January 1

Good morning everyone,

Tracy went home yesterday after nine days of working very hard to help me with organizing our home, doing what needed to be done with the insurance and the house, being a comfort and support to me and Bob, and sorting pictures. As I sat there in the basement of 201 West Park Place, I thought how blessed we are that we can sort through all our pictures and save most of them. There are losses, the hardest being some of what was in the baby books, but most were saved. How many people who have had a house fire can say that. I continue to marvel at how blessed we truly are and how unique a fire we actually had. We lost two rooms, lots of stuff and pretty much the entire roof, but the other rooms were water and smoke damage and that allows us to inventory our items and save some. That is something I am truly grateful for.

My days often feel like roller coasters of emotion. Whether it is the feeling of frustration and self doubt I feel when the adjuster said to me, "We are waiting for you." Waiting for me to do what? Just tell me what I need to do. To the real pleasure and joy of having Rick, Tom, Lyle (Rick's son) and Sharon come over and take down the decorations. On that same night, Sharon brought 4 new dining chairs from World Market and she and Tracy put them together. They look great. Yesterday, the sadness of sending Tracy home, to the real presence and joy of our New Year's Eve service. Great highs and some pretty deep lows. We all have them, I just seem to be having many of them in any one day.

We hope to make a decision about a contractor next week. It is a big decision, one we will deal with in the coming months and in the years to come. We are letting the process unfold to reveal the perfect company for us.

Gifts - Paula is coming to help me with computer work. We were able to retrieve my information as of May of this year, but that leaves lots of stuff to recreate. Sharon has put together flyers for our upcoming classes and Jan continues to do a great job with meet-up. com. These are just a few of the gifts we receive everyday. My workspace is looking good and I will begin to work on getting more in the groove of working. Members of the Board have visited two possible locations where we can meet, and we will be visiting those places on Sunday mornings in January and asking for feedback. This is a decision for the group to make.

I hope to come back to the computer later today to try and really record all that has happened. I do it for those who are interested in knowing more of what has happened and for myself. I am already having difficulty remembering what we did the week this all began. I do encourage all of you to post your experiences and questions.

Love to each of you and a very Happy New Year! I see it as a year of possibilities, new choices, new experiences and wonderful growth and experience of connection.

Blessings and joy,

Rev. Carolyn