She did it!

This week my baby girl learned how to ride a bike without training wheels. She woke up the next day and the first thing she did was run outside and ride her bike. She then ran back inside and excitedly let me know that she still knew how to ride a bike. Maybe she thought she was dreaming. We can go on family bike rides now that all three of the girls can ride. I have fond memories of my family going on bike rides around the streets in Wyandotte. We used to ride all the way down to Bishop Park and get ice cream at Stroh's and sit by the river and watch the boats. Great memories.
Now we just need bikes.

11 years today

The man still has it after all these years. My husband is a Tony Hawk wannabe. We met and had our first date in ninth grade. That was 17 or 18 years ago. He is still my best friend and the nicest person anyone has ever met. I must hear at least once a month or week that he does not have a mean bone in his body. That's mostly true. Happy Anniversary Honey!

We Got Wonked!

It seems like I have been visited by the poor-customer-service fairy quite a bit lately. And I should say that I consider myself a very forgiving patron. I’ve worked on the customer service side of retail for nearly 11 years, not counting the time I spent working for my dad’s business when I was young. I understand all the factors that can contribute to a less-than-stellar experience for a customer and that often those factors can be out of your control. Keep that in mind as you read the rest of this complaint.

We took our children to see the new movie, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory last night. I realize that I evidence my inexperience with movie-going when I admit that I took my family to see a movie on a Friday night. I think the whole city was there it was so packed with people. Nevertheless, I plunked down my $35 for two adults and three children to watch the movie. About halfway through, just as they were entering the chocolate factory, the sound for the movie went silent. People started yelling, “Turn the sound back on!” After a minute the sound returned. Long story short: after four more outages in the next ten minutes, we got up and left.

We stopped at the ticket office to get a refund, which they granted- no questions asked. But as we drove off, children crying out of frustration and disappointment, I thought to myself that the movie theater missed a great opportunity to shine. Problems happen. There was probably nothing they could’ve done to prevent what happened. But it did. They refunded our money, what more could we ask? They couldn’t refund our time, could they? True enough. I think what bugged me the most is that they didn’t even acknowledge that our time had been wasted. No one said, “We’re sorry for the inconvenience” or “We’re so sorry for this bad experience you’ve had at our theater.” Really the words alone would’ve made an impression. Imagine if they had done something like give us a free snack voucher for our return visit to see the movie again. A simple gesture involving a free helping of over-priced popcorn would’ve really set them apart as a place that has good service. Imagine that, the bad experience becomes a chance to show off your good service!

Okay, sermon’s over. I just had to get that off my chest. I should also say that it gave us a chance to help our girls learn to deal with disappointment in light of God’s sovereignty. As we talked with them about that, one of the girls even said, “Yeah, maybe there was something in the movie that was bad and God didn’t want us to see it.” :-) We assured her that we looked up the movie ahead of time and wouldn’t have taken her to see it if there was anything bad in it, but at least she was getting that God has His own reason’s for what He allows and it involves His glory and our good.

So, that’s how we got Wonked. Maybe we’ll try again next week (not weekend) to see the movie with sound. We’ll probably even go to the same place to see it . . . which is, I guess, why the theater didn’t feel any compelling need to wow us with their service.

Humble Pie

Well, so much for my boycott of the lower huron metro park. Some of you have heard my story about getting denied golfing privileges at the Lower Huron Metro park's Par 3 course because my youngest daughter who is 4 years old (she turns 5 in early September) is too young to be allowed on the course. I was so disappointed and frustrated with the service we received that day from the annual pass purchase experience at the gate to the being punished for telling the truth at the course. So i decided I would not be going back. Well, today two guys from my youth group and my middle daughter and I are going to golf there. What can I say, the price is right and the course is short! I guess I have to admit that it wasn't a big enough deal to launch an all-out boycott of the metro park. I still don't think it was very nice though.

Community at Community

Well, tonight we resumed our Sunday night Community Groups after a four week break during the holidays and special meetings. It was really nice to gather together with our friends for fellowship, Bible study, discussion, and prayer after the long break.

There are so many things about worshipping and serving at Community that I love. But I was reminded tonight how much I value our group's time together on Sunday nights. I cannot imagine another way to develop the intimacy with my brothers and sisters in the Lord to the degree we have without these groups. It is just after 11:30 p.m. and the last few people just left. If you told me four years ago that I would go to a church where we would welcome 24 people (half of which are children) into our house each week who would stay 'til 11 p.m. or so and that when they left, we would be sad to see them go, I would have thought you were crazy! But here I sit, thinking about the great time we had tonight around God's Word and the joy we have as a result. Incidentally, that is what the lesson was about tonight - Nehemiah 8: Joy.

I think the community group is the missing link in many churches like ours. I'm thankful to have built into the structure of our church life a weekly opportunity to BE the body of Christ. It's part of the formula that puts the Community in Community Baptist Church!

Class of 1990 Reunion Picnic

It was really nice getting together yesterday with friends from highschool. We talked about old times and caught up with what's going on in each other's live today. We even cracked open some old yearbooks for a few minutes. Even though only a few classmates were able to make it, it was a good time. We're hoping to have another gathering in the fall. It will be nice to see everyone again.