Sunday Ramblings by Andy

Nothing major to discuss, but there are a few interesting things I wanted to talk about and thought maybe I could do this once a week. A sort of "Sunday Ramblings" type of thing!

First off, the church we attend. The church we attend is called a Unitarian Universalist church and is different than a non-denominational church in the sense that denominations refer to branches of Christianity and this church not only encompasses Christianity, but any religion out there. Pagans, Buddhists, Christians, Mormons, Muslims, Scientologists even, they are all welcome to join on Sundays and share with the learning experience within. It's less about preaching one way to live and more about embracing life itself and enjoying the variety life has to offer. Each week has a different "topic" of sorts and it's essentially what most have come to know as a "sermon". Last week, the 1st Sunday of 2009, they discussed what went right in 2008 for everyone and had each of the members that attended pondering their lives from 2008 and what they enjoyed. Everyone can come up with things that went wrong and to varying degrees, but nonetheless there still had to be *something* positive. Our 2008 was full of positive times ranging from becoming closer to family and friends to having a baby, moving, a successful year for our business, health, and much more.

This week (today) was a special event as we had a member of the Asian segment of the church give a talk about why there are so few non-whites that join the UU church. The majority of UU members at any given UU church in America are white by a ratio of 25 to 1. Our congregation has around 50-60 members attending each week and sure enough, there's not but around 5 or so non-white members. His conclusion to the question revolved around the fact that most white people follow a more mainstream line of thought and are members of a more mainstream church. In turn, given the fact that white people are the most prominent and most successful people in America, it only makes sense that that is what people would want to emulate down to the church they attend and beliefs they carry. This isn't meant to put white people on a pedestal at all, it's just based on the facts. Sure, we're about to have a black president, but after how many white ones? And how many Hispanic ones? Or Indian or Asian ones?

It was very interesting overall and this is the type of thing that is discussed or could be discussed. There's songs that we sing, there are times of reflection where we share the most positive or negative things that have happened to us in the past week, but there is no focus on preaching one way of thought or any strict belief system. Like I said earlier, it's just focused on enjoying life and knowing that while we may have our own thoughts on what we were before we were born and what happens to us when we pass and all of the in-between, we very well could be wrong. Not alot of folks like to entertain that idea, and especially not in most mainstream congregations. It's not about being righteous. It's about being grateful that we can live even one more day and respecting others while constantly learning from them with our open minds and souls.

Another thing that goes on (and this is the funny, less mundane part, I promise) is there is a time when the children are asked to come to the front and sit on a rug while they are told a story much like at other churches. This is tough for Andrew as he is used to having us around at all times, or at least within eye sight but for the past two times we've been, he's been a big boy and gone ahead on up there without us. Today, he hopped off mommies lap and went on up and sat by a friend of ours from the church and I could see just around a pole at him. I noticed he was looking back into the congregation as if he was looking for something. Then he'd look down at his book or at the speaker. Then back towards the rows of faces for a bit; eyes seeking. Then back down or forward. Then he twisted his body slightly and looked again into the unfamiliar. And more twisting. And more until his body was all the way around, facing the rows and searching for us with his eyes. No panic shown, just nonchalantly gazing, seeing if he could see us but I know inside he *was* panicking in his own way. I was waiting for him to call out "Mommy?" over the story being told, but just as this thought passed, his eyes caught mine. Then Lea's and we were already smiling so big at him and his discomfort of not being able to have us in his sight. It made us feel so special honestly in a way and he slowly started smiling back then turning to look at the reader. Then back at us, locking on this time, no searching. Then he starts to kinda.. Crawl on his knees, inching his way back around 10 rows to us. He was so brave for going up and he put up with his braveness for all he could stand. He had to be back on mommies lap now and he was back up not even 3 minutes after the story had begun. A couple of minutes later, it was over and then time for the children to head to the back for play time while the adults listened to the boring sermon (in their minds - I remember being a kid) and tithed and whatnot. He went back to play on his own and while Lea did check on him once or twice, he seemed VERY into his playing and she was able to enjoy the guest speaker. It was a great Sunday.

In a bid of sad news, our van has started acting up. It's nothing major, perhaps just normal wear and tear on a valve, or a filter, maybe a plug, who knows. No check engine light or anything, just some sputtering and sluggishness on takeoff which leads my unprofessional and uneducated mind to think it's probably out of window washer fluid. In all seriousness, we think it may be a clogged PCV valve which I've read could cause such things in our model of minivan. We're taking it in tomorrow to have it looked at.

Other minor goings ons:

- We got a new chair thanks to the ever wonderful Mema Tressie. Our old, beloved chair that has served us so well is on it's last legs and near unable to rock our children to sleep anymore and she immediately donated one of hers to us and it is even more comfortable than our old one. We LOVE it. Thank you so much Mema, you've saved our nights of lost sleep and we love you!

- PAUL T! He is *SO* funny! He's starting to giggle and laugh now and he and I have this thing we do, especially when I wake up and come say good morning to him where I lightly pat his chest and belly, then hold his arm and give him gootchies on his sides. He loves it and starts to just laugh and laugh at me and it's so funny to see. He's really starting to come into his own and recognize us. He's also started to begin rolling around so no doubt, he'll be asking for the car keys soon.

- Ken and Angie came over for hot dogs and wine tonight and we once again enjoyed their company. Their kids are too sweet and they had a blast playing the Wii while we had a blast listening to Ken talk about the great sci-fi shows we've missed out on. He's a really interesting guy that knows alot about many topics and I never get tired of listening to him no matter the subject. I don't know if I show it based on my repeated "Uh-huh!"'s or "Oh, wows!" but it's always so very interesting. Angie was also very entertaining for us and recommended a local mechanic for our minivan.

- I got in touch with an old friend in the past few days named Derek that I lived with for a couple of years. He's a good guy with a good heart and it's great to hear from him and hopefully we'll get to catch up with what's been going on since we last talked around 9 years ago since Lea and I met. It was happenstance that he and I parted ways when Lea and I met and it will be interesting to hear what he's been up to. I was in a VERY different place back then in life so it is also a shock for him to see me married with two (wonderful) children now.

- We may have a new client or two I'm trying to get an OK from as far as beginning work on websites for them and that will be great. It's sometimes scary owning your own business as there is that whole feast or famine thing you have to deal with. We're in no famine right now by any means, but it's always at the back of your mind. You'd think I'd be over it after being self-employed for almost 6 years, but eh. I don't know if that will ever go away.

Ok, I think that's about it, I hope I didn't put you to sleep. Either way, thank you for reading, and if it did bore you to sleep think of it this way: If you ever need a free, legal way of getting to sleep, you can always come back or check in next week. :D

Love you all and I wish you the best in your lives,

-Andy Goin