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More folks at home
posted by David on April 17, 2002 at 11:51 PM

This is the beginning of an important few weeks in our household. Sunday evening Heather, Sarah, and Zoni (the dog) came to stay until Memorial Day weekend. As it worked out, the house in Denver had to be vacated and the house in Pasadena was not ready, so the “ladies” came here while Kim went on to begin his work at USC. Sarah is in a day school with children her age, and is making the usual mercurial adjustments to all the changes. With her, it is often feast or famine. Heather continues her work on the projects in Birmingham. The person making the adjustments most easily is Zoni, who, at her advanced age, seems very satisfied to sit on the sidelines and watch the action.

Ruth has a bit of travel during this period, so we will all have opportunities to ferry her to and from the airport. Some important actions are occuring in the agencies of the Synod of the Covenant, so she is staying in the thick of things.

Next week will be a major downsizing of the General Assembly Council staff, with a reduction of 50-60 staff—about 10%. I was given an opportunity to take an “early” retirement. However, after checking all the options, it seems best for us for me to retire on December 31, which accomplishes the needed departure before the 2003 budget. That will also allow for the Africa trip, if that can be included in the reduced program outlines of the World Wide Ministries Division. Next week will be a rough time at the Center.

Surrounding all of these events is Derby season, which kicks off this weekend with the annual Thunder Over Louisville. Thunder is a full afternoon and evening on the riverfront with an air show, lots of food, and a magnificent fireworks display (the Chamber of Commerce claim it is the largest in the USA.) The season continues for two weeks, finishing the day after the race on the first Sunday of May.

Last weekend I was in Stony Point, NY for a couple of days, attending the Governing Board of our conference center there. The meeting has traditionally been held on the first weekend of May, and the first year I was on the Board I had a mild Derby party. When asked to hold one this year (the third) I protested that we were too early—the horses weren’t even entered yet. No problem for those New Yorkers. I really think they wanted an excuse to serve bourbon and mint juleps. So Derby has started, and Sarah is looking forward to all the event she has heard about.

Stay tuned— no telling what will be happening during the next few weeks, and news may change fast!

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Comments

What is the likelihood of the African trip getting cancelled?

There is a good chance it will be cancelled, yet almost as much a chance that it will continue. The relevant factors are how staff configurations look after the downsizing, and how much pressure there will be for further budget constraints this year. My hope was that I could get to at least one country in Africa, lay some groundwork and do some grant writing, then depart with a modest success. Now we will wait and see.

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