This summer I took on some additional responsibilities at Williams Memorial UMC. In addition to children’s music, I started working with the Evangelism Committee and keeping up with membership and visitor attendance. There’s lots of paperwork and reports and correspondence that I never knew about! It’s been fun learning something new and being around the staff more. It’s been interesting getting used to being away from home during the day and letting my family fend for themselves.
In case we’ve never met (Williams is a big church!), here’s some info about me. I grew up in Texarkana, actually Red Lick, and went to Hooks High School. After college at ETSU (now TX A&M, Commerce), I went to work for the Social Security Administration and moved up the proverbial ladder. My husband Tony is a school teacher, and was gracious enough to follow me around while I gathered experience and built a career. Over my 20 year tenure at SSA, we moved 7 times, ending up back in Texarkana. By that time, we had a 5 year old (Grayson) and a baby (Olivia) who did not understand that nighttime was for sleeping. It was killing us and nothing seemed fun anymore. So, we made the BIG leap to living on one salary. I “retired” and started staying at home with the kids. Tony got a second job teaching at Texarkana College. Then a third job at a radio station, broadcasting P.G. football games on Friday nights and hosting a call-in sports talk show every day from 5:00 – 6:00 on KCMC 740 AM. It was wonderful to be a full-time wife and mom. I stayed busy with family stuff, keeping house, substitute teaching at Grayson’s school, being the janitor at the church where I grew up, serving as President of Red Lick PTCO, and doing some volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity. So, since I didn’t have enough to do (LOL), I started working with children’s choirs at Williams. That is a dream job for me. It is so fun to teach kids songs and see them enjoy making music, gaining confidence, and learning skills.
Tony and I are members of the TNT Sunday School class. It’s a great group of people. TNT is short for “Twenties ‘N’ Thirties”, referring to the age of the people who started the class. We’re all just a LITTLE older than that now. It should probably be called “FNF” now, but who’s counting? Brian Barry is the teacher, and he makes class fun and informative. We do some socializing during the year and always have a great Christmas party. If you need a class to join, please come by and visit us in Room 107.
My favorite part of church is the music. I am a long-time choir member and have recently started singing in the XPerience service. My kids really love the contemporary music and the casual atmosphere suits us at this point in our lives. It is wonderful to belong to a church where new ideas are welcomed, and where worship of a living God can take many forms. The freedoms and flexibilities of the Methodist Church are its greatest strengths, I think.
This fall I’m looking forward to a new soccer season. Grayson plays on the Mustangs, and nothing is more fun than seeing our kids play and work together as a team. Olivia is not quite the athlete. She prefers girly stuff, so I’ll get her into gymnastics or dance this year. Tony will be busy at Pleasant Grove High School and T.C. with a new school year. I’ll be flitting around town and home tryin to keep up with the chores, the grocery shopping, the calendars, and my new job at Williams. Pray for me to have the energy I need!
