Looking at my schedule, I just knew this was going to be a busy day and boy was I ever right! Day started off with the alarm going off at 5:00 am. Went in to check on the little one and she was already awake and waiting on me - she was just so excited to go back to school! Wish I could get her that excited about cleaning her room.
While she showered and got dressed, I started my Bible readings for the day. Of course at the good parts I have to go scrub her head and then soap up the washrag so she can do her body. Other than those two things she's pretty independent when it comes to showers. I dried her off, helped her get dressed and made breakfast for her - while she ate, I finished my Bible reading.
No issues with the teenager this morning - she's slow most mornings and this one was no different. Her first words today were "isn't it Saturday yet?" At least she is consistent. At 6:00 am the youngest daughter has eaten, made her bed, brushed her teeth and the rest of her morning routine, angered the dog and has her jacket, gloves and hat on ready to go outside to wait for the bus. Of course the rest of us "slackers" know it will be a full hour so I encouraged her to take off her jacket, hat and gloves and relax. As you might have guessed, every 15 minutes I heard "how much longer?" If the bus is late today, it might not be a pretty sight!
Finally her bus picks her up. I'm able to get back on routine a little with the teenager's help. I will admit she has done quite well since her mom left and has been a big help - while she's not good at finding things to do on her own, she doesn't mind asking what can she do to help. The little one on the other hand has tried to take over the "mother" role and is busy keeping tabs on everyone - I had to talk to her this morning that while I appreciate her concern for my safety, I probably didn't need to report to her all of my actions and I certainly didn't need her permission to leave the room. The youngest daughter has a bossy streak in her and is a very strong-willed person - at the same time, you have to be very, very careful how you correct or discipline her - I'm keeping all of that in mind as I make sure she stays in the "daughter" role and not assuming more than she should.
The morning was very positive with a very good phone interview for a training manager position. I have a very hard time reading my performance on interviews but I feel I did my best, had good positive answers to all the questions, the right amount of experience and the right amount of can-do spirit as well.
A little later in the morning, I went over to the church to start decorating for Friday night's activities. The teens are going to cook lasagna for the adults and we are having a special guest speaker, Dr. Yoho. I've heard him speak one time in our church, had a chance to talk with him and I've read several of his books - I consider this to be quite the special night to get to hear him again. Our family also has the incredible opportunity to financially support his Missions 300 writing ministry on a monthly basis. I decorated the ceiling of the modular trailer where we will be eating - last year our family decorated the fellowship hall at Central and I used the same theme/materials - pink and white tafeta material was draped from the ceiling and I put red and pink balloons in there - that gives the lights a nice glow. In the middle of the room, I took a hula-hoop and suspended it from the ceiling. I tied red and pink balloons all around the hoop to create a balloon chandelier. Very nice effect. The pastor's wife will decorate the tables and the rest of the room. I also took our chocolate machine and our punch fountain over as well. I'll need to pick up the chocolate, strawberries and pretzels as well as some type of reddish colored pop for the fountain at Wal Mart Friday.
Both girls arrived home as scheduled and full of their days activities. The little one had her homework finished before the teenager got home. I made sure the youngest one felt like eating spaghetti for supper - didn't want a repeat of that from Tuesay!! She was okay with it, so I cooked spaghetti - we added salad, baby carrots and bread to complete the meal.
The teenager had a ton of homework so I took the youngest to her dance/singing class. I still stick to my thought process that we are in the wrong element there but she really enjoys it - as long as it remains fun for her, we'll continue. The classes are okay, it is just the infrastructure and the mothers. The building just isn't set up for that many people, it is cramped and not laid out well. Add to it all the mothers that are just convinced their little darlings are the next mega-star and you have some really intersting people watching! To make matters worse last night, one guy kept going out to smoke about every five minutes - of course when he came back he caused the entire hallway to smell of smoke. About the time the smell would clear out, he'd go out to light up again - I've been second hand smoking my whole life, just some days are worse than others.
During the time I was at church decorating, our friends from Maryland called to check on us. They are an older couple who became like "surrogate" grandparents to the girls while we were there. A very lovely and wonderful couple, both in their mid-80's. Once I was sure our youngest was in her class and it started, I stepped outside and spoke with them for several minutes. Also during the day, the pastor from Central sent me an e-mail catching me up on the news there, mainly snow related, and let me know that Mr. Oglesby had passed away - he was 95 years old and he was so nice - he would never let me walk up to his pew to shake his hand, he insisted on coming back to speak to our entire family and shaking each person's hand. His wife passed away a couple of years ago and he just wasn't the same after that. Right now the plan is to have a memorial service for Richard in March and if pastor has it on a Saturday without terribly bad weather, we'll do our best to go - by far the least we can do to honor a man who was so good to all of us. I imagine there was quite a great parade in heaven when he arrived.
My wife added to her bruise collection yesterday in hand-to-hand combat training. She also had a snotty nose, probably from allergies related to living in a pre-World War II building and full of 70 years worth of germs and crud. It was raining there so someone ordered pizza and sodas for supper - we don't want our soldiers getting wet, do we? She found out they would be having class each of the next three days for sure so not much rest for her. We've been watching the impending offensive in the region where she is slated to go - our prayer is that it will be over with before she gets there and their team can be part of the recovery for the region instead of the insurgance.
Rest of the evening was good. I did some final research for the interview for Friday morning. My devotion today was "Is your hope in God faint and dying?" and referenced Isaiah 26:3. I will say that Mr. Chambers must have been quite the straight shooter and didn't pull many punches. Ther girls reading was part I of "The heart box" from Psalm 19:16-22 - this part was about sharing.
Day Eleven is done, here's looking forward to Day Twelve!
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