40 years ago today...

This morning 5:30 (if you can really call it morning, I mean REALLY 5:30 is still night in my book ... and, I believe, in God's book too as it was still pitch black outside) I arose to begin my day of torture. You see, today is my OLDER sister's 40th birthday and for me this meant that I had to find many ways to torture her.

Last night, I made a big lawn sign out of foam core board, stencil letters and an iparty sign that said "Sign Here for the 40th Birthday!" And I added "BEEP HERE" on top (and covering the sign here words) and "Honk Honk!" on the bottom. This morning at 5:30 I drove over to her house and strategically placed it on the front lawn for passersby to gleefully read and beep at. (Did I mention that she lives on probably one of the busiest streets in Norwood? mmwwwaaahaaahaa) I also taped up a big vinal "LOOK WHO JUST TURNED 40!!" sign on the front door for all who were leaving the WOW gym across the street to see. hee hee

Tonight we (my parents, nephew and I) took her to Bugaboo Creek for a very filling dinner. I, of course, got there a bit early to set up the continuance of torture. On the table I place a centerpiece that draped "40"s and balloons - very tasteful. Then when she arrived, I met her at the door with a sash that said, "Congratulations 40", beautiful big beads that had "40" disks all around witha big disk at the bottom that said "Behold the ageless wonder" and, of course, a purple cane that squeeks as you walk with it and had various old age jokey things all down it. She gacefully accepted the torture and followed me to the table where I crowned her with a brilliant tiara with a flashing 40 - still gracious she sat wearing all of her additions through the entire meal. She, of course, thought that the surprises were over, but no. As we finished our meal, our server Julie returned with the rest of the waitstaff (many of whom stopped in throughout the meal with birthday wishes) singing a very loud peppy birthday song with her warm cookie dessert topped with the black "40" candles that I had slipped to her prior to my family's arrival - and her coffee in the big black mug that said "How the @#$#@*& did I get to be 40" which I also slipped to her earlier. Haaaaa Haaaaa Haaaaa I love being the younger sister! She of course reminded me that I am but 18 months behind her, but still it is fun to torture.

We ate at 6:00 ... it is now 10:30 and I am still uncomfortably full. I can't wait to sleep this off! Actually - I just can't wait to sleep in general! 5:30 is NOT a good time to start a day, EVER. At least I have 10 years to recover before the 50th celebration!

An introductory trot

Tonight I joined a "roundtable discussion" on how to get the parish to take ownership of youth ministry ... subtitle How to Get Volunteers. It was a great discussion and helped me to generate some ideas for starting anew in youth ministry. While I have been re-reading "My First Two Years in Youth Ministry", which has helped me to put a plan together, this discussion with other real live ministry leaders was a great jumpstart. Here are a few highlight thoughts:

Asking people to volunteer is our opportunity to help people grow closer to God and serve him. (this one kind of makes it easier to make those personal invitations, doesn't it?)

Never say "I don't have enough volunteers" but rather, "I have so many volunteers that I don't know what to do with them all" To achieve this, one great idea is to create a database of parents and youth. In this database, include the occupations and hobbies of the parents so that you can target the right people for the right volunteer opportunities. This assists people in finding their niche to offer their gifts and talents. (i.e. there is a mom who scrapbooks as a hobby. Ask her if you can send her your pictures all year and she would create a scrapbook for you... you can display her work in your youth room / office after each event and when the next event pages come in you can put the older ones in a book and display the new ones)

Another idea that came up was to send b-day cards to the kids - this is one that has been tossed around for years only I have never worked in a parish where this was feasible UNTIL NOW!!! Yipee - I can actually do this one!!!

Working for a small parish will surely have it's challenges, but right now I just see a world of opportunity. What will tomorrow bring?

Lobstah delays the preparation one more day

Who could possibly pass up a drive to the cape, a casual walk around Falmouth, lunch at the Firefly - an outdoor cafe, an adventure to find a lighthouse and a lobster feast with friends? Not I - so that is how I spent my day yesterday with my husband in the convertable. It was a great day! The sun was shining all day with a slight breeze - perfect summer beach weather. This is exactly the type of day that always got in the way of school preparations too! However, I have now realized that these types of days do not "get in the way" of preparations but rather are a different kind of preparation. In order to be fully prepared for a new year, we have to have the lazy days of summer to rest and recharge or body, spirit and mind... I will try to remind myself of this next summer when I am gainfully employed for the summer months! For now - onward to recharge!

New again

Well in just 11 days, the summer of Paula officially comes to a close as I begin my new position. I have to admit I really enjoyed having the summer off even though it came as a surprise in the beginning. I feel like I did back in elementary school when summer would come to the end and I would realize that there was so much more I could have / should have done with my lazy days of summer. Funny thing is that usually my summer reading took a back seat to lounging by the pool... same this summer. I had wanted to sharpen the saw by rereading classic YM books and refreshing skills and developing a plan for starting over once again. I had wanted to study for and take the certification exam for muscular therapy to re-up my certification. I had wanted to file the paperwork to bring my long battle with my old tenants to a close finally. I did none of this (but I do have a GREAT tan) and am now filling my days with all of these in a race with time before my summer comes to an end. Some things never change I guess - I work best under pressure, a pattern that I learned waaay back in elementary school.