Catching up with my life

I have a bunch of things I would love to blog, but I've been quite busy the past few weeks. I got taken out for over a week with a miserable cold after Thanksgiving, and since then have been trying to get everything organized and arranged for out Christmas Eve service at 1st Congregational Church of Waseca, MN. This is my first Christmas Eve service as Senior Pastor, and I must confess I am totally AMPED for it! It's still a few days away and I can hardly wait. Imagine how kids get antsy to open presents, well that is how I'm feeling for this service. Weather is supposed to be good, and I'm praying for a HUGE turn out to hear about Jesus!

We traveled to Colorado for Thanksgiving and spent some great time with my in-laws and some of my own aunts and uncles who call the Ft. Collins/Loveland area home. It was a very nice get away, but unfortunately much too short. But life and ministry call! And I was reminded on this trip just how much I hate United Airlines. Horrible planes, goring you for extra money at every opportunity, and bad service. It's no wonder airlines live in bankruptcy!

I have almost all of my Christmas shopping wrapped up which is a relief. Before this past weekend I was at a loss as to when I was going to get around to it, and what even I was going to get people this year. Everything seems to have worked itself out now.

I installed a new (used) phone in my office the other day. It was given to me by my friend Jeff a year ago with the thought I might sell it on Ebay. The battery life on my office phone was nearly zero, so I dug this out and hooked it up. It's a fancy 3-line office phone made by Venture. It is more phone than I really need, but I do really like it. I has a great speaker phone which is a must if you ever get put on hold. It also allows me to tap into our fax line at the church so that when my secretary is on our primary line, I can still call out. Not that it is a frequent problem, but it is nice to have that option.

We'll be traveling to Sioux Falls, SD to visit my family for Christmas for a few days and I am really looking forward to that. After that we will be taking some personal time, but we haven't (yet) figured out exactly where we are going or what we will be doing. We're trying to balance low cost, fun, new, and hopefully somewhere warmer that Minnesota. We'll see what that translates into.