What Have I Done To Myself?

It seems that I have done an impressively inept job of keeping this blog updated. I think that I have managed to slip to level of Son-O-Hal. Who has managed to update his blog twice since I last updated mine. Since Derek has resurrected his blog, albeit an entirely new version, it’s time that I start updating mine. So, what have I been up to…

With the counsel of my top advisors I have decided to get a Labradoodle. I took them with me to visit the breeder to see the puppies. They, my advisors (ages 4 and 3), played with the pups and helped me make up my mind on getting a boy. I’ve decided to name him Hank. Hank is a dark cream color and should grow to be about 60 pounds or so.

I will admit that I am starting to get excited about this addition to my life. I will be picking him up this coming Sunday. He’ll be 6 weeks old at that point. I am using vacation days and a personal day next week so that I’ll be home to begin the fun filled task of potty training. It may be wishful thinking but I'm hoping to have the worst part of the potty training done by Thanksgiving weekend. This is one area where dogs far surpass children. I get to start training him on this immediately, no need to wait two-plus years. And, if he doesn’t get it I can lock him in his crate until he does. Yes, I realize I have probably just pissed off parents and dog lovers in one fell swoop. I will pause here long enough to put on my fire proof suit.

In other Ragryph happens, my bowling team is playing quite well. At the beginning of the season I was able to orchestrate a trade that shed last years worst bowler, in exchange for a bowler that was new to our league. The first night after the trade went into effect our new bowler, Steve, threw a near perfect game getting ten consecutive strikes and ending with a one game score of almost 280. Since then his average has been more than double what we gave up. We have been able to climb our way back from last years basement dwellers, to first place contenders.

I have found myself involved in my churches Head 2 Heart program, which is a reformed version of the confirmation classes that many of us went through. I am leading a small group of 7th and 8th grade boys. I have been tasked with reinforcing the lessons for the day, providing general life application, and hopefully make this stuff move beyond just memorizing Luther’s explanations to things like the 2nd article of the Apostles Creed.

This has been an overall positive experience, although one I still feel less than qualified for. If I didn’t have enough respect for junior high teachers before, I certainly do now. If I didn’t question that sanity of people who ‘enjoy’ teaching that level, I certainly do now.

I have found myself in the role of quasi-president of FaithWorks. I have mentioned this group in prior postings. Basically what it has turned into is a young adults ministry at my church. We cater to the 20 and 30 something’s that frequently get forgotten.

We have restructured our group to have a point person in charge of coordinating each of our areas of focus (service, fellowship, and personal growth). I have been appointed the person to coordinate communications between the group and the church, which essentially makes me the unofficial face of the group.

We have begun the shift from Bible study group to a group of small groups. I have agreed to host/lead one of these groups in my house. Right now it looks like we definitely have two groups and maybe three as we transition into January when we kick this thing off. As part of this we are having once a month gatherings called FaithWorks Union. We're going to be hosting guest speakers at these events. It is my responsibility to invite, recruite, and schedule these speakers. We brainstormed a list of candidates that includes about 25 people ina variety of walks of life. This will be a very interesting process.

This is also the fifth year that I am participating in my church’s Senior Choir. With the Christmas season approaching very quickly, things in my life are getting very busy, as you can see. In addition to the normal Wednesday night rehearsals, we are now having ‘special’ Sunday night rehearsals for the mass chorus deal. Plus, we’re going to occasional rehearsals on Tuesdays and Saturdays. I really think that I will collapse from exhaustion after this years Christmas concerts.

All of this is going to come to a painful head this coming Sunday. The choir is singing at the 8 and 9:30 services. I then have to get myself together to lead my Head 2 Heart group at 10:45. At 12:30 I have to take my group over to a H2H bowling/fund raiser event. I then have to be at the breeders house at 4, she lives an hour north of me. I then need to get back home to get the new puppy comfortable with my house, and me, and his crate, so that I can be at bowling by 5:45. I also have to be at the first ‘special rehearsal’ for the mass chorus performance at 6. The up side of this is I get to work on my omni-present skills, which I haven’t exercised in a while.

Ok, that gives you an update of what I’ve been doing, and what I’m looking forward too. I’m going to wrap up this entry here. I will make an effort to keep this going with progress reports, and hopefully pictures (if I can figure out how) of Hank.