Fun Prizes and Something to Consider

So, earlier in the week, a friend of mine (and fellow church planter wife), Jan, called and asked me if I wanted to go with her to sit in the audience of Deal or No Deal in LA. Nothing was certain, but she had a friend who had a friend who worked on the set, and they were taping their Christmas show and were giving great prizes to all of the audience members. I checked with Brent, then said yes. As of 6:30 on Friday morning, the morning of the taping, we still were not sure that we had tickets, but decided to go ahead and drive down there. We could enjoy a fun day of talking and going to IKEA without children if we didn't get on. Either way, it would be a lot of fun! So we went down early yesterday morning, and we were able to get in!! We got all sorts of great stuff: A Roomba, a Nintendo DS and a couple games, a digital photo frame that plays MP3s, red carpet tickets to a premiere showing of a movie, $200.00 and a Howie Mandel bobble head!!! It was so cool!!! The show itself was interesting. I have never watched it all the way through, and I don't know what I thought of it. It is certainly just about gambling. I think I like it better when people win money for answering trivia questions - at least it takes some effort to win. I have seen one other taping in my life. I sat in the audience of a taping to Candid Camera just after I finished high school. It is amazing how many people they have to help them make the whole thing happen. I was telling Jan as we drove home that it would be so much easier to have Sunday morning services if we had all those people to make it happen!! The money that goes into the production of a show is incredible - it's kind of heartbreaking! There is so much money put into that when there is so little put into reaching people for Jesus, or feeding the hungry, or housing the homeless, or any other things like that. It makes a person stop and think about the importance we place on entertainment - kind of sad. There were so many other observations I made while there. I also felt so old. Those production assistants and camera men looked like they were no more than 20 years old. I'm sure they were older than that, but they were still so young! The entertainment industry is a crazy place - a completely different world than I live in. It was a fun day! I love Jan and so enjoy the time I spend with her. We were able to talk lots to and from LA, and it is so great to have someone who has been where I am and who can give advice and listen.

Since we arrived here, I have been contemplating getting a job. I continue to do some work for the Adoption Unit in Oklahoma, but I wondered if a job here would help me to meet more people. But, I have never done anything about it. I made a couple contacts through the social service department and completed my resume to turn in for teaching foster parents, but I have never done anything with that completed resume. I feel so busy already - helping Brent with church planting stuff, volunteering at school and through the family to family mentoring program, plus (and most importantly) being a mom. Whenever I have thought that I was going to take care of that resume, things have come up and I haven't gotten it done. I have kind of just felt like that was God holding me back, and probably it is. But tonight, on a whim, my neighbor placed a job offer before me. I don't know how totally serious he was, but he seemed pretty serious. He is a doctor, and they need a part time office manager. He said he thought I would be able to do a good job. I only talked to him briefly, but I told him I would only be interested in discussing it further if it was very part time and that I would have to talk to Brent about it. I mentioned it to Brent, and we are just going to pray about it. He said he would not be ready to hire for a month or so, so I have some time. If you think about it, pray for our decision. It would really have to be very flexible, and we did not talk about that a lot, so it may not work out, but it may be a great opportunity for me also. I really like these neighbors very much, and they are not Christians and we have prayed for opportunities to build relationships with unbelievers around us. This could be a perfect opportunity.

Tomorrow we have a practice service at church. It will be very, very small, but a friend of Eric's came into town tonight and will be leading worship. They drove up from LA. We enjoyed having them over for dinner this evening. Dave and Michelle are a part of Mosaic Church down in LA. I spent a lot of time visiting with Michelle tonight, and really enjoyed her. We are going to do our service and then walk through and talk about the things we need to order before our December 2nd preview service. Hopefully it will be fun and productive and also provide us with a great opportunity to do praise and worship for the first time with our Launch team. I am excited!