Sorry!

I started this post two weeks ago, but then got busy preparing for vacation. We were gone all last week visiting my family, and now I'm in the midst of a busy week at work (more on that later!).

Here's the news from church:

The Pastor's last Sunday was upbeat and fast-paced. A number of visitors came to see him off and speak their thanks to him. There's a fair amount of variation in attendees from week to week, I have noticed. In the four weeks I have attended, it seems approximately half of the faces are new. And, interesting to me, there is a church member who keeps attendance in a log. I'm not sure I've ever seen that at a church before. Is this common?

The big news is that the new pastor is a woman! I'm very interested to see how this affects the dynamic of the service. I had been kind of grooving on the male pastor, but hadn't yet formulated any real thoughts on the matter. I wondered how a male pastor and a "male" god were going to affect my sense of spirituality. The outgoing pastor really fulfilled my stereotype of a "black preacher," so I'm very curious to see what the woman is like.

In career news, it is a banner week. I've started a consulting contract that means I can start my own business and be my own boss. (I've also got another client, and more prospective gigs that I am cultivating.) I'll be working from home, which will give me much more time for my family and my hobbies.

I feel like I'm living my dream - I'm so energized about my career again. Everything is exciting, from the commute to the new gig to buying paperclips. I'm especially enjoying planning my home office, which we've decided to locate in the "four-seasons" room just off our kitchen. It gets lots of sun, but most importantly has a separate heating system to keep bills lower in winter.