Still plugging away at Jane Eyre - but should finish it soon. 

Had a good meeting with our leadership team. We are getting ready for a baptismal service this Sunday  and an annual meeting the next Sunday. It is pretty busy for us - but it is a healthy busy. 

Lots of new things happening - we are changing up our leadership structure and our relationship with our sponsoring church is changing as well.

Some of the changes have me a little anxious, but all in all it is heading in a right direction for everybody involved.

Ehkosit

Migwec

I just finished re-taping hockey sticks and lighting a fire. It marks the end of a good Family Day Weekend. Over the weekend we were able to play pond hockey, road hockey and NHL 06 on the gamecube (I think I lost in all of the venues).  We ate well - pancakes, pizza, deer sausage, etc. We spent time reading - different books but same room (I am so happy that my kids are book worms as well). Mason and Micah are both reading at levels several grades ahead of their current standing.

We enjoyed a good time at church - several new families, others we haven't seen for awhile, and plenty of regulars. This has historically been the lowest attendance Sunday and so it was encouraging to see those people. We have come through a difficult stretch - I wouldn't want to repeat the last 4 months anytime soon (or any time at all). But it has strengthened the resolve of our congregation and it resulted in a others really stepping up.

Ehkosit

Migwec

I am currently trying to finish Jane Eyre. Not only because its a worthwhile endeavor, but because my wife is an expert on this genre of literature. She finished up her degree focussing on English Literature from the Raj (when England ruled India) and British Female Writers of the 1800s (e.g., the Bronte sisters and Jane Austen). 

Its not that I don't read - I tear through an enormous amount of books but seldom fiction - mostly a variety of leadership, business and theology books - with a healthy dose of theoretical and applied linguistcs textbooks. All fairly dry. I find it is difficult to read literature since I finished out my Masters and started in on a doctorate.

My plan is to finish it by the end of Family Day weekend (as sort of a belated Valentine's Day gift).

If this works out I may try to restart (for the umpteenth time) and finally finish Burmese Days- the only book I have started and shelved more times than Jane Eyre!!!

Ehkosit,

Migwec 

Trust is an interesting thing. We need to be able to trust the people we work with - especially in non-profits where we don't have financial incentives and bonuses acting as a organizational motivator and as a salve in teams. 

Trust becomes the only thing we have - do we really have each others back - as we pursue a common goal. I'm struggling with this because I have been burned too many times due to my 'trust  first' inclinations. I feel like I have not only let the fox in the hen house, but I have let Robert Picton in the Chicken ranch (if you remember the Dolly Parton movie about the best chicken ranch in Texas)!! Its not just that people get hurt or we miss our opportunities, it becomes a situation where people are destroyed - and most often its the people on the periphery.

I've also come to realize the people that talk the most about trust are like the church that claims on its sign to be "the friendliest church in town" or the car dealership that is called "Honest ____'s Autos." If you have to tell me you are something it must mean you ain't! I think that the next time someone tells me that "all we have in this relationship is our trust" I will choose to not remain too dependent on that relationship - cuz its gonna come off the tracks sometime anyhoo.

ehkosit,

migwec 

It was a day where I was confronted head on with the growth in Calgary. For the most part I spend my days in our li'l section of the city. However, today I had meetings downtown with our denomination and then had to go over to another church to check out their baptistry (we are having a couple of baptismal services in February and May). 

What took me about 25-30 minutes when I first moved to Calgary took me more than 1 and a 1/2 hours!! Certainly a few accidents and a water main breaking forced a lot of the northbound traffic onto McLeod Trail - but it was still a long time to sit in my car. 

Meetings were good. We are looking forward to some of the transitions that are planned for the new year and especially the number of people coming forward for baptism!!

Ehkosit!

Migwec

Well I finally made the decision to switch over from PC to Mac. I had a hideous fall where I had to reload my entire laptop no less than 5 times. Besides just figuring out some of the basic differences between the two (short cuts, etc) I now have the difficult task of choosing to refer to my self as a Mac Daddy (as Chris Kelly did) or a Daddy Mac (as Chris Smith did).  At any rate I will be putting my pants on backwards in the morning!!

On a side note I score approximately 3.8 times higher on the cool chart than I did yesterday, I have cravings for strangely named coffees and I feel six years younger!!