The week started with a good worship service at church. The lesson and the song worship fit together nicely making for a wonderful worship experience with God.
Monday I had to meet with a couple of County Clerks to explain the in's and out's of our Healthy Marriage Program. It made for a 10 Hour work day with lots driving.
Tuesday, after a 4 Hour staff meeting at work, it was off to pick up school schedules and "Meet the Teacher" for my son Caleb. Jamie had already met Rachel's teachers and picked up her schedule earlier that day. The "Meet the Teacher" event at Caleb's school, Pine Tree Jr. High, started as a total nightmare. The school tried to funnel over 400 people down two different narrow hallways to pick up the 7th Grade and 8th Grade schedules. I'm not sure how 7th Grade did, but the 8th Grade hallway was shoulder to shoulder for almost an hour, as parents, the students and other family members attempted to get into the cafeteria to pick up their child's schedule for the year. Poor Rachel was hot and irritated, Caleb was having trouble breathing the sweaty, hot air, and I was a little "put off" at the poor planning of the situation. After much shuffling, we got Caleb's schedule and we headed off down various hallways to find his classes and meet the teachers. His teaches seemed very nice, but of course they all had their own list of school supplies they wanted our son to bring to school. Finally, we escaped the crowds and headed home.
Wednesday, I had another meeting with a county clerk. This one was cranky and had a know-it-all attitude. After putting another 96 miles on my car, I made it home to find out Jamie had purchased all of Caleb's school supplies. The small fortune of supplies reminded me of the size and weight of Caleb's backpack last year and I felt for him as he prepares to lug around a 45 pound backpack again this year on his barely 80 pound body frame. Why do teachers need students to have a 1 1/2 or 2 inch notebook for every class? When I was in school we survived with just one notebook for all subjects. After watching Caleb sort through all his supplies I had to pack a suitcase to head out to Austin, TX for another training.
Thursday started with some good news. There was a pay check sitting at my work station. I thought I wasn't going to get paid until Sept. 5, but I had miscalculated the times. Cool, I have money to deposit into the bank. After stuffing the check into my suitcase, my supervisor and I headed for Rusk, TX to meet with another County Clerk before heading to Austin. The trip to Austin seemed to take a long time because it rained heavily the entire time. We still managed to make Austin before nightfall, and we decided to go watch "The Largest Urban Bat Colony in the United States" head out for their nightly feeding. (Here are a couple of links to read about the Bats. http://austin.about.com/cs/bats/p/bats.htm and http://www.austincityguide.com/content/congress-bridge-bats-austin.asp) Because of the overcast skies the bats were a little "disoriented" about exactly when sunset was, so they came out later than normal. It was impressive to see millions of bats flying out from under a bridge. I tried to take pictures and short videos from my cell-phone but the view was obscured by the growing darkness and the skyline of Austin in the background.Friday was spent mostly in training to prepare us for the upcoming changes in Texas laws regarding marriage licences and how our program can help couples take advanages of healthy marriage education to receive waivers on marriage licences fees and to help County Clerks with any questions they may have about the changes. At least the meeting ended a little early and my supervisor and I managed to make it home to Longview with just a little bit a daylight left.
This morning I woke up the news of an Obama-Biden Democratic ticket for President and Vice-President. Interesting choice Obama, interesting. For more information check out Obama's official campaign website. I wonder who McCain will pick? Now am blogging, waiting to get a shower and go deposit my paycheck, before heading out to Howe, TX to pick up my kids; who have been staying at Jamie's sister's home while I was in Austin and Jamie was attending the Women of Faith conference in Dallas. This will be another 5 hour road trip (there and back) but it will be worth it to have the kids home.
Next week, plans on being just as busy as we have meetings at work and as we prepare for the new marriage license laws to take effect in Texas. The kids also start school on Monday. Caleb will be in 8th grade and Rachel will be in 6th.
