it's a BEAUTIFUL day!!!!

so despite not falling asleep until after 4am and waking up at 7:45am, i am having a FANTASTIC morning :-)

first off, it's sunny and like 70F outside. this means during my 25 minute drive to church, i could make excellent use of my sunroof :-) i was the lone car with TN plates speeding down jersey state route 18 this morning, all windows open and BLASTING kirk franklin tunes... it was FANTASTIC :-P

second off, at church from time to time they take surveys of what people would like to see going on through the church that either they aren't aware or that actually isn't going on at the church... the couple times i've filled out such surveys i've commented that a like 18-35 singles group would be a good thing... apparently several other people have been remarking that every time too, but no one's ever stepped up and said they have the time to start spearheading something like that (like me for example, i'd definitely want to be involved, but i'm a ph.d. student 20 miles away.... i don't have time to RUN such an endeavor)

anyhow, don (our coordinator of lay ministry -- he lives in the church office and it's his job to know EVERYTHING that's going on so he can help get people plugged into things they'd enjoy being a part of) finally decided he wasn't waiting anymore for someone to step up and instead organized a spaghetti dinner for two weeks from yesterday for people to show up and discuss what they'd like to see done. that's *just* before the end of the semester, so i can actually make it... i signed up for the dinner and i'm very excited and hopeful that something good comes out of it. i have plenty of friends at church from altar guild, new member class when i joined, spiritual gifts seminar, and just from the service i attend, but by and large they're junior high, my parents age, or my grandparents age. i know there EXIST other singles in the church, but i don't KNOW them. while it's fantastic to have a church FAMILY with friends of all ages, i'm happy to see gears turning to potentially help me find other people in more similar parts of life to me :-P

they're also hoping to have a call list put together by sometime in may -- this is exciting too :-) pastor v. (interim pastor) though did a really good sermon today... it's good shepherd sunday in the church calendar (ironically i attend lutheran church of the good shepherd :-P)... he talked about how people have names, churches have names, lots of things have names that each set us apart and tell the world something about who are are supposed to be, yet with all the diversity and how many billions of people there are in the world, Jesus knows us all BY NAME.... he calls us, walks with us, and talks with us knowing us each and every one BY NAME. pastor v. is nice enough, but he doesn't always have just one thesis statement when he preaches so he isn't always the easiest to follow. when he does manage to stick to just one main topic though, he does a beautiful job.

otherwise, lots of math to do today, most of which involves the computer, but that doesn't mean i can't continue to enjoy the day... i'm BLASTING music throughout the house and have all the windows open around here. just because i have to stay inside doesn't mean i can't enjoy the weather ;-P

later dudes :-)

happy day to all of YOU!