Well, on to wedding part deux this week. Chantel and Garrett this coming weekend. After this weekend, I am free and clear from all wedding responsibilities except being a guest at other people's from then on until another friend might get engaged. No one else that close to me friendship wise is dating right now, so I am in the clear for a while. My dress is all altered, I have someone to do both my makeup and hair, and so, I think I am ready to go. It is blazing hot here in Washington State this week (lower 90s today), and so it looks to be a great day for a wedding. We had a bachelorette party for Chantel on Sat. We went up to Seattle and Salty's on Alki Beach for a "gussied up" dinner with a bunch of people and then down to Starbucks for some coffee. Then, just the bridesmaids and Chantel rented some hotel rooms in Seattle and had a night of pampering and hanging out. Michelle from DC is in town as a bridesmaid, and it is nice seeing her in person and getting to hang out with her. Wedding prep is underway this week, and I might take Friday and Monday off to make it a five day weekend for myself. In fact, the more I think about it, the nicer that sounds to me.
Last week was a roller coaster week for me. The preschool idea Erika and I had been working so hard for seemed to have come to a halt as of a week ago Friday. I think I posted about it in an earlier blog, but basically it was going to be a babysitting service for Newsong moms. I was not happy. I was disappointed and that caused me to become angry. I also realized how much of my self worth was wrapped up in this preschool coming into existance. To have it taken away was a rude awakening for me. All of this is/was good....it needed to be purged out. But, then last Sunday, pastor Brian had a long talk with Erika and I and it was back on! Cut to a flurry of emails all week last week and what it boiled down to is that we needed two things: 1. a place to have the school and 2. a place to have the school that would be cheap. So Saturday we had a looooong meeting at church to cover some new ministries (this was a whole-congregation meeting) and Brian, Bruce, Christy, Erika and I got to pray and seek the Lord on what needed to happen. So, bottom line: Erika and I are looking into a building that our sister church (Destiny City Church, aka Clover Creek Bible Fellowship) rents. We could have it basically for free during the week and so the only expenses we need are start-up costs and some money month-to-month to cover supplies. We MIGHT even have some money to get paid! We are now just waiting to have a peek at the classrooms there and see if they could work for us.
We are also doing a new thing at church to help accomodate having so many people want to come in for ministry from out of town: it is called "Freedom Immersion Week." Basically, what we do is have a mini freedom conference once a month so that people can come in and hear our teaching on freedom, and get prayer. We have had some people this last week from all over the world come in for this first version. It was fun to get to pray for a them, especially with all of the connections we are making all over the world. I got to pray for a gal named Rene from South Africa, who is friends with MY friend Jess. I also reconnected with a guy named Dan from New Zealand whom I had met back in March at the Harpenden, England trip. He's a YWAM-er.
Saturday's meeting at church was great. We are just basically taking our congregation and strategically getting ourselves involved with everything and anything we can to reach the city. The days of being involved with five ministries in a limited way, or having the SAME people do the same things all the time are over. This has really hit home for me because I have been feeling the strain and stress of being over-committed. But, graciously, the Lord has been removing some of my activities that have become too much: piano lessons are stopping for three months (teacher is taking some time off), roommates are finally moving in, the home remodel is NOT happening, Thursday night discipleship is ending for the summer (more on this later) and I am not sure that *I* even will be discipling anyone in a formal way any longer, and I am just asking myself with the preschool: is that going to be my primary ministry now?
Weight Watchers continues to go well after breaking through my massive plateau of a few months back in May. I am now SIX pounds from goal! Yee haw!
I think that is it for now. Have a blessed week!
Erin
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