Submitted my first newsletter articles, plugged the laptop into the ethernet (doing it old school), and sent emails for 3 upcoming meetings. I know, 3 meetings seem a bit excessive, but Easter and VBS planning are just around the corner and I have a new calendar with a lot of white space.  I forgot that it takes a while to set up a whole slew of new email contacts and contact lists.  It helps to do these tasks with Pandora.com music.

Moving the desk to face the door will help with peripheral distractions, and hanging up some “DeDe items” have gotten the creative juices flowing. I’ll look for the vacumn tomorrow.

I got my first visitors today. Pastor came by a couple of times to pray with me, encourage me, and help set the most immediate priority items. The fabulous Mrs. V stopped by to show me another printer (the one I used yesterday took 50 minutes to print out a blank calendar) and tell me the names of the custodians, who whisked by in their cleaning frenzy. And the son of my predecessor sat and visited a while. He misses his Mom, but is very excited about his own upcoming move. He’s tired of eating Ramen noodles.

The homefront always takes a backseat in the brain when a new endeavor is begun, so Bob & I made new supper arrangements for Mondays. Sure enough, I came home to find hot, cajun beans, steak fries, and doctored hamburgers. Scrumptious!

I’ll be breaking out the crockpot tomorrow.

Sunday is Game Day and each church has it’s own traditions and routines. These are just some of the questions I pulled into the parking lot hoping to get answers for my first Sunday:
– Which door does everyone come in?
– Where does the staff park?
– Who unlocks all the hundreds of doors?
– Does the staff “talk business” on Sundays?
– Is there Goldfish already in the cabinet?
– Does the building have wireless?
– Where can I find a plastic fork? (I brought my lunch, not knowing all the particulars that follow the last worship service.)

The morning the worship leader is the most busy . . . he knocked on my office door and offered to get me coffee before the first service AND stopped praise band practice between services to introduce me to everyone. What a wonderful expression of kindness.

I also needed to ask the youth leader if I could use his space on Easter Sunday morning. He graciously said “sure,” before he even knew what it was for. What a wonderful expression of cooperation.

I met smiling children who were polite, engaging, and attentive during Sunday school and Children’s Church.  Real children with real hearts, real hands, and real handshakes.

I met precious nursery servants who were on the floor playing and talking with the babies, who shared smiles and conversation.

And there were 2 long-time members who came and introduced themselves to Bob & I individually. They each shook our hands, they each asked us questions about ourselves, and we all shared our first laughs. And that was before we were even introduced. When the pastor did introduce us, the folks in both services applauded. What a lovely welcome.

I not only felt welcomed, I felt wanted and prepared for. The office had been organized and little notes of information were placed on the couple of stacks of resources. On the desk were the 5 most important files: Children’s Rosters w/contact info, Volunteer Schedule through April, Budget, Children’s Council job descriptions, and bulletins for the last 2 months.

I’m grabbing the last pictorial directory this afternoon and writing info around all the new faces we worshipped with today.

For the ones who came before me, thank you . . . surely goodness and mercy have followed you.

Yesterday was my first day taking on the new role as a Children’s Ministry Director and it was fabulous.

First day goals:
1. Get to know the Admin, who we all know knows everything and everybody (I brought her Starbucks, we shared stories, we laughed alot)

2. Write down what is already on the calendar from now through end of the year (read through every 2010 Sunday bulletin to familiarize myself with special events and routines of the the #1 used communication tool of every church)

3. Locate all the bathrooms (hey, I’m over 40)

High? The head of trustees showed me how to use a “wall-moving-handle” to move walls, and the email/facebook blessings from friends old and new.

Low? Pictorial directory photo taken with Mr. Bob at 6pm. Anita Renfroe speaks truth when she says that women want one thing and one thing only before they die: one good picture.

I’ll be sharing my first Children’s Moment tomorrow. I hope I don’t trip on the carpet coming up front.