Crazy July

I've almost forgotten how to blog. Its been a crazy summer and July was the worst month.

Our church celebrated its 50th anniversary which left me with tons to do since my title at the church is "Administrative Assistant for Church-Wide Initiatives". I was on the committee for the 50th celebration but my role was primarily decorating the sanctuary and gymnasium for the big day.

I offered Warren's creative services to build a 6.5 min (2 songs worth) long DVD capturing 50 years of pastors, staff, mission trips, new and renovated buildings, etc. but in the end I took the project on since he was so busy at work and was battling to find the time to build the DVD.

The secretary and I scoured through albums that were falling apart, many of which held photos and yellowed newspaper clippings from 40-50 years ago. And so the scanning and photocopying of photos and articles started and didn't seem to end, even as the big day arrived.

My children lived at the church for those weeks and I worked past midnight most evenings trying to get the DVD ready a week before the celebration in order to make sure the facts, photos and articles in the DVD were correct and accurate. (Turns out that I had to redo a few of the comments in the DVD 3 times which worked out to be 3 days worth of work).

It was so hot the weekend of the celebration and the night before the big day I was in the fellowship hall of the church, filling over 200 balloons with helium. Taking them to the gym at 11 pm didn't work because the gym was too warm and the balloons started popping so I had to return the next day at 7 am to move all the balloons to the gym. That also meant I was climbing up ladders to hang balloons on the basketball hoops to disguise the ugly things.

After finishing the gym, I wiped my sweaty self down, changed into my Sunday clothes and then spent 45 min rehearsing for the service (I also sang on the worship team and duffed up the ending of a song. I was too tired by that stage).

The day went well and I was pleased with the way the gym turned out - its an ugly room and there isn't much you can do to make it pretty. The styrof0am '0' from the '50' that hung on the gym wall came tumbling down 30 min into the lunch...at least it was up for the photos! All the balloons thankfully stood to attention which was surprising especially since we had over 300 people in the gym with no a/c and during the hottest part of the day.

I took a much needed rest after the 50th by flying to Durango (an hour from Pagosa Springs) on my own and spent 3 days lazying, reading and taking naps at my friend's house in Pagosa. It was wonderful and I've decided to make it an Pagosa Annual Summer Siesta (PASS) - a break from motherhood and from wifely & household duties and responsibilities.