Long time, no anything...
Well, Andy was complaining to me the other day that I have not blogged in a long time, and that is true, so I figured I'd try to get my act together and share some of what has been going on up here in the Long Island area these days.
So, what has been going on here?
We went on vacation to Orlando, FL for the week before Thanksgiving, also the Sunday before Advent started. That worked out well in terms of the church year. It is tough for Andy & I to coordinate good times for us to go away, since our churches are busy at different times, with different things. We had a lovely relaxing time. This time we stayed in the SeaWorld Hilton Grand Vacations Club, which is another branch of the time share we "own". (We're still paying for it, so we don't own it quite yet!) The way this whole timeshare thing works is that we bought points that are worth a 1-bedroom condo for a week in peak time. Since we went during the off-season, we had more than enough points to get a 2-bedroom, which meant that we met up with our friends Tim & Laura & their precious baby Maggie down there. And we have points left over! Kinda good, kind of a pain, b/c we will have to pay to "rescue" them into next year, but that's okay. Just kind of resent the fee (which is like $70 I think). It will either allow us to invite people with us again next year, or offer some points to someone else to use for their own vacation, or convert some of next year's points into Hilton Honors points (their reward program) so we won't end up with extra points at the end of next year & face the same issue. It was rather chilly for FL the week that we were there - there was a cold front sweeping the whole East coast that week, so it was still warmer there than here in NY, but we could have wished for slightly warmer weather... the upper 70s say, instead of mid-60s. We still got in the various pools though, and certainly enjoyed the hot tubs and sunshine. Of course, on our last day there, Andy & I discovered that the pool closest to our building was quite a bit warmer (smaller too) than the other pools. Figures!
We did not do a whole heck of a lot while we were in Florida. The night we arrived, there was a wine tasting at the resort - $25/couple, which included a generous tasting of 5 different FL wines, plus a bottle of one of those 5 to take with us. Not a bad deal we thought! Plus there was fruit & cheese to enjoy as well - a lovely way to start off our vacation. Andy & I slept in a lot, had some friends who live in Tampa come to visit a few times, watched some football, played Scattergories & Rummikub, and just generally enjoyed each other & getting to spend time w/ Tim, Laura, & Maggie. Our big night out was to go to a Mystery Dinner Theater. A wee bit cheesy, but much fun! We sat at a table w/ 2 other couples and enjoyed chatting with them - 1 was from England & the man from the other couple was a native Ohioan, so of course Andy enjoyed talking Buckeye Football with him. The show was good, the food was too, and included wine/beer/soda in the price - which of course adds to the enjoyment of the show! =)
In other news, Andy bought a new motorcycle today. It's a 1998 Kawasawki Concourse (maybe? I know it's a Kawasawki, but not certain about the other stuff). Low mileage, great price, and he's had his eye on getting a new bike since last fall, even before his other bike went kaput on us. He's looking forward to registering it so he can hopefully get a ride in on some sunny, not freezing, day, before the weather up here gets really wintery. It is a ni ce big bike, with lots o' storage spots, so he will be able to use it a bit easier for commuting when spring/summer come. Plus, it is a sturdier, beefier bike than the Yamaha, which hopefully means it will be a more comfortable, smoother ride as he commutes.
Kosar is well, although we are currently treating him for an ear infection. We regularly clean his ears out, because the ear wax & dirt or whatever just builds up. However, he's been itching & scratching at them & shaking his head a lot recently, so last Monday we took him to the vet to get them checked, and also so we would have a vet if we needed one. Vet took one look in his ear & said, Yep, this one's infected! Turns out both are, and so he gets to take 2 oral meds, plus ear drops 2x/day. And we are to clean further down inside his ears. We left him there for a few hours that day so they could give him a sedative & really clean out his ears well & do a heartworm test, etc. Bill for said work, + the lab test to determine what kind of infection he had + a general exam + meds was a bit steep, but I'm glad we got him checked out. He does not appreciate getting drops in his ears at all, nor does he love us shoving pills way back in his mouth so he'll swallow them, but he takes it all in stride & defintely is not scratching at his ears as much, so it's all working. We'll just have to do a better job of keeping his ears clean, which will be easy to do, now that I know we can't really do any damage by sticking our finger way down there... the canal goes vertical for a while, and then horizontal before you hit the ear drum, so chances of us hurting his hearing that way are slim to none. Good to know!
Uh, what else? Not a whole lot. We are both knee-deep in Advent stuff, although I am smart enough not to try and cram a 2nd sermon into each week. We just have a contemplative service on Wednesday, which the people who come seem to enjoy, & I certainly like it. I just wish we had a smaller room we could use as a chapel so we wouldn't have to heat the whole sanctuary for 25-35 people! Oh well.
My church finished up its financial stewardship campaign (like your local public radio or TV station, we have pledge drives! sort of...) the Sunday before we went on vacation. We are still following up with people who haven't pledged yet &/or waiting to receive their pledge cards at the church. This year, we did a more intensive, more intentional program - 4 weeks of talks in church about how giving relates to our "Walk with Jesus" (the name of the program we used) + bulletin inserts & weekly letters to encourage people to think about how God is calling them to give. Not at all a guilt thing, but a response to how God has already blessed each of us. I am pleased to say that if the records I have are accurate, the people of my church will have increased their giving by almost $15,000!!! Astounding! Sadly, it's still not enough for us to break even, but that's so not the point! If only a few people had increased their giving by only a small amount, I would have been pleased, because this is about spiritual health, about our relationships with God - and money is one of the biggest competitors for God's spot at #1 in our lives. We will trust God with everything (we say), but then we really just want God to let us do whatever we want with our finances. We don't really trust that we will still have enough even if we give some away. So people increasing their giving is a step closer to that trust, especially in the current financial climate, and that's really what I wanted to achieve here.
That said, I am uber-excited by the results (again, as long as the #s I have from last year are accurate - I'm a bit confused, but I think we've got it figured out). Partially because it is good for us to hopefully be running a smaller deficit than last year, but also because I know there were people on my stewardship committee who were skeptical about how much more effective such a program could really be, and some of those same people + others who thought it did not make sense to be sending out all of these letters each week, as well as follow up letters (thank yous to those who pledge as well as requests to pledge to those who don't usually give). I feel somewhat vindicated in pushing the need to do something more than we have in the past. Okay, I feel really vindicated. This is huge! And it will give some much needed encouragement & hope to the leaders of my congregation who are (rightfully) very concerned about our long-term financial viability if giving does not increase substantially in the next several years. (we've been dipping into savings to meet expenses, and that's never a good sign for the long haul!) But God is faithful & gives to us abundantly what we need, so I'm hopeful that we can turn it around!
I'm sure there's more, but I think it's probably more than enough for one blog post. Thanks for reading this far, if you have! I'll try to write more regularly, I promise!
So, what has been going on here?
We went on vacation to Orlando, FL for the week before Thanksgiving, also the Sunday before Advent started. That worked out well in terms of the church year. It is tough for Andy & I to coordinate good times for us to go away, since our churches are busy at different times, with different things. We had a lovely relaxing time. This time we stayed in the SeaWorld Hilton Grand Vacations Club, which is another branch of the time share we "own". (We're still paying for it, so we don't own it quite yet!) The way this whole timeshare thing works is that we bought points that are worth a 1-bedroom condo for a week in peak time. Since we went during the off-season, we had more than enough points to get a 2-bedroom, which meant that we met up with our friends Tim & Laura & their precious baby Maggie down there. And we have points left over! Kinda good, kind of a pain, b/c we will have to pay to "rescue" them into next year, but that's okay. Just kind of resent the fee (which is like $70 I think). It will either allow us to invite people with us again next year, or offer some points to someone else to use for their own vacation, or convert some of next year's points into Hilton Honors points (their reward program) so we won't end up with extra points at the end of next year & face the same issue. It was rather chilly for FL the week that we were there - there was a cold front sweeping the whole East coast that week, so it was still warmer there than here in NY, but we could have wished for slightly warmer weather... the upper 70s say, instead of mid-60s. We still got in the various pools though, and certainly enjoyed the hot tubs and sunshine. Of course, on our last day there, Andy & I discovered that the pool closest to our building was quite a bit warmer (smaller too) than the other pools. Figures!
We did not do a whole heck of a lot while we were in Florida. The night we arrived, there was a wine tasting at the resort - $25/couple, which included a generous tasting of 5 different FL wines, plus a bottle of one of those 5 to take with us. Not a bad deal we thought! Plus there was fruit & cheese to enjoy as well - a lovely way to start off our vacation. Andy & I slept in a lot, had some friends who live in Tampa come to visit a few times, watched some football, played Scattergories & Rummikub, and just generally enjoyed each other & getting to spend time w/ Tim, Laura, & Maggie. Our big night out was to go to a Mystery Dinner Theater. A wee bit cheesy, but much fun! We sat at a table w/ 2 other couples and enjoyed chatting with them - 1 was from England & the man from the other couple was a native Ohioan, so of course Andy enjoyed talking Buckeye Football with him. The show was good, the food was too, and included wine/beer/soda in the price - which of course adds to the enjoyment of the show! =)
In other news, Andy bought a new motorcycle today. It's a 1998 Kawasawki Concourse (maybe? I know it's a Kawasawki, but not certain about the other stuff). Low mileage, great price, and he's had his eye on getting a new bike since last fall, even before his other bike went kaput on us. He's looking forward to registering it so he can hopefully get a ride in on some sunny, not freezing, day, before the weather up here gets really wintery. It is a ni ce big bike, with lots o' storage spots, so he will be able to use it a bit easier for commuting when spring/summer come. Plus, it is a sturdier, beefier bike than the Yamaha, which hopefully means it will be a more comfortable, smoother ride as he commutes.
Kosar is well, although we are currently treating him for an ear infection. We regularly clean his ears out, because the ear wax & dirt or whatever just builds up. However, he's been itching & scratching at them & shaking his head a lot recently, so last Monday we took him to the vet to get them checked, and also so we would have a vet if we needed one. Vet took one look in his ear & said, Yep, this one's infected! Turns out both are, and so he gets to take 2 oral meds, plus ear drops 2x/day. And we are to clean further down inside his ears. We left him there for a few hours that day so they could give him a sedative & really clean out his ears well & do a heartworm test, etc. Bill for said work, + the lab test to determine what kind of infection he had + a general exam + meds was a bit steep, but I'm glad we got him checked out. He does not appreciate getting drops in his ears at all, nor does he love us shoving pills way back in his mouth so he'll swallow them, but he takes it all in stride & defintely is not scratching at his ears as much, so it's all working. We'll just have to do a better job of keeping his ears clean, which will be easy to do, now that I know we can't really do any damage by sticking our finger way down there... the canal goes vertical for a while, and then horizontal before you hit the ear drum, so chances of us hurting his hearing that way are slim to none. Good to know!
Uh, what else? Not a whole lot. We are both knee-deep in Advent stuff, although I am smart enough not to try and cram a 2nd sermon into each week. We just have a contemplative service on Wednesday, which the people who come seem to enjoy, & I certainly like it. I just wish we had a smaller room we could use as a chapel so we wouldn't have to heat the whole sanctuary for 25-35 people! Oh well.
My church finished up its financial stewardship campaign (like your local public radio or TV station, we have pledge drives! sort of...) the Sunday before we went on vacation. We are still following up with people who haven't pledged yet &/or waiting to receive their pledge cards at the church. This year, we did a more intensive, more intentional program - 4 weeks of talks in church about how giving relates to our "Walk with Jesus" (the name of the program we used) + bulletin inserts & weekly letters to encourage people to think about how God is calling them to give. Not at all a guilt thing, but a response to how God has already blessed each of us. I am pleased to say that if the records I have are accurate, the people of my church will have increased their giving by almost $15,000!!! Astounding! Sadly, it's still not enough for us to break even, but that's so not the point! If only a few people had increased their giving by only a small amount, I would have been pleased, because this is about spiritual health, about our relationships with God - and money is one of the biggest competitors for God's spot at #1 in our lives. We will trust God with everything (we say), but then we really just want God to let us do whatever we want with our finances. We don't really trust that we will still have enough even if we give some away. So people increasing their giving is a step closer to that trust, especially in the current financial climate, and that's really what I wanted to achieve here.
That said, I am uber-excited by the results (again, as long as the #s I have from last year are accurate - I'm a bit confused, but I think we've got it figured out). Partially because it is good for us to hopefully be running a smaller deficit than last year, but also because I know there were people on my stewardship committee who were skeptical about how much more effective such a program could really be, and some of those same people + others who thought it did not make sense to be sending out all of these letters each week, as well as follow up letters (thank yous to those who pledge as well as requests to pledge to those who don't usually give). I feel somewhat vindicated in pushing the need to do something more than we have in the past. Okay, I feel really vindicated. This is huge! And it will give some much needed encouragement & hope to the leaders of my congregation who are (rightfully) very concerned about our long-term financial viability if giving does not increase substantially in the next several years. (we've been dipping into savings to meet expenses, and that's never a good sign for the long haul!) But God is faithful & gives to us abundantly what we need, so I'm hopeful that we can turn it around!
I'm sure there's more, but I think it's probably more than enough for one blog post. Thanks for reading this far, if you have! I'll try to write more regularly, I promise!