Big Plans

You know, I never really know how to start my posts unless I title them and leave off with an elipsis... But anyway, I digress. What I really wanted to tell you all about was what is going on in the life of Trish. Summer always seems to be a busy time for all sorts of people. Whereas it used to be a time when we relished in summer break when we were children, it now just seems that we have so much to do that the summer offers no respite. But, I'm not complaining. I really enjoy working outside and getting my hands dirty. I enjoy the sun beating down on me so that I can work on my farmer tan. I enjoy the tasks around the house and yard that show results as I'm going along. And the thing I love most of all, I think, is when I'm asked to do other things that make me have to budget my time during the summer because I need to get all these things done. Busy-ness is just very appealing to me. Let me share the things that are "forcing" me to budget my time this summer... I have two older brothers. One lives 5 blocks away from me, and the other lives about 2 hours from me. The one who lives hours away has a wife and a son. Well, tomorrow we're going to his house to celebrate the little guy's third birthday. His birthday isn't really until the 3rd, but this is how things worked out the best for us. So, that's exciting. I am also going back down on Monday to spend the night. I'm giving my dog to them in anticipation of me (hopefully) going to seminary in January. We thought it'd be easier for her to adjust when the weather is nice and she can sniff the place out unencumbered by 3 inches of snow. So, I'm spending the night so that I can sort of transition her better. I love my dog, but this is for the best. Bro and his wife have a fenced in, multi-acre yard where she can run and play and not have to be chained up all the time. I really hope she'll like it. Another thing I'm busy with is a summer class. It's an intensive 4 week course. We just had midterm on Thursday. It's exciting because that will be 3 more credits knocked down in only 4 weeks. I'm also still working, obviously, but that's nothing new.

In Application to Candidacy news, I received a phone call from my pastor this morning. He told me that my Initial Interviewer still hadn't submitted her paperwork from my interview. The assistant to the bishop for candidacy affairs wants me to go before the committee in July, so it's important that this get done. So, Pastor called me and asked me to call the head of the candidacy committee to set up a replacement Initial Interview to be completed over the phone. While I was talking to him, we also set up an appointment for me to see the Candidacy Committee. So, my new I.I. will be on July 10, with the C.C. Interview taking place on July 29. I will have to be down to the Synod Office at 8:00 a.m. because I'm also involved in a good friend's wedding that afternoon. So, before her big day, there is also a bachelorette party, rehearsal, and hanging out involved with her impending nuptuals. And another exciting thing I'm doing is I have been offered the opportunity to preach on July 16, 30, and August 20th. Pastor will be doing everything except the sermon on the 16th because he will be busy with continuing education and doesn't want to take away from that with sermon prep. I'm just excited for the opportunities. Oh, and last, but not least, my newest nephew "Howard" is getting baptized on July 9th. My little sister and I are going to be the sponsors. I'm SO thrilled. It's going to be a special day. :) I'm happy. So, that is my summer life in a nutshell. Blessings on your own summer schedules!

I love waiting on fun people

I have noticed a few things lately at Restaurant. I have been blessed with some "fun" customers. Sure, most of the people who come in there are really nice and easy to wait on and what not if you pay even a modicum of attention to them, but every once in a while we are blessed with "fun" customers. Well, last Friday I had two tables of customers of this type. These customers are the type who joke with you and you can joke with them. And then, it's great because if you can joke back with them, they usually tip well. :) So, last night when I was the hostess, this table of four came in. Near the end of their meal they asked me where I was from. I said, "Podunk, but don't hold it against me." That made them laugh a little. Then, they were talking to Waitress and the one man's cell phone started ringing. Well, Restaurant is like a lead case; you can rarely get cell reception in there. So, Waitress was talking about how it is hard to get reception at her house in the town in which she lives. So, the guy turns around and says, "Hey, Podunk, do you get cell phone reception at home?" (Keep in mind this guy is probably at least 70, so it's funny to me that he calls me by the name of my town). To which I reply, I don't get good reception at my house, no. He says, "Well, Podunk is practically south of the border." And I said, "Yeah, we're living in the dark ages down there. We have to watch T.V. by candlelight." And that made the whole table bust out laughing. I then made a few more Podunk bashing jokes, and went about my hostessing duties some more and walked away from them. But then, by the time they were ready to leave, they were the last table in the place. So, the one guy turns around and says, "Hey Podunk, are you gonna be here tomorrow night?" And I say, "Yeah." And he said, "I'm gonna make a reservation, can you do that for me?" SO, I took his reservation and he pointed to a table and said, "Can we have that table right there?" I said, "Sure, I'll write it down on the reservation sheet." So, then they left and I was looking forward to them coming in again tonight. Well, tonight came and the man and his wife came in with a new couple. I got to wait on them. We were really busy though, so I didn't have a chance to be quite so funny with them. But, by the time they were finishing up their meals and having some after-dinner coffee, we started slowing down enough that I could chat with them some. The man who wasn't there last night said, "Where are you from?" I said, "Podunk." He said, "REALLY? I got my kitty from Podunk." And I asked him where he got it. He didn't know for sure. Some Podunk-ite took some kittens to some place by where he lives and he adopted one. I said, "If it's from Podunk, can it walk in a straight line?" He said, "Yes." and his wife said, "Why wouldn't it be able to walk in a straight line?" And I replied, "Because, if it's from Podunk, I thought it'd probably just fall over. We're all crazy down there." And that got them laughing some more. The guy from last night let out a hearty laugh and said, "I LOVE it!" hehe. So then, when they were ready to leave, I said goodnight and told them to drive safely: wheel side down. The guy who was in both nights asked if Restaurant had a card he could have and I told him we did. I got it for him and I wen to hand it to him when he said, "Do you have a pencil on you?" I pulled out my pen and he said, "Write your name on the back so we can ask for you next time we're in!" So, I wrote "Trish" on the back and my little "EGO BOOST" melody played in my head (The "EGO BOOST" melody is reminiscent of a pinball machine when you earn a lot of points). Then they left a big tip and left. It was good. You'd probably find it funnier if you were there, but hey, what can ya do? Anyway, I have to be the hostess tomorrow, which kind of sucks because Saturday is usually my day off. I don't think I've ever hostessed on a Saturday because Saturday people tend to be kinda jerky. That's why I usually refuse to work Saturdays. But the boss was in a bind and since some of our recent hirees are not quite cut out for dealing with the public, I thought I should help them out since they asked. So, hopefully I will get to "charm" those people too. If anything earth-shattering happens I'll make sure to tell you. Anyway, I think I'm going to go for a quick bike ride. Or maybe not. Bye.

P.S. This is my ONE HUNDREDTH POST!!! Woo DOGGIES!

The coolest thing..

I was driving in traffic the other day to get to class when all of a sudden what did I see? A bright orange Ford Focus ahead of me! I didn't know Ford made the Focus in orange. I'm pumped. I know what MY next car will be. :) lol...

What a day!

In my previous post, I told you all I'd tell you about the day I had. Wow, what a day it was. Well, it was Father's Day yesterday, and every year on that day, the town in which Sister and BiL live has a "fly-in" breakfast at the county airport there on the edge of town. People can go up there and have breakfast and get airplane rides. Well, a good friend of mine who we shall call "Dan" and I were very interested in going on an airplane ride because we have both expressed an interest in someday getting pilot licenses. Considering that neither one of us has ever flown in any type of aircraft before, we thought it might be cool to go to the fly-in breakfast and go for our first airplane ride together. So, I called the airport several weeks ago to see if we needed to make reservations, if two people could ride together, and how much it cost. Well, the cost was 10 bucks per person, the planes could seat 3 or 4 people, and we did not need a reservation. They were supposed to be offering flights from about 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. I was pumped. I told Dan and we decided to meet at Sis and BiL's house at 11:00 so I wouldn't have to miss church. He got there a little bit late, but that wasn't a problem. So, after Dan got there, we headed out to the airport and it was raining, but not too hard. Well, we walked up there and asked if they were doing airplane rides. The woman taking the money said, "They've already closed off the airplane rides because of the weather. As a matter of fact, we're going to have to give some people refunds." So, Dan and I were extremely bummed out. But then he remembered that another town not too far from there was having an airshow with airplane and helicopter rides as well. So, we headed up that way. Unfortunately, neither of us knew where the airport was, so I called BiL and asked him if he knew. He told me the general area, but we didn't really understand the directions. Therefore, we drove around aimlessly for about 30 minutes until I called 1 800 free 411 and got teh airport's number. I called them and asked them if they were still doing airplane rides, how much it cost, and how to get there. He told us and we realized we'd been driving past it pretty much the whole time. Haha. So, we had to stop and get more money because we didn't have enough. We had to pay to get into the air show, and then the cheapest flights were in a helicopter which cost 30 bucks a person. But, we'd been driving for what seemed like an eternity and we decided we weren't turning around now. So, we finally got there, got in, and were directed into a parking place. Well, we looked and saw a big sign that said, "Helicopter rides" with an arrow pointing to this little tent over by one of the hangars. However, NO ONE was there except the people staffing the tent. I thought three things at this point. The first thing I thought was, "OH crap, they cancelled due to the weather, too." (although it wasn't even raining that hard). Then I thought, "They're probably so backed up that they're not taking anyone else for a while." And three, "They're probably not taking anyone up while the airshow is happening." But, I said to Dan, "let's go ask those guys (security people) if we can go behind the fence to the hangar and talk to those people." So, we walked up to those security guys and Dan said, "Hey, are they doing helicopter rides over there?" And the guys were like, "Uhhhh. I don't know." And I said, "Well, there's a sign that says they are, so can we go ask them?" (We wanted to make sure it was ok to go back there because when we first got there it looked like a truck was blocking the entrance to the tarmac.) The guys said, "Sure, go on ahead." So, we walked over there and Dan said, "Are you guys doing helicopter rides?" To which the couple responded, yes, we are. No one is coming over right now, so I can take you up now." We paid them and the man stood up and walked over there and said, "We'll take the red ship right there." And it was this little four seater helicopter parked right on the edge of the concrete. I wasn't expecting for that guy to be the pilot. He was just so quiet and unassuming that I thought he was just the money taker. But, he got Dan and me strapped into the thing and got in and told us that he was going to put the earphones on and if we needed his attention we should just tap him on the shoulder. So, he did his pre-flight things and we took off! I had this huge stupid grin on my face the whole time, starting as soon as I heard the rotors start spinning. It was SO AWESOME! He flew us up over the town and over the river and over the interstate. Seeing a town I'm pretty familiar with from that perspective just was incredible. We could look down and see people getting into their cars and in their backyards. We could see cars parked out in fields that looked like toys from that high up. We soared above the mall and Mal-Wart and The Home Depot, and they all looked like little Kleenex boxes from that height. And neither Dan nor I was scared at all. We just were amazed. When I was up there I said a little prayer of praise to God for the wonderful creation that we are allowed to see in different ways sometimes. It was awesome. Then, the pilot took us back to the airport and he gave us each these little fliers with some info about helicopter tours. We then got out of the helicopter and watched a little of the airshow. We had more plans for the day though, so we then left. Dan had invited me to a fish fry at his aunt and uncle's house. Well, I'd never been to that town before, so I didn't know how to get there. We took a shortcut and got lost yet again. However, we weren't really lost, we just didn't have faith in our navigating abilities. We stopped at a Casey's and asked the attendant on duty how to get to where we needed to be. We just hadn't gone far enough yet. We set out once again for his family's house. On the way though, I looked off to the east and saw some suspicious looking clouds. As I was watching them, I noticed that it looked like a funnel was starting to form. I said, "UH, Dan, is that a funnel cloud over there?" And he said, "No, it can't be." Then he said, "Yeah, yeah it is. I see it forming more." So, he said, "Do you want to follow it and see what it does?" Now let me tell you, I'm not really a daring person. Dan, however, brings out a bit of my wild, non-afraid side, so I said, "Sure, let's go." So, we turned to face it. It was probably about 2 or three miles away from us, and it wasn't very big at all. It was also very slow forming. Well, we were driving and watching it, but it went back up into the cloud and didn't come back. It was very exhilarating. After that, we turned back to go to his family's house. We got there and ate and chilled out. Dan's brother was there and he is a funny guy. Dan's aunt was kind of making fun of Dan, and so Dan's brother whom we shall call "Derek" whispered to Dan as he pushed a beer bottle toward Dan, "Here, hit her on the face with this." I laughed SO HARD I couldn't believe it. Then I kept laughing. Even 15 minutes later I was still laughing. Now as I type it I find myself laughing. I don't know. Maybe you had to be there. But, we hung out there for a while. We left and Dan took me back to Sister and BiL's house and we decided to hang out some more. So, I followed Dan back to his apt in one of the bigger towns in the area. He gave me a tour of the place. Then we checked movie times and decided to go see Poseidon. But, we had lots of time before it started so we had a walk around one of the city parks. It was nice. After our walk and before the movie we went back to the apt. and had a beer and chatted with Dan's roommate. The movie wasn't that great though. It was pretty cheesy in some spots, really predictable pretty much all the way through, and Dan and I laughed at some of the crying scenes because they were just so stupid. But, it was fun anyway. After the movie though, it was late and I had to go home. But, I needed to put some gas in my car so I could make it to school this morning. I meant to put 15 dollars in, but accidentally went to 15.10. I had the 10 cents, but I was fishing around for a dime and couldn't find one for the life of me. So, I was walking into the place and looked down on the ground and there was a dime laying right there, beckoning me with it's shiny wonderfulness to pick it up and spend it. So I did. And because I don't believe in coincidences, I just feel that God was with me yesterday from the big, amazing wonderful helicopter ride all the way down to the finding of a dime that I'm sure many other people simply did not stoop down to retrieve. It was one of THE best days of my life. Not THE best, but right on up there. Thanks be to God for God's presence in our lives, and for allowing us opportunities with friends and family.

Oh man...

Oh wow, do I have a day to tell you all about! Unfortunately, I'm wiped right now, and summer school starts tomorrow. I'll post as soon as I can. Have fun

Wow.

I'm back from synod assembly. I had a WONDERFUL time. It was so nice to get away, even if it wasn't an actual vacation. I didn't have to worry about work, home, or anything. It was great. I picked up the gentlemen who was the male representative for our congregation at 9:30 on Thursday morning. We'll call this gentleman "Tim." Because I have a neon that gets good gas mileage, I drove down there. I was slightly worried that we wouldn't have anything to talk about because he's married with children and he's had a lot of life experiences while I have been fairly sheltered throughout my life. However, we had plenty to talk about on the way down. Well, we got to Springfield and tried to register at our hotel, but check in time wasn't until 3:00 p.m. and we got there about 11:00 or so. So, instead, we just walked over to the Crowne Plaza and got registered. At registration we got a thing that we were to wear around our necks that had our name, congregation, location, and status of "lay" or "clergy" on them. Then, we went to the next table and got some extra information, ballots for the election of our synodical bishop, and some other things. By that time, we were able to go find the room in which orientation was being held. Tim and I went in, listened to the orientation, and left. We found Pastor and the people from Pastor's other church. We'll call them "Richard" and "Verna." Well, we staked out some seats and sat down. We got down to business and all that stuff. After a while, we took a vote for the bishop. Because it's an ecclesiastical vote, we had to take out the ballots and write down who we voted for.

There was quite a bit of business that was undertaken at this assembly. We experienced some great fellowship, inspiring worship; we met a bunch of neat, interesting people, and we had a lot of time to really get to know each other. The assembly lasted from Thursday until Saturday around noon. Our first vote for bishop was declared invalid because after we were "seated" as voting members, more people came in, registered, and then voted. Because of the discrepancy in the number of votes, the vote was declared invalid. However, we did another vote, and our current bishop was reelected. He needed 290 votes to get the re-elect, and he received 294. I'm glad. I think he's done a fantastic job, he's a real personable, funny guy, and I believe he is a good leader. I've met him a few times, and I think he does his best. So, we didn't have to do any more voting for the bishop. Our pastor received 3 votes to become bishop, but I'm glad he didn't win because we're NOT READY TO LET HIM GO!!!! :) I say that because he and his wife have really been a wonderful addition to our community. They've been with us for 11 years and it is slightly because of them that I became a Lutheran. So, Pastor, sorry, but we're glad you lost! He doesn't read this, but I can talk to him anyway. Haha.

Apart from the business aspect of the assembly, there was much else to do. We ate a few times at the Crowne Plaza. The food was excellent. There were forums in which we could partake and learn. Our speaker was a pastor from San Antonio named Ernie Hinojosa. He was interesting. He has an unconventional way of doing things, but he was very enlightening. He held one of the educational forums, so I went to his the first night. The second round of forums was on Friday. I went to the one entitled, "Major decisions facing the ELCA." Because indecisiveness was one of the areas the psychologist suggested I work on improving, I thought that would be a good place to start. It was an interesting lecture, but I don't think it helped me work on indecisiveness at all. Oh well. I learned other things from it anyway.

Another thing I thoroughly enjoyed was the fellowship. Tim is a man I basically only knew from church council and the fact that he and his family usually sit in close proximity of me and Ma on Sunday mornings. I've never really talked much to him. However, because we hung out a bunch at the assembly, I feel we really got to know each other. We shared things about our pasts and about our thoughts on certain things. He's really a cool guy. Also, Pastor, Tim, Richard, and I went to eat. "Verna" wasn't feeling up to going out on Friday night, so it was just us four. We ate at the Red Lobster. It was good to talk to them all out of the church setting. It really fosters the "getting to know you" when you're sitting down for a meal with people. Also on Friday we had a festival worship service that was really cool. There was a jazz type band that played the songs and we had communion and it was just really lively and worshipful. I enjoyed it immensely.

Then on Saturday, we got done voting. There really weren't a whole lot of contentious issues. There was some debate about a few things, but not too bad. We debated a little about a memorial (Something that doesn't involve an "action" per se, but rather works to advise the churchwide unit) that suggested we discipline people who do not follow the rules of Vision and Expectations. We voted against this memorial. It was really close, but the memorial passed. I fear that it will add fuel to the fire by its language. Another thing that was debated was the new youth position in one of the committees. The question was should we or shouldn't we allow people under 17 to serve. Most of my row said we should not allow people under 17 to serve, but I thought we should because generally, kids who show an interest to go are mature enough. However, that was not the case. I'm not too terribly upset because at least they did create a youth position. That is something.

All in all, this was just a fantastic weekend. I truly enjoyed meeting people, seeing people I've already met, the worship, the fellowship, and the bonds I made because of the experience. I'm excited that I might one day be in a vocation that will allow me to partake in this event every year. I saw the pastor who conducted my initial interview. She apologized for waiting so long to send in my paperwork. I told her not to worry about it, and she said, "no, I should have sent it in. I just want you to know that it's not anything about you that made me wait so long. The paperwork just got lost and I didn't get around to it." I appreciated her apology, but I understand that she is a busy woman. It did make me feel better that she said it wasn't anything about me that made her wait so long. I had wondered about that. I might write more about my experiences there, but not now. This has been a long post, and I need to go get ready to go have dinner with a friend. Blessings!

Summer break

Well, here I sit, enjoying my summer break. I've been out for a few weeks now, but it always takes a little while to wind down into true "Summer Break" mode. I still do all of my normal activities like work and church, but now, instead of school work, my time is occupied with yard work as well. Don't get me wrong, I do a lot of fun stuff too, but I keep busy. Gotta have something to keep me out of trouble, ya know? I was burning a big pile of wood the other day and I'm surprised I did not get a sunburn. You can hardly tell I was in the sun at all, which is rather unfortunate because I'm somewhat pasty. Ah well, what can you do? My two sisters were in Big Sis's pool yesterday and now they're both burned and they were only out there for two hours. I, on the other hand, was out doing yardwork for something like 5 hours the other day in my grimy old work clothes and I'm nary a shade darker. Ah well. Enough about that...

Thursday I'm leaving for Springfield for the Synod Assembly! I'm excited. We're all staying in a hotel and meeting in another hotel. One of the orders of business is to elect our synodical bishop. Our current bishop is finishing up his first six year term. I believe he runs a good chance at getting re-elected. I'm not exactly sure how that all works though, so we'll just have to see. I'll be gone until Saturday around 3:00 or so. I'm excited. Two days off of work and away from home sounds incredibly exciting to me. I haven't been away from home for more than a day since November 2004 when I went to "Considering Your Call" weekend in Iowa. Yes, I spend a lot of time at Big Sis's, but I always come home everyday to feed my dog and the likes. So, I'll either get Ma or Little Sis to feed my dog while I'm away. Ok, so, I think I'm going to go now. You all have a good day. The sun is shining and it's beautiful out there!

Just what you all wanted to know...

All about my psyche! Yeah. Having calmed down some after my appointment, I thought I might share with you all some of what has been shared with me about my psychological frame of mind. If you'll remember from a few weeks ago, I took a battery of psychological tests including the MMPI-II, the Campbell's Strong Vocational Interests Test, the California Personality Inventory, a proverbs test, a vocabulary test, and an adjective checklist in which I was to check off the adjectives I believed were true to me. We then sent those tests away to be analyzed. Thursday, I went to see the clinical interviewer in order for her to tell me what I said about myself. I had been pretty nervous about it because you never know what a professional is going to think of you, regardless of how stable you think of yourself. So, I went up there and she gave me a copy of the report the psychologist had prepared. It is an interesting document, to me at least.

The first two pages or so of the report that talk about me are just about what I put down on the personality background papers they sent me to have filled out before I took the tests. Because the report is going to the assistant to the bishop for my synod, they put my self-reporting stuff down in order to refresh the assistant's mind. She's met me before, but I'm sure she is in contact with a lot of people and can't remember all about each person she meets. I know there are at least five other people who are at about the same place I am within my synod. So, that was no surprise. At the bottom of the second page is where they got into the actual analysis. But, I'm not going to bore you with ALL of the details of the report. I'm going to try to hit the highlights...

The first thing of interest which allowed me to breathe a big sigh of relief and elation states, "The profile of scores that results from the applicant's pattern of responding to test items is well within the normal range for the general population of Euro-American females of her age, education, experience, and vocational aspirations." Can we say WOOHOO!!!? Upon reading that sentence I was glad the interviewer stepped from the room because I was so happy I felt myself turn bright red. The report also states that I have an about average ability to cope with the stresses and strains of everyday living, and that I thrive on affirmation and support. Additionally, I learn by doing, and I have a strong need for emotional self-sufficiency and independence. Here's a big surprise: "Test data indicate that the applicant is an individual who would be sensitive to rejection and being discounted by others." (If you've read this blog for any amount of time, you know that I have a tendency to care too much about what others think of me.) But anyway, I digress... One thing I found to be INCREDIBLY interesting is that my results show that I have a mild distrust of people who are in authority. I had NO idea, and this is not sarcasm here. I honestly did not realize it. Now that I think about it, I can see that I probably do have a mild distrust, but it's fascinating to me that that came across in the results of my test. I don't really recall questions that would clue them into something like that. I guess that's why they are the psychologists and I am not. Anyway, that's probably long enough for now. I might put a little bit more about my psyche on here later, but I don't want to bore you all to death with the entire report typed out verbatim. So, you all have a fantastic day.

Now that that is over...

I can take a deep breath and relax! I don't know why I was so uptight about this whole psychologist thing. The whole experience was not bad at all; not even the driving to get there. Granted, I had to drive on crazy roads with congestion and all that stuff, and endure the woeful experiences of toll booths, but it all went just fine. The place was easy to find, and I was even about 20 minutes early, so I wasn't having to freak out about being late. I walked into the office and the interviewer had no one else waiting so she took me right in. There was no big couch to lay on and discuss anything. She simply led me into the room, motioned toward the chair I was to sit in, and then sat down herself. Before she let me read the report, she asked for some information about me, just to kind of get to know me. The person who had prepared the report and the interviewer were not the same person. So, I told her a little about my sense of call and my past. She asked me some questions as to how I might deal with conflict or things that could arise that would warrant decision making on my part. I told her how I would ideally handle conflict and she seemed content with my answer. Then, she handed me the report and left the room for me to be able to read it in peace. I have to admit that I'm glad she left the room because I could feel my face turning red. I don't really know why; I wasn't embarrassed or mad or anything. Perhaps it was because the report was very close to how I am and for them to be able to tell all that about me from those questions is just really something. I also was glad she left because there were a few parts that made me almost laugh out loud. Those were the parts that were pretty much either dead on or dead off. I don't know. After I finished reading the report, she came back in, asked me how I felt about it and if I felt comfortable releasing it to the Candidacy Committee, and if I felt any changes needed to be made. I thought that generally, it was pretty spot on. There were a few things I didn't agree with, but it wasn't that important to tell them. She also asked if I had any questions about what was written. I didn't. So, because I agreed with the report, she signed some things, I signed some things, and then we said goodbye. Overall, it was an interesting, productive day. They let me have a copy of the report to take home, so I've read it a few times just to get a kick out of it. Once I got home, I decided to go to the neighboring town where my church is. I thought I'd stop in and see if Pastor was there so I could tell him about my day. I walked in and he was in his office, and he invited me in. I invited him to read the report and we had a short talk about direction and discernment. At the end of our short chat, we shared a prayer and then I went on my merry little way. And the best part about the day? They recommended me for approval! Yay! Granted, there are some issues that they'd like to see me improve upon, but I fell within the "normal" range for everything. I'm so thrilled. Maybe I'll talk more about this later. Right now I'm really tired, but really content. I hope you all are feeling well, too.