Thursday, March 5, 2009

Cooking with Jules

Yep, cooking with me because this entry will be a dash of this and a pinch of that...the way I cook. :)

Going to take Landon and Corin to Moraine State park for a walk around lunchtime. It is going to be a balmy 56 degrees here today...and woohee does that feel like warmth to us. (Ummm Jenn, bundle him up and we need the car seat base.)

Told MOPS that I would not be on Steering Team next year. And feel really good about that decision.

Sat in on an interesting ministerium meeting yesterday. Local pastors get together once a month to talk and share their concerns and burdens. I liked being a part of it but came away very frustrated because all they did was talk...no action plans were set up, no decisions were made. Men....bah!

I have a big prayer request. Been thinking that God is leading in my new ministry direction, and need clarification of that leading. I am considering joining my Dad's mission. It would be as a mission representative, working most of the time here in the US. I'd travel to various churches and organizations, presenting the ministries of LATCOM, and I'd also lead a few teams to Bolivia every year. Here's the thing...it would mean raising support. In other words, the mission doesn't pay me a salary, I have to raise support like any other missionary does. I really, really, really am excited about this path, but I am praying hard to see if it is really what God would have me do. My heart would move to Bolivia in a nanosecond and start working at Monte Blanco (and the rest of my body too. lol), but my husband does not feel the same way. But this is a way that I can be contributing to that ministry without endangering my marriage. So pray for me. Pray for clarity on if this is where God wants me to go, and also for the support to come in if it is what He has for my life. I have until April to decide, because that is when the board meets, and they do all the hiring.

Emilie told me last night that she wants to be baptized. So we will be attending a "Your Child Wants to be Baptized" meeting in two weeks. They'll make sure she understands what it means, and whether she is ready for that or not. My heart leaped within me.

I have lots of thoughts I still need to share about my time in Bolivia. This is just for me to remember what those thoughts are when I finally get the time to sit down and write them out. Pointman Leadership. Testimonies. Old house. Grandpa and Grandma. Odd Pastor. Dead man.

I need to do laundry. Again.

1 comment:

Laura said...

Hi! Thanks for reading my blog. I just found your comment about JBF. I'll try to answer all your questions to the best of my ability.

JBF is a franchise, actually. It's set up that each sale, depending on the town or part of a major town (Houston, TX has more than one sale), happens twice a year. Each sale determines the number of days to be open. Because the one I'm part of is SO huge, they're open (from set up to break down) about a week. People volunteer to help with everything- bringing food for workers, helping set up the stuff, running registers, helping sort to send everything away, etc. By volunteering, those people earn "passes" to get in. The more hours you help, the earlier you get to shop. There's also the choice to consign items. There's a program we have access to by consigning. Each person has a consignor number. Each person determines how much they want to price the item, if it should go 1/2 price for that sale day, if it should be donated if it doesn't sell. Then, through the program, you print out the tags to put on the items. There are specific instructions for how to prepare the items for the sale. Consignors also get to shop early, though not quite as early as the volunteers. You can volunteer and not consign, you can consign and not volunteer, all is good. About a week or two after the sale, checks will go in the mail. By volunteering, you get 70% of your sales total, minus a standard $10 fee. If you don't volunteer, you get 65%, minus the fee.

This has really gotten streamlined and bigger since I first got involved in it. Used to be that you handwrote tags. Then, volunteers entered the info by hand into a program. Now, the barcodes are scanned at the register. Sales have been uploaded each night, so I can check online to see how my stuff is selling and figure my estimated check. This particular sale started in someone's home. Now, they rent out a huge room in a convention center. Amazing!

Feel free to ask me more questions. You can check out www.jbfsale.com to find a sale near you and more information.

L