Christmas Letter

I always write a Christmas letter and now that I have Creative Memories Storybook Plus, I incorporate pictures.  I do feel weird about writing the letter though -- I know some people hate them.  They say it is usually just people bragging.  Well it isn't so much bragging as it is highlighting the good things -- I leave out the stuff that I don't want to remember or relive!  I mostly just send this to people not in town with me to catch up.  I LOVE getting Christmas letters!

Twinkie

Twinkie was our first cat.  She came into our life because Kathryn wanted a cat and Mark had a friend who had a cat but couldn't keep her.  We adopted her in April 1997.  Kathryn was thrilled to get a cat but Twinkie really liked Kevin best.  She was a good cat.  She was quiet, but when she was hungry she would tear open the bag if we weren't home to fill her bowl!

I didn't think I would ever want a cat.  But because of Twinkie we ended up owning two other cats. Unfortunately she didn't like either of them.

Twinkie was a one of a kind cat and she really liked it when Kevin came home from college on visits.  As I said, she liked him best.

I do hope that I will soon be able to drive into the driveway and not look up to Kev's window to see if she is sitting there.

Twinkie, I hope you are having fun at the Rainbow Bridge...and I hope BC is being nice to you.

Change can be hard -- but it can also be good

I sit here nearly in tears after tossing and turning all night.  Mark and I are seriously thinking about moving.  We had a lot of criteria for a move.  We would only move if we found a better house that was one-story, no pool, in the same town we live in, and on the same side of this town...that was within our price range.  We may have found it but it hasn't been built yet.  We're talking to the realtor today that is selling some new houses.

In anticipation of another change, Kathryn came home this weekend from college.  The three of us will officially join Abiding Grace Lutheran Church and sign its charter today.  I have very mixed emotions here.  I absolutely had to leave my former church because the "senior pastor" preaches stuff that is repugnant to me.  (I totally put the words senor pastor in quotes because I think it is silly that he calls himself the senior pastor when he is the only pastor there.)  I'm grateful I don't have to listen to his hate-filled sermons anymore, but I hate what he did to a loving Christian community.  I feel he is a sick man and I'll leave it at that.  Abiding Grace Lutheran Church is a loving place -- and I would rather be there.

Last night, we spent a couple hours clearing out Kathryn's room.  We have probably 5 bags of trash at the curb, 5 bags to take to GRACE and a couple bags of yarn to donate to a knitting group.  Her room and closet seem bare.  This was where the tossing and turning came from -- I feel we are throwing or giving away her childhood.  She isn't a child anymore, she is an adult, but it is hard to see so much stuff go.  We still have boxes under her bed and her bookcase to clean, but her room is much different now! 

I haven't actually talked to my son in awhile -- I think I need to fix that today.

Time marches on.

How Short is Your Attention Span -- a small rant!

I use social media networks. Facebook is now out-of-fashion for the younger group -- since we, their moms and dads are on it. They have turned to Twitter for now, which I love. But both sites may be affecting our attention spans!

(photo borrowed from greencountryok.com)

A couple weeks ago, I went to the play "Oklahoma" in Oklahoma at Discoveryland. If you really want to see "Oklahoma" done right -- this is the place to go. They have a huge outside stage and real horses led by real cowboys! I digress. I was sitting on the second row and the family in front of me kept checking their smartphones to check in on facebook. Folks -- this is rude behavior when you are at a performance!

Did you get that if I was on the second row and they were in front of me -- they were on the first row! Even if you don't like the play, like the song they are currently singing, don't like the ballet part (raising my hand here); it is downright rude to the actors and the audience to check your phone.

Come on people -- we can all go two to three hours without being "connected".

Not thinking...or thinking too much!

So yesterday I went down the road to get my haircut and Kathryn went with me. I was driving back on the freeway and part of the time I was following an "Express Catering" truck (roach coach). I passed him and then about another mile down the road, Kathryn said "where are you going" as I was passing the exit to our house. I replied "hmmm guess I wasn't thinking."

In reality, this is what I had been thinking and told Kathryn as we meandered back to our home. "That catering truck reminded me of an ice cream truck and that made me remember that someone had posted on facebook 'If kids get ice cream trucks, why don't adults get margarita trucks?'...and this led me to think about the dacquiri/margarita shops in New Orleans where there are many flavors of the drink against the wall...and this led me to think about self-serve yogurt shops that have popped up all over the place...and then I remembered that Cassie's yogurt here in Grapevine has both cupcake batter and cake batter and I want to get in and see what the difference is...and that they had updated their fb page that they have a new flavor, root beer float, and I wonder what flavor they got rid of...

So In reality, I was just thinking too much to make my exit!

This Amazing Journey

When God shut a door on me a few months ago and it became apparent that Mark and I were leaving our church of 25 years, I had no idea what an amazing journey He would lead me on. I am so humbled and honored at the same time to be seeing his glory at work.

First, we started attending another Lutheran church in the area. I mentioned it in another blog post and going to Rejoice was wonderful. However, that's not where the journey ends.

A group of people that were leaving the old church met with the bishop and he gave us the go-ahead to start a Synodically Authorized Worshiping Community and at that meeting a "Launch Team" was formed. I got on the launch team simply because I had my laptop and I was taking notes at that meeting. I am the note-taker for the Launch Team. It is simply amazing and awe-inspiring how the Holy Spirit formed our group and works with us. Everyone in the group has such a gift to give (ok -- my gift is just that I can type fast). We have financial people, insurance people, a great techie guy who set up a wonderful website, people who know how to find a place for worship, we have a person who knows people at the synod office and therefore, knows who to talk to about various things, organized people who can organize a meeting, -- it is simply amazing!

We even found a part-time pastor who is GREAT. He could be hired away at any time, but I am going to let the HS handle that. I found it is much better if I just get out of the way and let God work.

When I left the old church and said that I would be willing to help start a new one; I had friends and family who said -- oooh that is so hard to start a new church. Well it hasn't been hard; it has been such a joy to be part of this. I can't even put into words how awesome it has been to see how God uses each of our talents (that He gave us to begin with) to make something wonderful. One of the themes of the ELCA is "God's work, our hands". This is so true with this endeavor.

We had our first picnic/worship service a few weeks ago and had over 50 in attendance. We will start meeting regularly on August 15 and I can hardly wait.

I am so EXCITED. One of my friends on the launch team even changed my ringtone on her phone to the the song "I'm so Excited" by the Pointer Sisters. I think I'll change her ringtone on my phone to be the same.

My new church got its name because we wanted to emphasize that Grace is freely given by God to each of us -- the new church is Abiding Grace Lutheran Church. Come join us if you are in my area! We start worshiping on August 15!

How many email addresses do I really need?

I have used kimingvtx@yahoo.com as my main email address for a very long time.  When gmail came out, I grabbed kimingvtx@gmail.com.  Then I realized that I could add another yahoo address to my account and I added mathtutorkim@yahoo.com.  Recently I was giving out my email address again and I always have to say k-i-m-i-n-g-v-t-x very slowly and it was getting tedious. Also if I have to update my resume, I didn't want to use that one.  So I created kim.saunders@live.com  (which I will also use, I guess, if I ever leave Grapevine Texas).  I also have a TCC email address.

I'm slowly moving some things to gmail in anticipation of getting my Droid Incredible phone.  However, I'm keeping all the email addresses  -- I should be pretty easy to get a hold of!