Weekend (non) Events

The weekend was very relaxing. We didn't have any plans for the first time in awhile. On Saturday, we ran errands, and we went to Monte Vista Wildlife Refuge for a bbq Jeremy had heard about from a co-worker. What he didn't know was that the bbq was actually the Kids' Crane Festival. So, when we pulled up, the parking attendant asked if we were here for the Kids' Crane Festival. We said we guessed so, but we didn't have any kids. Oops. Fortunately, we saw his co-worker and adopted her kids for a short period of time, and I helped out a woman trying to balance children and multiple plates of food. We also were going to make paper cranes so that we actually participated in the events, but instead we just helped peel crayons for kids that were coming to color the cranes. All was good.

In other news... I don't really have much to say about what we did because we did nothing - yea!! I just finished reading The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. This has been on the bestseller list at some point, and I just never got to reading it. So, I found it at Rainbow's End and bought it for $0.50. It is a great book. If you have not read it, I highly recommend it. It is about a white girl in the 1960's that ranaway from home with her African-American "nanny." It tells of their time they spent with a family of sisters, one of whom was a beekeeper; they were their house of refuge. It has lots of great lessons. When I finished it, I had nothing to read, so Claire offered me a book called Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. It is a good book so far. I am almost 3/4 of the way through it. It is about two Chinese girls during the period of time when footbinding still took place. It is very educational, but the story line is great. I could never have lived in a time like that or with the rules the "worthless" women had to live under.

Church... our church "shopping" continued. I really don't enjoy doing this. It feels like if we don't choose a church, they weren't good enough. In reality, we have enjoyed parts of all the churches. We need to find a place where we feel "home." We attended the Mountain Valley Church. It is a non-denominational church housed in the historic Baptist church building. The service was fairly long and the congregational sharing was very emotional - which in some ways was nice because I like that people feel safe enough to share deeply. After church we attended the potluck put on by the Deacons. I quite enjoyed the potato soup. What we didn't realize was that by going to the potluck, we were also attending their quarterly business meeting. It was a bit strange to be involved in those workings of the church and not know how to politely leave. I don't know where we will go next week. The churches in this area are, in general, very small - 20-50 people, children not included. There seems to be a lot of transition - in pastors, in the congregation's ability to fund the church, etc. I think that if some of the churches just combined, things may work in their favor... but that would mean compromise of the denomination... ???