Time Marches On

I see that it has been a long time since adding to this.  All the best intentions in the world can't keep up with the number of "things" that I have planned.  And there is the key...planning.  Plans seem to be interupted, redirected, and overridden at a whim...either mine or someone elses.

Summer was busy.  Lots of traveling.  Two trips to Spokane and one to Georgia.  The first trip to Spokane was by air.  The next two trips were road trips.  I traveled through a total of 14 states in about 6 weeks...whew!  It was fun but tiring.

August was spent at the lake cabin in Washington.  It was interesting.  I had my parents with me for the entire time.  Dad's memory continues to deteriorate.  Mom's frustration level continues to escalate.  It is a tough time for both of them.  I would like to help more, but I don't know what there is I can do except be there to listen.  Life is hard sometimes.
I did get some work done at the cabin.  The roof is repaired, the kitchen sink drains again, and I got the out-buildings painted.  There is always something that needs to be done at the cabin.  But, then, it is about 100 years old!  Hopefully, I can do my part in keeping it standing another 100 years.

Quilts, Quilts & More Quilts

Today was the "Birthday Party" at my quild group, the Paradise Valley Piecers.  We celebrate everyone's birthday in April instead of trying to celebrate each one individually or even every month.  It works out well and its fun.  Each of us is required to make a quilt for donation to the center where we meet.  We call them "Rent quilts".  In lieu of rent to the facility where we meet, we donate quilts and they can give them out to the charities of their choice.  It was a good party and fun "show & tell".  This is the quilt that I donated.  It was from a kit that someone else had given up on.  It was suppose to be a wallhanging but I made it bigger by adding the green & yellow "Monkey Tails" border. 

Is It Me?

I went to church this morning looking forward to spending some time worshiping God and hearing a meaningful message.  Instead, my church has changed yet another thing.  Let me back up a bit here.  I started going to this church about 3 years ago.  I checked it out and loved the way that things were done.  It is a Bible-based church, which was a definite must.  I was raised as a Methodist, but that church just doesn't seem to draw my attention to God now.  This new one is an evangelical covenant church.  A little over a year ago things started to change and, in my opinion, not in a good way.  The minister took a 3 month sabbatical.  During that time, he was offered a different job.  Not long after our music director quit.  Then a couple of months ago we lost another of the pastors.  (We had 3.) The church had already started looking for a new lead pastor.  The search took most of the year.  I waited hoping the new lead pastor would be a fresh new aspect, infusing new life into the church.  He started in January.  Each week has seemed more and more disappointing to me.  The messages have been okay, but not anything really convicting.  Maybe that is just my own apathy coming through.  The truly disturbing part is that each service begins with a type of banter with a female person (not really sure who she is or her role in the church exactly) which seems a little too "game show banter-ish" for me (picture Pat & Vanna talking about minor church issues).  Okay, so the new pastor IS from California.  Maybe they do things differently there.  The next 15 minutes are spent telling us why we should "give sacrificially" because the church needs more staff & more room & more & more & more.  Really?? So we moved from "game show" to "info-mercial".  Then we have had at least 5 or 6 "guest" music leaders since January.  They play the music loud and fast.  Its Christian Rock.  Would I hear God when He does have something to say? Today, we couldn't go into the church until the band finished whatever it is that they do before service.  They "couldn't seat" me until the band gave the "thumbs up".  It is feeling more and more like a rock concert. So service is "game show" > "info-mercial" > "rock concert"...then a short time for the actual message.  I wouldn't be surprised if they started selling tickets soon.  That would cover the music and the need to collect money!
In case you are still wondering, yes, I am looking for a different church home.  It doesn't have to be all "old hymn" style.  I like some of the rock music, but it would be nice to have a balance of the two.  I feel a little sad at the way worship seems to be changing.
Now I have had my say and that will be it from me.  I hope I didn't offend anyone.  I just needed an outlet for my disappointment. 

I've tried blogging once before and found that I had a hard time keeping up with anything that might be interesting.  Everyone else seems to have so much more to say and their activities seem more interesting.  But I am going to give this another try.  Bear with me as I figure it out.