August – 2018

Persevere is my Word for this Year.

Looking at where I am in my life, I really don’t want to take on anything new, but I do need to deepen my knowledge and commitment to the things I am doing.

• Politically – I’m going to persist in the resistance.
  • People Power – I continue to serve on the Texting Team for People Power. That means most days I send between 200 and 600 texts to people who have signed up with the ACLU People Power. Some of the texts are invitations to training for organizing. Some are invitations to organizational meetings, and some are invitations to write, phone, or email political representatives. They are all sent individually and answered individually (thank goodness, I have canned answers available – but we individualize everything as much as possible.) Remember, the ACLU is political but non-partisan. I am one of the texting leads on this team. There are four of us who try to take some of the burden off of the folks to do the real work of getting everything set up. We also TRY to deal creatively and nicely with other volunteers who may not be very understanding or kind.
  • Wall of Us – I continue to try to accomplish the four actions requested by Wall of Us every week. For instance, this week we are asked to Bet on Beto O’Rourke in Texas!, Demand an End to Prison Slavery, Protect the Special Counsel, and No Supreme Court Picks for Criminals.
  • I have a recurring donation to the Poor People’s Campaign.
  • Initiative 1631. got enough signatures to get it on the ballot.
• Religiously – I’m going to really work at being Moderator of Olympia Presbytery.
  • We didn’t have many Presbytery meetings in August – Leadership Council met early in the month, the Trustees and Finance Committee met, but there were no New Worshipping Communities Task Force meetings.
  • Interfaith community – I continue to meet with the Interfaith Ladies once a month.
  • I was elected by the 223rd General Assembly to serve on the Nominating Committee for the Presbyterian Church (USA) class of 2024. I still need to be trained, and am planning to go to Chicago in September for the training.
• Creatively – I’m going to try to get down to working on my family history/memoir.
  • Fill in gaps on Ancestry.com – Still working on my genealogy (I don’t think it’s ever finished).
  • I finished the poetry course, and the instructor has agreed to help by editing some of my things. I’m looking into doing some self-publishing because I know I’ll never get anyone to publish a book of poetry.
  • Keep up with my knitting – I’ve slowed down on my knitting. The warmer weather made it less interesting.
• Personally – I’m going to keep up walking, and try to add some resistance training.10,000 steps a day –
  • I’m keeping up with this, but not being obsessive about it.
  • 2-3 sessions of weight training a week – I’m doing my strength training 2-3 times a week. I’ve been at it for a couple of months now, and I’m beginning to see a difference in the flab.
• Socially – I’m going to tend my current relationships.
  • Gazebo Group – The Gazebo Group continues to thrive (particularly with the younger (less than 80 years old) members of the community).
  • Maintain congregational ties – I attend weekly Bible study and try to attend whatever extra worship services there may be.

August was affected by weather and a visit from my son and granddaughter. The first couple of weeks were beastly hot (over 85 degrees every day and only down into the 60s at night). Then, the wind shifted to the north and brought two weeks of smoke from the wildfires in BC, followed by smoke from the fires in Eastern Washington, relieved by smoke from the fires in Oregon and Northern California. This last week has been blessedly cool, and smoke-free.

While the family was here, we celebrated my birthday, and spent three days in Portland, OR, and a day in Victoria, BC. We rode the Amtrak Cascade to Portland and back.

When we went to Victoria, we took the BlackBall Ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria – 90 minutes across the Strait of Juan de Fuca. While we were there we walked along the waterfront to the Fisherman’s Village, rode the “Bathtub Toy” boats around the harbor, walked through the Empress Hotel, and watched street life during a bicycle race.

It sure was nice to see family.

I would really appreciate it if you, gentle readers, would remind me of these intentions when you see me fluttering off after the latest cause du jour.

July – 2018

Persevere is my Word for this Year.

Looking at where I am in my life, I really don’t want to take on anything new, but I do need to deepen my knowledge and commitment to the things I am doing.

• Politically – I’m going to persist in the resistance.
  • People Power – I continue to serve on the Texting Team for People Power. That means most days I send between 200 and 600 texts to people who have signed up with the ACLU People Power. Some of the texts are invitations to training for organizing. Some are invitations to organizational meetings, and some are invitations to write, phone, or email political representatives. They are all sent individually and answered individually (thank goodness, I have canned answers available – but we individualize everything as much as possible.) Remember, the ACLU is political but non-partisan. I am one of the texting leads on this team. There are four of us who try to take some of the burden off of the folks to do the real work of getting everything set up. We also TRY to deal creatively and nicely with other volunteers who may not be very understanding or kind.
  • Wall of Us – I continue to try to accomplish the four actions requested by Wall of Us every week. For instance, this week we are asked Help Colin Allred Unseat Pete In the Lone Star State, Make a Plan to Show up When it Matters the Most, Defend Women’s Reproductive Rights. and Act Now to Protect Mueller and His Investigation.
  • I have a recurring donation to the Poor People’s Campaign.
  • Initiative 1631. got enough signatures to get it on the ballot.
• Religiously – I’m going to really work at being Moderator of Olympia Presbytery.
  • We didn’t have any Presbytery meetings in July – no Leadership Council and no New Worshipping Communities Task Force. It was nice to have a break.
  • Interfaith community – I continue to meet with the Interfaith Ladies once a month.
  • I was elected by the 223rd General Assembly to serve on the Nominating Committee for the Presbyterian Church (USA) class of 2024. I still need to be trained, and am planning to go to Chicago in September for the training.
• Creatively – I’m going to try to get down to working on my family history/memoir.
  • Fill in gaps on Ancestry.com – Still working on my genealogy (I don’t think it’s ever finished).
  • I finished the poetry course, and the instructor has agreed to help by editing some of my things. I’m looking into doing some self-publishing because I know I’ll never get anyone to publish a book of poetry.
  • Keep up with my knitting – I’m turning out a couple of pairs of socks a week. So far this year I’ve turned out 40 pairs of socks and have yarn for 8 more.
• Personally – I’m going to keep up walking, and try to add some resistance training.10,000 steps a day –
  • I’m keeping up with this, but not being obsessive about it.
  • 2-3 sessions of weight training a week – I’m doing my strength training 2-3 times a week. I’ve been at it for a couple of months now, and I’m beginning to see a difference in the flab.
• Socially – I’m going to tend my current relationships.
  • Gazebo Group – The Gazebo Group continues to thrive (particularly with the younger (less than 80 years old) members of the community). We had a cookout on the 4th of July, and everybody who came seemed to have enjoyed themselves.
  • Maintain congregational ties – I attend weekly Bible study and try to attend whatever extra worship services there may be.

It feels like I didn’t do much in July, but my days were full and, generally, my life was placid – a perfect summer month – really hot for a while (in the upper 80s during the day, 60s at night). Now in August the seasons are beginning to turn, I think, and we’re back to 70s during the day and 50s at night. My calendar is filling up again, and I have family visiting for 10 days later in the month.

I would really appreciate it if you, gentle readers, would remind me of these intentions when you see me fluttering off after the latest cause du jour.

June – 2018

Persevere is my Word for this Year.

Looking at where I am in my life, I really don’t want to take on anything new, but I do need to deepen my knowledge and commitment to the things I am doing.

• Politically – I’m going to persist in the resistance.
  • People Power – I continue to serve on the Texting Team for People Power. That means most days I send between 200 and 600 texts to people who have signed up with the ACLU People Power. Some of the texts are invitations to training for organizing. Some are invitations to organizational meetings, and some are invitations to write, phone, or email political representatives. They are all sent individually and answered individually (thank goodness, I have canned answers available – but we individualize everything as much as possible.) Remember, the ACLU is political but non-partisan. I am one of the texting leads on this team. There are four of us who try to take some of the burden off of the folks to do the real work of getting everything set up. We also TRY to deal creatively and nicely with other volunteers who may not be very understanding or kind.
  • Wall of Us – I continue to try to accomplish the four actions requested by Wall of Us every week. For instance, this week we are asked to honor Independence Day by Fighting the Muslim Ban, Tell our Senators to Block and Supreme Court Nomination until After Midterms, Continue to Support On-the-Ground Organizations Keeping Families Together, and Ask Greyhound to Stop Driving our Country’s Values to the Ground.
  • I have a recurring donation to the Poor People’s Campaign.
  • I’m also collecting signatures for a ballot initiative in Washington State, to tax carbon polluters and use the extra money to build more wind and solar power farms. It’s Initiative 1631. The petition drive ended last week and I haven’t heard whether we got enough signatures to get it on the ballot.
• Religiously – I’m going to really work at being Moderator of Olympia Presbytery.
  • June’s Leadership Council meeting was held at Camp Soundview
    We met out at the camp and were treated to a wonderful lunch and a tour of the facilities.
  • Interfaith community – I continue to meet with the Interfaith Ladies once a month.
  • I was elected by the 223rd General Assembly to serve on the Nominating Committee for the Presbyterian Church (USA) class of 2024. I still need to be trained.

• Creatively – I’m going to try to get down to working on my family history/memoir.
  • Fill in gaps on Ancestry.com – Still working on my genealogy (I don’t think it’s ever finished).
  • I finished the poetry course, and the instructor has agreed to help by editing some of my things. I’m looking into doing some self-publishing because I know I’ll never get anyone to publish a book of poetry.
  • Keep up with my knitting – I’m turning out a couple of pairs of socks a week. So far this year I’ve turned out 40 pairs of socks and have yarn for 8 more.
• Personally – I’m going to keep up walking, and try to add some resistance training.10,000 steps a day –
  • I’m keeping up with this, but not being obsessive about it.
  • 2-3 sessions of weight training a week – I finally made an appointment for a personal trainer here and I now have appointments to do strength and weight training as well as my Fitbit steps.
• Socially – I’m going to tend my current relationships.
  • Gazebo Group – The Gazebo Group continues to thrive (particularly with the younger (less than 80 years old) members of the community). We’ll be sponsoring a cookout on the 4th of July, since the staff will all be on holiday.
  • Maintain congregational ties – I attend weekly Bible study and try to attend whatever extra worship services there may be.
  • My brother, sister-in-law, and nephew visited the first of June. I tagged along with them on a trip to Victoria, BC. We had a great time.

I would really appreciate it if you, gentle readers, would remind me of these intentions when you see me fluttering off after the latest cause du jour.

May – 2018

Persevere is my Word for this Year.

Looking at where I am in my life, I really don’t want to take on anything new, but I do need to deepen my knowledge and commitment to the things I am doing.

• Politically – I’m going to persist in the resistance.
  • People Power – I continue to serve on the Texting Team for People Power. That means most days I send between 200 and 600 texts to people who have signed up with the ACLU People Power. Some of the texts are invitations to training for organizing. Some are invitations to organizational meetings, and some are invitations to write, phone, or email political representatives. They are all sent individually and answered individually (thank goodness, I have canned answers available – but we individualize everything as much as possible.) Remember, the ACLU is political but non-partisan. I am one of the texting leads on this team. There are four of us who try to take some of the burden off of the folks to do the real work of getting everything set up. We also TRY to deal creatively and nicely with other volunteers who may not be very understanding or kind.
  • Wall of Us – I continue to try to accomplish the four actions requested by Wall of Us every week. For instance, this week we are asked to try to understand Ramadan, support the Muslim Blue Wave, commit to vote and ask others to commit, and build local power with “ActLocal”.
  • I haven’t been able to attend a Poor People’s Campaign action yet, but I’m still trying to clear my calendar for a day.
  • I’m also collecting signatures for a ballot initiative in Washington State, to tax carbon polluters and use the extra money to build more wind and solar power farms. It’s Initiative 1631, and I encourage all the voters in Washington who read this blog to sign the petition.

• Religiously – I’m going to really work at being Moderator of Olympia Presbytery.
  • May’s Leadership Council meeting was pressed for time, and a little fractured, but the May Presbytery Meeting was great. The theme was “Blessed are the Hungry” and everything worked out wonderfully.
    • Our preacher for worship was Carmen Pimms, the Executive Director of Campbell Farms. People are still talking about her message.
  • 
    
    • We also had workshops by churches who have community gardens, churches who started a feeding program that grew into something much more, and a nature study by the Ecology Education director at Camp Soundview.
  • 
    Also at the Presbytery Meeting, we were able to move our Kenyan Congregation, Umoja Presbyterian Church, from New Worshipping Community status, but the status of a congregation of Olympia Presbytery.
  • Interfaith community – I continue to meet with the Interfaith Ladies once a month.
  • At the last minute, I found out about an opportunity to apply to be on the Nominating Committee for the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Amazingly enough, I was accepted, and my nomination to the committee will be voted on June 22nd. I covet your prayers.
• Creatively – I’m going to try to get down to working on my family history/memoir.
  • Fill in gaps on Ancestry.com – Still working on my genealogy (I don’t think it’s ever finished).
  • I’ve started a poetry writing course here at Franke Tobey Jones. Hopefully, I’ll be posting some of my poems here at this blog soon.
  • Keep up with my knitting – I’m turning out a couple of pairs of socks a week. So far this year I’ve turned out 32 pairs of socks and have yarn for 16 more.
• Personally – I’m going to keep up walking, and try to add some resistance training.10,000 steps a day –
  • I’m keeping up with this, but not being obsessive about it.
  • 2-3 sessions of weight training a week – I finally made an appointment for a personal trainer here and I now have appointments to do strength and weight training as well as my Fitbit steps.
• Socially – I’m going to tend my current relationships.
  • Gazebo Group – The Gazebo Group continues to thrive (particularly with the younger (less than 80 years old) members of the community).
  • Maintain congregational ties – I attend weekly Bible study and try to attend whatever extra worship services there may be. In May I served as Worship Leader on Sunday mornings.

I would really appreciate it if you, gentle readers, would remind me of these intentions when you see me fluttering off after the latest cause du jour.

April – 2018

Persevere is my Word for this Year.

Looking at where I am in my life, I really don’t want to take on anything new, but I do need to deepen my knowledge and commitment to the things I am doing.

• Politically – I’m going to persist in the resistance.
  • People Power – I continue to serve on the Texting Team for People Power. That means most days I send between 200 and 600 texts to people who have signed up with the ACLU People Power. Some of the texts are invitations to training for organizing. Some are invitations to organizational meetings, and some are invitations to write, phone, or email political representatives. They are all sent individually and answered individually (thank goodness, I have canned answers available – but we individualize everything as much as possible.) Remember, the ACLU is political but non-partisan. I am one of the texting leads on this team. There are four of us who try to take some of the burden off of the folks to do the real work of getting everything set up. We also TRY to deal creatively and nicely with other volunteers who may not be very understanding or kind.
  • Wall of Us – I continue to try to accomplish the four actions requested by Wall of Us every week. For instance, this week we are working to take the blue tsunami to Pennsylvania on May 15, keep the pressure on for a free and open internet, demand that congress pass legislation to protect Robert Mueller, and make sure my senator stands against Trump’s transgender military ban.
  • (I know I asked you to fuss at me if I took on something new but…) I’m attending resistance training with the New Poor People’s Campaign. We’ll see where that leads.
  • I’m also collecting signatures for a ballot initiative in Washington State, to tax carbon polluters and use the extra money to build more wind and solar power farms. It’s Initiative 1631, and I encourage all the voters in Washington who read this blog to sign the petition.

• Religiously – I’m going to really work at being Moderator of Olympia Presbytery.
  • March took off with a bang and a Leadership Council meeting early in the month to plan a Presbytery Meeting and discuss other business for the presbytery.
  • As Moderator, I welcomed and installed a new pastor to one of our churches in April. Greg Ikehara-Martin was called and installed at Long Beach Presbyterian Church. That church is in one of the remote corners of the Presbytery. It is arguably farther away from the center than any other church, but they are a faithful, welcoming group of people. It was a pleasure to be with them for the installation. They are also located (as the name implies) in a beach community, so their membership shrinks in the winter and blossoms in the summer. Big Al and I took the opportunity to take a mini-vacation and went down a day early and came back a day after. Unfortunately the weather was dreadful, but we enjoyed our time in a hotel, right on the beach.

• • Bethany is reading So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo. I’m in a discussion group weekly.

• • Interfaith community – I continue to meet with the Interfaith Ladies once a month. This month the larger group that contains both men and women will gather for an Iftar.
  • New Worshiping Communities – I continue to serve on the Presbytery’s New Worshipping Communities Task Force.
• Creatively – I’m going to try to get down to working on my family history/memoir.
  • Fill in gaps on Ancestry.com – Still working on my genealogy (I don’t think it’s ever finished).
  • I’ve started a poetry writing course here at Franke Tobey Jones. Hopefully, I’ll be posting some of my poems here at this blog soon.
  • Keep up with my knitting – I’m turning out a couple of pairs of socks a week. So far this year I’ve turned out 32 pairs of socks and have yarn for 16 more.
• Personally – I’m going to keep up walking, and try to add some resistance training.10,000 steps a day –
  • I’m keeping up with this, but not being obsessive about it.
  • 2-3 sessions of weight training a week – I finally made an appointment for a personal trainer here and I now have appointments to do strength and weight training as well as my Fitbit steps.
• Socially – I’m going to tend my current relationships.
  • Gazebo Group – The Gazebo Group continues to thrive (particularly with the younger (less than 80 years old) members of the community).
  • Maintain congregational ties – I attend weekly Bible study and try to attend whatever extra worship services there may be. In May I will serve as Worship Leader on Sunday mornings.

I would really appreciate it if you, gentle readers, would remind me of these intentions when you see me fluttering off after the latest cause du jour.

March – 2018

Persevere is my Word for this Year.

Looking at where I am in my life, I really don’t want to take on anything new, but I do need to deepen my knowledge and commitment to the things I am doing.

1. Politically – I’m going to persist in the resistance.
   1. People Power – I continue to serve on the Texting Team for People Power. That means most days I send between 200 and 600 texts to people who have signed up with the ACLU People Power. Some of the texts are invitations to training for organizing. Some are invitations to organizational meetings, and some are invitations to write, phone, or email political representatives. They are all sent individually and answered individually (thank goodness, I have canned answers available – but we individualize everything as much as possible.) Remember, the ACLU is political but non-partisan. I am one of the texting leads on this team. There are four of us who try to take some of the burden off of the folks to do the real work of getting everything set up. We also TRY to deal creatively and nicely with other volunteers who may not be very understanding or kind.
   2. Wall of Us – I continue to try to accomplish the four actions requested by Wall of Us every week. For instance, this week we are asked to support the Campus Blue Wave, call for a Town Hall in our district on April 7, sign a petition for justice for Stephon Clark and let our local police departments know his killing was NOT okay, and try to convince our Senators that Mike Pompeo is NOT okay for Secretary of State.
2. Religiously – I’m going to really work at being Moderator of Olympia Presbytery.
   1. March took off with a bang and a Leadership Council meeting early in the month to plan a Presbytery Meeting and discuss other business for the presbytery.
   2. As Moderator, I serve as one of the Trustees for the Presbytery.  The Presbytery voted to agree to co-sign on a $2.4 loan for the church I wrote about last month. They have already raised half of the money themselves with a capital campaign, and through grants and gifts from the community.
   3. Interfaith community – Last Tuesday, our interfaith community was hosted by the Temple for an Interfaith Seder. Presbyterians, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Jews, and Muslims all gathered for this ancient meal and ritual.
   4. New Worshiping Communities – I continue to serve on the Presbytery’s New Worshipping Communities Task Force.
3. Creatively – I’m going to try to get down to working on my family history/memoir.
   1. Fill in gaps on Ancestry.com – Still working on my genealogy (I don’t think it’s ever finished).
   2. I finished the course here at Franke Tobey Jones on writing memoirs. I wasn’t too impressed with the leader, but I did get a few more vignettes about my life written.
   3. Keep up with my knitting – I’m turning out a couple of pairs of socks a week. I sold 5 pairs to someone here at Franke Tobey Jones. That will give me enough money to buy another batch of yarn.
4. Personally – I’m going to keep up walking, and try to add some resistance training.
   1. 10,000 steps a day – I’m keeping up with this, but not being obsessive about it.
   2. 2-3 sessions of weight training a week – I still haven’t been regular with this (still a slacker on weight training.)
5. Socially – I’m going to tend my current relationships.
   1. Gazebo Group – The Gazebo Group continues to thrive (particularly with the younger (less than 80 years old) members of the community).
   2. Maintain congregational ties – I attend weekly Bible study and try to attend whatever extra worship services there may be. In May I will serve as Worship Leader on Sunday mornings.

I would really appreciate it if you, gentle readers, would remind me of these intentions when you see me fluttering off after the latest cause du jour.

February – 2018

Persevere is my Word for this Year.

Looking at where I am in my life, I really don’t want to take on anything new, but I do need to deepen my knowledge and commitment to the things I am doing.

1. Politically – I’m going to persist in the resistance.
   1. People Power – I continue to serve on the Texting Team for People Power. That means most days I send between 200 and 600 texts to people who have signed up with the ACLU People Power. Some of the texts are invitations to training for organizing. Some are invitations to organizational meetings, and some are invitations to write, phone, or email political representatives. They are all sent individually and answered individually (thank goodness, I have canned answers available – but we individualize everything as much as possible.) Remember, the ACLU is political but non-partisan. I am one of the texting leads on this team. There are four of us who try to take some of the burden off of the folks to do the real work of getting everything set up. We also TRY to deal creatively and nicely with other volunteers who may not be very understanding or kind.
   2. Wall of Us – I continue to try to accomplish the four actions requested by Wall of Us every week. For instance, this week we are helping Florida’s young people launch “Vote for Our Lives”, gather support for “Walk for Gun Control”, ask companies to disavow the NRA, and explore our elected representatives stance on gun control.
2. Religiously – I’m going to really work at being Moderator of Olympia Presbytery.
   1. February was a gentle month for Olympia Presbytery. We didn’t have a Leadership Council meeting.
   2. As Moderator, I serve as one of the Trustees for the Presbytery. One of our downtown churches has recently found out that their building built in 1924 is in real danger in case of an earthquake and it will cost $4.5 million to retrofit the building and make it safe. That church was down to 7 (that’s right – 7) members about 20 years ago, but they decided that they wanted to stay who they were and where they were and they deliberately started serving their community. They have grown to over 150 members and are one of the fastest growing churches in the Presbytery. They have an after-school program for two schools in the neighborhood. They run a medical clinic, a clothes bank, and other neighborhood services. The Presbytery was pleased to agree to co-sign on a $2.4 loan. They have already raised half of the money themselves with a capital campaign, and through grants and gifts from the community.
   3. Interfaith community – I continue to attend the monthly Interfaith Women’s tea and last week I went to the Interfaith conversation that is held monthly with local Presbyterians, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Jews, and Muslims.
   4. New Worshiping Communities – I continue to serve on the Presbytery’s New Worshipping Communities Task Force.
3. Creatively – I’m going to try to get down to working on my family history/memoir.
   1. Fill in gaps on Ancestry.com – I’ve done a little bit of work on this, but only in fits and starts.
   2. I’m taking a course here at Franke Tobey Jones on writing memoirs.
   3. Keep up with my knitting – I’m turning out a couple of pairs of socks a week. I took a sackful to the clothes closet at the church mentioned above.
4. Personally – I’m going to keep up walking, and try to add some resistance training.
   1. 10,000 steps a day – I’m keeping up with this, but not being obsessive about it.
   2. 2-3 sessions of weight training a week – I still haven’t been regular with this. I will try to set up an appointment with the director of the Wellness Center to establish a set day and time for some personal training (still a slacker on weight training.)
5. Socially – I’m going to tend my current relationships.
   1. Gazebo Group – The Gazebo Group continues to thrive (particularly with the younger (less than 80 years old) members of the community).
   2. Maintain congregational ties – I attend weekly Bible study and try to attend whatever extra worship services there may be. I’m not able to walk with the Thursday group, or go to Book Club, usually because of moderatorial duties. In May I will serve as Worship Leader on Sunday mornings.

I would really appreciate it if you, gentle readers, would remind me of these intentions when you see me fluttering off after the latest cause du jour.

January – 2018

Persevere is my Word for this Year.

Looking at where I am in my life, I really don’t want to take on anything new, but I do need to deepen my knowledge and commitment to the things I am doing.

1. Politically – I’m going to persist in the resistance.
   1. People Power – I continue to serve on the Texting Team for People Power. That means most days I send between 200 and 600 texts to people who have signed up with the ACLU People Power. Some of the texts are invitations to training for organizing. Some are invitations to organizational meetings, and some are invitations to write, phone, or email political representatives. They are all sent individually and answered individually (thank goodness, I have canned answers available – but we individualize everything as much as possible.) Remember, the ACLU is political but non-partisan.
   2. Wall of Us – I continue to try to accomplish the four actions requested by Wall of Us every week. For instance, this week we were asked to contact legislators in favor of renewed DACA protections, to try to stop Trump from rolling back Michelle Obama’s Healthy School Lunch program, to make calls and small donations to College Dems in Florida, and to petition to restore voting rights to people who have served their sentences and been returned to society.
2. Religiously – I’m going to really work at being Moderator of Olympia Presbytery.
   1. I moderated the installation service for a pastor who has been serving a little church for two years in a temporary assignment. The church has, under her leadership, reached the place where they are financially able to have a pastor in a permanent position. I walked with them as COM representative for the first half of her time as a temporary supply.
   2. I helped lead a day-long planning retreat for the Leadership Council and heads of the major Commissions and Committees for the Presbytery. We have plans for all the stated meetings of Presbytery. We have dates, (potential) special speakers, and activities outlined for the next year. We will be walking through the Beatitudes at Presbytery meetings.
   3. Interfaith community – I’ve been to the Interfaith Women’s tea and tonight I’m going to the Interfaith conversation that is held monthly with local Presbyterians, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Jews, and Muslims.
   4. New Worshiping Communities – I continue to serve on the Presbytery’s New Worshipping Communities Task Force.
3. Creatively – I’m going to try to get down to working on my family history/memoir.
   1. Fill in gaps on Ancestry.com – I’ve done a little bit of work on this, but only in fits and starts.
   2. I’m taking a course here at Franke Tobey Jones on writing memoirs.
   3. Keep up with my knitting – I’m turning out a couple of pairs of socks a week. I gave away a lot of them at Christmas, but I’m rebuilding my stash. When it starts go exceed the space I’ve allotted for it in the corner of the living room, I’ll take a sackful to the clothes closet.
4. Personally – I’m going to keep up walking, and try to add some resistance training.
   1. 10,000 steps a day – I’m keeping up with this, but not being obsessive about it.
   2. 2-3 sessions of weight training a week – I haven’t been regular with this. I will try to set up an appointment with the director of the Wellness Center to establish a set day and time for some personal training.
5. Socially – I’m going to tend my current relationships.
   1. Gazebo Group – The Gazebo Group continues to thrive (particularly with the younger (less than 80 years old) members of the community).
   2. Maintain congregational ties – I attend weekly Bible study and try to attend whatever extra worship services there may be. I’m not able to walk with the Thursday group, or go to Book Club, usually because of moderatorial duties.

I would really appreciate it if you, gentle readers, would remind me of these intentions when you see me fluttering off after the latest cause du jour.

Busy, busy, busy!

I know I’ve been very remiss in keeping this blog updated, but I’ve been really busy. I hope all of you, gentle readers, know already – WE SOLD THE HOUSE!!! I’ve not been posting too much about that news because – although it’s been under contract for a week – we had to wait through the inspection and the “Option Period” to be morally certain the it was really going to happen! The buyers are happy with how the inspection turned out, so now all we do is wait for the appraisal and for the title company to do their thing. The buyers are already pre-approved for their loan, and the house is on the tax roles for more than we’re selling it for so we “should” have no problem with the appraisal. We’re set to close on May 18th!

We’ve started packing boxes and dumping stuff that we don’t care anything about. Thank goodness we did the major cleaning out back in 2009 when we thought we would be selling and moving in the spring of 2010 (silly us). We’ve still amassed lots of paper and other various assorted junk that needs to be gone through and sorted out. I’m going to try to have a small garage sale to get rid of the few books we still have that we no longer want (fall back is to take them to Half-Priced Books and get a nickel a piece for them).

We still have a little bit of furniture that we never intended to take with us, but that we needed to keep until we actually moved, like Al’s desk and the credenza I’ve been using as a desk. We’re planning to get new stuff from Ikea when we get there that will fit in the “shared” office. We will be in a one bedroom apartment until a duplex or three bedroom apartment opens up, so we wouldn’t be able to have office areas yet anyway.

We also still have our old recliners, a sofa bed and various occasional chairs that didn’t sell in the estate sale. Anything I can’t peddle in a garage sale will be donated to Interfaith Housing. They give their residents all the furniture in their apartments when they graduate, so they always need stuff like living room chairs and furniture. I’ll also donate all the clothes we have either outgrown or don’t want any more (like I NEVER wear skirts or dresses unless somebody holds a gun to my head) unless I can sell them in the garage sale.

I’ve prevailed on #2 son to come over for the weekend of May 11th and take the electronics apart and label all the wires for us. That’s the weekend before the movers come. It looks like we’ll have them sometime during the early part of the week of May 14th, and have the truck from Interfaith Housing at the same time. Then we’ll have the cleaning ladies in to do a final clean on May 17th, and we’ll close on the 18th. We’ll move into the Marriott Residence Inn just down the street as soon as the movers come, so we’ll have the car packed and ready to go when we get finished with the Title Company.

We’re booked into the motel in Texarkana for that weekend (I want to have a chance to rock Miss Claire McCasland, my new grand-niece). Then we’ll leave the car there with Betty and Keith, and take the train to Chicago to see #1 son and his lady friend. I’ll also have a chance to run over to Peoria to see if I can find the naturalization records for Papa’s grandfather. He came from Germany in the 1840s and was naturalized sometime during the 1860s, but that was in the days before everything was done in the federal court system. In those day, any county or municipal court or judge could do the naturalization paperwork, so I’m going to see if I can find the records there.

When we get back to Texarkana from Chicago we’ll take a little time and go up to Washington, AR, to take a few pictures in the old cemetery for the Eakins piece of the genealogy. Then we’ll go over to Burns, TN, to see my cousin, Anne. Then down to Madisonville, LA, to see #2 son and his family (and possibly see if I can look up some of the relatives who lived down there). I know some of them, at least, lived and died in Tangipahoa Parish.

Then when we leave south Louisiana, we’ll just be taking our time and driving west and north. We’d really like to avoid the interstates, and see some of the countryside. Big Al said he has heard of Rt 66 all his life, so we’ll pick it up somewhere in Oklahoma and follow it at least to Amarillo. We’ve never seen Palo Duro Canyon, as long as we’ve lived in Texas, so we may do that. We may take the Highway to Hell (rt 666) through New Mexico for a while. We may try to visit Carlsbad Caverns. Al has a friend in Tuscon, and I have a friend in Phoenix that we may try to stop off and see. We may go through Las Vegas, just to see our old house (if we can find it and if it’s still there). Other than that we don’t have any plans except to take our time and visit whatever National Parks, or National Monuments we run across on the way. We’ve never been to Bryce Canyon or Zion National Park, even though we lived in Las Vegas for a while, so we may go by there. We’ve seen the Grand Canyon and the Painted Dessert, and the Crater in Arizona, but we may go back to one or another of them. We’re just going to play it by ear. I don’t THINK we’re going to go by the Grand Tetons or Yosemite, but who knows. We’ll plan to be in Tacoma some time between the 15th and 30th of June.

Now I’ve got to get back to my rat-killing, and get some more of this junk disposed of!

Down We Go – Living into the Wild Ways of Jesus – Chapter 3

Ever since I first started reading Down We Go by Kathy Escobar I’ve been promising you a discussion of some of the main points of the book. So here we go…

Chapter 3 – There is No “Them or Us”…Only Us

This is the chapter that drove me to explore my new “missional” calling at Interfaith Housing Coalition. Kathy says:

Missional ministry often begins with an us/them mindset that is built upon a foundation of, “We’re going to be good Christians and go help those poor people who are not like us.” I believe this heart to serve comes from a sincere place, but it perpetuates a dangerous divide.

I am reminded of the classic ‘Murder in the Orient Express’ an Agatha Christie, Hercule Poirot thriller where in response to Poirot’s question, Ingrid Bergman says, she left the USA to look after the ‘poor brown babies of India’.

1. When you think of “to,” “for,” or “with” relationships, which type comes more natural to you? – I have always had a revulsion to approaching mission work as if I were the “great, white savior” ministering to the poor, downtrodden unfortunates. So much so that I have, for many years, refused to participate in “mission opportunities” that were hit and miss and designed more as an excuse to travel and visit exotic places than as chances to get to know and work with other people.

2. What scares you about “with” relationships? What inspires you about them? – I can be timid about approaching new people in new situations, so it’s difficult for me to get out of my comfort zone and try to meet folks who are not like me. I’m always afraid of appearing like the “Lady Bountiful,” to people who have less than I do materially. I’m usually inspired by the resilience, and faith of those less fortunate than I am monetarily. They have plummed depths of fortitude unknown to me.

3. Think of some paradoxes in your own life. Write them in your journal “I am __________ and __________.” How easy or hard is this to accept?

• I am knowledge-wise and relationship-ignorant. – I’m self-aware enough to know that this is so, but I struggle daily to become more relationship wise.
• I am quick to complete tasks and I dislike correction. – I know I should be more careful about being sure tasks are correct before I declare them finished, but I struggle with this.

4. Do you have more of a tendency to be codependent, independent, or interdependent? Write which one best describes you and why. – I am very independent, and I know I will have a hard time sharing control of meetings with my resident that I am mentoring at Interfaith Housing Coalition. I’ve only had two meetings there, and I know I will have to lean heavily on the techniques I learned in Stephen Minister training, of being non-judgmental, and listening carefully, and fully, before jumping in. I will have to be careful not to be controlling, but to allow the resident to work out their own problems, only offering advise when asked or when absolutely necessary.