Okay. I am very happy that President Obama won the election and very happy to live in Massachusetts.

Not much damage from Hurricane Sandy here in Jamaica Plain. NYC and NJ and so many other places can't say same. Praying for those displaced. Check out Church World Service if you want to make a donation. Already had a conversation about atonement this morning. Phew.

Getting stuff ready for the newsletter today. late. as usual! we didn't have any storm damage here. praying for all those who are enduring power outages, flooding etc... i am thinking that perhaps if i begin to write the mundane things down i can get past this blockage about writing. it drives me crazy that some folks can have no unpublished thought and i can't seem to get my thoughts down at all sometimes. anybody else ever feel that way? surely it can't be just me...intimidated by the prolific writers. hmm. Dishwasher guy is here now...oh and he is the oven guy as well. why do appliances always seem to break in pairs or groups even? i'm tempted to say that at least the fridge is working (despite the cricket who has made a home behind said appliance) but i am worried that if i get too happy about it, fridge will be next on dead appliance list. if only the appliances could apply themselves and keep working. another item on my agenda today is to come up with a stewardship theme. How about: "give your money" or "defeat the deficit"... no, probably not. I do have some real ideas though. only problem is that i can't find the piece of paper on which i wrote them. Figures. Tomorrow is Halloween. Am doing my first Halloween wedding. Rumor is that the bride will dress in black. it is a classic color. Was considering wearing my own Elvira dress, but have decided against it. :) Guess the black preacher robe will have to suffice. Okay, i am done writing now.

What if i used this blog to just write anything. nothing profound or interesting. just stuff? would i write more then? hmm. who knows. today i have the cold that won't die. really just won't. had it for about three weeks now. killer headache comes with. really attractive cold sore too. :) so much fun. and now i get to be the taxi driver for my kids all afternoon!! zoom zoom.

family vacation

we have spent a number of hours tonight planning our family vacation...we're heading down to KY to see my parents, but on the way we are going to learn about the underground railroad....mycah says "it's not a railroad and it's not underground...it's a lie."  "No,", says Naim, "it's a code."  So there you go--  check it out:  .http://freedomcenter.org/underground-railroad/history/what/

allie is my friend

hi all

allie is getting me back online....go allie. i hope this works!!!!!
wow. two years to the day!

summertime

why is it that every summer i try to blog again? don't know, but here goes. perhaps if just write here, it will be easier in other areas of my life...like sermons. we'll see. i'm back from vacation and beginning to sermonize this week, so i hope this helps. i'm reading a good book called "Leaders who Last" by Margaret Marcuson. it applies family systems work to church leadership and does a good job of making it accessible. thanks margaret. i recommend it to all pastors. let's see. i think one of the reasons it is hard for me to write here is that when i start, i always feel like i should be doing something else, like writing the way overdue annual report, for example, or the newsletter. hmm. perhaps this is just another way of not using my time productively. ah the protestant work ethic alive and well.