#GC77: And there was evening and there was morning and it was the first day

Yes, Day One in Indianapolis is "in the books" -- so to speak. And this is me with "THE BOOK" ... the notebook deputies are issued at registration with currently filed resolutions and -- as you can see -- plenty of room for more to come.

And they will. Resolutions are still being filed as we speak. Our first legislative committee meetings start tomorrow and we will begin the "sausage making" process of taking the meat of the submitted resolutions, adding the spice of the committee meetings and open hearings and then grinding them all up into resolutions to commend out of committee to either the House of Bishops or House of Deputies as the "house of initial action" -- remembering that in the Episcopal Church for a "bill to become a law" (or, more precisely, for a resolution to become adopted!) it has to pass both houses.

Today was also the day the Exhibit Hall opened ... here are Tom and Vivian ready to open for business in the Integrity booth. Business was booming later in the day with lots of folks stopping by for buttons ("Say YES to Bless" is a popular one!) and also for up to date information on events, legislation and resources.

If you want to track what's going on here online the place to go is Integrity's GC2012 web portal ... or follow #GC77 on twitter.

The day was full of logistics, reunions, questions and meetings. Our Legislative team started out with an 8am meeting followed by a communication workshop until noon, a lunch meeting of the House of Deputies Floor Managers, registration and credentialling for deputies, and then a reception for bishops and deputies followed by the UBE (Union of Black Episcopalians) Gala FOLLOWED by our nightly debriefing meeting.

Seriously.

Which means the scheduled activities go from 8am - 11pm ... and, oh yeah -- then there's the email to check, the photos to upload and -- if you have the energy -- a blog to post.

And then it starts all over again tomorrow -- no 4th of July holiday around here -- with 7am deputation meeting followed by 8am committee meetings, a budget hearing, presentations by the Presiding Bishop and President of the House of Deputies -- more legislative committee meetings and then -- tomorrow night -- it's Integrity Double Feature night as we screen "Out of the Box" AND "Love Free or Die" ... Film, as they say, at eleven.

I'll leave you with a few more pictures from this evening:

Fredrica Harris Thompsett and Thomas Brown at the Bishops/Deputies Reception

Bishop Mary Glasspool speaking at the reception with Integrity President Caro Hall looking on. (Mary was actually talking about "Out of the Box" and what a brilliant film it is. Which it is!)

Michael Hopkins, an Integrity Past-President and our floor leader
the House of Deputies giving folks some marching orders.

Some of the crowd gathered for the reception ... a great cloud of witnesses!

And finally, Caro, Katie Sherrod and Michael

at the "Team Integrity" table at the UBE Gala honoring:

And tomorrow is another day!