Catching Up

It seems as though so much has happened in the last week, that I'm still trying to get my bearings. Last Tuesday, Tyler came home for Thanksgiving, driving about 1000 miles by himself. That makes a mother a little nervous, so it sure was a relief when he arrived safely that evening. He had just received his scores for the aptitude part of the Air Force test, and he was so excited that he qualified to be a pilot. He still has to take the eye-hand coordination test, but I don't anticipate that will prove to be an obstacle. So, Lord willing, he just might be flying the friendly and not-so-friendly skies in his future.

On Wednesday, the mission held its annual Thanksgiving banquet. This was my fifth one to oversee...and my last. (I know it seems like I say that every year, but I really mean it this time...really!) Since we decided not to give out turkeys this year, we knew our number of guests would be lower, so we prepared to feed four hundred instead of the usual six hundred. As it turned out, only about one hundred came from outside the mission, so with our clients, we fed over two hundred total. The smaller crowd made for a much more relaxing and pleasant environment...no one feared for her safety, as was the case last year.

Thanksgiving day was a real blessing. We attended our church's Thanksgiving service in the morning, then had a couple from church over for dinner. The fellowship was great, but I was not impressed with my cooking, and I didn't even have to cook the turkey (we bought a smoked turkey). It's not that the meal was bad...some of the dishes just didn't turn out quite to my liking. Maybe it's time for Joel to take over, and I can be his assistant. ;)

Joel and I finished our ballroom dance class. We enjoyed it so much that we plan to pick it back up after the holidays. In just five weeks, we learned the swing dance, waltz, Texas two-step, fox trot, and the electric slide. Well, I should say we know just enough to be dangerous on the dance floor. At least we can say we are very proficient with the waltz stall step, and even the fancy waltz stall step. :) (That's what you do when it's too crowded to move.) We'll continue to practice, so we can make a respectable showing at Elizabeth's wedding later this month. If you're there, please pardon our audible counting as we glide by.

It was back to work today, and all of us in development were eagerly awaiting this morning's reorganization meeting. No real surprises, but there will be changes. My role is changing from volunteer director to a new position doing human resource management. I'll still be involved with development though, writing the e-newsletters and doing website updates. Interesting times ahead!