A BUSY SATURDAY

And it has seemed to.  It is beautiful, overcast and cool.  The perfect fall day.  Warm enough that I don't have to wear a jacket, cool enough to be invigorating.  Ahh...

It looks like we may have missed Hurricane Hermine.  It is cloudy here now, but no rain.  And the forecast is not predicting rain either.  Originally we were to have rain tonight and into tomorrow. 

I am excited for tomorrow.  For the first time in 13 months we will have a pastor at church.  And not a visitor, but our very own.  I have never gone this long without a pastor.  At least not in my adult life and I guess I really didn't bother with such things when I was a kid.

Today Jim was at the parsonage fixing the front door lock.  Joe was at the church meeting the exterminators.  Yes, we are evicting our little vermin friends.  As Joe said, they will have to have their revival meeting in the park, not our building.  I, of course, had to drive Joe.  So after sitting in the car for awhile, I decided to go inside and do some work.  Let me tell you, there is ALWAYS something to do at that place.

I went into the pastor's office which I have been using while we didn't have a pastor.  Well, everyone really has been using it for one thing or another.  I looked at the desk and decided I wanted to do something to make it nice for Pastor Ralph coming in.  So I took everything off of it, scrubbed it down with a Clorox wipe so that it would be disinfected, and then neatly put things back.  I got rid of a lot of stuff that really should never have been on his desk.  I left the accounting stuff in an inbox for the treasurer tomorrow where he could easily find it, and sorted the mail and put it in piles according to what it was.  Magazines were put in neat piles in the bookcase, and the paperclips, rubber bands, pens and pushpins were all collected and put in cups where they belonged.  Then I moved all the chairs to places that made sense (they were just all thrown together in one place) and emptied the trash can.  How nice it looks now!  And I didn't even take a picture!  I'll have to do it later.  I'm sure when Pastor Ralph gets there he will move things around to where he would like them to be, but at least it is clean for him to start.

Then I got into the closet and very carefully because of my back got a few autumn things out.  I changed the wreath by the front door from spring/summer to one with autumn leaves.  I love this wreath.  It's so pretty.  It's the same one I put up last year.  Here's a picture of it from 2015.

I put vases of fall leaves on the tables for Fellowship Time.  A fall runner and a stuffed pumpkin replaced the summer cloth and vase of flowers on the back table that holds the welcome sign and the church bulletins.  I will take a picture of that tomorrow too.

Then I went through the literature table and got rid of all the old stuff while straightening up the things that stayed there.  

Everything looks so fresh and clean and I am very happy with it.  There are still some things to get out, like the autumn wreaths for the windows and I was hoping to put the curtains back up, but this is a very good start.

Finally Joe and I took all the old pew Bibles out of the room and packed them up.  We put out the new Bibles and straightened up the hymnals.  It was a puzzle to figure out how to place everything so that every row would have the same number of books, but we finally did it.  Then we straightened all the chairs.  I am so happy.  I love to make the Lord's house look neat, pretty and inviting.  Now if I could only make my own house look that way.  I'm working on it.  Why is it always easier to do someone else's house?  Or your desk at work?  Or your office?  Or even your church?  *sigh*

I had made a list of "must do" things while I was waiting for Joe.  There were 22 things on the list.  I've done 6.  Why?  Because I fell asleep again.  I am not sleeping well at night and then I am so tired during the day.  And I did a lot at church.  But at least the brownies for Fellowship Time tomorrow are baked.  I want to do some cookies too.  The brownies are gluten free so our pastor's wife can eat them.  How awful to come to church on your first Sunday and not be able to have a treat!  I want to make cookies also because I don't think one pan of brownies is going to be enough.  Or maybe I can make cookie bars and just cut them apart in the morning.  Hmm...

I think I will get started on that now.

Since I didn't have a bunch of pictures to show you today, I thought I'd share with you another "Picture from the Past."  Here is a picture of Joe from September 12, 2011.  I know you can all tell where this was taken.  Cracker Barrel of course.  And he hasn't changed a bit in 5 years.

Have a good night everyone!

Kathy