Birth in the middle of things

I received a much-anticipated email this morning. My "longest friend" (sounds better to me than "oldest friend") had a baby girl yesterday morning, just before 5am. After two days of contractions she finally had a c-section. Lord have mercy. But momma and baby are healthy, and I am thrilled. I've known Jeannette my entire life. She is 25 whole days older than I am, and our families were next-door neighbors until we were about 4 years old. She truly is a lifetime friend and one of the people I treasure. I remember when I was about 9 or 10 years old my Grandma mentioned that she and her best friend had been friends for 55-odd years, or something like that. I couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like to be friends with someone for so long. Yet here we are, 35 years and counting. Even though it's been ages since we lived in the same state, or time zone, Jeannette is one of those amazing friends I can pick up with like no time has passed at all. We have a friendship that somehow rests on a grace bigger than either of us, keeping us connected even when keeping in touch proves illusive. Today I rejoice with my friend, and give thanks to God for the birth of Kainoa Isabelle.

Thursday night as Sabbath eve

It's Thursday. Evening. Thank God. My husband/co-pastor and I take Fridays off and honor the day as our weekly sabbath, or stopping - at least we try to. It's not always easy, and even though we have a commitment not to do any "have to's" on our days off, they have a sinister way of creeping onto the day's agenda. I have one tomorrow: I must take our Honda Civic into the dealership to acquire the necessary bracket to attach a license plate to the front of the car. Arizona only has rear license plates, but Montana has two - front and back. The things you don't think about when buying a new car! But apart from that (and perhaps a load of laundry or two) there's not much in the way of to-do-lists for tomorrow, and I for one am especially glad. This has been a hard week for me. The play-by-play: Last Friday we got word of an offer on our house in Phoenix (the one it costs us a boatload to maintain with mortgage etc.). It was LOW, but we planned a counteroffer. Then we learned Saturday of a second offer, of a respectable amount. We decided instantly that we would accept it. Sunday we got as much of the paperwork done as necessary. By Monday lunch the buyers had a change of heart. I was willing to go back to the first buyer with our counter offer, husband: not so much. Knowing we could get more he wasn't willing to deal with the initial low offer. By Monday evening I'd fumed enough to let him have it: I'm working 22 hours a week or so at a groovy shoe store in the mall in Bozeman, and probably full-time as pastor of CtK (I don't keep track of hours because weeping comes pretty easy for me these days, and I'd rather not know). I've got more irons in the fire, ministry-wise, than he has, and he's still applying for part-time jobs. His getting-hired-difficulty seems to be "availability." I'm trying really hard not to resent how hard I'm working (and how hard he apparently is NOT working, at least according to me) but largely to no avail. I guess I was expecting this whole adventure to feel more like a team effort. Pray for me. And in my honor, please take a REAL day off this week. It might help you keep your sanity. I know it helps with mine. PS - I took a few minutes this evening to barely catch up with a couple of my favorite blogs. And found this great link for a post on Inexpensive Adventures. Right up my alley. PPS - Our congregation's new website, http://www.ctkbozeman.org/ is live. There are still kinks and blank spaces, but I'm feeling good about the progress we're making. Feedback, please.