Child Greatness, Part One. And some follow-up.

(Follow-up):  Everyone's a Critic (other blog), in which I discussed the funeral of a teenaged boy Matt and I both knew, and various aspects of the service with which I was satisfied, dissatisfied, or had no opinion about. Following the service Matt and I discussed a number of, ah, funerary preferences, from his perspective as a minister and mine as a daughter whose mother died suddenly when she was in college. One topic was the music, and last week we Matt and I were listening to this song, and he said this version would've been "perfect" for this kid's funeral, that it instills hope and faith in God: I Know My Redeemer Lives.

On a related note (music, note, gosh I'm hilarious) one of the other songs they played at the service was "O Glorious Day," which I really like (I am not generally a fan of contemporary Christian music, though I like it more than I did 5 years ago) - we also heard this at our Wednesday night contemporary service, when we were visited by a group of residents from this program in South Carolina. It's not a substance abuse treatment facility per se, it is not licensed or advertised as such, but all the men there are in recovery from substance abuse issues. It is a faith-based (Christian but non-denominational) program where the average length of stay is 2 years; there is daily chapel attendance and Bible study, in addition to AA/NA, vocational training and life skills, etc. It's a great place, our church designates some funding for them every year, and various groups have been down to visit the facility. I was really hoping my older brother (he's the Loved One I talked about earlier, in case you thought it might be my dad) would go there after he completed detox, but that hasn't come to pass. Anyway, they have a choir of about 20 - 25 men who came to perform for us, mixing hymns, contemporary music, and testimony/witness (I am really uncomfortable with both those terms; I'd rather use, "story"). "O Glorious Day" was the first song they sang.

And now for something completely different ...

Here's some recent … drama? That's not the best term, perhaps another will come to me as I'm writing. [Later: "flash-in-the-pan excitement that has since subsided somewhat but I'm still interested" - maybe I'll just stick with drama].

A few weeks ago, I decided I wanted to become a commissioned officer in the US Navy. This had never occurred to me before in life, never. I have been thinking about seeking employment at the VA ever since I went to that conference a month ago in Wilmington, but this would certainly be a serious step further. This is how it happened:

Random Ramblings

The last few weeks have been really busy for the Hudson-Smith crew, lots of developments and changes. We have secured a townhouse to rent in the New City, and have visited Simon's new school and the New Church, where David will begin attending a 3-hour per day "summer camp" as soon as well arrive. We feel much better about the move now that those major issues have been resolved, and it's a great little house and it's exciting to think about everything that's coming up in the next couple of months.

We'll be living in a little town home community off one of the major streets in the New City; I am nearly dizzy with anticipation of all the retail (that will be open on Sundays; yes our current NC mountain town is so small, the blue laws or whatever prevent anything but gas/groceries/restaurants from being open. Or are blue laws just about alcohol? We didn't have that either, Sunday or no, until last summer). There is a park right next door - there are a couple of short paths through a little patch of woods, so we can walk over with the boys any old time.