On Monday, we got some papers from Southwestern Minnesota Synod saying that they want Jon to come up for new pastor orientation. Jon called and politely asked how he would be getting up there. It turns out that they’re willing to give us some churches to interview at while we’re up there.

I asked my boss for the time off. She OK’ed it but told me that she’d have to talk to the board about it. Well… she called today and told me that since I’m leaving in the next 6-8 weeks, the board wants my last day to be Friday because in addition to travelling for a week, I also can’t guarantee that I’ll be here for the holidays and they need to find and train someone who can be. To her credit, she told me that she wanted to meet with me in person first but since I had an emergency dental appointment today, I couldn’t do this. I’m not exactly happy since we could use the income. (We’re starving seminary students — we can *ALWAYS* use the income.) However, I’m leaving on a somewhat positive note (I hope). Things would not be this good if I had informed them in November that I was leaving and they had to hurriedly recruit and train someone. I also have my paychecks earmarked for certain things like vet visits for the cats and for Jon’s insurance premium, so those things are taken care of.

Another lovely thing that happened today: I got the news that I need a root canal on one of my teeth. I broke it last month and decided to wait until I got to Minnesota. It started throbbing while I was eating lunch yesterday, so I called a local dentist and asked for an appointment. They took x-rays and evaluated it and gave me the news. The only reason that I’m not jumping on this is… I don’t have dental insurance and I’m not in a great place to finance a procedure like this. My tooth isn’t giving me problems and I’m being super careful to not aggravate it. God willing, it can wait until I get up to Minnesota…

The good news today is that the synod is going to cover *all* of our Minnesota travel costs. I made plane and car reservations this afternoon and had a great time. (It’s always fun when I’m spending someone else’s money. :)) We’ll go up from October 23-30 and hopefully Jon will receive a call from one of those interviews.

OK… hopefully the bad stuff will cease and the good stuff will continue..

Besides the trouble I’ve been having at work (which is a friends-only entry on my Livejournal), my week has royally stunk. On Tuesday, our toilet backed up all over the bathroom floor and we had to call a plumber (and Jon had to clean up the mess). I haven’t slept really well because of the situation with work and I’m also getting impatient while waiting for Southwestern Minnesota Synod to let us know when Jon has to go up and interview. (I’d be cashing in some miles and going too.)

For those (i.e. Richard) who have put up with the whiny messages, thank you. You are keeping me sane and helping me to deal with all of this.

Some positive things: I took over Jon’s Confirmation classes on Wednesday and worked one-on-one with the 6th grader in the class (it’s normally 8th graders, but we opened it up to all middle schoolers) to help her through the lesson. She is such a sweetheart and she was having a terrible time concentrating while her classmate was watching a video (as the program is self-paced and an independent study kind of thing), so she and I worked on the Bible reading and questions together. I’m going to work with her next week too and hopefully I can get her caught up to everyone else before we leave.

I also had a chance to talk to my friend Jill about the work stuff. Jill was one of my classmates at the sem and she has been our cheerleader for the last year. She gave me some really helpful advice on dealing with the work situation and also reminded me that I need to go easier on myself. Believe me, the latter is easier said than done…

Cake walk: $1
Longaberger basket: $75
Proceeds from dinner: $582
Knowing that you worked on a project that benefitted two people in your church and is paying their medical bills: priceless

There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there is a fundraiser

Wanna know why I’ve been too tired to blog lately? Read this. There are a few nasty words. If you hate such language, ignore it.

Jon went to AAA on Tuesday and got the guidebooks for Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas, Iowa and Nebraska. (The last 5 states are included in one guidebook.) He also got a map of Minnesota and we’re going to get some more maps tomorrow so we can start sort of planning the move out. No… we don’t know exactly where we’re going to move yet (we still have to hear from the synod and fly up and interview with them); but it doesn’t hurt to start planning a route to get to the state. We know that it will be somewhere in western Minnesota from St. Cloud southward and it will be one of these congregations, but that’s pretty much the extent of our knowledge — i.e. no exact place. We’re thinking of breaking the move up into two days instead of driving for 12 hours. Any thoughts on whether this is a good idea or not?

The Claytor Dinner/Auction is on Saturday night to raise money to help an older couple in our congregation. I’m the computer geek for the function which means that I have to make the auction sheets and thank you posters and the instruction papers. Thankfully, we’ll have counters who can tally money for these things. I will be a happy Jen when all of this is OVER and I can go back to my strange and bizarre life. I have a ton of data entry to do tonight as well as baking up all the cookie dough in the freezer and replenishing it as well.