She's heeeerreeee....

Yep!! We picked her up on Friday night. Wolfy II is now in our posession and she's WONDERFUL!! What a smoot ride. And so many bells and whistles that Mark and I HAVE to read through the owner's manual in order to figure out what we're doing. We even had problems figuring out how to start her up. hehehe My favorite thing about the vehicle are the automatic sun shades in the back seats. You know those shades you see suctioned to back windows in cars with children?? Well, we have several of those for Hope, but we can't get them to stay suctioned up so we don't use them. Well, Wolfy II has those shades built into the doors in the back. If you need them you just pull them up. No suction or anything. So, so cool. Wolfy II also has this automatic air suspension (or whatever it's called). The vehicle automatically goes up or down to make it more aero-dynamic. Sheesh!! We love her. Hope rides in the car and says, "New car." The first ride she took in it she just sat in her car seat, smiling. hehehe Oh...and it also has keyless entry. Mark and I couldn't figure out why the doors would automatically unlock as we approached the car. It was because we had the remote key with us and it senses when to unlock the car. CRAZINESS!! The bad thing about all these bells and whistles?? More things to go wrong with the car. Good thing we have the extended bumper to bumper warranty...to 100,000 miles. Mark did a great job picking out Wolfy II and bargaining for her. I'm so glad he did!

More things happening: Now that they've announced it to their congregations, I can tell you that the "mystery friends" that will be moving in the near future are Dawn and Dan Spies. I worked with them both while I was at Ezekiel. They were the biggest reason I was able to stay sane there. Although I loved the people at Ezekiel, some of the key leaders were pretty mean. The Senior "pastor" was totally unsupportive of his staff...and pretty clueless about things going on around him. I'm so going to miss Dawn and Dan, but I'm also happy they're getting away from Ezekiel's leadership and on to something healthy. Dan will be a Chaplain in the Navy. They're hoping that they get stationed in Southern California...maybe even Texas. Somewhere warm. Secretly, I'm hoping they go to the Great Lakes (near Chicago) so I can see them (and baby Spies) more often. Yet, a winter vacation in SanDiego sounds really good, too. At any rate, they'll be somewhere happy and for that I'm happy. Andrea...I'm sorry I had to fib to you and tell you that it wasn't Dawn and Dan. I was sworn to secrecy. I know you understand. And I have a feeling that even though you got an email from me telling you it wasn't Dawn and Dan that I talked about anonymously in a prior post, I have a feeling you knew it was anyway. Please forgive me!!

OK...time to go finish up some things for my Education Committee meeting tonight. I think first I have to call my in-laws and check on how Hope's day has been. She cried when I left their house this morning. It probably didn't take her long to forget me though. She has so much fun at Grammy and Papa's house!

That's it for now. Later...
Melody
PS...One more quick note about Ezekiel. I just want to make it clear that it's not EVERYONE at that church that makes it a toxic place. As a matter of fact, it's not even the majority of the people. It's maybe a handful or two at most that make it toxic. "One bad apple can spoil the whole barrel." Isn't that the quote?? As a matter of fact, one of the meanest people there is also on the River Falls Council. In the River Falls Journal a month or so ago there was an article about this particular person and how the City of RF had to put into place a "Respect in the Workplace" policy just for him. He terrorized people!! How great is that?? I loved--still do-- 99.9% of the people at that church. I miss my kids. It just wasn't working anymore. You can only beat your head against a brick wall for so long. So now I have a new congregation and new kids to love on...and I'm lovin' it!