Pastor John's last Sunday with us... I do my best to welcome strangers, but NOT CREEPS!
When Eric picked me up this morning, he chose an interesting spot to park, which wasn't really on the concrete! Of course I know he wants to be ready to go, but he RARELY chooses that spot! I delayed my leaving by a bit since I wanted to check my bank account: I have more money than I thought, so I'll mail my cards this week for sure! (and get Advent Calendars - if they're around still - for Ian and Sean... not sure why I didn't ask last night at London Drugs!) We talked about various things, such as how I planned to discharge my debt to Randal. Since I didn't think of grabbing an extra chocolate bar (or Advent calendars for Ian and Sean), I just grabbed a New Jersey Milk chocolate bar, and thought of saying something like "The cost of this bar is less than it was worth to have you save me from an embarrassing faceplant the other night!" However, after I'd used Eric to rehearse this bit of stuff which was in my head, I realized it didn't sound good. Of course, Eric had NO idea what I was talking about (as per the usual?), and figured that my saying thanks immediately AFTER the step incident would be good enough. But I wanted to include a token of appreciation without being TOO melodramatic about things, so a chocolate bar would be simple enough!
By the time we got to church, we got practically the closest parking spot EVER across the street, and I'd simplified things to "Thanks for saving me from an embarrassing faceplant," which is what it ended up being. No idea what Randal thought about THAT, but I don't care. As I said later to Eric, now my debt is discharged, we can go back to politely ignoring each other three weeks out of four! (we had maybe five minutes' worth of actual conversation this weekend, which is rare) Saw a bunch of CSC people in the sanctuary (Alysia, Edmond, Victor, Sabrina, Michael, Juliana, Daniel, Jason, and others) before they cleared out, talking about McGriddles. When I saw Grace and her baby stroller, I went over to say hi - baby Micah was sleeping after being active all night! Said hi to little Mattias, who was just staring at my red bling sweater (or interested in the pew crosses, as I told Joyce - Dylan asked her to play the Doxology!); I met his baby brother Marcus for the first time, too! Their mom Karen says that Mattias loves his baby brother, and tries to help when she burps him by patting him on the back; cute! Saw Citrus, so gave him a Christmas card while Grace gave him a photo from their small group, then gave Deb some Coffee Crisp (her favorite!) and birthday / Christmas cards. Then I completed my discharging of debt to Randal before saying hi to Nathan W. and talking to him about playing in the snow. Ian's dad had built a snowbank from shovelled snow for the boys (including Sean and a friend) to play in! Nathan likes the Christmas ornaments and decorations, heh.
Pastor John wrapped up his LAST SUNDAY EVER with us by dedicating a few babies / little kids to the Lord (I know all their middle names now!) - baby Micah and baby Joanna weren't impressed, as they started crying and making noises! As a matter of principle, I totally REFUSED to sing any Advent or Christmas songs! (through the side of my mouth, I told Nathan: "I told you that the Christmas carols were coming...") He had a sermon about welcoming strangers. Some of it might be applicable to me, but I refuse to believe that Mr. Creep (for one) actually has a positive gift for us! Sure, there are stereotypes about strangers / the Downtown Eastside, but sometimes you need to be safe while still being relatively open. I told Jeremy about the random bolded / italicized letters in this week's bulletin: I'd also noticed it last week, but he wasn't around to talk to about this! When Pastor Edward wanted Pastor Phil to come up to formally say farewell to Pastor John, Jeremy and I both thought that Phil would bring baby Micah to the front as well, hahaha! We both saw Phil hand the baby to Grace very carefully beforehand, though.
After service, I went into the fellowship hall to find huge muffins (quartered) on offer as snacks... William asked what carrot muffins were like, as he'd never had one. I haven't, either, but I imagine they're much like carrot cake... he hasn't had carrot cake before! (I've had it a few times) I said hi to Lawrence - then said hi to Dianne, who asked if I was really using a coffee filter to hold my quarter-muffin... yes, because they were with the muffins! Said hi to Connie and Emily C., and noticed that Joey was on crutches again - he's had knee surgery recently, as he told Mike T. I went out to say hi to a bunch of people; I told Harmony that she and Jon could donate the "Hamburger Helper" to SERVANTS since I knew they wouldn't eat it themselves... neither would I, since you have to add hamburger to the pasta and sauce! Yes, I had to get it from the store since it said "Harmony Helper" on the box, although I bet she's tired of this by now! I figure they know of a hamburger hookup somewhere, haha.
I was merrily minding my own business (joking to Vanessa about how Danielle has a big ego which makes her think that nothing is uncomplimentary) when I saw MR. CREEP IN MY FIELD OF VISION! All I said out loud was "Oh, God..." WHY?! I saw Denise, and talked to her briefly about Black Friday shopping in Portland - she just flew back in last night, and was looking at her receipts later and wondering why she spent so much money! Of course, most of it was for other people (Brian, Julie, her mom), but still! I know how that is, trust me! After talking to little Keenan and Nathaniel about the snow (they liked it), I went upstairs to Toddler Sunday School. I saw Ian and Sean when I was upstairs, and Ian said hi to me. I asked if he'd ever heard of Advent calendars - nope, so I will have to get two of those later! Maybe tomorrow at Shoppers if I feel like walking all the way to the mall and back again (dependent on my mood), since I can combine that with mailing my Christmas cards for Holiday_Wishes and such, which I just finished writing. Also said hi to Nina and Quan (Kinder Bueno bars with DOUBLE CHOCOLATE if I combine them with chocolate milk instead of soy!) in the washroom, haha.
Ada, Arthur, Mattias, Ashley, Shira (who led me around by the hand), Ramen (who practiced being a doctor - me being the patient - with toys), David, and Evelyn were at Toddler Sunday School. Talked about toy cars, alphabet letters, puzzles, going to the washroom, cake and doughnut toys, and more. Auntie Bessy came in just in time to see Shira wanting to sit next to me with her toys, so that makes me look better than just writing down tag prompts while the kids play... of course I do keep an eye on them, but I also do need to remember certain things, man! Afterwards, I said hi to Chung and Rich before going downstairs to have lunch. (saw Ian and Sean on the way down - Sean was still coughing, poor kid!) I saw Mr. Creep sitting at a long table with Randal, Jen, Yvonne, Dave, and many others - of course I wasn't going to sit there, even if I might otherwise have!
Found an empty chair by Eric (with Enoch - whom I talk to NOW! / Martin / Jeremy / Geoffrey), so I asked if anyone was sitting there - nope, so I got to escape the crowd! In a low voice, I told him that I wasn't going to sit at the other table, so then he told me that Mr. Creep had sat in that seat before I had! OH MAN, at least I do my laundry! We talked about orange tickets, blue tickets, hot vs. cold food (Chinese vs. Asian food), sandwiches (mine had olives while Yvonne's had cheese and veggies!), spicy mustard, zombies and the apocalypse, our table being very cold because of the air conditioning vent right in the corner (that's why we were bundled up!), the variable temperatures ("turn it up since I'm not - why is it equalizing to 65? now I'm cold!"), co-workers, Houston, the past, emotions, Committee Meeting minutes, and more. I also poured some Superstore lemon-lime "Sprite / 7-Up" pop for Thomas (who thanked me) after pouring some for myself, then passed the bottle to Uncle Joel. David distracted the little kids by getting them to play outdoor hockey in the courtyard, heh.
Jon and Lesley were passing some sheets of paper around after we ate; when Christon looked at his, he initially thought it was a joke: "LITURGY FOR PASTOR JOHN'S LEAVING OUR CONGREGATION?!" Enoch said it didn't really LOOK like a joke to him, heh. Jeremy was more concerned with the reading itself: "What happens if we say we DON'T release Pastor John from being our pastor, or if he says he WON'T be our lifelong friend?! Hahaha!" Good times laughing at that, for sure! Then Geoffrey wondered if we'd had such a thing for our previous pastor: Eric and I just told him that a bunch of people had wanted him to LEAVE, so NO! Lesley told the joke about the monks / abbot / "celibate" vs. "celebrate" (HA!), and then Phil led us in that reading before dismissing us.
Eric and I couldn't stay to help Kevin clean up since he had to go watch the Grey Cup at Alistair's by 2:30. (Montreal vs. Saskatchewan in Edmonton?! He tells me that the CFL chooses the Grey Cup city before each season, and it'll be here next year...) While Eric was grabbing his guitar and stuff from the stage, I found Ian to give him his family's Christmas card and Kit-Kat bars. After thanking me, he asked where his mom was; I didn't know, but she HAD just been there with his brother! Eric saw this, and thought I was spoiling the kids again: NO, IT'S HIS CHRISTMAS PRESENT! When we saw Auntie Anita (Andrea's mom) right afterwards, I asked her how I'd know my account number - she says she'll send me something. We'll see! On the way home, we discussed "Daniel" / Mr. Creep / passage sharing (I don't believe in it if a certain person suggested it!) / football / boring radio shows / paranoia / Connie Dennis' "Go, Roughriders!" FB status / more. Got home to catch up, then very briefly update Steph at work with the day's events. (I could hear the police radio in the background - yes, we should arrange dinner sometime!)
By the time we got to church, we got practically the closest parking spot EVER across the street, and I'd simplified things to "Thanks for saving me from an embarrassing faceplant," which is what it ended up being. No idea what Randal thought about THAT, but I don't care. As I said later to Eric, now my debt is discharged, we can go back to politely ignoring each other three weeks out of four! (we had maybe five minutes' worth of actual conversation this weekend, which is rare) Saw a bunch of CSC people in the sanctuary (Alysia, Edmond, Victor, Sabrina, Michael, Juliana, Daniel, Jason, and others) before they cleared out, talking about McGriddles. When I saw Grace and her baby stroller, I went over to say hi - baby Micah was sleeping after being active all night! Said hi to little Mattias, who was just staring at my red bling sweater (or interested in the pew crosses, as I told Joyce - Dylan asked her to play the Doxology!); I met his baby brother Marcus for the first time, too! Their mom Karen says that Mattias loves his baby brother, and tries to help when she burps him by patting him on the back; cute! Saw Citrus, so gave him a Christmas card while Grace gave him a photo from their small group, then gave Deb some Coffee Crisp (her favorite!) and birthday / Christmas cards. Then I completed my discharging of debt to Randal before saying hi to Nathan W. and talking to him about playing in the snow. Ian's dad had built a snowbank from shovelled snow for the boys (including Sean and a friend) to play in! Nathan likes the Christmas ornaments and decorations, heh.
Pastor John wrapped up his LAST SUNDAY EVER with us by dedicating a few babies / little kids to the Lord (I know all their middle names now!) - baby Micah and baby Joanna weren't impressed, as they started crying and making noises! As a matter of principle, I totally REFUSED to sing any Advent or Christmas songs! (through the side of my mouth, I told Nathan: "I told you that the Christmas carols were coming...") He had a sermon about welcoming strangers. Some of it might be applicable to me, but I refuse to believe that Mr. Creep (for one) actually has a positive gift for us! Sure, there are stereotypes about strangers / the Downtown Eastside, but sometimes you need to be safe while still being relatively open. I told Jeremy about the random bolded / italicized letters in this week's bulletin: I'd also noticed it last week, but he wasn't around to talk to about this! When Pastor Edward wanted Pastor Phil to come up to formally say farewell to Pastor John, Jeremy and I both thought that Phil would bring baby Micah to the front as well, hahaha! We both saw Phil hand the baby to Grace very carefully beforehand, though.
After service, I went into the fellowship hall to find huge muffins (quartered) on offer as snacks... William asked what carrot muffins were like, as he'd never had one. I haven't, either, but I imagine they're much like carrot cake... he hasn't had carrot cake before! (I've had it a few times) I said hi to Lawrence - then said hi to Dianne, who asked if I was really using a coffee filter to hold my quarter-muffin... yes, because they were with the muffins! Said hi to Connie and Emily C., and noticed that Joey was on crutches again - he's had knee surgery recently, as he told Mike T. I went out to say hi to a bunch of people; I told Harmony that she and Jon could donate the "Hamburger Helper" to SERVANTS since I knew they wouldn't eat it themselves... neither would I, since you have to add hamburger to the pasta and sauce! Yes, I had to get it from the store since it said "Harmony Helper" on the box, although I bet she's tired of this by now! I figure they know of a hamburger hookup somewhere, haha.
I was merrily minding my own business (joking to Vanessa about how Danielle has a big ego which makes her think that nothing is uncomplimentary) when I saw MR. CREEP IN MY FIELD OF VISION! All I said out loud was "Oh, God..." WHY?! I saw Denise, and talked to her briefly about Black Friday shopping in Portland - she just flew back in last night, and was looking at her receipts later and wondering why she spent so much money! Of course, most of it was for other people (Brian, Julie, her mom), but still! I know how that is, trust me! After talking to little Keenan and Nathaniel about the snow (they liked it), I went upstairs to Toddler Sunday School. I saw Ian and Sean when I was upstairs, and Ian said hi to me. I asked if he'd ever heard of Advent calendars - nope, so I will have to get two of those later! Maybe tomorrow at Shoppers if I feel like walking all the way to the mall and back again (dependent on my mood), since I can combine that with mailing my Christmas cards for Holiday_Wishes and such, which I just finished writing. Also said hi to Nina and Quan (Kinder Bueno bars with DOUBLE CHOCOLATE if I combine them with chocolate milk instead of soy!) in the washroom, haha.
Ada, Arthur, Mattias, Ashley, Shira (who led me around by the hand), Ramen (who practiced being a doctor - me being the patient - with toys), David, and Evelyn were at Toddler Sunday School. Talked about toy cars, alphabet letters, puzzles, going to the washroom, cake and doughnut toys, and more. Auntie Bessy came in just in time to see Shira wanting to sit next to me with her toys, so that makes me look better than just writing down tag prompts while the kids play... of course I do keep an eye on them, but I also do need to remember certain things, man! Afterwards, I said hi to Chung and Rich before going downstairs to have lunch. (saw Ian and Sean on the way down - Sean was still coughing, poor kid!) I saw Mr. Creep sitting at a long table with Randal, Jen, Yvonne, Dave, and many others - of course I wasn't going to sit there, even if I might otherwise have!
Found an empty chair by Eric (with Enoch - whom I talk to NOW! / Martin / Jeremy / Geoffrey), so I asked if anyone was sitting there - nope, so I got to escape the crowd! In a low voice, I told him that I wasn't going to sit at the other table, so then he told me that Mr. Creep had sat in that seat before I had! OH MAN, at least I do my laundry! We talked about orange tickets, blue tickets, hot vs. cold food (Chinese vs. Asian food), sandwiches (mine had olives while Yvonne's had cheese and veggies!), spicy mustard, zombies and the apocalypse, our table being very cold because of the air conditioning vent right in the corner (that's why we were bundled up!), the variable temperatures ("turn it up since I'm not - why is it equalizing to 65? now I'm cold!"), co-workers, Houston, the past, emotions, Committee Meeting minutes, and more. I also poured some Superstore lemon-lime "Sprite / 7-Up" pop for Thomas (who thanked me) after pouring some for myself, then passed the bottle to Uncle Joel. David distracted the little kids by getting them to play outdoor hockey in the courtyard, heh.
Jon and Lesley were passing some sheets of paper around after we ate; when Christon looked at his, he initially thought it was a joke: "LITURGY FOR PASTOR JOHN'S LEAVING OUR CONGREGATION?!" Enoch said it didn't really LOOK like a joke to him, heh. Jeremy was more concerned with the reading itself: "What happens if we say we DON'T release Pastor John from being our pastor, or if he says he WON'T be our lifelong friend?! Hahaha!" Good times laughing at that, for sure! Then Geoffrey wondered if we'd had such a thing for our previous pastor: Eric and I just told him that a bunch of people had wanted him to LEAVE, so NO! Lesley told the joke about the monks / abbot / "celibate" vs. "celebrate" (HA!), and then Phil led us in that reading before dismissing us.
Eric and I couldn't stay to help Kevin clean up since he had to go watch the Grey Cup at Alistair's by 2:30. (Montreal vs. Saskatchewan in Edmonton?! He tells me that the CFL chooses the Grey Cup city before each season, and it'll be here next year...) While Eric was grabbing his guitar and stuff from the stage, I found Ian to give him his family's Christmas card and Kit-Kat bars. After thanking me, he asked where his mom was; I didn't know, but she HAD just been there with his brother! Eric saw this, and thought I was spoiling the kids again: NO, IT'S HIS CHRISTMAS PRESENT! When we saw Auntie Anita (Andrea's mom) right afterwards, I asked her how I'd know my account number - she says she'll send me something. We'll see! On the way home, we discussed "Daniel" / Mr. Creep / passage sharing (I don't believe in it if a certain person suggested it!) / football / boring radio shows / paranoia / Connie Dennis' "Go, Roughriders!" FB status / more. Got home to catch up, then very briefly update Steph at work with the day's events. (I could hear the police radio in the background - yes, we should arrange dinner sometime!)
Labels: candy, church, citrus, crap, denise, dylan, eric m., grace, harmony, ian, jeremy, jon, lunch, maxed-out tags limit, money, nathan, phil, quan, randal, snow
posted by Flami at 6:03:00 PM
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