the UU

Jo asked how my visit to the UU was. It went pretty well. They are in the middle of interviewing the ministers (married) that the search committee just found, so the service was *packed* to the gills with people who wanted to hear the sermon that day. It is a much larger congregation than I'm used to - about 1100 people their website says.

They have a very nice choir with a choir loft, but the architecture of the church itself didn't impress me. There are no windows in the sanctuary and it's a concrete floor with cinder block walls - all very industrial looking and not warm and spiritual feeling to me personally. The minister's sermon was OK. It struck me as a little "preachy" for a UU sermon. All in all, the whole experience was a little more Christian than I was comfortable with, but I met a lot of really nice people and it was nice to be in a "familiar" environment.

I did get a call from the RE acting head, but haven't had a chance to call her back. I want to find out why she's the "acting" head and what the deal is with looking for a new RE director, or if she will be it. We went through an RE crisis in State College and I have no desire to get in one here. I know that something must have happened, because, oddly enough, the woman from the homeschooling workshop at the conference w/ the 8 yo twins was there and her kids were in Emma's RE class. Both kids really liked RE a LOT and want to go back, which is a big selling point for me. Anyway, the woman with the twins said that they had left for awhile, looking for a different RE curriculum elsewhere but had just come back, so I want to find out more about her experience.

After our UU experience, we went to my friend Jana's house, who is on my Nov98 list, and we hung out for the whole afternoon and dinner with her 5 yo, 2 yo and 6 mo. It was fun!

I need to run, as I'm evaluating software/workbooks for the girls for summer that the school sent home. They seem pretty cool. We haven't had new software for a long time!