Abiding...

YMCA...not!

My title at work is, "Community Development Specialist" which means I spend my time doing...you guessed it, community development. Community development encompasses a wide variety of things, all of which I enjoy. One of the things I'm currently working on is the development of a local YMCA. I'm leading a Founder's Committee of local residents who are interested in bringing a Y to this community. Today was the first phase of our Needs Assessment. The Y sent three YMCA executives to our community to interview 30 community leaders. The logistics of the day were mine to deal which I didn't mind at all. I like that kind of thing. However, there was one thing about today that really got on my nerves. I can't tell you how many people suggested that I stand in the hallway and sing this song:

I love community development and I'll do just about anything to help improve the community I live in. Almost anything with the exception of wearing a costume and performing like one of the Village People. There. I just had to make that known to someone.

The pecan incident

This past weekend we traveled to Lancaster for the day to visit our son Jordan who had flown from Clemson to Pennsylvania to visit his girlfriend who attends Elizabethtown College. We had a great day with the exception of about 15 minutes when Jeff almost killed us on our way to the restaurant where we were meeting for dinner. You see, Jeff loves pecans. A lot. In the car was a brand new can of pecans that Jeff was enjoying. He was enjoying them so much that he forgot watching the road was an important task when driving. When he finally saw his way clear of the pecan euphoria, he realized that we were going to drive through a red light. What transpired next involved screeching tires and me grabbing the pecans and throwing them in the back of the car. That was followed by a few minutes of less than happy conversation. But, once it was over, it was over. We've come along way in our relationship! The remainder of our day was wonderful.

Yesterday Jeff was talking to his mother on the phone. She's convinced that we are still in a deep state of mourning over our children growing up and leaving home. We are sad, there's no doubt about that. But, we're really handling it quite well. Jeff told his mother about Saturday's little pecan incident because by this point he saw the humor in it. She said, "Do you think the underlying stress and sadness of having the kids gone led to the disagreement?" Jeff quickly directed the question to me and said, "So Deb, do you think the underlying stress and sadness of having the kids gone led to our little pecan incident yesterday?" Without thinking I said, "No. You were being an ass and almost drove through a red light, that's what led to the pecan incident."

Like I said, we've come a long way in our relationship.

Extravagant

Three years ago I traveled to the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia to attend a workshop at Linwood House. The workshop was wonderful. The people I met were amazing and I continue to cherish their friendships. Linwood House was such a beautiful, peaceful refuge. Both the house and the way we were treated by the people there were extravagant. Extravagant...exceeding the bounds of reason; going beyond what is deserved or justifiable. It was during my time there that I first began to really think about how extravagant God's love is. Over the past three years I have experienced that extravagant love over and over again. I can't say that I comprehend it but I can say that I now accept it. I don't think the past three years would have been such an amazing time in my life if I hadn't experienced the extravagantness of Linwood House and its people. 

A week or two before traveling to Linwood House I heard the Casting Crowns song, "Your Love is Extravagant". When I think about Linwood House and my time there, I immediately think about this song.

Blogging virtues

My recent blogging habits stink. For the past few weeks (months?) I've been chalking it up to being busy. Work has been a little hectic. Getting the kids off to school was time consuming. Blah, blah, blah. Busyness is really just an excuse. I'm not sure why I haven't been writing. With the exception of the people who have emailed me to check in, I doubt anyone even comes here any longer since there's nothing new to read. I don't even come here any longer. When you forget the url for your own blog, I think that means something needs to change. Over the past three years I have often considered laying the blog to rest. I've wrestled with making changes and blogging anonymously or only writing about non-personal topics. I've not been able to do any of those things. Blogging has been good for me. It's stretched me and provided some discipline and accountability of sorts. Blogging has also opened the door to meeting some amazing people...people who have become good friends. So I guess I'm saying that I'm not ready to write a "R.I.P Abiding" post yet. I'm going to make an attempt to post regularly again. Whether people read along or not isn't the reason I started blogging and it's not the reason I'll continue. It's good for me. God knows I've spent enough time doing things that aren't good for me.

Lions and Tigers, Oh my!

If football is any indicator of a college's excellence, then it appears that my sons have made superb choices!

Penn State  59 - Florida International 0 (September 1, 2007)

Clemson University  24 - Florida State - 18 (September 3, 2007)

     Go Lions and Tigers!