That's What It's All About.

Friday was the neatest day...it seemed to last forever... while I was at work... and zoomed right along when I was at home.

I want to tell you about Craig's day on Friday. This past week was spiritual emphasis week at his school. Each day started with a half hour assembly which was followed by a breakout session with a small group, discussing different aspects of their theme of the year, Trees of Righteousness. This last day was 'open mike' day where students were invited to come up to the front of the gym and share things about their faith journey, ways they've experienced God's nearness, and things they were thankful for. Craig said it was the most awesome experience as he sat through 2 1/2 hours of over a hundred kids going up, and sometimes twice, sharing joys, fears, sorrows, and gratefulness. All kids on an equal level, humbled before God and in front of each other, and at times moved to tears (at least I was and I was only listening!). Time just zoomed when Craig was talking about his day!!!

Speaking of school, next week we go to the poles to elect a new provincial government and one of the main issues is funding for faith based schools. Currently there isn't any funding at all....and that's just the way it is. In Ontario, for my out of province readers, we DO have faith based education, there is a fully funded Catholic school system alongside our fully funded public school system. Anyone else....pays out of their own pocket. We pay for elementary school and for secondary school, and pay into the five figures. This makes it out of reach for many, many parents. It's days like yesterday that remind you that it really is priceless.

So how do you tell people who aren't familiar with faith based education about what happens inside our schools. The media is doing what amounts to fear mongering because they are as much in the dark as most of the public. We even have a public school teacher who attends our church speaking out against Christian education in the local paper, I can't say that helps to score any votes for the Conservative party which is promising funding. Sigh.

We'd still send the boys, with funding or without.

Work was long this week. Mostly because there was so much table slugging to do. We store our long tables in a room in the basement when they're not in use, but at least there are enough now that I don't have to dismantle all the classrooms and then reassemble them!! This saves a lot of time. I also had to bring a lot of extra chairs up via the elevator. So....the cleaning got done after everything was back in its place. The downstairs got a lick and a promise. Next week. So, I didn't vacuum up all the paper holes under the table. I hope I don't get fired.

Today I also got to have some fun at work. I was asked to be in charge of the visuals for the month of October and with all the busyness of the last few weeks...I opted to keep things very simple. I placed two urns at the front of the church with beautiful mums in them....no corn stalks, no bales of straw or pumpkins, cabbages, gourds, preserves or quilts.... (besides, the straw is SUCH a pain to vacuum, Princess does her best but it takes 3 or 4 runs at it, and she is a single pass machine!) Simple and elegant. And free, because I borrowed the urns and the mums. It's all about who you know! I know there will be people with opinions (they're not criticisms you know...they're opinions) about the lack of the traditional set up....I shall drop the nugget to them that the Worship committee is ACTIVELY looking for people with creative ideas to take on the Advent season!

Yesterday I cleaned to Burlap to Cashmere....it was high time I popped that CD back in, and I needed music with a bit of momentum! I moved a cd player into my studio space because it was Saturday afternoon at the opera on CBC. I wasn't into that today and wanted to get some cardmaking done. I took out my new Christmas papers. I'm not a big fan of seasonal papers, but the Basic Grey Fruitcake papers are just soooooooooooooo fabulous. You must go and check out their website sometime....but be forwarned....you might just feel a shopping trip or an online store search coming on!

Craig had some friends over this afternoon to work on a project for the Physics Club. Boat building.....a big cardboard box and duct tape. They have to build a vessel that can cross a local water body carrying two people, awards for fastest, longest time afloat....etc. As I was leaving to drive them home it started to rain, and by the time I turned around to go back home to take the laundry off the clothesline....it began to pour, reducing visibility to near zero and there was just no point even getting out of the car as we sat on the driveway watching the drying rack buckle under the sheer weight of soaking wet clothes....Ray ran out to bring the boat in, it was under the shade of the tree since it was over 30 degrees again today. But the laundry...got rinsed again...and I'm STILL in the process of hanging it up. What a complete and utter waste of time! THIS is my life...I know you've all had this happen to you and you can totally relate!

I haven't checked other blogs yet....I wasn't sure of my computer access and wanted to make sure I had time to post!! I am assuming you are all busy with Thanksgiving plans. We usually head out to Chatham but Ray's folks are on the road down in the New England states somewhere on a colour tour . We will gather in a few weeks. Which works out well because we have church 3 times in the next two days and it is less hectic to stay home. Ray is busy with the books still too. Ray's sister Cathy stopped in for a minute on her way to her inlaws with her hubby. That was so nice!!! Still see some family on this long weekend! They swapped some skates with us. Joe and Craig have both outgrown theirs and Bronson had outgrown his old ones, and could now take Joe's.

So...enjoy your turkey lurkey....squash and cranberry sauce. We are having some of that good stuff on a small scale tomorrow...Ray picked up a chicken when he did groceries....he went way over the usual amount and was not that pleased with himself. Shoulda sent me!!!

I'm thankful for blogging since it gets stuff out of my brain and I'm thankful that you read it because it makes me feel like we are able to stay in touch more closely. And I'm thankful that I can read yours because then my life seems equally exciting and it reminds me that I'm loved and never alone. Because God is there and you are there, and sometimes your words are the ones God uses to show people He loves them.

I was listening to a song by PFR on the Roaring Lambs CD . One of the lines is "If actions speak louder than words, then let me live loud enough to be heard." I'll leave you with one...