Thursday, November 29, 2007

good job

I think my favorite part of my job is doing payroll. At least once a week, several people are very happy to see me. And if it's payday for the Mom's Day Out staff, I get bonus hugs from their clientèle.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

More About Our Office

Seems like I'm on a roll (or is it a rut?) with posts about co-workers. This, however, will be about the office, not so much those in it.

My office is in the fellowship hall of our church. The "Big Room" is on the other side of my office wall. There is a set of drums less than 5 feet from my desk through that wall. At any time of day, there is a reasonable chance that I will be treated to a drum solo by anyone passing by. (Some are more talented than others.)

I share my end of the building with 2 others: The Scary Man and Sparky the Firedog. The Scary Man's office I think is in transition. It's loosing some of the youth oriented stuff (the wig, mask and hat, however, are still on his couch), and I'm not sure what will be taking it's place. You can see the floor in there now. The boxes of T-shirts are gone. Reverend Sparky's office is still too new to look like a working office. It does show promise, though. He has a recliner and he knows how to use it.

My office is sometimes a popular place to stop in, but I think it's just because I am the dispenser of a popular confection. Rev. Sparky told my eldest that it's like a bar, but the poison of choice is jelly beans. I usually keep a jar of the good ones on my desk.

Aside from jelly beans, I do have some odd stuff in my office. There is an origami crane from the Rickshaw Rally VBS we did several years ago.

There is other origami that is the result of a 7th grade homework assignment that my eldest had years ago. I bought a cube of post-its and started folding away! (that's my dad tying my mom's ice skates in the background: it's my favorite picture of them. And for you LOTR fans, that's Arwen with her sword on the left edge. Aragorn was cut out of the picture.)
There's a picture of M with Senator Trent Lott taken July 4, 2004, when he spoke and she sang at Agricola Baptist. (as I was looking at this picture, I noticed that Simmie was there in the background. Boy, I'm gonna' miss seeing him! He was one of those guys that was ALWAYS there, doing what needed to be done. In this case, it looks like the job was eating!)
I have some little clothespin dolls that I made for my grandmother that are supposed to look like my girls . When she passed away, I got them back.
And then there's the cabinet that all the little ones know about. It holds a wide variety of little action figures and the toys from kid's meals from local burger places. Every kid under 4 that comes my way (and some older ones, too) seems to know about it and remember it. They just help themselves. I rather like the idea that folks of any age can find what they need in my space.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Some Days

There are some days that you just wish had never happened. Yesterday was one of those days. With no warning, no hint of illness, one of the most honorable men I know went to be with the Lord. There is no doubt in my mind that's where my friend is. But clouding the joy we have for him, is the overpowering grief we feel at his absence. He was someone you could ALWAYS depend on to do the right thing, even if it was a hard thing or an uncomfortable thing.

Some people's passing, it's sad to say, don't make much of a ripple outside their own family. This man's influence was so much bigger than what most of us call family. Our pastor, Dr. T, considered him to be one of his very best friends. Dr. T said of him last night that "no one is irreplaceble, but some places are harder to fill than others." Simmie has left a huge hole in our hearts.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Another CoWorker












Have I ever mentioned that I have the greatest job in the world? Where else can you take such great pictures of your co-workers? Dr. T (our pastor) took this picture of our youth pastor this morning. They were all getting ready for a fire prevention program for our Mom's Day Out.

Not everyone was happy to see "Sparky." Some of the smallfry ran away screaming at the sight of a larger than life dalmatian. That can be very traumatic for a new youth pastor.