Books, Puppies, & Life in General

Yesterday was the first slow day I've had since November 1. Yay!!! For some reason most people are surprised that I'm busy at Christmas. I do work in a church, which pretty much has non-stop services, concerts, etc., going on from Thanksgiving Day through Christmas. I literally created 11 bulletins in 3 days. Woo hoo! In that week was also held the last Session meeting of the year, which is the craziest meeting for me to get ready for.

When Christmas is over, those who know I'm busy for it have the expectation that I'm no longer busy until Easter. Au contraire, mon frere! I spend January getting ready for the new Session year and the big Congregational Meeting (budget, election of nominating committee, etc.) at the end of January. We had it early this year - this week in fact. Huge sigh of relief that it's over. And, I love the new Clerk of Session -- he's a godly man, worthy of respect, and does his own typing!

Sadly this week, I said goodbye to my good friend and coworker, Michelle, as she moves to a new job. I'm so excited for her, and she still goes to church here, but I don't get to see her every day now.

Dr. Ferguson's new book came out just in time for Christmas. Have you seen it? In Christ Alone is a compilation of 25 years of articles written for Tabletalk & other reformed publications. It's well worth having. Normally when he writes, he does it all by himself at home. But this time he needed help. The computer that most of the articles were written on and stored in was stolen. So I had the fun (yes, really) task of scanning and editing hard copies. Basically I got to "read" the book before it was a book. As a result I got mentioned by Dr. Ferguson in acknowledgements. Gracious, but unecessary on his part. Some people around here are making a huge deal out of it, which is rather embarrassing. I'm his secretary for goodness sake! It's my job to help him - and he makes it a joy to do so.

Moving on to other matters, Samson is growing like a weed. (He's almost 5 months old!) David says he has a puppy's brain in a big body. He's cutting his molars, but other than 2 pieces of furniture (sadly the antique secretary being one of them) and assorted socks and underwear, he mainly been interested in chewing on a big stick. He's also one energetic pup. It's funny to see him racing around the house on our wood floors only to try to come to a stop and slide 4-6 feet. David also says Samson loves me more than David. But he also likes to chew on me more than David. He likes to play with David more than me. Maybe that's because David is more aggressive with him, while I am the nurturer.

Okay, that's enough rambling for today. I'll tell you more soon.

Wow! Has it been 7+ months since I blogged?!?! Times flies when you're having fun (or when work/life is extremely hectic).

So what's been going on? Alot, actually, but I'm only going to talk about one thing today. Here it is:

Meet Samson, the newest member of the Huffman household. He's about 8 weeks old (6 1/2 weeks when the pictures were taken), and he has us completely wrapped around his little paw. He's a black lab/chow mix. The little guy had been abandoned and found by one of the people David works with. He's a mess, but he loves me. Of course, I can do without the biting...but we're working on that.

Just in case you didn't know enough about us, here's our President's Day newsletter (in lieu of Christmas)...

Dear friends and family,

This year we have decided to celebrate President’s Day by sending you greetings on that day instead of the traditional season of Christmas. As a result, Eve is a good deal more relaxed in writing this letter. (Christmas is a time when work kicks into overdrive at church.)

The year passed by rather quickly with a few highlights shining through:

David continues taking classes at RTS. He is officially 1/3 of the way through. The exciting thing is that this past October he came under care of presbytery (for our non-Presbyterian friends and family, it’s a huge step towards becoming a pastor in our denomination). Then in January, he became part of the new Pastoral Internship program here at church. His duties include leading a small group, teaching Sunday School, helping out with prayer meetings and assisting in the evening service. This is a real blessing for him to be mentored by the amazing group of pastors we have. He also does pulpit supply as the opportunity arises.

David’s work has changed significantly, too. He and his partner of two years broke up their partnership. To make a long story short, they had different goals. David has been extremely busy since they split up and has moved into an area that he finds a good deal of satisfaction in: cabinet making. He has so far done a kitchen, a bathroom, and has a huge kitchen project up next. He’s working with one part-time employee.

Eve spent the year getting used to her new boss. He, in turn, was getting used to her AND having a secretary for the first time. Dr. Sinclair Ferguson, Senior Pastor of First Presbyterian Church, professor at Westminster Theological Seminary, and a highly sought-after international speaker, is as busy as a man should be. (Maybe busier.) He’s a delightful man to work for: godly, pastoral, easy-going, humble, and a quirky sense of humor. He’s also Scottish, so Eve has picked up some new words that she finds herself using quite naturally now. In addition to being the Senior Pastor’s secretary, Eve is also doing the bulletin (2 for Sundays, 1 for Wednesday, and 1 for Thursday), secretary to the Session, weddings, flowers, baptisms, etc. She’s a busy woman. (This doesn’t include her extras: home office business, knitting and crocheting, jewelry-making, baking, photography, and wedding directing.)
The highlight of Eve’s year was a mission trip to Vinnitsa, Ukraine. Along with 15 other teammates, Eve spent 14 days conducting a Bible camp, visiting churches, nursing homes and shut-ins, and getting to know this wonderful, beautiful country. She found some of the warmest, musical, amazing people there that she had ever met. And she ate some pretty incredible food. In fact, the only reason she DIDN’T gain 10 pounds was the rigorous activity in the Bible Camp. Eve, along with her teammate Karen, taught English. “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes,” “1, 2, 3 Jesus Loves Me,” and the “Hokey-Pokey” were sang often and with much gusto. Add the motions, and you’ve got one good exercise program. Unfortunately, David could not go, so Eve was more than ready to return home after 2 weeks.

Eve also celebrated turning 40 by getting her hair cut short and donating the ponytail.

Eve’s mom and dad took the trip of their dreams when they went on an Alaskan cruise in September. They decided to go ahead and “just do it” as Daddy’s health slowly declines. This fall our oldest nephew, Max (Hunnicutt), became seriously ill with pacreatitis. We thought it was caused by his getting ill after a trip to Mexico, but a week at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, found something quite different. He has a genetic disorder (the name of the game in Eve’s family!) and will be something that he will face all of his life. We were truly thankful at Christmas that he was there and able to spend it with us.

David’s mom had a couple of health issues this year but nothing serious. She had to say good-bye to her aunt and best friend last January, so it’s been a tough year for her. Linda Lou fought a difficult yet brave battle with bladder cancer. We have also welcomed three new nephews in the family: Seth in June, and just this week, twins Alex and Alan.

Through all the highs and lows God has shown time and time again his goodness to us. He has poured out his grace on us in so many ways, and we are so thankful that we are his. We would ask that you pray for us as we continue down this path towards ministry, for David as he has a demanding work schedule and tries to fit in some classes, for Eve as she supports David, and for the future as we seek to adopt.

Love,





P.S. HAPPY PRESIDENTS’ DAY!

I find that as I get older I'm not as organized as I used to be. Or, maybe it is that I just procrastinate too much. Anyway, I've lost an important email address, and it's really frustrating me. Have you ever done that?

I was supposed to email a potential client pictures of some of my jewelry creations. Yes, I make jewelry. It's way fun. Here is a pic for your viewing pleasure:

http://semwife.shutterfly.com/action/ (Click on the link for more pics.)

P.S. Pardon the fuzziness. My camera is not equipped with a macro lens. One of these days, maybe...

What is it they say about the best laid plans? Well, my plans to post, oh, 4 months ago (!), definitely went awry. And, why is it, when you have newsworthy posts, you don't have time to post? It's only when life slows down to its normal, non-noteworthy pace that I actually have time to "catch-up." Let's see if I can run through that past 4 months in a nutshell:

October: I turned 40 and cut my hair. Short. (I donated it.)
November: My nephew Max (age 17) became seriously ill with pancreatitis. He was in the hospital for most of the month.
December: Max went to the Mayo Clinic to find out a definitive diagnosis and cause. He has a genetic condition and so will battle this the rest of his life. Praise God that he was able to spend Christmas with us.
January: The Rev. David Lauten began as Associate Pastor of Congregational Care and Nurture. It's been great. But that also means that January didn't slow down. David (my hubbie)also started his Pastoral Internship at church. The very Sunday he assisted with Evening Worship he also preached in Summerville in the morning. We were both zonked. The day before I had helped my best friend and her siblings at a 50th anniversary party for her folks.

We're now up to February. What's in store? I don't know. Except that we will probably have 2 nephews at the end of this week/beginning of next.

Okay, that's it. As busy as I have been, it seems like it should be more. But we're awfully busy just with the day to day stuff. Oh, I did set up a link to my pics. Should you so desire to look, here they are:

http://semwife.shutterfly.com/action/

I realize that it's been too long since I've blogged. I need to blog more, I know. But, while we've been busy, only recently has anything happened that I consider blog-worthy.

Last week David came under care of our presbytery. For all my non-presbyterian friends let me explain what a presbytery is and what coming under care means. Within any presbyterian denomination (there are a number; we're in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian denomination) a group of local churches come together to be a presbytery. Presbyteries in turn, come together to form the larger body of church government; in our case it's called General Synod. Each level is a system of accountability -- churches are accountable to presbyteries, who are accountable to the general synod. Presbyteries are made up of teaching elders (ministers) and ruling elders. Ruling elders are also members of their local church. Ministers are members of presbyteries only. First Presbyterian Church is in the Catawba Presbytery.

Now that you have a glimpse of a presbytery, let me explain what coming under care means. David stood, first before our Session (elders in the church), and then before presbytery, and stated his intention of pursuing the Gospel Ministry as a preacher. He was required to give his testimony and why he felt like God was calling him to the ministry. By voting to allow him to come under care, the presbytery 1. affirmed his call to the ministry and 2. will begin to hold him accountable as he moves forward in his studies. He will also begin fulfilling the requirements of liscensure and ultimately ordination.

The reason why he came under care even though he is still several years away from completing his studies is that Dr. Ferguson wanted him to. David actually wanted to wait, but Dr. Ferguson wants to start including our seminary students (3 of them) in participating in our eveing service. That is very exciting for David. On the flip side, it does put a bit more pressure on him to finish his studies.

David also broke up with his business partner this fall. As the year has progressed, it became apparent that they had very different goals and ideas about work. It was a stressful year. Please pray for him as he faces some big projects on his own now. And pray for me that I will know best how to support him.

As for me, in about 6 weeks my boss celebrates his one-year anniversary as being senior minister of First Pres. Have I enjoyed working for him? You bet! He's godly, pleasant, funny, respectful of me and pretty easy to work for. Besides, I've had more overseas phone calls in 1 year than I ever have in my life. What fun is that? And, I've been pretty busy. It's exciting to see all the positive changes at church (they also have me busy trying to keep up with him).

That's about it. I do suspect I'll have more to blog soon. After all, next Wednesday is a very big day in my life.

I finally finished editing my pics. Click on the link to view them.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=1AcuGThm4ZsXPA