Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

My parents will celebrate their 52nd wedding anniversary tomorrow (September 25).

Happy anniversary to you! I love you! I'm glad that you are my parents! May you have many, many more years together.

I don't have to report!

I called the number tonight after work to find out if I still needed to report for jury duty and found out the trial was canceled. I'm so glad. I hated to have to miss work so soon after I started. I would have gotten paid my full salary, though, as long as I turned in any mileage reimbursement and check they gave me. What a benefit.

I really like my job. I enjoy the people I'm working with. I know they like me, too. I'm learning a lot about financial services in the process of working here.

Amanda is making supper for us tonight. What a blessing! We enjoy having them here.

Purdue visit

This is "the look" except the kids said that it isn't really it because I don't mean it! They are all very familiar with this look from me!

Jezra enjoyed teaching us about the test and talking about what it all means after we got our scores finished. He loves his psychology class!

We went to Purdue on Saturday to visit Jezra. It was so good to see him! He is growing a beard and mustache. He looks much more mature than he did. He loves being in college. We spent part of the afternoon (after eating in a Mediterranean restaurant) doing a test together that Jezra had taken to help you find out what career you would be best at. It was so fun finding out how much the same and how different we each are.

I thought of my dad when we were at the park and Bob proceeded to do a front handspring. Everyone else (but me) tried to do one, too. We also did cartwheels (I even did some). Then Bob showed the kids how to do a roll back like a backward somersault, put your hands down, flip your feet up in the air and spring up to a standing position. (I don't have any pictures of this but it was so fun to watch!) Kyle and Amber (who tried this the most) were very sore today and of course so was Bob.

My dad is always trying to get us to do things like that when we are all together like standing in front of a tall log laying on the beach and jumping over it. He told the kids they had to believe they could do it. Dad, you would have enjoyed being with us!

I told the kids this is why everyone thinks our family is so weird. They said it made our family fun!

First week at a new job

I know I'm going to enjoy my job. I'm getting used to getting up a little early. I enjoy most of what I have to do. I learned a lot. Some of what I did was orientation by watching a computer screen power point and then answering questions. One training was on the computer data program they use and one was to familiarize myself with MMA, their history, their mission, and what they do.

On Wednesday, I could feel myself coming down with a cold. By Thursday, I was dripping sinuses and coughing and sneezing all day. I found out I had a slight fever when I got home. I felt pretty miserable but knew I couldn't take off work on my first week on the job! Bob prayed for me that evening before I fell asleep and I slept well and didn't feel bad in the morning. I did cough a lot (I took a cough drop every 15 minutes because without one, I would cough and cough) but I didn't have a headache or fever.

The nice thing was the boss and another financial counselor had a business meeting in Canada so they weren't there Wed through Fri. That meant I didn't have many calls to answer or people to come in for appointments. (We only have three counselors that work out of this office including the boss.) This also meant I could learn the other parts of my job like the accounts payable without many interruptions.

On Wednesday, I received a letter saying I was summoned for jury duty on September 25. The nice thing is that MMA pays you your full salary while you serve and doesn't use your vacation days for it. That's nice because I won't be able to use my vacation days for 6 months. I told my supervisor and she said to send an email to all the staff letting them know. I will find out on the 24th if the case is still up for trial or if it's canceled. This is my fourth or fifth summons in 15 years! Bob was up for jury all year last year and didn't get summoned once. He's never been summoned before! I guess I don't care one way or the other if I have to serve or not.

Youth Group Party

The church youth group did an activity with digital cameras. Breanna's group took these pictures. See if you can figure out what was really happening!

Goodbye gifts from the church

Last Sunday, I received this plaque and flowers as well as a monetary gift from the church for serving them in the office for 8 1/2 years. I felt very honored and appreciated. Pastor Dave said some really nice things about me. I hope that they were true of my time serving in the office. I wanted to serve the congregation as if I was serving the Lord. I know I didn't always do that but it was my intention.

Moving In

Mark and Amanda moved in last weekend to our basement. It now looks very homey. We have enjoyed having them here. They feel like they are part of our family.

Bike Trip to Shipshe

Grandma and Grandpa and Matt along with Bob, Breanna, and me drove to Middlebury and ate breakfast at the Essenhaus. We were going to ride the Pumpkinvine trail to Shipshe. We found the beginning of it in Middlebury but outside of town, it was only a grassy trail. We rode on it for about 2 miles and then got off. It was very bumpy and loaded with mosquitoes! We rode the rest of the way on regular county roads with lots of ups and downs! We walked in the flea market for 1/2 hour or so, ate ice cream at Wana Cup, and then rode back to Middlebury. We were pretty tired but it was a good ride. We rode about 22 miles all together.

Changes

There are a lot of changes coming to the Brenneman household. First, I have a new job starting September 10. I will be working for Herendeen Financial MMA as a receptionist/Administrative Assistant. (See the following website for what Herendeen is all about: http://www.herendeen.com/index.cfm?source=quotes.cfm.) I will be a MMA employee but will work in the office across the street from MMA. I can walk to work each day if I want to. It will take 15 minutes to walk. I will work full time, 8-5 M-Th and 8-3 on Friday. I will have one hour lunch and the rest 1/2 hour to make up for getting off two hours early on Friday. This week is my last week at my church as administrative assistant. I feel a little loss but also excitement about the new position and being able to make more money because I'm only working 24-25 hours a week now.

I am looking forward to being a "civilian" and not be responsible for Sunday morning in any way for a while! I will miss some things like serving the people in the congregation and enjoying the people I work with but I won't miss some things at all! This job is a stressful job at times. It's hard to disengage and enjoy the worship service on Sunday mornings. Sometimes you know things that you can't discuss with anyone else outside of the staff. It can get really heavy. There are also some neat things about being there and walking people through crisis situations. I enjoy being at the center of the communication when a crisis happens. I will miss that. My strength has been in pastoring people through tough situations.

Second major change is that we have invited a young married couple (they are Amber's friends from the church youth group) to live in our basement. They are expecting a baby in January. They live with his parents and his brother, wife and two kids in a 3 bedroom one bath house right now. They needed more space before the baby comes and we had a basement that was sitting empty. Pray for both of our families as we adjust to this new arrangement. They will move in this weekend.

I spent Saturday with Amanda cleaning out the stuff in the basement kitchen and the boys' rooms. I can't believe all the junk we kept around! We loaded Breanna's car with recycle and Goodwill stuff!

The other changes have already been mentioned: sending two boys off to college and experiencing a little empty nest. I'm not anxious about these changes. I feel God leading us all the way. I'm thankful for His leading. When He opens the doors it's much easier to walk through them. If we try to pry them open, it makes it hard to get through!!