A New Experience

My two Muslim friends both came to the

Thanksgiving church service tonight.

It was eye-opening for them.

The man drove himself in case he wanted to leave early.

I kept praying he would stay, and he did.

Because the children and teens were in the service

the music was more like a rock band.

Many people clap to the music

and some raise their hands into the air.

Several international students were present,

whom they have seen at the International

Friendship Connection get-togethers.

We had communion. The young woman asked what it was about.

I told her.

Then before the two baptisms our church has those being baptized

write out their testimony and read if beforehand.

So they heard two people explain

how they realized they needed Jesus

and how they came to faith.

They were VERY surprised when the people

were submerged into the water.

So I got to explain that too. Pretty cool.

I told them this was not a typical service at all,

and they should come on a Sunday morning

when our pastor is here and the music is less raucous.

The young lady said she would like to come back.

I'm afraid our pastor will be out of town this Sunday visiting family,

and she might not get to hear his amazing preaching.

Oh well, she'll just have to come back a third time!

Preparing...

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day.

One of only three Christian Holidays in America.

Next to Easter, it is my favorite holiday of the year.

A family time. A calm time--except for the cook.

Today is a very busy day of preparation,

because the Thanksgiving Feast is always at my house.

I found a wonderful Classical Christmas station

(on the TV of all places),

so I've got the music turned up while cooking and baking.

Fresh green beans are on sale, so I'm taking an Internet break while eating my "breakfast" of hot tea and steamed green beans sauteed in fat-back. I'll munch on these while making more fattening dishes for tomorrow. It's less fattening (I think) than a typical breakfast of a large cinnamon bun covered in icing.

You can tell we don't live in the deep South--I had to explain to the young butcher what fat-back is.

The turkey is brining in it's salt/sugar bath, and the fresh tortilla soup is in process.

Now on to baking cornbread for turkey stuffing,

making lemon pie (the meringue will be added tomorrow),

gathering, chopping, covering and setting aside all the ingredients I'll need tomorrow,

making gingerbread dough and sugar cookie dough

for our annual Gingerbread House and fancy decorated cookie day on Friday with Vanessa and Grant.

If I have time, I'll make a breakfast bread rolled up with sugared-cinnamon apple slices inside and drizzled with icing and chopped pecans on the outside.

I picked the apples from our friend's tree in Oak Glen earlier this fall.

If I don't use them quickly, they'll get old.

Later we'll put up a long table and dress it up for the holiday.

Then tonight we'll go to church and give thanks to God for his Best Gifts to us.

My Muslim friend Noor is coming with us to church tonight!

Her first time there.

There will be much joyful singing

and several baptisms.

O, Holy Spirit, fall on us and know how thankful we are.

Thank you.

Well. I got a very nice email from the state--not apologizing, but realizing and stating their appreciation that we were working hard to meet their requirements and no longer treating us like naughty children!

When I'm on vacation, business can take a hike!

I got another threatening email this morning

from the state office of the

Music Teachers Association of California.

Basically, it said...

"We haven't received your revised bylaws yet.

Remember, if they aren't received by November 30th,

we will revise them FOR YOU at a cost of $150.

It's really very simple."

Which made me angry...again.

Oh, not just me. Our entire board was seething.

The original "request" was a demanding

"Do this, by this date, OR ELSE..."

Why do branches even HAVE bylaws

if the state organization can mandate what they say?

Granted, some of the changes were beneficial,

but we're professionals here.

I don't need them to threaten me to get work done!

And it was NOT simple.

Two of our members spent many hours updating our bylaws last year.

The state's language was mandated,

meaning we could not change a single word of it.

And it was written in confusing language by a lawyer!

We who worked on adding the state's several pages of mandated additions

were not about to carelessly mess up

the order or wording of our colleagues.

We spent hours deciding where the additions should go,

deleting redundant portions from our bylaws,

then I called two board meetings to discuss them and

make revisions, since I don't work independently as president.

I sent them purposely BEFORE my vacation

so I wouldn't have to deal with this stuff ON vacation.

So I sent off one hot email telling them

we DID meet their deadline 10 days ahead of time,

and we as a board do not appreciate their patronizing tone.

Patronizing: Treat with an apparent kindness

that betrays a feeling of superiority.

Well, now that I have that off my chest,

on with the vacation.

Business can take a hike!

San Francisco

Well, I know where one of my Christmas presents is coming from.

San Fran-CIS-co!

Roxanne and seven friends and family returned from 3-1/2 days of shopping and touring San Francisco last Sunday. She found something she just knew I MUST have.

She and Tom have good taste, so I know it will be very nice.

So nice, in fact, that she couldn't afford it herself, but she knew her Dad would reimburse her and give it to me from himself.

She was right. Dad paid her, and now I'm very curious.

It's not a very big box.

Relatively small.

Hmmmm.

But I won't cheat.

I love surprises on Christmas morning.

In the meantime, I got a Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate bar

flavored with Orange.

My FAVORITE.

Campus Life

Monday, Tom and I took Vanessa and her friend Kara to The Masters College in Santa Clarita--two hours northwest. The campus is located on land that was a former horse ranch. There were many good things about this school, but since the Christian education aspect is excellent at both schools, I think Vanessa prefers surfers over cowboys.

Point Loma Nazarene University

Today I took Vanessa (and Grant on school holiday) for her admissions interview at Point Loma Nazarene University-PLNU. The campus is beautiful--on the bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Very impressive! As good as Pepperdine in Malibu!

How could I forget my camera???

It's a smaller school with about 2000 students. So Vanessa would be able to make some good friendships and not get lost in the crowd.

Now we wait for her teachers' and other references to be written, grades to be sent, before she hopefully receives a letter of acceptance.

Afterward we drove to nearby San Diego along the bay and got caught in the traffic around the Carnival Cruise ship that had just returned (towed) to dock because it was stranded in the ocean for almost a week.

Then we returned to Point Loma for lunch at the Corvette Diner.

A fun, but tiring day.

A crazy week

Boy, oh boy, am I looking forward to my vacation

the week of Thanksgiving.

The past 10 days have been CRAZY busy.

Somehow, everything happened at once.

BUT...

English class and Good News club will be finished until the new year.

So I'll just have Scrooge rehearsals in the evenings for the next month.

How did I get involved in all this STUFF!?!?!

Gotta learn to say that "No" word more often.

Planning

Wait a minute!

I've rotated this picture three times,

and it still comes out sideways.

Oh, well.

After the Tom's luncheon party, Grant asked to come home with me to plan our annual Gingerbread House construction. We looked through many pictures and finally decided to do a log cabin with pretzels. Looks easy.

Grant, the only boy I've ever known who LIKES to clean house, also very sweetly asked...ASKED...if he could help me do something around the house. So he straightened up a couple of paper messes. I've been thinking about hiring one of the handicapped people from church to help a little, but I'm wondering if I shouldn't just hire Grant!

Retirement Party

Today I took a chance and surprised Tom

with a family Retirement Party at the Old Spaghetti Factory.

Roxanne & Eric helped get him there.

Vanessa was working on her college applications.

Grant was drawing a restaurant booth.

That kid needs to go to art school.

Jeanette & Roger were there (she with her broken arm).

Terry & Debbie (Eric's parents) were there.

Ryan & Tammie (Eric's sister) were there too.

He received several very nice cards and gifts

to celebrate his retirement.

It was a special day and he really appreciated it.

The children and I got him this plaque of appreciation.

I say I was taking a chance because many, many years ago I had to promise I would never throw him another surprise party after I hired a violinist to play for us at a restaurant.

Well, I suppose that was a little over the top.

But I thought it was TERRIBLY ROMANTIC...hint, hint, Tom.

He just thought it was TERRIBLE.

But he has thanked me several times for today.

Halloween Night and Reformation Day

What's Reformation Day? The day in 1517 Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the door of All Saints Church in Wittenberg--the catalyst for the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. Bless him!

All Saints Church Doors in Wittenberg, Germany

He was a good Catholic priest until he did the unthinkable!

He read his Bible!

Then decided the Bible had more authority

than the Catholic church hierarchy!

He discovery?

Salvation is by Grace alone

through Faith alone

in Christ alone.

Do we celebrate this in our protestant churches? It got mentioned in church yesterday, but those of us in non-liturgical churches don't do anything special to celebrate the day.

Shame on us.

What did most people in America prepare for yesterday?

Halloween!

We had a few more trick-or-treaters than usual, and they came in such cute costumes. I didn't even mind the teenagers who came--

they're not doing drugs!

They're only asking for a small piece of candy!

It's hard to grow up and leave the childhood traditions behind.

Of course, I saved back all the Snickers and M&M Peanuts for myself!

The Snickers have a special meaning for us since we went to England.

The exchange rate was not in our favor on that trip,

so we couldn't afford to eat in restaurants.

We ate very well and very cheaply from Sainsburys,

England's grocery store.

But we always carried a couple large Snickers with us

in case we couldn't find a Sainsburys when we were touring.

We'd eat from the little sidewalk shops--Cornish pies--yum!--

but mostly a piece of fruit and Snickers was lunch.

And we still lost weight--from walking our feet to the bone!

I always thought the name "Snickers" sounds so English.

Here's my best English accent,

"Would you like some tea with your Snickers, mum?"