sweet. home.

I am finally home. Looking at my calendar, it looks like I will get to sleep in my bed with my sweetie for about two or three weeks before I am gone again. Thankfully it seems that he will get to go with me the next time I leave town. For now, our busiest season of the year is starting. We are jumping head-first into our fall recruitment and that means many nights away from home and many early mornings for at least the next three months. The up-side is that I will be in my house at night with my husband - even if I am exhausted and it just means that I get to sleep in the same bed and never have a conversation.
We had our membership retreat the past two days which was interesting, frustrating, fun, and a learning experience. We had to set our "girl goal" for the coming Girl Scout year and here in Chattanooga, we have what are really unreasonably high goals because of this past year's programs. We were instructed to do a lot of what we call "outreach" (i.e. week-long programs or all year programs in the schools) and that adds numbers to your membership. It is great for that year and for reaching the numerical goals of that year but you are really screwing yourself over for the next year, especially if you aren't going to be allowed to do outreach type programs for the forseeable future. You can't set your goal for a smaller number than what you actually got the previous year so I have some areas that have very, very high goals. It means I have to work twice as hard to recruit girls and troop leaders to fill up those numbers BUT...and it is a big one....I am much more concerned that the girls we do have get quality programming. It is hard for me to focus on a strictly numerical goal; I know I can get plenty of girls but if those girls don't get troop leaders who care about them, care about the program, believe in the value of Girl Scouts, then I might as well not recruit them at all. It is definately something to consider...
I have been becoming more aware of protecting the rare and sweet time I have with my husband and I am very cautious of doing things that limit that time. I need to be protective of my free time because it won't be readily available until November...That being said, I still want my loved ones to come see me! Our weekends are pretty open and we won't be doing much traveling until much later in the fall! The house is slowing coming together and getting ready for visitors!