of course, after 5 years of being at Chamberlain, we were able to move to the Bearss Avenue campus. Lots of memories there, too. More Christmas, July 4th, and Easter presentations, great times with friends, Saturday night services...and of course moving to the current building, which is where I got married.
One of the hardest things about leaving, for me, is leaving my music pastor, Ron Upton. One of my first memories of him is on a Sunday morning when I was visiting with my friend, Jackie. We passed by Ron. She introduced me to him, and he said, "Claire, what do you sing, alto or soprano?" I said, "Alto." He had his hand on my shoulder, closed his eyes, and said, "Lord, we need Claire." Now, if you know Ron, you probably can see him saying this, in a quick sort of way. But little did I know how much singing in his music ministry would come to mean to me. He has deemed me "one of his all-time favorites" and I think the same way about him. I always knew I wanted him to perform my wedding whenever that time came, and of course, he did. I've sung in the various ensembles, Ecclesia when I was in high school. Then One Accord and One Voice. For the last almost 10 years, I have sung on the praise team. It started as the Saturday night praise team when we added the Saturday service in January 2000. Then, in 2003, Ron wanted to add a praise team, for vocal support, in all of the services. So we quickly began doing the Saturday night, 3 Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night services. I don't remember how long that was before we started rotating, but we did. New teams were formed when we moved to the current building. And Sunday was my last day to sing on the praise team. Thank you to Ron's wife, Miska, who told me there's always a place for me on the praise team.
Speaking of my last Sunday at Idlewild, I was of course finding myself very sentimental. Then, in his sermon, Ken mentions the pastor who preceded him, who was the pastor when I started going to Idlewild. I won't go into details about the story, because it's not important, but I was first crying because gosh, another old memory during my last days at Idlewild. Then, I was crying, because the story provided some closure about the pastor that I was really glad to have gotten. And I thought, "Wow, God. Thanks that I was able to hear that on my last Sunday there!" So, that was very cool.
Needless to say, I've been sentimental and emotional about leaving. I think that's understandable after 22 years of being some place. But please don't hear me say that I am not happy with our decision to go to Grace Family Church. At Idlewild, Ron has the very difficult job of planning worship services that many types of people attend. You've got the older generation, most of whom grew up on and love the old hymns. Then you've got the next generation, who grew up on the traditional, but like some of the softer praise songs. Each generation likes it a little more contemporary, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's just hard, or impossible, to please every generation. Right now, Jason and I are wanting a more contemporary style of worship. That's why I find it ironic that I first got my family to go to Idlewild, because now I'm the one leaving. But God has used it so much in my life, and I still love it.
I've felt the last few days that maybe I'd been finding a lot of my identity in "I sing in the choir/praise team at Idlewild." Of course, not completely, but now that I can't say that, I realized how much that meant to me. Not that it was about me when I was up there, because I truly wanted to worship God and prompt others to worship Him, but it's real easy to find some significance in that.
Ultimately, it's all about God anyway. He uses His churches to reach people in different ways. He doesn't favor one church over another. And because I believe that He orchestrates the details in my life for a purpose, I know that He will do great things in my life, and in my marriage, as Jason and I move to, and become involved, at Grace. And of course, more memories are to come.
I know this was a very long post. Thanks for reading it, and sorry for the jumbled up emotions. I've had a lot on my mind the last few days.
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