I know. I’ve been a bit remiss about blogging lately. I haven’t had much to say. I’ve just been doing a lot of reminiscing the last few days, mainly, I guess, because of looking through my 30-year-old wedding photographs. Thirty years! I’m far too young to have been married for 30 years. That just doesn’t seem possible. 
It’s been a great week, and it’s been a great 30 years. I’m ready for the next 30.
For the first time since we moved to Florida’s Gulf coast, we are not traveling back to our house for the weekend. Softball season is over (Our team came in second place in regular season, but we won the tournament…in an extra inning!! YAY!) and it’s a holiday weekend, so we’ve decided to stay put. The neighbors in our apartment complex had pretty much decided that we only stored our furniture here and that we didn’t really move in. When we came back last Sunday, the neighbor across the corridor was coming out as we were going in and he yelled to his wife, “Honey, I’ve spotted our invisible neighbors!”
It’s time to begin church-shopping. I have a list of UM churches in our zip code and the surrounding zip codes, up to 15 miles out. I’ve plugged the addresses in our GPS and we’ll visit one on Sunday. The ideal church would also have a Sunday school/Bible study opportunity just like the one we’re leaving and friendly, welcoming folks, as well as a brass band (Doc loves being able to join in with his trombone). I guess the brass band might be asking too much. We’ve decided to begin with the second-nearest church to us, primarily because we worshiped in this same church nearly 23 years ago while vacationing in this area. We’ll see how it goes.
Photo: canna growing next to my apartment patio
This week’s mid-week date night turned out differently than planned, but that was okay. We had planned to see a movie, but decided to hold off until a weekend. Instead, we went back (for a third time!) to one of the places we’ve already visited. The sky was blue, the sun was shining, and there was a nice breeze blowing…perfect for just unwinding.
I seem to be rambling with this, don’t I? That’s how my week has been. I just haven’t settled into a routine yet.
I think I’ll close for now and get started with the long weekend.
3 responses so far ↓
jill // May 24, 2008 at 3:27 pm |
Nice canna! I do so hope a three day weekend will help stablize you a bit. Just chill as much as possible!
Julie // May 25, 2008 at 1:43 pm |
Vicki, congratulations on your 30th wedding anniversary ! It is definitely a milestone you are to be commended for !!
From my 13 year experience into the second 30 of our marriage I think the second 30 are better !! So unfasten your seat belts and enjoy the scenery!!
Your last move sounds like a hard one !! Maybe because it is temporary ?? May you soon find a comfortable grove again and feel that your feet are on a solid path.
Nicki // May 25, 2008 at 6:33 pm |
I pray that you find a church that you can settle into. We have been church hopping. We were looking for a church that had a good Bible based message, had kids the boys age (and not all girls), that were outward looking in their ministry not just sunday pew warmers, that were friendly and that had good music that people were enthusiastic about singing.
Maybe our expectations were too high. We went to a Baptist Church that met most of the criteria it was a good size with a good mixture of ages with a great message on evangelising and reasonable music but not one single person spoke to us not even the pastor. We went to a Church of Christ that had 18 people who were all elderly exept one and no pastor. We went to a Wesleyan Methodist with 12 people all over 60. We went to a Presbyterian that just didn’t feel right. We went to an Assemblies of God (didn’t realise that was what it was til we got there) no one spoke to us and everyone sat around tables drinking coffee and chatting through the short sermon but got right into the music which took up 3/4 of the time. We have found a small Church of Christ which is only 2 minutes from us. It has between 20 and 30 people including 3 high school age boys, we are the youngest couple there but it has a good message provided by a visiting pastor, as their pastor was diagnosed with advanced cancer the week before we started and has been in hospital and then moved straight to respite, has good music, and they are extremely friendly and welcoming. Pray your search does not take as long. I continue to pray that you will feel settled soon.