[Weekly - F/Sa] Week In Review

Tek7

CGA President, Tribe of Judah Founder & President
Staff member
I finally thought up a topic for a weekly thread. It's so simple, it might just work.

So some of you may have noticed I've been a tad scarce lately. A 15-month old child who still doesn't sleep through the night will have that effect. Anyway, I had a rare opportunity to get online for a chunk of time last night (thus the surprise upgrades to the forums and TeamSpeak server) and I found I really enjoyed catching up on what was going on in other community members' lives. I found most of the updates on Facebook, but I was also greatly encouraged to read the news that @Kahiel received a job offer (congrats again!).

I started thinking that I'd like a place to post my own updates so those interested can read at least the highlights of what's going on in my life. I admit I cringe even as I type that because I can't help but shake the notion that it sounds a tad vain, but I hope you all read my intent. I tend to keep to myself for many reasons, including the fact that I don't think my life makes for particularly exciting reading.

At first I considered bumping and continuing my "From the mind of Tek" thread, but then I thought of an alternative: A weekly thread where we can all come together, post a short snippet about what happened in our lives this week, and catch up with each other.

I thought of the verse in 1 Thessalonians where Paul writes,

We cared so much for you that we were pleased to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.

Members of our community are in different seasons of life, live in different cities and countries, hold varying political views, and like different foods. It's our faith that unites us. That faith expresses itself in so many ways throughout the week and I think it would be helpful, encouraging, and a lot of fun to catch up at the end of the week.

So that was a really long-winded way of saying: Tell us about your week!

EDIT: You are, of course, welcome to talk about game-related activities, but I figured most of that discussion will take place in the Wednesday thread. My intent for this thread was more along the lines of, "Kids started kindergarten," "finished finals," "bought a house," "flew to Hawaii for a dream vacation," stuff like that.

...Man, I'd love to fly to Hawaii for a dream vacation.
 
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I'll try to keep this short. I'll TRY.

So I may have mentioned before that I'm a field tech for a fairly large organization in the Midwest. Years ago, that would have meant that I spent a lot of time repairing hardware and solving problems and uninstalling and reinstalling software. Now it mostly boils down to time management and replacing computers. You have the context now.

I recently moved to a new office (same employer, same city, just on the other side of town) with a new set of sites to support. The move has been...okay. Not great, not terrible, just...okay. I'm confident I'll feel better about it once I settle in and get to know the people I support. So that's work.

My younger daughter's interest in books is developing quite nicely. She's 15 months old now and, if I ask her to, she'll grab a book, bring it to me, wait for me to pick her up and put her in my lap, and sit contentedly as I read to her. She'll usually prompt me to read the same book 2 or 3 times, at which point I'll typically grab a different book and keep reading.

My wife and I are still praying about whether or not to go with a small group to a new church plant or stay at the church we attend now, but I'll post more about that in the Prayer Request/Praise Reports forum.

Lastly, illness has swept through our home as I suspect it's done in many of your homes as well. I had what I suspect was viral gastroenteritis (i.e. stomach flu) for 6-7 days. The first night was the worst. My two daughters had stomach bugs before that and my wife (hi @Ember) almost dodged the bug entirely, but had a brief episode the night before last. Right now, we're all healthy, thank the Lord.

Okay, that update no longer qualifies as short, but there's the basics.
 
Aside from the nasty illnesses, my week consisted of giving notice at my current job where I've been for almost 8 years. I will still be there a couple of days a week (for now), but I'm going to start two days at another practice about 45 minutes or so (depending on traffic) north of us. I am very nervous about the change and I can't say I'm excited about the commute. BUT it is just the type of place I or any optometrist would love to work. And it's getting me on my path to being more part-time. AND for the first time in almost 8 years, I will have almost every Saturday off with my family. THAT is a huge answer to prayer.
 
A yay and boo week. Surprise, surprise, after 8 years waiting on an appeal to VA on a disability I finally got a Compensation and Pension Review. The issue is pretty clear and straight forward so there should be little problem in getting rated on it. Ended the week and started this week on a boo. Drove 2.5 hrs to my rental house to evaluate and repair from last renters. They tried to be good renters, but they let some things slide and didn't notify me of major problems. So spent the weekend cleaning, painting, and running into things that need major work. Like 1/3 of electric heaters in the house not working. Big pain figuring that out. Found out could not replace some needed plumbing because shut off valve incoming frozen open from corrosion. Left my lady there with no vehicle on her request to work on stuff and got caught in a snow storm on way back. So snowed in today and need to go pick up dogs. Our God is a big God and can meet the needs.
 
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Our God is a big God like ursen said, but I'm having to learn some of that stuff the hard way >_<

My business hasn't flown the way I had hoped, even with a 2-mo paid running start. In the last week I've really had to rely on God for finances while trying to trust my pastors for personal situations. My pastors are good people but I've always tried to be more of a fringe person to try and catch/help people on the fringes, not someone who is a "happy all the time time, Jesus rides unicorns, everything is perfect" type christian like most of the people in my church. But when I'm in leadership positions, its good to have pastoral covering and I'm trying my best to balance that with trying to be accessible to fringe people.

God has definitely blessed my business stuff in some ways and I've actually gotten some pretty high end clients, but they are only for small pilot gigs and so I'm trying to work hard to earn their long term business but still.... just nerve wrecking sometimes.

@Ember congratulations on the new job change :) - I worked in the same office for 7 years and I loved my department, just not the administrators above my department, and although hard, sometimes change can be awesome.

@Tek7 isnt it amazing how IT has changed over the years?
 
So, I realize it's no longer Friday/Saturday, but here we go! Kendrik checking in!

Short forms, because some information isn't for public consumption yet: So... what is? I now know who is on my panel for oral comprehensives at my seminary. Only one of the three professors have I had in class, so that's a little bit of a bummer since I don't know what to expect. Still, I've done well in mock exams, and I'm feeling confident, so I'm not too worried about my mid-March exam. (Besides, it's ungraded, and even if I botch it, I get to retake until I pass. haha)

My wife is stepping down from her position as worship director at our church. That's a complicated thing, but the goal is that it results in an all-around better-for-us situation. We were warned against either of us doing ministry in our first year of marriage, and we have seen some repercussions of doing it anyway. We've learned a lot in our time of this ministry (I feel justified in the plural here since I've been super involved despite initial declaration that they were hiring her, not both of us), and look forward to whatever comes next.

As I wrap up my course work on my Master degrees, I'm also trying to find full-time work ready to go when I'm done. My wife and I are hoping for a move to Colorado, but it's gonna ultimately come down to going where the job security is. I've got a lead on a possible future in software development, with a phone conversation about that scheduled for this week. Ultimately still wanting to go into pastoral ministry, but it's not exactly easy to go straight from seminary to full-time pastor job, so the bivocational route is definitely what I'm working toward.

And I do love me some programming. I do development for the seminary here, and it's basically a dream job. This last week, a co-worker (the only other student programmer) left for another job, so my bosses are working to get all the non-programming duties I have taken care of by other students so I can focus fully on development. No complaints from me.

And that's about it in the "what's open for sharing right now regarding this last week" category. Oh! And we finally got some money in to buy my wife a new (to her) computer, so we've been playing a bit of Diablo over her four-day weekend. Hooray!
 
@Tek7 isnt it amazing how IT has changed over the years?
I don't know if "amazing" is the first word that comes to mind, but the changes are staggering, yes. :p

I've remarked on a number of occasions how my job seems to require much less technical skill now than it did years ago, though that may be exaggerated by the size of the organization for which I work and the complexity (and benefits) of their infrastructure. Years ago, I would fix computers. Now it's easier to reimage or replace a computer nearly every time. :/
 
In the last week I've really had to rely on God for finances while trying to trust my pastors for personal situations. My pastors are good people but I've always tried to be more of a fringe person to try and catch/help people on the fringes, not someone who is a "happy all the time time, Jesus rides unicorns, everything is perfect" type christian like most of the people in my church. But when I'm in leadership positions, its good to have pastoral covering and I'm trying my best to balance that with trying to be accessible to fringe people.
@Ember and I are praying for wisdom to decide whether to stay at our current church or go with a core group to start a church plant in our city. (Our current church is the church planting the new church. Churchy church church.) I've spent a lot of time thinking over my own past in the local churches I've attended and recall that I've often felt like I was never "cool enough" to belong.

So just reading that someone else is concerned with the people on the fringes is encouraging!

My wife is stepping down from her position as worship director at our church. That's a complicated thing, but the goal is that it results in an all-around better-for-us situation. We were warned against either of us doing ministry in our first year of marriage, and we have seen some repercussions of doing it anyway. We've learned a lot in our time of this ministry (I feel justified in the plural here since I've been super involved despite initial declaration that they were hiring her, not both of us), and look forward to whatever comes next.
I know it's not what most would consider ministry, but I know my two weeks as the guild leader of a WoW guild took its toll not only on me, but also my wife. I promised her that I would never lead another WoW guild again after those two weeks. It's not at all the same as serving as a worship director, I know, but I can empathize that ministry-oriented efforts can take their toll on a spouse.

Oh! And we finally got some money in to buy my wife a new (to her) computer, so we've been playing a bit of Diablo over her four-day weekend. Hooray!
I'm guessing you mean Diablo III? If so, which version and on which platform?

My wife and I really enjoyed playing through Dungeon Siege III together and I've been watching for a co-op action RPG for the PC, PS3, Wii U, or 3DS ever since. Unfortunately Diablo III PC, aside from having a much darker tone than DS3, also will never have controller support. Sorry, Blizzard, but wrist pain > action RPGs.
 
I know it's not what most would consider ministry, but I know my two weeks as the guild leader of a WoW guild took its toll not only on me, but also my wife. I promised her that I would never lead another WoW guild again after those two weeks. It's not at all the same as serving as a worship director, I know, but I can empathize that ministry-oriented efforts can take their toll on a spouse.
Having also done non-traditional/not-in-a-church-setting ministry stuff, as well as having been a worship leader and having had other church ministry involvement myself, I can only vaguely agree to "not at all the same." They're different, but both are very real in both ministry and taxation upon the leader and family.

We've learned a lot about being in ministry and doing that in light of being a married couple. Important that we get a handle on this given my trek toward vocational church ministry, too.

I'm guessing you mean Diablo III? If so, which version and on which platform?

My wife and I really enjoyed playing through Dungeon Siege III together and I've been watching for a co-op action RPG for the PC, PS3, Wii U, or 3DS ever since. Unfortunately Diablo III PC, aside from having a much darker tone than DS3, also will never have controller support. Sorry, Blizzard, but wrist pain > action RPGs.
Yeah. Diablo 3. Playing on PC. Once we finally get a PS4 (we're thinking we'll get one as a graduation present of sorts to me in May), I plan to get it there, too. I love its controller support, having had it on the PS3. Add in the whole "will be able to play in bed by way of a Vita's Remote Play functionality," and it's definitely a must-have on my list despite its lack of seasons and how much time I've invested into the PC build.
 
Posting on time this time!

Had that phone call. My information is being passed along to HR departments with requests for additional information. Very hopeful. :D

Also, got my term paper back from January yesterday, and got full points on it along with a nice discussion of its ideas. Hooray! I even wrote a prospectus for a term paper coming up and am excited about the reading list I crafted for it.

I still love work, but my 20 hour hard cap due to regulations (given that I'm a full-time student at the school) are a bummer. Had to leave a project in a less than stellar place (reached for the stars, broke orbit, accidentally ran into the moon sort of thing) even after volunteering extra. Alas.
 
I'm late, I'm late! Has it really already been a week since I created this thread? Time flies!

Work is more of the same, which is to say it's fine, if a bit dry at times. I admit I wax nostalgic for the days when working as a tech involved more, well, techie stuff, like, y'know, fixing computers. These days, if I can't solve a problem in 15-30 minutes, I replace the computer. It's the advantage/disadvantage of working for a large organization with a robust imaging infrastructure. Robust. I like that word.

Somehow another week passed and I didn't make/find time to sit down with @Ember and pray about where the Lord would have us attend church. We have 3 options: Stay where we are, go with a group to plant a church in the same city, or find a new church elsewhere. It's a big decision and one we can't (or at least shouldn't) make lightly.

I'm alive and in good health.

That's all I've got to post for now.
 
Didn't like what I had to do this week. After 3/4 day of work on our rental house on Sunday, at her request, left my lady there with no vehicle until Thursday. So much left to do on the house. Running out of money and would like to rent it soon as possible. Thursday got jarred a little. Our friend who has a plumbing business was going to do some work for us sent two of his sons. We didn't recognize them at first, the last time we saw them they were small fries. Now they are licensed plumbers. Where did time go? It snowed when I got back Sunday and I couldn't drive up my hill, so over the next 3 days I had to do something my Dr. said don't do. I walked up my hill not once, but six times. Ouch! Very risky for me. God watches over His people though.
 
I'm late this time too, but granted we just attended a marriage retreat so I figured it was okay not to post during the weekend :)

@ursen , sorry to hear about the rental property. I know that can be such a pain. is there a chance you could have a rental property management team manage it after you fix all the stuff?

@Tek7 On the prayer thing, I read a book a few years ago called "couples who pray." One of the statistics in there was that the divorce rate among couples who daily prayed together was less than 1%. Its still something I feel I'm not good at, leading my wife/family spiritually, but its something that we really are trying to build towards. Its not easy with "busy" life, heck its hard some times to make sure to keep the relationship with God priority one.

I think in the last week, I've been realizing I need to drop my guard down a lot more than I do around other church people in the same stage of life. We struggle greatly because we're the only ones in college ministry / young married that play games, have an open house policy with our students and don't want to breed 400 babies immediately. so it makes it fairly difficult to relate to others. that and I fear repercussion for not being "normal" even though I know God made my wife and I very different to minister to different people. But with all of that said, I tend to use that as a self-defense mechanism to not even try to relate to others.
 
Atown it is in a rural area, and although a relatively new house we are renting, it is not worth the extra to hire a management team. As it is we normally make only a little more than the mortgage payment and taxes/insurance. If it wasn't we were building up equity to pass on to our son and daughter we wouldn't do it.
 
I think in the last week, I've been realizing I need to drop my guard down a lot more than I do around other church people in the same stage of life. We struggle greatly because we're the only ones in college ministry / young married that play games, have an open house policy with our students and don't want to breed 400 babies immediately. so it makes it fairly difficult to relate to others. that and I fear repercussion for not being "normal" even though I know God made my wife and I very different to minister to different people. But with all of that said, I tend to use that as a self-defense mechanism to not even try to relate to others.
Understand this very well. My wife and I are similar. At the end of our 20's, fairly newlywed, living in a community where babies are everything, and (for obvious reasons of not being married long) we have no kids. Instant party of non-interest by the couples with kids and feeling generally out of place with the unmarried folk. Against such things, it's easy for us to slip into unwanted (but still easier) isolation of sorts. Will be praying for you in this, knowing the feeling too well.
 
Understand this very well. My wife and I are similar. At the end of our 20's, fairly newlywed, living in a community where babies are everything, and (for obvious reasons of not being married long) we have no kids. Instant party of non-interest by the couples with kids and feeling generally out of place with the unmarried folk. Against such things, it's easy for us to slip into unwanted (but still easier) isolation of sorts. Will be praying for you in this, knowing the feeling too well.

Yeah dude its crazy. We're also heavily involved in College ministry and the students do recognize we're able to do more since we're the only ones without kids. So with that our group has grown to 20+ a week. Not sure if its because of us all the time or because we have two dogs.... So we end up hanging out with college students... a lot.

We did a talk about what is "adulting" and why students are scared of it. Most of it is stemming from not knowing what insurance, work benefits, how to budget, what a mortgage is, utilities costs, etc. which is crazy in my mind but none of the parents have ever explained to their kids how the real world operates.

But it is nice to talk to married peers here n there. We're even going to try and meet up with a couple I met on a plane who are almost the exact same as us, but about 20 years ahead of where my wife and I are in life. Mostly in an attempt to reach out and learn more since we feel our church has a bit of tunnel vision.
 
Figured it's about time I posted something here. One can not be part of a community and not actually BE part of the community, can they? LoL
Another week goes by and I've gotten a LOT done! I haven't had much time for myself, this is true, but my wife outranks my needs as well as the ministry God has placed in my world of responsibility. If I have not learned anything else, I have learned my place within God's Plan.
Thanks to God placing me among people with knowledge I need, information I require and support necessary I feel a bit more comfortable asking the question "What's next Lord?" He makes no hesitation in responding "This is next." and I'm off again on another adventure!
I honestly haven't much personal experience, nor a lot of background behind me, but that never stopped many of those we read about in God's Word! From the start of the Old Testament to the end of the New testament those whom God has called into His Work did their best and got better as time went on thanks to God teaching them through the circumstances.
I am no different.
Proverbs 1:5 said:
A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
 
Brief update: Headed into "reading week" here at the seminary. No classes, just work and more time to do work on my papers for the semester. Hooray!

Been looking into church jobs in Colorado, and I've got a few leads. Starting to tap my contacts, too. Really hoping and praying for an opportunity to move this summer.

Also, made plans to go see my grandpa over spring break. My wife's never met him, so we're glad to finally be able to make that happen.

Life seems... exceptionally full right now. Not a bad thing, of course, but still very full. :)
 
I'm alive!

Work is relatively slow. I expect that to change soon, though I don't know the details yet. I just know that this job has never stayed quiet for long in the past.

Family is in good health. My older daughter turned 5 this past week. Yes, it makes me feel old, too.

Very much looking forward to my wife starting a new job that will let her stay home on Saturdays for the first time since 2008, but that doesn't start until mid-March.

Took a walk around the neighborhood with my younger daughter yesterday while my older daughter was out with my wife's parents for an event. They get big so fast. *tear*
 
Working on the rental house still, most of one day spent on cleaning out pantry. Sorting food left behind, cleaning out mouse droppings, pulling shelves for cleaning and later painting. More cleaning of other items. Did get a hold of the local trash haul off. Established permanent service and he gave me a screaming deal on a 6 yard dumpster for the month. Best of all can support a local small one man company. Yay now to go into high gear filling it up when I get back. Almost had heart failure over the plumbing cost. Still lots of painting to do. Exhaustion sets in quick when you get older though, trying to get it all done without maxing out the credit card. Today is 29th so both of our incomes come in at midnight so can get budget done and see what we can spend on the rest of it. Had my MRI on my back last week successfully, 4th time was a charm, yay feel good pill, open MRI and prayer. Now to make appt with VA to get results. What we really need is a small six man army for 3 days.
 
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