Some Things Never Change

It just seems that some things never change. Mary goes to school everyday, leaving at 6:40 am and returning after 5:00 pm. Angela goes to work each day and calls everyday to see how things are going. David continues to do his thing, with little contact with his parents. I seem to do the same thing each week, with little change, even though the usual turning point of each year, Easter, is now past. Allison traveled to Las Vegas, like everyone else in the family, and ran into problems, losing her credit card and driver's license, obliging her to call her parents to bail her out. Some things never seem to change.

Finally Home

Paul was down in Lansing most of the week, for the synod assembly and to participate in the Honduras Summit. The assembly was like all the other assemblies, except on Monday evening Paul played golf at a local Lansing course with several friends. The assembly ended on Tuesday morning.
On Tuesday evening the Honduras Summit began. Honduras is a Companion Synod of the NW Lower Michigan Synod. Paul is part of the synod Global Mission Committee. At a meeting of that group they decided to invite three leaders of the Christian Lutheran Church of Honduras (ICLH) to visit with our synod and three other synods of the ELCA which include Honduras as a Companion Synod. The NE Minnesota Synod and the New England Synod were the other two participants in the summit.
All kinds of things were learned. We spend most of the first three parts of the summit listening to the interesting changes in the ICLH. Then we learned what the other synods are doing together with the church in Honduras. Each of the synods are involved in different ministries. We all agreed that we need to share our gifts with each other. The final part of the summit was spent on how we could change and/or expand our companionship with Honduras.
Interestingly, Paul has always wanted to be involved with teaching worship and preaching in Latin America. The NE Minnesota Synod sends four or five pastors down twice a year to do just that. They invited Paul to go along in September. He is not sure he can make it, but he will try.
Paul was able to bring his Spanish up to par again. He found out he can still translate well, and he met some real new friends. Paul also planted the idea among the group that leaders from Honduras could possibly help his parish open up a new ministry among the Mexican population in Leelanau County. The plan would include bringing a pastor or congregational leader from Honduras to Leelanau County in Michigan to open up a dialogue with the Mexican population, discover their needs, particularly their spiritual needs, and attempt to be a brindge between the Mexicans and Paul, pastor in Suttons Bay. The bishop loved that idea, and found other ways the synod could take advantage of the visit. Hope to have this planned for the summer of 2010.
Mary continues to struggle back at school, wearing a boot for her broken foot. The kids are horrible, but the year is nearly finished. Exams are coming soon, and then the summer. Needless to say, Mary is ready for a break.
David is working two jobs for the summer. He is still at Target, putting bikes together all day. He also works a few hours early in the morning at a local golf course. He hopes to earn a bunch of money this summer.
Allison is busy with her job at Black Star Farms. She is a bit bored, not having her college friends nearby. The summer will be looooong for her, but it will come to an end and she will see them all again.
Angela is doing fine. She has some funny ideas for doing some crazy things. More on this later.

Spring 2009

Spring has finally sprung in northern Michigan. Though the nights dip down into the 30's, the days are relatively warm. We say relatively because this is shaping up to be one of those summers that is cooler than normal. We all hope that is not the case.
David is moved into Traverse City, happy as a lark because he found this huge house himself, and his friends are slowly moving in. We are making a wardrobe for him, so that he has a place to keep his clothes. Hope to finish this up soon.
Allison is home and working right away at Black Star Farms. A friend from college came to visit, so they are running all around, visiting parts of Leelanau County.
Angela seems to be doing well. The legs for her new dinning table arrived yesterday, so the next project is already set to go. We will need to order the ceramics that she wants in the middle of the table top.
Mary is back to school. She was off for a week and a half because of a broken foot. Things have improved, though with a limp. She started back yesterday, trying to get her kids back on task.
Paul is doing fine. He heads out for a week in Lansing, for the synod assembly and a few days of a Honduras Summit. He is working on David's wardrobe and will then begin Angela's table, reorganize the garage, and paint the cellarway. Lou, Paul's brother, finished a new wine rack that needs to go into a repainted and reorganized cellarway.