Speaking Recap

After yesterday's ink stoppage, I was finally able to finish prep on the sermon for the Church of the Brethren in Sheldon, IA (the church Amy grew up in) last night and felt fairly comfortable coming into today. We were up at 5:30 to get ourselves and the kids ready for the drive in the hope that we would be there about 9:00. 5:30 was the standard wakeup time for us when we were at Hanfield, but it's a different 5:30 now with my work schedule and Amy's relapse into nightowldom. Regardless, we were out the door, on the road and to the church slightly ahead of schedule and got settled.

It was great to get reacquainted with some of the folks there. It was a very familiar, comfortable setting for us to be in. About the only thing that had changed was that the piano and organ had swapped places.

Amy played piano (including traditional prelude, postlude and offertory), sang for special music and did the children's message. She found the children's message online yesterday and it fit perfectly with what I was talking about. She did a great job and saved me the awkwardness of having to deal with children.

I played guitar for special music and on a couple of hymns, did the Pastoral prayer and the sermon. My primary criteria as to whether I did a good job with the sermon is whether the congregation threatens to stone me or calls me a heretic. Neither of these occurred today, so I think I did alright. I started a little shaky, but it's been a year and a half since the last time I did a sermon, so I expected to be a little rusty. Once I hit stride, I felt fairly comfortable. They asked us to come back, so it couldn't have been that bad. I even had a few folks tell me that I did better than some of the older, more experienced speakers that they've had come in.

Mom and Dad were able to make it, so we went out with them afterward to The Family Table for lunch. I was interested to hear more about a "painted violin" that he's been working on for a fundraiser for the Northwest Iowa Symphony Orchestra. They sent him a beat-up old violin for him to paint that they will auction to raise funds for the orchestra later this year. He and Mom have done some surgery to repair it a bit and dad has had to do extensive cleaning on it. Unfortunately, the materials that he's working with on the painting side of things has been giving him headaches. Hopefully it's still a project that he'll be proud of once it's finished.

Amy and Maia slept a bit on the way home and Xander kept himself occupied with his Leap Pad. Maia's nap wasn't quite long enough and after being home for 30 minutes, she is back in bed. I think I'm headed that way as well as coherent thought is becoming more difficult by the keystroke.