As we near the end of the Easter Season it is rapidly becoming warmer around here, leading me to enter panic mode regarding the need to see more activity around TEAM MEMBER APPLICATIONS!!
As ever, I am trying to remain calm and upbeat (fat chance). A number of years ago I painted Psalm 5 v.3 on the wall above my bed and pray this verse every morning. Sadly, like many other people I have a habit of laying my “pieces” on the Altar and then picking them up again and attempting to deal with them myself. A sad failing! But on a brighter note, we are still receiving bookings from host churches (some NEW churches!) so the Lord must have people all picked out to serve in them, but WHY doesn’t He tell me who they are????
So my days at the computer this week started off with a huge Firefox problem, an anxious call to our Tech wizard Wentworth and an evening of his sitting at the laptop trying to fix things. I am now using “Chrome”. He says it is a temporary fix, we’ll see. After that glitch I booted up again and have been dealing with various enquiries, general Office work, acceptance packages to churches etc.
Tomorrow is “Crafts Day/Liturgical Dance Recording” and Sunday is a restart of the SYC Bible Study, beginning with a supper so my weekend is looking, shall we say, “intense”. That does not include making prints off a real (dead!) fish at church (more on this Sunday!!!). And just one week from today we will be holding our Spring Coffeehouse, everything is certainly ratcheting up for Summer Ministry Season. Angela is a very capable Coffeehouse coordinator but I should check in with her later today to see if there is anything extra to be prepared.
This week also saw the printing of the Program Manual!! This involved 2 trips to the copy centre and back with a heavy pack basket full. But there is always a thrill seeing the paper version of this core document for our Program actually in my hands.
It seemed like a good idea to write the bulk of my “Saturday” post today since tomorrow I will only have a few hours at home before heading over to set out all the crafts materials at Isaiah 40. Two afternoons this week Wil and I have spent time in the Supply Room hauling out stuff in order to make the Crafts Samples-everything from giant Puppet People to painted rocks and this afternoon I rifled through my home supplies in order to find other bits and pieces necessary for creating the samples.
At noon today I received a call from the Coordinator from one of those new host churches who was feeling a bit out of her depth with the “information overload” she had received from us! I hope I was able to clarify things just a bit for her as she was meeting at 2pm with a group to begin their local planning.
With the improved weather there has beenexterior “home improvements” going on around here as I retouched the paint on the deck railing, stained the front stairs and porch floor and scraped and painted a section of the garage door and flashing. Gardening is also taking off with seeding of dead spots on the lawns and general cleaning and trimming in the flowerbeds and herb garden.
And there has been time for a bit of sewing too. I made another summer dress from fabric given to me last Christmas and earlier this afternoon I put together a gift bag for the “Thank you” present I have bought for Arnee Holloway our long-suffering Manual typist! I always try to find something special for her since she labours so long and hard for Day Camps. This year I found a super handmade birdhouse at the CO-OP, which I hope will be a happy addition for her home in the country.
So this evening I’m packing up my basket with everything from an iced cake (food bribery is important) to some rocks to paint and generally preparing for a day of crafts followed by the teaching and filming of this year’s Day Camp Liturgical Dance.
Today I also baked some fish-shaped cookies for the children’s snack at church on Sunday. They turned out well so here is the recipe: –
Orange and Currant Butter Cookies
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 2 cups sugar
- 1/3 cup orange juice
- 3 cups flour
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup currants
- 1 Tbsp. heavy cream
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light. Stir in 1 egg, the orange juice, flour and currants. Combine well then turn out onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to ¼ “ thickness. Cut into desired shapes and place cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Combine the other egg with the cream and brush over the top of each cookie. Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for approx. 15 mins. or until golden.Makes 3-4 dozen.