First Week of Work

Well, I've made it through two days of work! My brain is on overload, but I think I'm going to enjoy it. The pastor is very nice - his wife said he is always in a good mood, so I figured if his wife said that..it must be true!

I arrived to a beautiful plant - it has red leaves with cactus growing out of each leaf. It was very unexpected - apparently the board was so happy that I accepted the position, that they wanted to show their appreciation. The one board member wanted to hold a welcome reception for me, but one of the volunteers said I woudn't want that on my first day. My son Tim said...Mom, you would have liked that, wouldn't you?" He knows his mom - never miss an excuse for a party!!

Several volunteers have been helping out for the past 18 months, so a few of them have come by the past two days to tell me the info they know about the job. The church just got a brand new photocopier that does color copies and can print things directly from the computer. The technician is going to come by sometime soon to give me a demo, along with a few other people that will be using it. I came at a good time - I guess the other machine was causing them lots of stress.

The pastor is happy to have a secretary again. He missed using dictaphone to dictate the things he'd like done each day. He seems very organized, which I love. The church secretary is more than typing the bulletin these days! I had to learn how to back up the computer system today, and various other related duties. I updated the look of the bulletin a bit - didn't want to shock anyone on the first week! They said they were open to changes at the interview and wanted someone to run with it. Apparently I have the job of going out and selecting a new fax machine - the wanted to wait until I got there to chose the one I like. Already have a guy that wanted minutes of a meeting typed up by Friday, along with lots of calls to make for the Bookkeeper. I was worried I might be bored, but I think I am going to have lots to keep me hopping.

One volunteer said she has helped the past 5 secretaries and is available to help me almost anytime with typing or whatever I need. Also, there is a couple in the church that comes in each week to fold the Bulletins, and also comes in to cut any inserts, or other miscellaneous things as needed. They consider it their ministry and don't want the secretary to rob them of it. I was very happy to hear that news!

The nicest part is that I am five minutes from home on a slow day, if I hit the one red light so I can come home for lunch and relax if I want to. Being home when the kids leave and when they come home is also another great feature of the job. I don't miss the nightmares of starting homework at 7 pm....and ending at 10 or 11 pm!!

Hope to hear from you all soon about what's going on with you! I'll post some pictures of the kids soon. Our computer is having a terrible time rebooting - every time I tried to upload a picture again, it would crash.