Merry Mayhem

Well, the cold sore is gone, it lasted about six days but it was never visible like usual, only I could feel it. I'll just keep using the cream if I get another one, without risking the dizziness and mood swings of that other drug.

Molly still needs her lampshade, and Puff is no longer in heat, so she is being very cute and friendly (to me)and making me feel bad about having to take her in for her spay surgery. I have to make that appointment next week, when Molly goes for her bath. Hopefully she can stay out of heat long enough to get it done the first week in January.

So I just came out of a three day work stint, after three days of the swim meet up at Rutgers. The weather was questionable, so we split the weekend between home and a hotel, which was a good thing. Megan swam pretty well, she got a best time every time she swam, if even by .01. Then she had to come back for finals in a few events. So that was exciting.

For some reason, her high school coach was unaware of a meet they were supposed to have on Tuesday. So they ended up rescheduling it for Wednesday, which meant that I had to reschedule her confirmation make-up (for what she missed for the other meet) for Thursday, which means she has to miss her Y practice, which she also has to miss on Friday for another high school meet!!! It's major mayhem and I can't even stand it. So she won't swim with her real team for nearly a week by the time she gets back in for Saturday practice.

Of course, right after that, the Y takes her away for the four day training trip to another state, in the middle of our family holiday.

And on top of this, we still have not resolved the issue of the 30 hour fast. I googled some other area churches and other churches' requirements for confirmation. Most will give a selection and require that most be met. Others will include a choice of several retreats, and some do just one class. Most seem to mention community service, of which our church does none. They added on a quick day at the soup kitchen, to which I plan to send Megan before the county swim meet.

If the church is going to deny her confirmation because we don't want her to fast for 30 hours two weeks before her Y state championship, at which she is trying to make national cuts, then we have to seriously consider whether or not we belong in that church at all. I'll offer for her to do the sleepover and skip breakfast and lunch on Saturday, which is a lot for her anyway. Plus the soup kitchen, which is half of the other day, the one she can't make.

In the end, she is putting forth the greatest effort possible, and we are trying to be flexible. Since I feel that is the church staff that has set these requirements, and not actually God per se, if they do insist that she must do this fast without any compromise, I'm afraid I will have such a bad feeling that I will have to consider searching for another church. They are offering no "home schooling" type of makeup for the fast, no alternative other than these two dates, one of which conflicts with the country meet.

I've been getting emails from them begging the congregation to please return their pledge cards, and apparently finances are tight. Although I can never repay the kindness of the pastor when Brian had his brain surgery, I'm afraid that this just isn't the kind of church I would want to be a part of, and wonder if that is perhaps some of the reason behind the difficulty in getting pledges back. Strength in pastoral services doesn't always balance out the atmosphere within the church; and that's what you have to deal with day to day.

So now I am off to try to tie up loose ends of shopping today and loose ends of cleaning tomorrow before the onlsaught of our holiday guests (at which time we may not see Puff again for days). A particularly strenuous litterbox changing activity has left me feeling a little shaky, so I sat down to let that wear off before I shower and hit the mobs. I hope the mobs are still asleep.

Oh, and maybe I'll put up some Christmas lights outside. Or maybe not. It is almost time to take them down already.