What do you get when you combine 30 Norwegians, 2 skid loaders, 5 chain saws, multiple shovels/rakes/hoes, 3 hedgeclippers, 25lbs of grass seed, 5 flatbed trailers, 1 gallon of paint, 4 trees that need to come down, some nice shruberies, and a ton of rocks?

Answer:

The following conversation took place on Sunday night:

J: Jen, the supercool pastor’s wife
T: The stupid telemarketer

*phone rings*
J: Parsonage
T: Hi. Can I speak with Ms. Lutheran?
J: What???
T: This is _________ from Mediacom. I need to speak with Ms. Lutheran.
J: Ummm… this is a church office and parsonage. We’re Lutheran Christians so there isn’t a Ms. Lutheran.
T: There’s not?
J: No…
*hangs up*

Jon’s gotten asked if the caller can speak to “Mr. Minnesota” before.

We returned from the ER tonight (I was in pain and needed some pyridium — extrapolate from there) to find a vase of flowers and a canteloupe in the dropbox by our door. There was also a card from our oldest parishioner (she’s 96 and still active and driving) saying “Belated birthday wishes to Pastor Jon and happy joy to you and Jenna.” I have to say… a birthday canteloupe and flowers is infinitely more creative than a birthday cake and probably better for us too. 🙂

As I sit here waiting for a call saying that the car loan paperwork has been faxed over, I guess I’ll let people know what’s up.

Wednesday was Jon’s birthday. I got him a Celtic cross (mostly so he’d stop stealing mine!) and I made a donation to a Northern Ireland peace charity for kids in his name. That night, we had the first of three discussions on the massive waste of time and money that the ELCA voted on doing in 2001 and that went fairly well. (The $500K could honestly be better spent on evangelism since the overwhelming majority of people have indicated their desire to keep the status quo.) I had baked a cake for Jon and some of my WELCA ladies (who deserve much accolades and fruit snacks) baked a couple more so that we’d have enough and we sang to him. 🙂

Yesterday night, I watched Carly Patterson kick some Olympic gymnastics butt. I went for my walk earlier in the evening so I could watch it and I ended up running into a parishioner and getting a tour of the local Catholic church where he is the janitor. It was cool to hang out and talk even if it did mean that I was late getting home and showering.

OK… now if my credit union would please fax me the loan application…