The Father's Day trip.

I'm a little late on this post.  1.  I forgot I had taken these photos and 2. The church rummage sale ate up all of the time I had from the time I took the photos.  

We skipped church on Father's Day and went for a family trip to Toledo, Magee Marsh and to Marblehead.  We had a delightful time!

An Eagle's nest that they have at Magee Marsh.  They had to block off part of the parking lot in order to give the nest the privacy it needs.

We were there for the May Fly hatch!  :insert slightly sarcastic tone:  They were everywhere.  This one was pick-pocketing Hubs pocket.

Hello, Monarch!  We fear we won't see many of you this year.  Last winter absolutely wreaked havoc on our gardens.  

The no trespassing, Eagles are nesting here, sign.

Quite a delightful trail.  We arrived a little too late for the migration and with the May Fly hatch, we didn't hang too long. 

If you thought I was lying about the May Flies, I wasn't.  Look at them hanging thick on the Milkweed.  

My people at the lake.  Lake Erie, to be exact.  Hubs is wearing his binocular straps.  He was trying to find some migrants. Again, a hair too late. 

K was hunting for shells. 

She would have brought home more if I let her. 

Even more. 

On the way back through, a May Fly landed on her, she started to flip and flutter herself and caused them to swarm.  Thanks, K. :S

This is just because we found it to be hilarious.  There are no other cars around.  We were the only ones parked there.  We came back and this car was snuggled up tight to the Yaris.  There is so much space.  Why be all claustrophobic about parking? 

We moved on to Marblehead.  This is the view of Cedar Point from the shore near the lighthouse.

Speaking of, they have a lovely lighthouse! 

This past weekend, after the retirement shin-dig, we went fishing on our little row-row-row your boat.  I saw this parachute, but didn't recall seeing a plane come by to drop it.  Nope.  It was a guy with a parachute and maybe an ultralight mechanism that he rode on.  Looked cool.

He twirled and spun in the air.  I told Hubs that I would probably be ill if that was me up there.  I'll just watch that from the ground, thank you.  

My people didn't catch any fish this past Sunday, but it wasn't for a lack of trying.  By the time we got the boat loaded back up and back home, it was well past 9 PM.  They went to a different lake this past  Monday and enjoyed much better success.

Have a great day!

The rummage sale report.

$4,231.  That is the amount we made from selling all of those miscellaneous items that came from homes, garages, basements and more.  That's a lot of money to go toward the building loan tab was what we made from discards.

That, my friends, is the Lord at work.

Doug, spouse of previous rummage coordinator, told me that one of the church ladies told him how pleased she was with the job that I did.  "Amy, understand that from  - - - that is high praise."  "She told me that and I kind of gathered that."  She's not one to praise, so when she does you take it and thank.

Incidentally, she keeps hugging me.  She is a past president of the PTA that I just stepped down as president of.  I think that was a big in for me.  I had a number of the older folks, including the previous principal of K's school, tell me that they really appreciated that I let them do their own thing.  "Dr. G, it isn't something for me to micromanage.  It wasn't something that I needed to build and it wasn't something that was broken.  Everyone knew what they always did and I just supported them in continuing their good work."  "That hasn't always been the case."  "I know."

There were several occasions when I had ladies come, introduce themselves to me and ask what I wanted them to do.  "Pat, what is it that you've always done?"  "Clothing."  "Then Pat, go ahead and do what you always do."  She looked at me so relieved.  If they feel comfortable and have a way of organization and flow, who am I to "fix" their system?

Next year will be even better.  I've earned trust.  People know who we are now.  (K, me and Hubs.)  We have two services, but we only attend one.  Between seeing K and me in front of the church now twice in the last month and Hubs come to break down and haul sale leftovers, we are now recognizable faces.

It stunned me.  K offered to come up with me.  On Sunday, the church was packed!  She wanted to announce how much we made from the sale and how much the youth had made from their concession sales.  She did a great job!  I support her in her want to speak before a crowd of people.  Not everyone is comfortable with that and if she can do that at the age of 10, hopefully that will stick with her.  I was always scared to death.  It wasn't until my parents had me participate in a few pageants (not like T&T) did I develop an ability to speak to people that I don't know and to talk in front of a crowd.  Speaking to crowds is still not my absolute favorite thing, but at least it doesn't paralyze me in fear anymore.

So there we go.  We were successful and the rummage sale volunteers want me back.  I have no problem with that.  It also helps to teach my daughter how to serve and that sometimes serving is hard work, not always the cleanest of things and how to work with people with different personalities.

Reverend Karen's retirement.

I didn't expect it really.  I should have known.  I went without Kleenex.  :sigh:  Most of the sermon there were tears in my eyes and rolling down my cheeks.

We all cried.  I doubt that there was a dry eye in the house.

Rev. Karen has been with our church for 21 years.  Now, we've been there a little over 2 1/2 years, but it really hit us hard.

Rev. Karen preached on Ephesians 6:10-20.  She preached to a packed house.

She cried.

We cried.

We had a potluck afterwards.  We were able to present her with many wonderful gifts from the congregation, but the one most special (at least I think) is that our Family Life Center is now named after her and her husband.

I would say that we all ate, but she was so busy socializing that she didn't get to.  We were trying to pull a plate together in the end.  I told her that it was like when you get married.  You know that the food is there.  You hear that it was good, but you didn't get a bite.  (At least that's what happened at my wedding.)

We are a congregation slightly in flux.  Reverend Joe starts on July 6.  We'll have an interim pastor next week.  Rev. Joe is wonderful and has a great family full of kids.  We bought them a parsonage probably 8 blocks away from the church.  He is young.  He is energetic.

While we are sad to see Rev. Karen go, her journey doesn't end here.  She and her husband will be traveling the US with an RV in order to serve God and help others wherever they are called.  Rev. Karen and Tom may end up in a service at your church.  Who knows?