Already???

Today marks the one week mark of my triumphal return to the place called work. Last week was fairly rough as I had a tight deadline on a brand new program, my body was still readjusting to being up and functional at 5:00am, and the 8 hour day seemed like forever (thanks to working no more than 5 hours per day the week before). My motivation was also somewhat low due to the dramatic change in weather. I have no way of seeing the outside world but I knew it wasn't as nice out as what I experienced the week before. Thankfully I took Monday off to recover and spend time with the girls, otherwise I would have gone insane by Friday.

This week, so far, has gone pretty well. Originally I was scheduled to have my new program done on April 9, then my boss asked if it could be done earlier and I said that I could have it done by the end of March (most likely the 31st), and then my boss asked if I could have it done on the 30th and I thought I could. I had the coding done and started on testing on the 30th but too many little things came up and I couldn't get it done (which was not a problem). Thankfully I didn't have much to do on it today and got it done before the afternoon hit! I am very relieved that it is done and I can take some downtime (aka work older tasks) before I HAVE to get on the next step of this task.

As for life outside of work (who knew that existed), things have been going fairly well at home. Yes the kids still get on my nerves sometimes but they are kids. Molly and I have gotten along much better. I think that the sharing of responsibilities (and not having to ask each other to do something) is helping a lot. I also think that the appearance of our house is helping Molly's outlook more so than mine. I am very happy with how things look around the house and I am very excited to see how the bathroom will turn out. The problem with that is I have no motivation to get started on it. I know that the first step is to run the new plumbing lines (but don't hook them up yet) and that will be fairly easy. Then I will need a really nice day so that I can knock the window out and fill in the hole with drywall and insulation. The exterior will look weird for a little while but it will be worth it on the inside.

Molly has kind of gotten on me for how much I would talk about the New Orleans trip and how I would spend hours looking at the pictures. I don't know if she was getting upset or giving me crap (I hope it was the crap). I kept telling her that there were over 2,000 pictures to go through and I was trying to find some that I wanted to have since I didn't take our camera. I think she understands that aspect. I do miss some of my new friends but thankfully we are all on Facebook so we can keep in touch and give each other crap somehow. I am very excited to go visit them in Lamoni this weekend, and I think they are excited that I am coming down too.

Aside from all of that I have another challenge to face (but I'm not alone). Our church congregation is dying (not the people) and someone needs to save it. Molly and I seem to be the only people that are optimistic that it can be saved. Other members know it's dying but are just accepting that fact and there are some who think we are fine the way we are. I think we took a step in the right direction when I was given the opportunity to cook lunch on March 1 rather than doing a potluck. We need to try these new things so that we could generate more interest in our congregation. It also helps if we need to recruit helpers. Molly and I are asking our friends to help when possible, hoping to get them in the doors. We have some more ideas and hope to get the ball rolling with them. We have been met with resistance but we are fighting it to get our way. We have also brought our concerns to the Young Adult Minister for the mission center and he is behind us 100%. It's going to be a long fight, and there will need to be some sacrifices made by everyone, but we will come out victorious! I have the honor of giving the sermon this week and on April 26 so hopefully I will be able to preach a little bit about the need to change things, as long as it fits with the theme.