The latest goings ons

Jon and I had our first day of a new ministry on Sunday. We are starting a Sunday morning Bible study and singing time at a physical therapy place. (For you Columbites, it's like the nursing home ministry, only at a rehab center.) We found out last Monday that it was going to start on Sunday, so that gave me 6 days to dust off the guitar I hadn't played in a few years and try to remember any chords I had learned. My fingers have been in constant pain this week as I've worked on getting callouses. Today I think they're finally beginning to form.

Anyway, I learned two hymns and two praise songs, to be played according to who was there (from the people we met Sunday, I'll only be learning hymns from now on). Jon put together a Bible study about Zaccheus (the wee little man).

I realized that my week of playing was not enough to actually be any good, but I felt pretty confident that I could play the tunes as long as Jon sang, but I couldn't do both at the same time. On Sunday morning, Jon was struck by "The Crud" and wasn't going to be able to sing. I frantically called my friend Margie, who by some miracle was running late and hadn't left for church, yet. She agreed to sing, thank goodness!

The only problem was that Margie is an alto, and I don't know how to transition songs to a lower key. So we had Margie trying to squeak out "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" while Jon tried his best with the lower notes, and I tried to at least hit the high notes while still getting the rhythm right on the guitar. Needless to say, it was a mess and I've got a lot more practice ahead of me. :)

We only had two ladies attend, and they were both very sweet Christian ladies who appreciated that they had a place to worship on a Sunday when they would miss their own church services. Jon did an excellent job with Zaccheus, and then we rushed away to make it back to church in time for Sunday School. I think we learned many things on our first trip out there, and hopefully everything will smooth out as we get more used to it. I think we'll have more attendees, too, when word gets out.

Our church has a volleyball league that happens every fall, and our Young Marrieds department is one of the teams. We try our best, but we're not very good. As a matter of fact, sometimes we're downright bad. Like yesterday, for example, we played two teams, three games with the first team and four with the second (they beat us so quickly we had time for one more game). We lost all 7 games! How amazing is that! And did I mention that the team who beat us four times was the 50-somethings team?

I know I definitely contribute. Yesterday the ball came right to me, and I caught it. I caught it! What was I thinking?! I also have a tendency to duck, too. Never put a person on the court who is afraid of balls.

But we have a blast. We laugh through everything, and occasionally we win a game or two. Last night two of our teammates played for the other team because they didn't have enough players (we always have good participation, despite our lack in talent). Both players were very good, Mike and Joanna. Mike spikes very well, and very hard. I learned this firsthand last night when I returned the ball with a head butt. Make that a face butt. Basically, Mike spiked the ball right into my face. It wasn't his fault at all, and he felt really bad, especially when my glasses flew in three different directions. Joanna took me home (because I couldn't drive blind!) to get my contacts to finish out the games.

Despite a swollen nose, a bruised cheekbone, and broken glasses, there are several positive things that come from this story. One, I found out I play much better with contacts. Two, I was getting kind of tired of my glasses anyway, and don't really think the prescription was correct. Three, I had been putting off going to the optometrist about getting the right contacts (the ones I've tried lately dry out my eyes) and this makes me have to deal with it now. Four, when the ball hit my face, it bounced off and back over the net, where the other team was not paying attention (something about a person getting whacked in the face can be distracting) and I got our team a point! Woohoo!

Jon missed the games because he was home sick. The cool front turned a little allergies into a full-blown sinus infection, and he was trying to get some rest. We've both been bundled up in blankets the past few days. You who know us know we hate to spend money as a general principle, and especially on things like heating and air conditioning. So it's nice to never hear the AC come on, and we haven't wanted to turn the heater on quite yet. Needless to say, I wore a hat in the the house all day yesterday, and we've stayed pretty well bundled up. Little Friday is looking rather poofy; I think he's figuring out what all his fur is for. He's also figuring out that my lap is warmer than the floor, and I just may have a lap cat after all. At least during the winter. :) But don't worry about us! (To my grandparents and parents who read this) We really could afford the heater if we wanted to turn it on, and it's not really that cold--just a big difference from the 85 degrees we kept it set on during the summer. :) And now that we're in the cooler months, we have an advantage that we can always pile on more clothes to stay warm!

See, to me, the air conditioning is like a contest. It's a battle of wills. Who will win? TXU or me? Of course, with TXU's rates always going up and up, I think they still win, but they don't get as much out of me as they could! Hahaha! I have prevailed! I have stood strong, battled hard, endured much! You shall never conquer me, TXU!

I gotta go grab another pair of socks....