Friday Fragments…

They say “no news is good news”, but that’s not always true.  Sometimes “no news” means the writer just hasn’t felt like blogging.  This blogger falls into that category. It’s been nine days since I last posted, and I hate to get too far behind.  I’m attempting to do a little catching up, today.

Last week was very hot, and very dry!  I felt like a prisoner in my own home, all week.  With the exception of feeding the chickens twice a day, picking up the eggs once a day, and watering my flowers, I stayed inside.  Thankfully, this week has been somewhat better.

Ed and I did venture out in the heat, last Wednesday, to take our van back to the car dealership.  We  needed to let them install an [over-flow] drain hose that apparently got omitted when the van was built. This factory over-sight caused  massive fume build up [inside the car], every time Ed over-filled the gas tank.  We spent three and a half hours waiting for the repair, but even that was much better than the guy sitting next to us who spent  about seven and a half hours waiting to have two bulbs changed and an a/c switch ordered.  That’s ridiculous!

Then, on Thursday, of last week, we had a surprise visit from the pastor of the church we’ve been attending [for the past four months].  He came to bring us some sad news–that he would be resigning as pastor of the church on Sunday.  We were very sad to hear this news– not just because we like the pastor, and many folks at the church, but mainly because of the reason behind his resignation.

We knew, for a while, there have been some problems within the church, but, the church leadership (deacons) recently made a decision that the pastor couldn’t, in good conscience, support.  (They basically got together and reversed a decision they’d made, earlier, at the advice of the pastor.)  This reverse decision was made at the recent deacon’s meeting, so we didn’t know anything about it.  Ultimately, what all this means is we’re now without a church home–again.  We can’t, in good conscience, stay at a church that condones sin, and that’s what this decision amounts to.  Sigh.  My heart aches.  It aches for the pastor and his wife, it aches for us, it aches for our son (who has also left the church), and it aches for the church, itself, which is headed down a very destructive path.

It was a somewhat stressful weekend, following the pastor’s visit, but we had the opportunity to go and spend some time with our youngest grandson, Evan, on Saturday evening. His parents went out for the evening, so “E” and “Mimi” got to babysit.  I think we all had a good time, I know we sure did!  We kept Evan at his house, which meant it was almost 1 a.m. when we got back to our own home.  On the way home, I made the comment to Ed, that it had been a l-o-n-g time since we’d been out until 1 a.m. Ha!

I’m not ashamed to tell you that I cried off and on all day Sunday.  It felt like we’d had a death in our family.  I couldn’t help but wonder what else is going to happen to us, this summer?  Ed went to church, one last time, as a show of support for the pastor, while he resigned.  I just couldn’t bring myself to go.  I prefer to keep the happy memories, of the Sunday before, as my last ones of that church.

On Monday morning, I still felt “blue”, so I asked Ed to take me to my “happy place” on St. Simon’s Island.  We threw our chairs in the van, and headed out on a road trip.  I’m so glad we went!  I could feel my tension melt away as I breathed in the salt air, and felt the sea breeze on my face.  I came home feeling much better.

We had a nice surprise, on Tuesday, when Brad (our youngest son), and grandson, Evan, came over for an evening visit.  Brad said Evan had asked to see us, so they came over to visit with us while Jennifer worked late.  They also ate supper with us.

The rest of this week has been fairly uneventful.  Just the usual things have been going on–Ed mowing some grass, while I’ve been doing a little bit of housework–and I do mean a little.  I’ve been doing some painting on a statue for the yard, and we “dusted” the chickens for mites one evening.  That was an adventure, since chickens don’t appreciated being disturbed after they’ve gone to bed for the night 🙂

We have no real plans for this weekend.  As far as church plans go, for now, we plan to go and visit the assisted living facility where our son brings a message every Sunday afternoon. Hopefully, the folks there won’t mind if we visit and worship with them. Perhaps we can all be a blessing to each other.