GA Committee Reports

Here's a round-up of actions taken by GA committees in the past couple of days, as reported by the Presbyterian News Service (cross posted with the GA Newsblog):

New Covenant Overture Approved: By a 67-4 margin, the Social Justice Issues committee voted to approve the PNC overture to urge Congress and the President not to saddle future generations with any more debt. The overture asks the GA to “declare that federal government practices and policies that create ever-increasing debt and unfunded or underfunded obligations for future generations of Americans are a grave moral concern as well as a clear danger to the republic” and calls upon public leaders “to have the courage to address this economic and moral crisis while there is still time.”

Revision of the Authoritative Interpretation Regarding "Scrupling" Ordination Standards: The General Assembly Committee on Church Orders and Ministry has voted to recommend that the 218th General Assembly adopt a supplementary authoritative interpretation of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) constitution that applies the historical practice of “scrupling” — the declaration of conscientious objection by candidates for ordination coupled with discernment by the ordaining body whether the declared objection is disqualifying — equally to all ordination standards of the denomination. See the full story here.

Fidelity and Chastity: The GA Committee on Church Orders and Ministry voted to recommend the deletion of 6.0106b of the Book of Order. Here's the link to the story.

Definition of Marriage: The GA Committee on Church Polity rejected an overture from the Baltimore Presbytery to define marriage as between "two people". Read the full report here.

Form of Government Task Force: The FOG report will be revised by an expanded task force, which will be instructed to take the comments received so far into consideration in making its revisions. Then the revised FOG will go to presbyteries for a period of discussion and consideration. PNC formed its own study group this year which produced a very thorough analysis of the present FOG proposal, which was distributed at the last presbytery meeting. Go here for the full story from the GA.

Calvin Bobbleheads

Yes, your eyes do not deceive you. It's a John Calvin bobblehead doll. Apparently they are being sold at PresbyFest in San Jose (a/k/a General Assembly). I SO want one for the dashboard of my car. Wouldn't that be cool? Much better than a plastic Jesus. Won't one of our New Covenanters bring one back for me? Please?

(Photo by Joseph Williams of GA News)

GA Blogging Week

This week QG will be pre-occupied as editor of Presbytery of New Covenant's General Assembly Newsblog, so blogging here at QG may be light on non-existent. Fellow PresbyPolityGeeks, check out the GANewsblog.

Congratulations to fellow PresbyBlogger Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow on his election as Moderator of the PCUSA for the next two years.

The most important election for the denomination comes at the end of the assembly when the new Stated Clerk will be elected. Rev. Winfield ("Casey") Jones, of New Covenant Presbytery, is one of the candidates for this post. Our presbytery commended him to the commissioners for their consideration. (Full Disclosure: Casey is a friend and colleague and I serve on his advisory committee.)

Rev. Debbie Cenko placed his name in nomination at the GA on Sunday evening (see photo, courtesy of PNC's Stated Clerk, Rev. Diane Prevary). I'll be following this election very carefully. The rules of the election are very restrictive, and frankly favor the choice of the Nominating Committee. However, in deference to them, I will just state for the record that if Casey Jones became our next Stated Clerk, I would be profoundly encouraged about the future of the PCUSA.

Book Review: Under The Banner of Heaven

This is another one of the books my brother recently recommended to me. Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer is an investigative report about the shadowy obscure world of Mormon fundamentalism as practiced in remote areas of the mountain West.

Taking a particularly horrific double murder in one of these communities as the central theme of the book, Krakauer skillfully weaves in a well-researched history of the Mormon church and analysis of the modern-day schismatics who cling to the polygamist practices that the LDS renounced more than a century ago.

The expansion of one of these sects into Texas in the last few years as the Yearning for Zion ranch was established in west Texas resulted in the recent raid on the ranch and the removal of the minor children there after child protection authorities received a phone call allegedly from one of the minor girls saying she was being abused. The caller turned out to be bogus, but the concerns about the treatment of the children remained and the state of Texas is still involved in the case although some of the children have been returned to their parents. As a former prosecutor of child abuse cases, I had followed this story with a lot of interest and had many questions about how these sects developed and why they were allowed to continue their polygamist practices with regard to underage girls.

Under the Banner of Heaven gives a thorough background for those interested in trying to understand the origin and appeal of these fundamentalist Mormon sects and to answer the question of why authorities in the western states tend to leave them alone. I recommend it if you are interested in the subject.

Set Your Bookmarks for GA

As General Assembly is approaching, PresbyPolityGeeks may want to check out the list of websites I posted on the PNC GA Newsblog.

Friends, set your bookmarks and let's get to blogging!

2008 GA Theme Song

~with apologies to Dionne Warwick~

Can you pray your way to San Jose?
Two years passed since the last GA
That’s when the PUP came out to play
Who will moderate the GA in San Jose
Shoemaker, Teng, Mazza or Reyes-Chow?
GA could bring understanding, brotherhood or
Just another PresbyRow
Newbie commissioners just come and go
But the Stated Clerk stays on the roster
Will it be Tarbell, Jones, Parsons or Koster?
At the end of the week--they’ll vote on the Clerk
And then go home and tell the folks about the days they spent at GA.
Wo oh oh oh
And wonder how they got to San Jose
Wo oh oh oh
Will you pray their way to San Jose?

Father of the Year

From time to time I have referred to our good friend Dr. O and his family. Dr. O has long been an inspiration to the entire extended QG family and we were all thrilled to see him profiled for Father's Day in a local magazine.

We first met Dr. O more than 20 years ago at church. Doc is one of Dr. O's protege's and he came up to NYC for the big wedding last weekend along with the rest of the gang from Houston.

Dr. O's daughters Valerie and Jessica were Portia and Babs' good friends growing up--Valerie sang at Portia's wedding and Jessica was a reader at the service.

A book would be needed to do justice to the subject of Dr. O's life, though. (Maybe someday I will write it.) The article is pretty good--as far as it goes. You can read it here, click on the 8th photo on the far left sidebar to get the first page of the article.

By the way, Dr. O is a Presbyterian elder. He is a loyal Presbyterian because of the missionaries to Nigeria who ran the schools that educated him, and the Presbyterian church in Columbia, SC that sponsored him as an undergraduate and medical student. Sometimes we do things really really right!

Anyone who is interested in the missional church would do well to emulate Dr. O. He is a blessing to his family, his friends, his church, his community and the world.

Beatrice Blogs: Port Alto Goes To The Dogs

WOOF! This is a photo Mom took of me at Port Alto a few weeks ago. I'm sitting on her lap on the front porch overlooking the bay at Port Alto.

I've been wondering when I would get to go back and she says we're going tomorrow. Must be a reward for bunking at the Animal Inn with Olivia. She snores, you know.

But she doesn't snore as badly as Duchess, SIL's bulldog, who will probably be down there with her. Plus my cousins Dolley and James could be there with Mom's niece, Aunt Sissy, and her daughters.

Port Alto=Freedom from Invisible Fences, leashes, and Real Fences at home. A dog can run around the yards, down the pier and if she's lucky, get invited for a ride on a boat (with a doggie life vest, of course). FREEDOM FREEDOM FREEDOM!

I'm thinking us dogs can take over! We can take on those big dogs across the way if we stick together. A couple of chesty growls from old Duchess would make anyone turn tail and run. Then we can get everyone up as soon as the sun comes up with our own BarkFest! Heh-Heh. That would be fun! Then we can run in circles, sniff up a storm, and have naps until lunch.

Duchess will have to eat the puppy food Mom keeps for me and Olivia down there unless she brings her own. What an embarrassment! All the Big Dog Food in the world won't help her if I decide to run around her in circles and then scoot between her legs and make her fall down. Hah! Just kidding. Sorta.

James and Dolley are Dachsies like me. Last time we were down there I met another Dachsie who lives down the street. That's four dachsies, one bulldog. Dachshunds Rule! Bulldogs Drool!

Uh-oh, I hear Mom coming. TTFN.

Beatrice

The Hermeneutics Quiz

Here's an interesting quiz that assesses how you interpret the Bible. I scored a 50, which is conservative, but almost moderate. The "conservative" range is 20 to 52.

Hmm. I would have scored myself as conservatively moderate (in the 52 to 60 range), rather than progressively conservative. But for an internet quiz, that's not too bad a result.

Hat tip: Presbyweb.

Dancing the Cotton-Eyed Joe in NYC

We're back from Queenie and Doc's wedding in New York. ( Aside for new readers: Doc is my nephew and Queenie is Portia's college roommate who met Doc almost 2 years ago when she came to Texas to be a bridesmaid in Portia and DK's wedding.)

Here's a quick wrap up of an unforgettable weekend:

• The QG family became fast fans of Jet Blue after our first round trip flight on that airline. It flies out of the airport closest to our home in the Houston area and had beaucoups of leg room. It's the first time El Jefe and I can ever remember actually being comfortable for three plus hours in a plane.
• When we arrived, the weather was perfect. Then a big heat-wave hit the area and it was actually cooler back home. The locals joked we brought the Texas summer with us. Sorry!
• Queenie's family are part of the local Italian-Croatian community and could not have been more hospitable and friendly to everyone.
• The reception was so awesome--at a beautiful club on Long Island Sound with panoramic views of the ocean.
• Music at the reception was a country-western/Croatian mix. The Texans taught the Croatians to dance the Cotton-Eyed Joe! My feet still hurt.

And now for the Ave Maria review: it went very well indeed. Let me just say that one of the groomsmen told me afterwards that I "really nailed it" and many in Queenie's family went out of their way to tell me how much it meant to them. I'm sure your thoughts and prayers helped me a lot, too!

I do have a question about the ceremony that some of you may be able to answer. The officiant was a "deacon" and not a priest of the Catholic church. I'm sure the church has given him the power to conduct weddings, but I'm not familiar with this position in the Catholic tradition--it is clearly different from a Presbyterian deacon! Queenie and her family are Catholic and members of the church where the wedding was held, but Doc has not become a Catholic. Mass was not celebrated at the service, either, so a priest was not needed for that.

What authority does a deacon have in the Catholic church? Or can it vary by diocese?

Getting To Know God

This summer I'm participating in a group study of Knowing God by J. I. Packer at church. Members of the group will be leaders for the upcoming BSD study of the same name. The study is not a study of this book, but a theme Bible study: the idea is that the book will be a good preparation and supplement for the leaders.

Today is the first meeting, so I finished reading the first two chapters and answering the questions in the study guide. It is often said that the best way to learn about the Bible is to actually READ the Bible itself and not what other people write about what the Bible says. (What a concept!) The goal of this study is to help you go beyond reading about God -- to develop a relationship and understanding of who He is through prayer and meditation.

I'm looking forward to what I hope will be a real growth experience.

"Idol" For Classical Music Fans

Last night while playing with my remote control I stumbled across Bathroom Divas.

There are several short videos from the show on You Tube, so here is one of them for those of you interested in checking it out.

Divas is a reality show in which aspiring opera singers go to an "opera boot camp" and then are judged on how much they have improved week to week. The prize is the chance to sing with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. So I can't call it the Classical American Idol because it is a Canadian production (although apparently by the American reality network Bravo which brings us Project Runway and Top Chef). It's on a network called Ovation, which I don't remember seeing before.

Bathroom Divas has the usual drawbacks of a reality show, although I thought the episode I saw had much less feigned drama than Top Chef and Project Runway. The remarks of the vocal coaches were fascinating to me as an avid amateur classical singer myself. I got interested in it because one of the young women in the competition chose to learn the incredibly difficult aria of the Queen of the Night from Mozart's Magic Flute. What a gutsy move! And she did a creditable job and moved on to the next round.

Playing around with the You Tube videos, I learned that the first season winner was the guy who was a country-western singer! Do you love it?

Classical music fans, check it out!

W Week

This week is being brought to me by the letter W.

Wedding preparations for Doc and Queenie are the focus of the week as we all prepare to go to NYC for their nuptials next weekend.

Worry about whether or not I have spent sufficient time learning to sing the Ave Maria for the service is starting to set in. Also the fact that I don't have a copy of "On Eagles Wings" to take with me is making me antsy. Note to self: take care of that tomorrow.

Wonder about whether Portia's bridesmaid dress, El Jefe's tux and my formal for the service and reception will be less wrinkled if packed in a hanging bag or a suitcase is pre-occupying my mind.

W, my brother, was released from the hospital and is at home following serious spinal fusion surgery and faces a lengthy recovery. Also one of Dutch's (El Jefe's elderly father) caregivers was diagnosed with a return of leukemia. Prayers appreciated!

Will Beatrice and Olivia (Portia and DK's dog) enjoy their stay at the Animal Inn while we're all away? Gretel always did, but this will be their first time not to stay with a family member. They will get to stay in the same "suite", though.

Where is my "to-do" list? There's a lot on it for today since I've got meetings later this week--gotta go!

In Search Of New Entrees

Someone once wrote that there are only five entrees that Americans really cook and eat, for all our fascination with the Food Network and celebrity chefs. Chez QG those dishes are: meatloaf, grilled steak, baked chicken breast, spaghetti with meat sauce or balls; and El Jefe's favorite Greek Shrimp.

This week in a fit of culinary boredom, I decided to try out two new recipes: Gnocchi with Chicken and Pineapple-Shrimp kebabs. El Jefe gracefully ate the gnocchi, which also had gorgonzola cheese and pinenuts. Truly, chicken/gorgonzola cheese/pinenuts is a wonderful combination on a nice green salad. On hot gnocchi, not so much.

Last night I tried out the kebabs. I didn't cut the pineapple and red bell pepper thin enough for the shrimp. Result: I had to take the shrimp off and cook them in a pan because they didn't touch the grill! The garlic-lime-cilantro sauce that was drizzled over it was a keeper, though.

Babs was with us last night too, and brought a recipe for a Garden Risotto that she wanted to try, so we added that to the menu. She tweaked it by adding mushrooms to the spinach, onions, green peas and asparagus that went in the dish. Delicioso! Clearly the student has surpassed the teacher here.

Will the risotto make our dinner rotation? Probably if Babs is here because it is quite "fiddly" and requires lots of standing and stirring. If she's not, there's always the risotto in a box.

What five dishes are in your dinnertime rotation? Add anything new lately?

Start of Summer Meme

Toby Brown at Classical Presbyterian created a Start of Summer meme and tagged me. Looks like fun, so here goes:

1.) What first tells you that Summer is here?
Heat and humidity.

2.) Name your five of your favorite distinctively Summer habits or customs.
~ grilling outside
~ having parties around our pool
~ sitting outside on the porch in the evening with the ceiling fans going full blast
~ swimming
~ going to the coast

3.) What is your favorite smell of Summer?
The Gulf breeze.

4.) What is your favorite taste of Summer?
Icy cold watermelon and Texas Chocolate Sheetcake

5.) Favorite Summer memory?
Family time on the beach or at the swimming pool.

6.) Extreme heat or extreme cold? Which would you choose and why?
Heat. I'm used to heat--I grew up in San Antonio and have lived most of my adult life in muggy Houston. I spent 4 years in college in upstate New York and found extreme cold almost paralyzing.

7.) What books do you plan to read for the season?

Knowing God by J. I. Packer (reading it to prepare to lead my BSD group next fall)
Under The Banner of Heaven by John Krakauer (recommended by my brother)
How Africa Shaped The Christian Mind by Thomas Oden (just started it and not sure I'll finish it because the author seems to belabor the obvious)
Lamentations of the Father by Ian Frazier (I just began this collection of humorous essays--the title essay was so funny tears were running down my face)
Still working on Dallas Willard's The Divine Conspiracy. It's hard to read on your own.
Whatever else strikes my fancy along the way....

8.) How does the Summer affect your faith? Is it a hindrance or an ally?
It is definitely an ally. It's so important to take a break from the busy-ness of being involved in the church. The slower pace encourages more prayer and devotional time, too.

And what use is a meme if it isn't passed around? Let's see...

Presbyterian Gal, Mary Beth, zorra, Ruby and St. Casserole.

TAG! You're it!

Book Review: An Instance of the Fingerpost

After Babs moved out, I found an old copy of An Instance of the Fingerpost in her room. Seeing that it was written by the author of The Dream of Scipio, Ian Pears, which I enjoyed, I decided to read it. Since my paperback edition has 735 pages of very small print, this took a while.

Reviewers have compared Fingerpost to Umberto Ecco’s The Name of the Rose. Both are historical mysteries where the role of ideas is the key to the solving of the mystery. I've read both and I think I enjoyed Fingerpost more.

An Instance of the Fingerpost is set in 1663 England, just after the death of Oliver Cromwell and the Restoration of King Charles II. Civil strife and intrigue are the order of the day, and no one is who he or she seems to be.

The death of Dr. Robert Grove, apparently from poison, is the focus of the mystery. The story is divided into four sections--each written from the point of view of a different character, two of whom are historical figures. The reader is challenged to discern the truth that lies beneath the widely differing accounts which are shaped by the ideology and theology of each character.

The term “fingerpost” in the title is puzzling, but the introduction to the final quarter of the book is a quote from Sir Francis Bacon, who said “When in a Search of any Nature the Understanding stands suspended, then Instances of the Fingerpost shew the true and inviolable Way in which the Question is to be decided.” In other words, a fingerpost is a piece of evidence that excludes all but one possibility. Looking for that fingerpost will keep you occupied until the very last page.

An Instance of the Fingerpost makes a great (albeit L-o-n-g) summer read, particularly for those who enjoy English history. And do keep in mind that it is a work of fiction, not theology. If you finish the book, you'll see what I mean, but I can't be more clear without giving away the fingerpost.

Thien An Church Chartered

Sunday morning I traveled a mere 20 minutes by car from my house to the "Little Viet Nam" neighborhood in southwest Houston. There I was blessed to have the opportunity to participate in the THIRD new church chartering service in the presbytery of New Covenant this year. Unfortunately I missed the first one because of a previous out-of-town commitment, but the past two Sundays got two back-to-back.

Thien An means "grace" in Vietnamese and the service was grace-filled, indeed! Also totally Vietnamese with some English translation. Fair enough! Trust me, it's a whole new experience to try to sing praise songs in Vietnamese, following the phonetic spelling on the big screen. But the congregation was very happy that our linguistically challenged group from presbytery gave it a go.

Here's the very best part of all: the service concluded with the baptism of 10 adult believers and the confirmation of 2 youth. But then one more woman came up from the congregation and asked to be baptized as well. Eighty-eight people had petitioned the presbytery for the charter and after the baptisms, the new congregation had 101 members! Afterwards I got someone to snap this picture of me and some of the Tien An members, proudly displaying their PC(USA) charter.

When El Jefe served as clerk of session at our previous church and had the responsibility for making census reports, he remarked that most of the time we weren't making new disciples, just "exchanging hostages" with other Presbyterian and mainline Protestant churches and reflected that if we (and other churches) didn't find a way to reach non-believers, we could never hope to grow.

I am told that only a few of the members of Thien An church were Christians before they joined. The rest of them were Buddhists, reflecting their cultural background. Isn't it awesome how God is using this congregation to make new disciples for Christ...and not just "exchange hostages"?

As I left Sunday afternoon, Rev. Ho asked me to keep the congregation in my prayers. They are in my prayers and also in my heart. I'm eager to see what God will do next through his church, Thien An.

Tx Court Intervenes

Late yesterday the 3rd Texas Court of Appeals (Austin) handed down a ruling that the state of Texas had no right to remove children from the polygamist religious sect at the Yearning For Zion ranch in far west Texas. Presumably the state will appeal that decision to the state's supreme court. Meanwhile, it's unclear whether the state will have to return the children to their mothers and life at the YFZ ranch while an appeal to the supreme court is pending. More than 400 YFZ children are scattered across the state in foster care facilities.

I haven't read the decision, but it seems to me that the problem here is that the state is acting under child protection laws which address abuse and neglect in traditional families. Under these statutes, the courts are constrained from interfering with parental custody without a compelling showing of immediate physical harm to children. The rights of the parents and the goal of keeping the nuclear family together are the paramount goal.

These laws weren't written to address situations like those reported at the YFZ ranch where young girls are "married" to much older men,"wives" are routinely re-assigned by the head of the cult, and the teenage boys are run off lest they challenge the authority of the male elders. Although there are laws against polygamy, they aren't enforced and don't address situations like this. Unlike Utah and the four corners area of the southwestern US, Texas does not have a history of dealing with polygamist cults. I don't know if these other states have legislation that specifically addresses child protection issues in polygamist cults.

The Houston Chronicle reported the reaction of a young woman who escaped from this cult and is advising the state's child protection workers on how to work with these children. It is disturbing.

The case involves conflict between the protection of civil liberties and the need to protect children from what appears to be a predatory cult. It seems preposterous to apply the traditional view of the sanctity of the family and parental rights to this situation. On the other hand, the precedent set in this case might be applied to others less egregious.

Once again I see the wisdom in the old adage: hard cases make bad law. Hopefully the state supreme court will stay the enforcement of the appellate court's order until it can decide the case, allowing the children to remain where they are until a final decision is made. Pray for them.

Quorum Quandries

Lately we've been having problems getting a quorum for business in various presbytery committees. My presbytery is quite large geographically, so distance has always been a factor in making it difficult for folks to participate. With the price of gas what it is--there is no doubt more reluctance to use a half a tank or more just to commute to Houston for a presbytery meeting.

Of course there are no doubt other reasons as well. Everyone is very busy these days and its the busiest people who get the most done and they are the ones who agree to serve--but then their own schedules get in the way of that service. And let's face it, sometimes committee meetings are --ahem-- shall we say less than scintillating?

I'm sure we're not the only presbytery with the aforementioned problem. We're going to investigate other ways of arranging committee meetings to see if we can get better participation. Anyone out there in Presbyland tried teleconferencing or rotating meeting sites or anything else more creative than the traditional committee meeting at presbyHQ? How'd it work for you?

Or here's an idea--maybe we need fewer meetings than we think we do.

Book Review: The Shack

The Shack is one of those self-published phenomenons that slowly builds sales through word of mouth--and the virtual word--in the manner of Same Kind of Different As Me. The Shack has its own website that promotes the book, including forums for readers. It is also available on amazon and other online retailers.

I wouldn't have read or known about this book but for the recommendation from my brother. Here's how that went: he is facing serious back surgery later this week and so we had an email exchange about books he could read during his lengthy recovery. I recommended Same Kind of Different As Me, but warned him about the very painful descriptions of the death from cancer of the author's wife in the book. You see, my brother and his wife lost their precious daughter to cancer nine years ago. She was five when she was diagnosed and went through a lengthy, and ultimately futile, series of painful treatments, dying at age nine. I wanted him to know that was in the book in case he preferred to avoid reading about it.

However, he responded by saying: " All the really good books usually make me cry. That's okay with me. It usually just means that it has a profound message and I like those books. Sometimes tears are the only way to express how much something means to us--words are inadequate--and that is okay." Then he urged me to read The Shack, which revolves around a father's grief over the murder of his five year old daughter by a serial killer. My brother said it was the best book he had ever read. He sat up all night reading it in one sitting and then couldn't go to sleep because he kept thinking about it.

Of course I had to read it. I noticed that Eugene Peterson praised it as "the Pilgrim's Progress of our time." And Bunyan's allegory is a good comparison for The Shack, which is also an theological allegory. The grieving father, Mack, meets God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit in the very shack where his daughter was murdered. He is full of anger, guilt and grief and his relationship with God has been fractured. The appearance of each person of the Trinity is not what Mack expects, but then God tells him "this weekend in not about reinforcing religious stereotypes."

Each person of the Trinity engages in theological discussions with Mack about the nature of God, free will, love, redemption, God's plan for mankind, the role of relationships, etc. Although sometimes I found the writing stilted, or too precious, still the vision presented is powerful, imaginative, appealing and almost understandable. As I've admitted before, I'm not an expert theologian so I will leave examination of the theology of the book to others.

I wouldn't say it is the best book I ever read, but it is intriguing and spiritually uplifting. But then, I don't have the personal experience my brother did which caused him to resonate so powerfully with the story. I will say that I have a renewed feeling of hope and purpose after finishing it. It is a fascinating book and like my brother, I'll be thinking about Mack's discussions with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit for quite some time.

New Presbytery Website Design Debuts

Folks at presbytery have been working on an overhaul and re-design of the New Covenant website. The new site is now published and looks SO much cleaner and easier to navigate than the old one.

Check it out here.

One Charter Service Down, One to Go

Yesterday afternoon I had the very great privilege of participating in the service to charter a New Church Development congregation.

Translated from the PresbySpeak, this means that this congregation has met a number of standards (including financial stability and viability) and is now an official congregation of the PC(USA) in good standing.

This congregation, the Biyaya Community Church, has been forming since 1999 and began with a Filipino pastor who started an outreach to the Filipino community in the Sugar Land-Missouri City-Stafford suburban area southwest of Houston. The congregation has been "nested" in an established Presbyterian church in the area and meets in that facility on Sunday afternoons.

Today when we celebrated the chartering there were slightly over 100 people attending the service, which included the official installation of the pastor and the ordination and installation of the first session. The congregation is still primarily Filipino-American, but also has attracted Africans and African-Americans.

I was particularly impressed with their praise band--a group of talented young people who could really rock that contemporary worship music. And I do mean ROCK! I'm not a fan of praise music, as my gentle readers know, but I give a big tip of the QG hat to this all volunteer group which displayed both good musical skills and sincere and inspiring delivery of the songs. If we had a presbytery Battle of the Praise Bands, they would be hard to beat!

Of course no service like this can conclude without a big reception, and this was no different. The members of the congregation outdid themselves with a big spread of traditional Filipino goodies, which I couldn't identify if my life depended on it but were all delicious.

And amazingly enough, I get to do this again next Sunday when the chartering service for the Vietnamese NCD congregation is scheduled. The pastor of that congregation told me today to plan for the service to last from 10 to 12:30 because there would be 12 adult baptisms of folks converting from Buddhism to Christianity as part of this service. Stay tuned for that report!

Thanks be to God.

Sunrise Over Carancahua Bay This Morning

We spent the night at our bay house in Port Alto and I took these pictures this morning. Is it any wonder we hated to come back? The water was calm, the weather was cool-ish and the birds and fish were out.

In Which QG Didn't Pay Attention

RAZZLEFRACZIT!

I just realized that the new roll of stamps I bought a couple of weeks ago has stamps that look like this. A whole roll.

Bought in haste, repenting at leisure.
QG

My Mother's Day Present

I think El Jefe and the girls bought this as much for them as for me.

But I'm not complaining!

We tried it out and it works very well for a non-commercial size margarita machine. But we weren't happy with the mix we used and are looking for something better.

Anyone have a great margarita recipe?

Meanwhile...lookin' for that lost shaker of salt...

PNC's GA NewsBlog Launched

We've launched a blog for the presbytery of New Covenant for the purpose of posting news of particular interest to those of us in PNC from the upcoming 218th General Assembly of the PCUSA (June 21-28). The idea is that our commissioners, staff and other PNC folk attending as observers will email events as they happen, along with their observations about their experiences.

You'll note the link on the sidebar of QG to the PNC GA Newsblog. That's because your humble scribe was asked by presbytery staff to stay home in her pajamas and act as blog administrator, editor, and general factotum because I have blogging experience. (The Moderator of PNC does not go to GA as a commissioner as is the case in some other presbyteries.) Having a separate blog for GA happenings will keep the QG blog from becoming hopelessly PresbyPolityWonkish and boring during GA. I will probably do some cross-posting, though.

Because we understand that there isn't internet access in the meeting rooms, I will also use other media sources for information. Fortunately, you don't need a press pass to be a blogger! But will I need new pj's? And a robe? Maybe green ones, since our presbytery logo is green?

A Good Meeting

Yesterday's presbytery meeting went very well, I think. We had a great speaker, Rev. Karl Travis who spoke on the spiritual aspects of stewardship; full worship with communion including the commissioning of our commissioners to General Assembly; and a smooth flow of business.

The meeting was held at First Presbyterian Church, Houston, which was the first church El Jefe and I were members of when we were first married. Both Portia and Babs were baptized there. I never would have imagined that one day I would be moderating the presbytery meeting at that church back when I was a young stay-at-home mom chasing two little girls!

There were a couple of highlights that are of general interest:

• Another new church will be chartered! That is the third church in seven months to be chartered in New Covenant. Tien-An Presbyterian Church began as a new church development in a largely Vietnamese area of Southwest Houston. Pastored by a Vietnamese immigrant, the congregation is now self-supporting and continuing to grow. About thirty very excited folks joined us from the church joined us as the motion to charter was made and passed. Only 10 of the present members of the church were Christian before they joined--the rest were Buddhists who have become Christians and been baptized. Alleluia!
  
• The presbytery voted to commend the candidacy for Stated Clerk of Rev. Winfield ("Casey") Jones to the commissioners who will be meeting at General Assembly in June. Rev. Jones is one of three candidates certified to stand for the election in addition to Gradye Parsons, the choice of the Nominating Committee. Jones is the pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Pearland. The text of the resolution as approved is posted on the presbytery's General Assembly Newsblog.
  

Friday Five: Gifts of the Spirit

Today's RevGals Friday Five is on the subject of the Gifts of the Spirit--an appropriate theme with Pentecost Sunday approaching. Host Presbyterian Gal asks several questions about dreams and visions, which upon reflection, I realized that I couldn't answer, not having any experience with those particular spiritual gifts.

It is fascinating to read the answers of those who have. But for me, the one response to the Friday Five that immediately came to mind is this verse from George Croly's wonderful hymn, Spirit of God Descend Upon My Heart:

I ask no dream, no prophet ecstasies,
No sudden rending of the veil of clay,
No angel visitant, no opening skies;
But take the dimness of my soul away.

Amen.

PNC's FOG Report Available

For my PresbyBlogging friends, I would like to call your attention to the excellent Form of Government Task Force Report produced by members of New Covenant Presbytery. The report is available here.

Members of the group did an outstanding job of analyzing the proposed FOG report in great detail. The group was composed of equal numbers of "liberals", "moderates" and "conservatives" and the fascinating thing is that at the end of the day they agreed on all the issues covered in the report. The report is too detailed to permit any kind of summary on a blog, but Commissioners to the upcoming General Assembly will find it a very helpful resource.

QG To Debut in NYC

Add this to the things I never dreamed I would do: sing Ave Maria at a wedding in a Catholic church in New York City.

Faithful readers may recall that my nephew Doc is marrying Portia's best friend from college, Queenie, who he met at Portia and DK's wedding.

I sang at both of Doc's sisters' weddings and so he and Queenie asked me to sing for them, too. Their choices are On Eagles Wings and Ave Maria.

I'm really familiar with On Eagles Wings, so that's no problem. Ave Maria is another story. It's not exactly a staple of the Protestant tradition, dontcha know, but it is a very traditional choice for Catholic weddings. I'm generally familiar with the song, but haven't ever sung it myself.

The internet to the rescue! Don't you love it? I found a site that allowed me to download both the sheet music and an mp3 file with the piano and voice parts (even the one transposed for soprano!!) that would help me learn it.

My late father, the staunch Calvinist, would have been mightily amused to see the day when his daughter sang Ave Maria at a wedding in New York. If you know what the Latin lyrics mean (and I do), it seems an odd choice for a wedding, but there's no doubt that it is a beautiful, prayerful piece.

So if you'll excuse me, gotta go work on those trills and double triplets.

Beware the Jabberwock!

Like many PresbyBloggers, I was dismayed by the recent GAPJC ruling in the Rev. Jane Spahr case. Amidst the dueling opinions issued (majority, partial majority, concurring, betwixt and between, etc.), the rationale for the decision that emerged was stunning in its sophistry. Stunning.

Rev. Spahr was honest and forthright about her actions and motivation--to bring a test case over what she believes is a justice issue. The majority ruling was dishonest in its attempt to dodge the central issue in the case which was Spahr's deliberate disobedience to the Book of Order's prohibition against conducting same sex marriage ceremonies.

Some have suggested the opinion was an attempt to avoid sparking controversy this close to the June General Assembly meeting. But the pot is now stirred to a froth, and all sides are riled up. The decision has undermined confidence in the church's highest court. The multiple opinions issued do not give reliable guidance to the church for the future and create confusion and uncertainty.

Yesterday Presbyweb posted a Viewpoint by Rev. Ed Koster, one of the candidates for Stated Clerk who is a lawyer as well as a minister, in which he pointed out several unintended consequences that could result from this jabberwocky, which is now legal precedent for the church. One these is that since G-6.0106(b) of the BOO limites ordination to those who are married or celibate, then non-celibate gays or lesbians who have been ordained are not really ordained: if it is impossible to marry a gay couple then it is likewise impossible to ordain non-celibate gays and lesbians. Koster is exactly right when he points out that this is the logical application of the rationale in the Spahr case to the ordination issue.

A bad decision, badly decided. Pass the slithy toves, I'm feeling rather mimsy. Brillig, anyone?

Height Problems

As I may have mentioned before, all of us Chez Grace are taller--much taller--than average. Every once in a while we run into people who just have to make stupid comments about it.

This weekend Portia and Babs attended a wedding shower for one of their friends. The shower was given by friends of her fiance's mother and apparently all of the rest of the group were very short. When Babs came over yesterday she said that she was amazed that many of them made remarks about how tall she and her sister are and asked them how that was for them. (Babs is "only" 5'10" while Portia is 6'1".)

"I wouldn't make remarks to someone who is short like that," she observed. We had a talk about other experiences like that we have all had. I reminded her that in our society height is really an advantage for women as well as men, as lots of studies have pointed out. Still, fielding remarks and questions about your personal appearance from strangers you have just met always makes us feel awkward.

When I was Babs and Portia's age, I was very self-conscious about my height, but now I tend to forget about it unless someone feels called upon to remind me of it, like I hadn't noticed. What? I'm tall??? You're kidding!! Gosh, thanks for pointing that out.

Remember Randy Newman's song "Short People"? I bet it was written by a tall gal who'd had one too many questions about whether she played basketball in high school.

Pray for the Boys, Too

Following up on my post yesterday about the children from the polygamist ranch near Eldorado, Texas, blogger Beau Weston noted the disparity in numbers between the teenaged boys and the girls in this community: authorities found the numbers of boys and girls roughly equal for those under age 13 , but remarkably skewed in favor of girls for those ages 13-17.

Where are the boys? Apparently teenaged boys are kicked out of these communities so they will not compete with the adult men for "wives". Weston speculates that some of them may be found on the streets of Fort Worth (or other cities in Texas).

Remember these boys in your prayers, too, wherever they are. Christ have mercy.

Thoughts on Eldorado

Since once upon a time I represented a Child Protective Services agency in Texas as an assistant district attorney prosecuting child abuse cases, I've been following the developments following the raid on the FLDS compound near Eldorado, Texas very closely and trying to decide how to post about them.

The Houston Chronicle has done a good job of continuing to follow the developments, which I haven't seen duplicated in the national news media which seems to have reported the sensational raid then returned to its coverage of presidential primary minutia.

Here's some of what the paper has reported, since the mass hearing in San Angelo:

• Twenty-five of the adult women were reclassified as minors after further investigation
• Forty of the adult women chose to request placement in domestic violence shelters rather than return to the compound
• 31 out of 53 of the teenaged girls at the Yearning for Zion Ranch were pregnant or had given birth--some more than once
• Group homes that are sheltering the children around the state have been advised to keep them isolated from other children and will conduct school for them on the premises rather than traumatizing them further by sending them to the local public schools (this is a big exception to the usual regulations which require prompt enrollment in the local public school)
• Workers in the homes are urged not to wear red (because the children have been taught to believe that this is a color reserved for Jesus' robes when he returns) and the men are to be clean-shaven and wear long-sleeved shirts so as not to alarm the children
• Social workers report the children have had very little education and their skills are significantly below grade level
  
• The children will not be exposed to television, radio, music, etc of the "outside world" for the time being to minimize the trauma of their removal
• Presbyterian Children's Homes and Services are caring for a significant number of the FLDS Children (see their story here) Hat tip: Classical Presbyterian
  

As I read these reports, I regret that we have set up our legal system makes it so difficult for authorities to rescue (yes, rescue) these women and children from the exploitation and oppression of a cult like this.

Recall that the complaint that triggered this raid has been shown to be fraudulent, which is going to be a big legal problem. Yet authorities in the area KNEW what was going on here for years and have not been able to intervene because there was no complaint or probable cause to go in there. If you saw any of those interviews with the women involved on television, you were probably just as creeped out as I was by their demeanor and obvious fear and oppression.

This case sets up a dramatic conflict in the courts between legitimate concerns about infringement on civil liberties and the responsibility of the community to protect minors and women from sexual abuse by those who are stronger and more powerful than they are. And of course, those children who were removed from the only home and family they have ever known and thrust into a world they have been taught to fear are suffering major trauma.

Still, some things in this fallen and sinful world are just wrong and dressing up false teachings in the guise of religious practice doesn't change that fact. Kudos to Judge Barbara Walther of San Angelo for taking on this case.

Hosting Book Discussion at RGBP

Today Presbyterian Gal and I will be busy hosting the RevGalBookPals discussion of James Robertson's novel, The Testament of Gideon Mack.

Click here to go over and join us in the discussion!

Book Discussion Coming Up Monday at RGBP!

This coming Monday, Presbyterian Gal and I will co-host the monthly RevGalBookPals discussion at the RevGalBlogPals site. The book for April is The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson, which I reviewed here.

If you've read the book, please join in the comments Monday. If you haven't read it you might like to check it out and see if you'd like to add this book to your reading list!

Give it Up for Nazbo II

Here's a challenge for PresbySeminarians everywhere: Can you match this Nazarene Rap group? They're dissin' your homie Calvin!

Be sure to watch it until the end when the Nazarene women get in on the act. Love the Church Lady!

Hat Tip: Ben Witherington

Concluding the Journey Through Hebrews

This was our last day of the 2007-2008 Bible Study Discussion program at church (a/k/a BSD, see this post a description). We finished the study of Hebrews that we began in September.

Hebrews is not a long book, so I wondered how the study could stretch out over eight months. It actually works very well, because there are so many references to the Old Testament in the book, that we spent a lot of time going back and reading those relevant passages that helped explain part of Hebrews.

There was a big celebration luncheon afterwards, and I came away with two lovely souvenirs shown in the photo at left: one is the lovely carved wooden angel which was a table decoration (reminiscent of chapter 1 of Hebrews) and the other is the metal sculpture given me by the members of the discussion group I led. The metal sculpture is called "Open Hearted Woman" which I love because it is so cheerful it makes me smile and remember each member of my wonderful group. I added the orchid plant to the shot because, well, don't an angel and an open-hearted woman deserve a bunch of orchids?

Taking part in this study has been a huge blessing to me and has really helped me stay grounded throughout my adventures as Moderator-elect and Moderator. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be involved with BSD and of course, I'm going to do it again next fall!

More on the Stated Clerk Election

Continuing yesterday's topic, there are a couple of interesting posts at Presbyblog (written by Bob Davis, a California pastor) about the process of electing a new Stated Clerk, which fellow PresbyBloggers may be interested in reading.

Davis presents a critical analysis of the Standing Rules governing the election process, recommending that the rules be suspended. In his next post, he reconsiders that idea and instead advocates amending the Standing Rules. Davis previously "stood" for Stated Clerk, but says he will not do so in 2008.

It does seem that the Standing Rules unreasonably restrict the ability of GA commissioners to evaluate candidates for this important position, if his analysis is correct. It will be interesting to see if anyone brings a motion to amend to the floor and if so, how the commissioners deal with it.

Hat Tip goes to Presbyweb again!

Stated Clerk Race

It was sadly predictable that the Nominating Committee charged with recommending a candidate to fill the post of Stated Clerk for the PCUSA General Assembly named Gradye Parsons, who has served 8 years as associate Stated Clerk. For my non-PresbyReaders, the Stated Clerk is roughly the equivalent of the CEO of the PCUSA. This after a much-publicized national search for the nominee which generated at least 6 candidates for the committee to consider.

I don't know Gradye Parsons. He may be an excellent choice. However, I think that recommending a long-time insider from headquarters sends the wrong message and makes the "national search" of the committee seem perfunctory. I would much prefer a fresh face in the Stated Clerk's office--someone with good pastoral and administrative skills and experience in the local church where ministry happens. But maybe that's just me.

Presbyweb reported yesterday that Ed Koster, pastor/attorney/stated clerk of Detroit Presbytery, has announced he will "stand" for the position. (In PresbySpeak, "stand"="run".) Additional candidates may emerge as well. PresbyPolity Geeks will be following this election with great interest.

Stay tuned!

Pics I Missed at BIND Yesterday

Darn it, I got so busy with the administrivia of our last day of Bible in 90 Days classes yesterday that I forgot to take pictures of our cakes! And they were fabulous, too: the folks at Whole Foods decorated them with an open Bible complete with bookmark, fancy scrollwork and the inscription "Bible in 90 Days." It was also muy delicioso. As faithful QG readers know, I'm all about having cakes at important celebrations.

By the way, between the two visits I made to Whole Foods to order and pick up the cakes, I got the chance to talk about BIND with 6 people in the bakery and checkout departments who asked me about them. Maybe I'll teach a class in Cake Evangelism!

Between the two classes there were about 70 people who finished! One of the "graduates" came in wearing a cap and gown, too. Wish I'd gotten a picture of that.

Ted Cooper, the founder of BIND, accepted our invitation to join us. He got up and gave a congratulatory talk wearing a huge pair of over-sized bright yellow sunglasses to illustrate his point that once you've read through the whole Bible, you see it and the world in a different way. I didn't get that picture, either.

One of Ted's challenges to the graduates was to continue the daily Bible reading habit they had formed, maybe by reading a chapter each day. I decided to go back and read a chapter a day of the last week's BIND assignment (Hebrews-Revelation) using the Message.

Several folks in one of the classes are interested in forming a new class to continue Bible study and one of our small group leaders took on the responsibility of organizing them and taking the idea back to the appropriate committee at church for approval. Woo-hoo!

El Jefe Reforms

Back when Bush the Elder was Prez, there was a minor flap over a visit he made to a grocery store. Bush 41 was ridiculed for not being familiar with the scanning systems at the check-out counter.

Ahem. That could have been El Jefe. About the same time as that story ran in the media, I had some minor surgery. We needed some things from the grocery store and because the girls were too young to drive, I sent El Jefe. I had to send him with a drawing of the grocery store aisles complete with directions of how to find the items on the list. He had some trouble with it. It was not a pleasant experience. El Jefe has always resisted any effort to get him inside a grocery store.

Fast forward to 2007, and the opening of the Whole Foods store near our house. One weekend in January I took him with me to pick up some soup for lunch and suddenly his life was transformed! Now he is all about going to the grocery store--well, not just any grocery store, just Whole Foods. When we went in there recently he said he just loved the smell of grocery stores. He loves poking around, especially at the seafood, meat and prepared food counters and will even go over there all by himself!

I never ever thought I would see this day! Yippee!

So there is hope for Bush 41. Barbara, here's a tip: send him off to Whole Foods.

After-Meeting Thought

Whenever everyone spontaneously joins hands while singing "In Christ There Is No East Or West" after a called presbytery meeting, then you know it was a good meeting.

Just sayin'.

Some Thoughts on Presbytery-Prayers

One of the responsibilities of the Moderator at a presbytery meeting is to choose the open and closing hymns and to give opening and closing prayers. The stated presbytery meetings for this year are planned with themes for the day, often focusing on a guest speaker's topic. That makes it easier to choose hymns for the day that reflect the theme and to offer prayers that are appropriate for the meeting. Called presbytery meetings present a different challenge because they are usually called for the purpose of deciding issues that could be contentious.

Although I am comfortable offering prayers in public, offering prayers before a large assembly containing many pastors is another matter. Here are some of my thoughts about praying at presbytery meetings, both stated and called:

• It's a prayer, not a sermon. Keep it short and avoid opinionated pronouncements.
  
• Be specific and pray about the purpose of the meeting. Remember that God already knows why you are meeting and doesn't need an explanation.
• Ask for God's direction and help, don't give instructions to the LORD.
  
• Some phrases to avoid: "we just", "the ways in which we blah blah blah", "live into whatever".
• Too many adjectives are like a verbal stutter--one or two suffice.
• Choose hymns with text that is appropriate to the meeting and then repeat an appropriate phrase in the prayer to reinforce the message of the hymn text.
  
• Be prepared with an outline in order to avoid rambling, but allow the Holy Spirit to guide the prayer through the outline.

Comments and additional suggestions from my Gentle Readers are appreciated!

Just For Fun

The Holy Bible, Revised West Texas Version

Spooky Rach is trying her hand at Biblical translation, West Texas style, with the story of Lot,complete with photo illustration.

Someone call Zondervan, she's the best thing since Eugene Peterson!

Olivia the Cone Head

Woof! It's Beatrice. I'm blogging while Mom is outside with Olivia. At least she says it's Olivia. I'm not so sure. This dog sort of looks like her, but has a fearsome contraption on her head. Should I be afraid of it? I can't decide.

Olivia used to have a funny thing on her eye, but its not there anymore. Mom says the vet did something to fix it. She's sleeping over for the weekend because Portia and DK had to go out of town.

If it's really Olivia--then yippee! If it's a messenger from the Dog Star, then WOOF!

Love, Beatrice.

Me and St. Paul at the Polls

It was a v-e-r-r-y slow day at the polls, despite the fact that we were conducting the run-offs for 3 precincts instead of one. It was so slow in fact that I was able to read several days worth of Bible in 90 Days assignments while there. Since we're in the midst of the Pauline epistles, you could say that St. Paul was very much my companion at my post. This led to some discussions of my BIND Bible and what it was and why I was reading it with my fellow election clerks.

Nothing really exciting happened after the machines failed to work when the polls opened at 7 and we had to call for assistance. Once rebooted, they worked fine. Here's a brief summary of 12 long hours:

• No Democrats showed up to preside over their runoff.
• Since the Democratic party in effect was paying for our time, we debated the best use of our remunerations. Party at the wine bar? Donation to the Republican PAC? Wine bar won.
• About 200 people voted today in the Republican run-off and 6 voted in the Democratic party run-off.
• Only 3 people tried to vote in the Republican run-off who had voted in the Democratic primary election--a lot fewer than we expected. When informed they could only vote in the Democratic run-off, they left without voting.
• Our take-out lunches didn't include eating utensils, but we managed to finagle them from the high school cafeteria (our polling place is in the high school auditorium).
• There was only 1 election placard for a candidate, instead of the usual dozens that we see.
• I almost finished reading all of the Pauline epistles!
  

What's it all mean? I don't know, I've given up political prognosticating because my record of accuracy isn't very good. Don't you wish all those political pundits and talking heads would do the same?

Run-Off Let-Down

Tomorrow we're having the Texas primary run-off elections. Bet you haven't heard nearly as much about that as you did about the primary itself!

I'll be on duty along with neighbors St. Betty, Mrs. America, the Defender and Roaming Widow at our local precinct by the dawn's early light until night's first gloaming. There are only a couple of races in the Republican primary that require a run-off, but one is for the congressional representative from District 22 (Tom Delay's old seat). I've already had several calls from celebrity politicos about that one at home today.

Apparently there is some run-off in the Democratic party as well. For what I don't know. At this point it looks like we will be running both run-offs because no Democrat has signed up to do it. Oh, well it won't be the first time, as my gentle readers know. I wish my new pal Ruby were registered to vote in Texas instead of little blue state because then she could come down and be the official Democrat and the day would be much more entertaining! We always repair to a nearby wine bar after delivering the vote to the county election officials for some much-needed adult refreshment.

We're expecting a relatively light turnout and a high percentage of cross-over voters who will be muy sad when we tell them they can't vote in the Republican run-off because they voted in the Democratic primary. Ha!

If anything of interest happens, I'll let you know.

Return to Camp

One of the nicer things about growing older is seeing that your efforts have made a difference to something that you care about.

Portia and Babs were pre-schoolers when El Jefe first joined the board of Cho-Yeh, the presbytery's camp and conference center. I remember that we were encouraged to bring them with us to one of the first board meetings he attended up in Livingston (about 90 miles from Houston). I was dubious about coming along with the two girls, but as soon as we got there, he went to the meeting and two perky college students appeared and whisked the girls away to entertain them on the camp grounds. El Jefe got to attend the meeting, I got to read my book on a rocker on the beautiful back porch and the girls loved the attention so much that they couldn't wait to be old enough to go to "sleep-over camp."

So is it any wonder that when we were asked last year if we would serve on the committee for a new capital campaign to upgrade and build new facilities for Cho-Yeh, that we said yes? Portia and Babs and their friends thrived at the camp in the summers and looked forward to the youth events sponsored by presbytery during the school year that were held there. Every year we've sponsored a scholarship for a camper who couldn't otherwise attend.

Yesterday we returned to the camp for Open House Day, because El Jefe hasn't been there in a number of years (I have!). It was a gorgeous day and there were lots of young families visiting the camp. He saw the newly dredged lake, the new cabins and the new-ish dining hall and meeting facility and was impressed. We still remember the WWII-era cinder block cabins and primitive trails through the camp that were there the first year Portia was a camper!

It's exciting to see all the changes that have already taken place, and to anticipate the plans for the future that should be completed in time for our grandchildren to enjoy. There is just something about getting away from an urban environment and back into the woods that helps you connect with God and develop faith. It's so satisfying to see that others cherish Cho-Yeh as well, and that it will continue to serve as a camp and retreat center for the presbytery and other church and community groups in the future.

Moving Anniversary

This week has been jammed with mostly unbloggable stuff so it's been difficult to find both the time and the inspiration for a post. This weekend however brings another important milestone Chez QG.

Tomorrow, Babs is moving out to her own apartment in Houston, not far from her job and Portia and DK. The downstairs is full of bags and boxes and we're just about ready for the movers to arrive tomorrow. Yes, her bags are packed and ready to go--standing there inside the door!

El Jefe pointed out that tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of the day we moved into this house. At that time Portia was 6 and Babs was 4. They grew up in this house and now El Jefe and I will become full-time empty-nesters. It's a sad day and it's a glad day, because, as one wise friend told me years ago, seeing our children become happy, successful, independent adults is the goal of parenting. Still, I'll probably have to weep a happy little weep after she's gone. And then I'll count all the many blessings we've been given with Portia and Babs and embrace the next stage of our lives.

Big Event Pic

Here's my now-traditional (okay I only did it once before, but who's counting?) RevGal meetup Pedi-Pic. I took it on the first day onboard the ship.

I came home to find myself deluged with stuff to do, so I apologize in advance for not posting more details about the event. Suffice to say that the company was excellent and I very much enjoyed meeting everyone that I had not met before. My friend, Mary Marcotte, who led the event did a wonderful job and I think that everyone felt that out theme of "self-care" was certainly carried out on the cruise. If they didn't, you could have fooled me!

One of the most important things that I realized from the meeting was that you really don't know a blogger as well as you think you did until you meet her and spend some "quality time" together. Getting the opportunity to complete the picture I had in my head of many of them was a blessing indeed. There's nothing like spending hours watching the wake of the ship on the aft deck to create and deepen friendships.

Thanks be to God!