June 2019 Update

Welcome to another monthly update from the Greg Matthews family!

The day after I wrote last was my barbershop chorus’s annual show.  I mentioned last month that four of us went on a local radio show to promote it, and I tried to get a recording my son had made to post there, but it didn’t work.  Since then, I found out that the radio show posts podcasts of its programs, so if you want to listen to it, you can go to https://www.iheart.com/podcast/the-bob-lonsberry-show-on-wham-20922208/.  You'll have to search back to Friday, May 17, 2019, and the 11:00 or fourth hour.

Anyway, the show was on May 18.  The Lyric Theater, where we had it, was a beautiful former Christian Science church.  They still had pews for seating, and the acoustics were really amazing.  The show went well, and you can watch a recording of it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A39qWNY3fiw.  My quartet sings at 30:45.

May 18 was also the 8th anniversary of when my Mom left this home and went to her eternal home.  I take great joy in knowing, without a doubt, that I will see her again when it’s my time to go to be with my Savior.  Do you have that confidence?  Ask me about it if you aren’t sure.

I mentioned also last month that I’m continuing in my job that I’ve had for the last several years at Xerox.  That’s been… interesting.  Wipro (my current employer) transitioned very few people so there’s been a lot of adjustment and learning for the new people trying to do what others had been doing for years and had perfected.  The work environment due to that feels quite uncertain, so I’ve been continuing to look for other work just to be sure my family is provided for, and I’d appreciate your prayers as I seek God’s will for my and my family’s future.

One example of that uncertainty:  Xerox is closed both Friday and Monday of Memorial Day weekend, but Wipro only gives Monday as the Memorial Day holiday.  During our onboarding, they told us that lots of Wipro clients have holidays other than the ones Wipro gives, and we should just contact our manager to find out how s/he wants us to record time for those days.  So, I looked up my manager’s name, and first of all, there are two places in their system where the management chain is shown, and they show different people for my chain.  So, I emailed both of the men listed in the two places as my immediate manager to find out how to record the time.  And I heard nothing.  No response whatever from either of them.  I ended up just talking to a co-worker, and we decided together what we should do.  I’ve been on the job now for a month and have still heard absolutely nothing from anyone who is supposed to be my immediate manager.

On to happier things, the Memorial Day weekend was tons of fun, and pretty good weather here too.  That’s saying a lot because we’ve had a pretty miserable spring overall.  We’ll have an occasional nice day, but it’s preceded and followed by cold, damp weather.  But that Friday was nice, and a bunch of us went for a walk.  We have some large rocks in the landscaping of the business across the road from us.  As soon as the grandkids see those rocks, they think they are supposed to pose for pictures on them, so I obliged.

Hazel, Alma, and Ivy

Ivy, Hazel, and Alma

Then on Memorial Day Monday, Kevin and Hannah hosted a party at their house with excellent food, games, and lots of wonderful family time.

Hannah’s birthday was on 6/6, and they had a party for her about a week later.  That was the soonest we could all get together due to the medical people in the family.  Those nurses and Nurse Practitioners can have crazy schedules!  Anyway, Kevin went all out with oar dervs, horse overs, appetizers, snacks, chicken marsala, and a delicious cake for dessert.  Yes, I really do know how to spell hors d’oeuvres.  That’s why God created Google, don’t you know.

My chorus started hosting a monthly “Singer’s Night” at our building where anyone can do karaoke, or sing at an open mic, and our chorus and quartets also sing to promote our chorus.  We already got one new singer in the chorus from it, so that’s good.  Anyway, on June 7, my quartet sang three songs there, and it’s really fun to be singing more often for real, live people, instead of just practicing.

On June 13, we remembered Kortney and Mat’s fifth anniversary and sent them many congratulations.

I guess that’s all for this month.  Talk to you in July when we’ll hopefully have had some heat!