The Visitor's Card

When Arielle was three we moved to the Eastern Shore. Kev had taken a position as Minister of Youth and Education. I tried to find a drafting job.

One man shook my hand after the interview and said, "When we need a woman draftsman, we will call you." At another interview the interviewer came in with his sleeves rolled up, a cigar in his mouth and cussed through the whole interview. He didn't call me back either.

There was a positive to not finding a job. Most everyday I would take Arielle for a walk around the town. We lived in Onancock. Our house was just a couple of roads from the Main Street  and the church. We would start by going to the bakery. We usually couldn't afford to buy anything. Before we moved to Onancock we both worked and I made more than Kev. Not, that that mattered. We are married. The scripture says the two become one. All our money goes into the family account. In Onancock we were learning to live on just one salary.

The ladies that worked at the bakery didn't mind us going to say Hi and look at the baked goods. You could smell the bakery from our house. It was like the pied piper calling. Most days if we were early enough  there would be a table full of men having their morning coffee and talking about the old days. They loved talking to Arielle too.

After we left the bakery we would go by the church and get a hug and kiss from daddy before heading to the wharf. We would walk down Main Street past Main Street Cafe and the Post Office. At the end of the street there was a red brick retaining wall. Arielle loved to walk on it. Then we would go across the street to the wharf.  We would see who could find the first crab. Some days I would make us a sandwich and we would have a picnic.

About a month after we got moved in, the Senior Pastor accepted a position in Georgia. Kev did everything he could to support the church during this time. In addition to his duties, he started going to all the meetings, visiting those that were in the hospital and nursing homes, etc. Being a Minister of Youth is a FULL TIME job. Most people think their pastors should be in the office 8 hours a day.  After all, they have to be in their offices. It is my opinion, it should be more important to people to have a pastor and/ or a youth pastor that are with the people. Youth pastors are at ball games, band performances, track, school plays, etc wherever the students are. Students don't just start out going to hang out at the church with the youth minister. A relationship has to be developed. During the months that the church was without a Senior Pastor, Kev was even busier than normal.

 The church built an awesome gym with class rooms around part of the perimeter, restrooms, offices, and a kitchen. On Wednesday nights, Kev and some other adults from the church would open the gym for the youth early to play basketball or hang out. At a given time Kev would have a devotion/ bible study. If the students stayed for that then they could play basketball or hangout for awhile afterwards. I thought it was pretty awesome.

After mine and Arielle's classes were over we would go to the new building to say goodnight to her daddy. I would walk Arielle over, she would start walking in the gym towards her dad. He would walk towards her while still teaching the youth. When they met he would pick her up kiss her and tell her goodnight. Then he would turn around and start back teaching. Arielle would come back to me and we headed home. We did stay to help with overnighters, special projects but the everyday schedule was we went home.

The day came when the new pastor arrived. One of the things he thought would help the church was to have a night of visitation. He decided Thursday night would be good because it was the night the Youth Minister was free.

I think it was three months, maybe not that long, of Kev not being home at night before Arielle went to bed that I decided something had to give. One Thursday night before he left to go to visitation I slipped a visitor's card into his pocket. (You knew I'd get around to it sooner or later, didn't you.) We kissed him goodnight. I told him a member of the church (which I was) wanted him to take this card to the meeting. He said when he got there, he took the card out of his pocket. The card read, "Danette and Arielle Moen would like a visit from the Minister of Youth and Education."

Kev came home a little while later. Better than that, the deacons brought it up at their next meeting. They decided, if they wanted their pastors to respect the time they had with their families then the church family needed to respect the pastors and their families. It was decided that all meetings would be held on Sunday night and one other night of the week. I'm not saying it didn't take some work. People had to make some hard choices if they were on a lot of committees.

We have to work in this life to pay the bills, eat, have a car and a house.  But we must remember our children are a gift from God. We should not take them for granted. I tell people with small children crying in stores, "Enjoy this time too. Soon they will be married and living 12 1/2 hours away." You laugh, but wait you will see how fast time flies if you have a little one or have family members or friends that have little ones.

My daddy told me once when Arielle was small, "Danette, if I knew my favorite time of life was going to be those days when you kids were young and life was crazy. I would have made myself slow down and enjoy it more."

Have a Blessed Day,
Mama D

Psalms 127:2-3 NLT
 2It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; 3Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.