Hey! I'm back with another rigidly timed daily update! Right, apologies to any and all who have read any previous post and have hoped for further updates. My mind and soul have come to a kind of mellowness, at long last, so that I have not only thought about writing another entry but have actually done so.
I am now the manager of Windows, Doors and More Outlet, a building supplies store at 2119 Lakeshore Dr, Shreveport, LA 71103 (that's for all of you with Google Maps access). I left FedEx Home Delivery to take on the task of running this business. There's one basic reason for that departure: the Lord needs me at WDMO (affectionately referred to as "Widmo").
Since August, much and much has changed here on Yale St. Nathan and Genevieve Barrett have married at a world-changingly beautiful ceremony in South Bend. Mass was packed from front to back and left to right with enthusiastic friends and family of these two missionaries and celebrations across the country reverberated with the power of that weekend.
One week later, with hardly a breath drawn, I made the Covenant of the People of Praise in South Bend. I placed material, spiritual and financial possessions at the service of those with whom I made the Covenant and they did the same for me. We are a family in Christ.
And, skipping over the 24 guests for the Lord's Day after Thanksgiving, door framing training from David Zimmel, arrivals and departures of Bud and Sharon Rose, Chris Vieck, Ellen Reed, and Brian Couch, the two new useful sturdy lovely tables in the dining room of 1442, the common office with it's glass-topped tables that we made in 2 days we arrive at now.
Praise God, for his unification with us here, for his interest and involvement in our lives, for his patience and faithfulness to us, for his endurance, for his true and constant love. See you all later.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Monday, August 27, 2007
Weekend and week
The weekend whirled by leaving us with more to do and less time to do it. Praise God for helping us stay at the end of our rope.
Those of us who could attended the birthday party of one of the kids in the neighborhood. He's 13 now and insisted on sitting with the adults now that he was one of them. His parents were very grateful to us and made it clear that they viewed us as the guests they most wanted to attend.
We had an excellent ham and rice and beans and coleslaw-type-dish and biscuits and cinnamony carrots Lord's Day prepared by Brian and Laura and followed by sweet potato pie for dessert. It tasted very good. We then proceeded to the room designated, though not currently laid out like, the Library. We played Traffic Jam which is a game where you have to get the red car out of the parking lot without breaking any of the other cars in half. Jeannette and Brian played some piano too.
Sunday we had HH meeting about the common spaces in our houses and how to best organize them for our lives. Many subsequent discussions will trace their origins back to that one. Dan Dal Pra arrived on Saturday night and he and Ricky Thomas accompanied us to the volleyball court where some serious comebacks were staged and the side facing the street never lost.
Then we came home, showered, the women met about Genevieve's shower and the men went out on some missionary work. The shower is now in a much more organized state than it ever has been and we made some real progress in the neighborhood as well.
Breakfast this morning was buttermilk pancakes, hardboiled eggs, and assortment of fruits, and French pressed coffee. The Lord is afoot here, going to WDMO, the clinic, '34, and elsewhere.
Those of us who could attended the birthday party of one of the kids in the neighborhood. He's 13 now and insisted on sitting with the adults now that he was one of them. His parents were very grateful to us and made it clear that they viewed us as the guests they most wanted to attend.
We had an excellent ham and rice and beans and coleslaw-type-dish and biscuits and cinnamony carrots Lord's Day prepared by Brian and Laura and followed by sweet potato pie for dessert. It tasted very good. We then proceeded to the room designated, though not currently laid out like, the Library. We played Traffic Jam which is a game where you have to get the red car out of the parking lot without breaking any of the other cars in half. Jeannette and Brian played some piano too.
Sunday we had HH meeting about the common spaces in our houses and how to best organize them for our lives. Many subsequent discussions will trace their origins back to that one. Dan Dal Pra arrived on Saturday night and he and Ricky Thomas accompanied us to the volleyball court where some serious comebacks were staged and the side facing the street never lost.
Then we came home, showered, the women met about Genevieve's shower and the men went out on some missionary work. The shower is now in a much more organized state than it ever has been and we made some real progress in the neighborhood as well.
Breakfast this morning was buttermilk pancakes, hardboiled eggs, and assortment of fruits, and French pressed coffee. The Lord is afoot here, going to WDMO, the clinic, '34, and elsewhere.
Friday, August 24, 2007
The best laid plans
Now, the end of August, our household has taken a look at itself and found that half of us were not in Allendale for the last few months. And no one in that group has spent more than 9 consecutive months here at any time. So we have a situation where we need to start making some plans and laying some new foundations.
That's all good fun though. The newest folks in the HH are Laura Brummer, Jeanette Zimmel, Genevieve DeCelles, Brian Couch and Tom Duddy. None of them could described as rookies to this kind of work. We have a high powered group here, in fact, and all of us are in search of ways to out do the others in love and service of one another. It's a friendly competition, involving only nominal amounts of pranking and struggles for control of the throw pillows.
Brian took an amazing picture of a wasp caught in a spider web.
Tom has started attending nursing classes.
Nathan's been working on action items for the HH to discuss.
He and Genevieve are planning their wedding with great fervor.
Joan's got two kinds of school going on at once.
Cathy has been working on a new menu plan for a new year.
And I'm behind on everything. That's what lunch time and days off are for though.
That's all good fun though. The newest folks in the HH are Laura Brummer, Jeanette Zimmel, Genevieve DeCelles, Brian Couch and Tom Duddy. None of them could described as rookies to this kind of work. We have a high powered group here, in fact, and all of us are in search of ways to out do the others in love and service of one another. It's a friendly competition, involving only nominal amounts of pranking and struggles for control of the throw pillows.
Brian took an amazing picture of a wasp caught in a spider web.
Tom has started attending nursing classes.
Nathan's been working on action items for the HH to discuss.
He and Genevieve are planning their wedding with great fervor.
Joan's got two kinds of school going on at once.
Cathy has been working on a new menu plan for a new year.
And I'm behind on everything. That's what lunch time and days off are for though.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Couldn't think of a good reason not to do a short post. After all, this is the 4 month anniversary of the blog that I started. The long absence will go basically without comment.
The newest things around here include a heightened awareness of the importance of serving my brothers and sisters in People of Praise. In a conversation at the recently concluded Company convention Nick mentioned realizing in prayer that serving the body of Christ was a way that he could serve the Lord. I took a note on that and forgot about it until my prayer time today when the Lord suggested that I serve others as a way of serving him. I think we're on to something here...
My money-making work continues to surprise me. I've interviewed for my bosses job over the weekend and hope to hear the result of that interview within the next week. Wild.
Joan, Brian, Cathy and I went shopping for emergency supplies for the household. In compliance with PoP suggestions regarding disaster preparedness we're packing away enough stuff to keep us alive for a week in case we suddenly become cut off from all grids and infrastructure. We're not done yet but major progress has been made.
By the way, if you ever get a chance, Szala's on Archer Ave in Chicago, just a half mile away from Midway airport, is a nice place. It has the taste and spirit of Europe, primarily Poland, and includes some pita bread with lard and cheese as an essential appetizer. Pope John Paul II, I kid you not, penned a letter to the proprietor of this fine establishment and gave it his blessing. As if authentic pierogi was not a good enough reason to go already!
The newest things around here include a heightened awareness of the importance of serving my brothers and sisters in People of Praise. In a conversation at the recently concluded Company convention Nick mentioned realizing in prayer that serving the body of Christ was a way that he could serve the Lord. I took a note on that and forgot about it until my prayer time today when the Lord suggested that I serve others as a way of serving him. I think we're on to something here...
My money-making work continues to surprise me. I've interviewed for my bosses job over the weekend and hope to hear the result of that interview within the next week. Wild.
Joan, Brian, Cathy and I went shopping for emergency supplies for the household. In compliance with PoP suggestions regarding disaster preparedness we're packing away enough stuff to keep us alive for a week in case we suddenly become cut off from all grids and infrastructure. We're not done yet but major progress has been made.
By the way, if you ever get a chance, Szala's on Archer Ave in Chicago, just a half mile away from Midway airport, is a nice place. It has the taste and spirit of Europe, primarily Poland, and includes some pita bread with lard and cheese as an essential appetizer. Pope John Paul II, I kid you not, penned a letter to the proprietor of this fine establishment and gave it his blessing. As if authentic pierogi was not a good enough reason to go already!
Sunday, April 22, 2007
4 teeth lighter
That's right, no more wisdom. I had oral surgery on Friday afternoon to remove all four of my wisdom teeth. Getting knocked out was a pretty wild experience. I snapped out of it pretty quickly though and Nathan drove me home along with 2 of the 6 movies I've watched in the last couple days. Recovery is going quite well and I'm learning how to manage the pain and encourage the healing.
Work continues to improve. A bit more pressure than I was expecting for the first couple weeks at my new position but the rewards in experience and boosted paychecks are very helpful. It's good that I had been making enough money to start out with so that I dont have to rearrange my finances. I'll just increase my stage 12 payments and create a small "professional" category to pay for things like work lunches and the maintenance of a less hole-ly wardrobe.
Next big item on the schedule: Naomi's college graduation. I'll be flying to Portland on May 4th and staying out there til the 10th. Looking forward to it.
Work continues to improve. A bit more pressure than I was expecting for the first couple weeks at my new position but the rewards in experience and boosted paychecks are very helpful. It's good that I had been making enough money to start out with so that I dont have to rearrange my finances. I'll just increase my stage 12 payments and create a small "professional" category to pay for things like work lunches and the maintenance of a less hole-ly wardrobe.
Next big item on the schedule: Naomi's college graduation. I'll be flying to Portland on May 4th and staying out there til the 10th. Looking forward to it.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Bleary-eyed and smiling
Not quite like those famous Irish eyes, but you get the idea.
On to my daily update: Here's what's been happening since yesterday(here "yesterday" means "approximately 1-2 months ago when I actually wrote a decent-sized update on this here blog thing"): (editor's note, we have now been double-coloned. I'm not sure what that means for the future of English punctuation) (also, too many parentheses) (way too many) I got that new job title!
and worked lots of hours!
and Easter!
and saw a bunch of cool people at Jack and Teresa's wedding like Sean Connolly and Debbie Mixell and the Murphys and Slatterys and Reinhards and Pingels and many more!
and I did my taxes early!
and we have a lawnmower that works!
and I'm out of good update material but expect more in future as my hours begin to shrink down to sub-60 hour weeks and leave more time in the evening!
God bless you all
On to my daily update: Here's what's been happening since yesterday(here "yesterday" means "approximately 1-2 months ago when I actually wrote a decent-sized update on this here blog thing"): (editor's note, we have now been double-coloned. I'm not sure what that means for the future of English punctuation) (also, too many parentheses) (way too many) I got that new job title!
and worked lots of hours!
and Easter!
and saw a bunch of cool people at Jack and Teresa's wedding like Sean Connolly and Debbie Mixell and the Murphys and Slatterys and Reinhards and Pingels and many more!
and I did my taxes early!
and we have a lawnmower that works!
and I'm out of good update material but expect more in future as my hours begin to shrink down to sub-60 hour weeks and leave more time in the evening!
God bless you all
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Quick progress update
I've gotten into the habit of working ridiculous hours at FedEx. Strictly speaking, this is not a habit but rather something I have defined as a necessity due to my strong desire to see to it that everything gets done right as soon as a possible. To accomplish that goal I must work 10-12 hours per day (sometimes more, unfortunately) during my Tuesday-Saturday week. This week, has thus far been particularly hectic.
However, and this is an enormouse "however", I got the new position that I have been looking for! If you were to run into someone today and say "Hey, close friend or acquaintance, do you know anyone who is a Service Manager at FedEx Home Delivery in Shreveport?" it is likely that they will say, "Why no, close friend or person I dont remember meeting, I don't know anyone who is a Service Manager at FedEx Home Delivery in Shreveport, especially if you're refering to the Shreveport in Louisiana." And then you could say, "Well let me enlighten you to the service managerial positions at FedEx HD in S'port, LA. This dude, Josh, my bud and long time homie, is currently the numero uno fulltime salaried getting paid a thoroughly decent wage guy there in Shreveport, LAlaland" and you would not be lying.
Praise God! He's blessed my work, given HD a great overall manager in Tim, my boss, and kept me sane throughout the trying month of March. Now we just need to get someone to fill my position in the week or so to get things back to normal.
However, and this is an enormouse "however", I got the new position that I have been looking for! If you were to run into someone today and say "Hey, close friend or acquaintance, do you know anyone who is a Service Manager at FedEx Home Delivery in Shreveport?" it is likely that they will say, "Why no, close friend or person I dont remember meeting, I don't know anyone who is a Service Manager at FedEx Home Delivery in Shreveport, especially if you're refering to the Shreveport in Louisiana." And then you could say, "Well let me enlighten you to the service managerial positions at FedEx HD in S'port, LA. This dude, Josh, my bud and long time homie, is currently the numero uno fulltime salaried getting paid a thoroughly decent wage guy there in Shreveport, LAlaland" and you would not be lying.
Praise God! He's blessed my work, given HD a great overall manager in Tim, my boss, and kept me sane throughout the trying month of March. Now we just need to get someone to fill my position in the week or so to get things back to normal.
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