Day 1

So here it is...the day my time at Calvary UMC begins!

Chris and I set out about 7 am this morning, to grab some breakfast, drop the car off for an oil change, then head into downtown Frederick, with out SUV loaded with books and "office decor". We got to Calvary a little after 8 am an spent the morning moving furniture--including dismantling the huge old metal desk that was in the associate's office, replacing it with a small wooden table that's just perfect for my laptop. Basically, the office went from a large desk, a computer desk, two 2-drawer file cabinets, 4 bookcases, 2 chairs and a desk chair (and it's a nice size office but not that big...to 2 bookcases, a desk chair, 2 file cabinets, 2 chairs and a small wooden table. All I need now is a little rug, and I've got an office and a cozy little seating area.

Thanks to Chris, in addition to moving all the furniture (which I would NEVER have been able to do myself anyway) we got all the books and stuff unpacked, which has been really nice--to not have to start working with boxes piled. I know they say a pastor shouldn't spend all their time at first setting up their office, but I just don't work well in chaos. By mid-morning we were done, and I met with Ken, showed Chris around the church, and Chris and I got lunch then he picked up the car from the shop and headed back.

I spent my afternoon calling some church leaders (over two dozen!), trying to figure out my printer (got it figured out!), going over some intro info, and just generally trying to settle in. Tonight the youth are gathering for a service night, so I figured I'd pop in to say hello, then will head home and be back in tomorrow morning.

LOL...as I'm typing this, the phone rang. I have no idea if my phone rings with all calls or just ones to me, so I had this moment of panic thinking "Wait. Where am I? How should I answer?!" But don't worry...I got it figured out!

Already I've also been juggling some ministry needs, and I know as I settle in, more will pop up. It's nice, honestly though, to finally be able to "plan ahead" again...I'm a planner by nature, which made the past couple of month particularly difficult as I couldn't really do much for Jefferson. Now at Calvary, I've already got schedules through the end of the year, and I'm looking at sermons for the coming months.

Chris and I are just so excited to be at Calvary. It's much easier know that Jefferson/Doubs is in good hands. Still, it's strange to remind myself that now I'm HERE. Calvary is now "our church" not "their church." But I'll get the hang of it. Heck, I thought getting used to a new last name was a hard adjustment, but now, not even a year into married life, it's so natural.

My only disappointment today was that I missed the donkeys at our house. Really! While Chris was down here at Calvary, he called camp to check in and other than hearing that things were going well, he was told they had a story to tell him about donkeys at our house, and that they meant literally. I had to wait till later in the afternoon to find out that apparently this morning Natalie had been past our house and saw donkeys. No one believed her at first when she came over to camp to tell them. Seems one of our neighbor's donkeys had indeed gotten out and had wandered to our house. I can only imagine how much out dogs must have been freaking out! At any rate, the donkeys were restored to their rightful owner. I hear there are pictures! I'll try to post them if I can get a hold of them!

That's all for now...perhaps I'll work on my sermon...or start combing the pages of the photo directory...