As far as days go,today was quite busy! Once again our routine saved us during the morning and everyone is reacting consistently with that. In all honesty, our entire day is going pretty smooth and I think discipline and sticking with a consistent plan is so important. The girls are reacting favorably to how we are handling things so far.
We did make a minor change to the teenager's routine this morning - I had her lay out her clothes for this weekend so I could go through it and check what she had and didn't have for the trip. We normally forget one or two things with her each time and I'd like to eliminate that issue this time. If possible I hope to get all of our stuff in one large rolling duffle bag and then we can get the rest into small carry ons - things like video games, a book or two and laptops.
I also had to remember to send notes to school about pulling the girls out of school - did that. I will still need to call the attendance line at the elementary school or that lady will get upset again! I also had to write a check to the high school for the teenager's lunches.
The rain started quite early this morning. We are supposed to have rain all day with it turning to snow just after midnight. Their thought of snow is much different than the north - here an inch causes complete gridlock - anywhere else they would just drive right through it. I pray it doesn't cause the flight to be delayed or cancelled. We are flying through Atlanta and they had some groundstops today due to the weather but the forecast for tomorrow is better.
Only one load of laundry today. I filled in the extra time by searching for DVD's to take to my wife so she'll have something to watch when they don't have Internet access. We do have netFlix so she can log on there and watch instant movies or TV when they have web access. But being in a war zone, I doubt she'll have a lot of Internet access.
I did get an e-mail from the president of the board of the nonprofit and they decided to go with the other candidate. After talking with her, I had to agree I would have done the same - very hard to compete under those circumstances. The lady did say she had some contacts that were beginning to look for people with my qualifications and she did ask if she could forward my resume to them - I told her sure. But when one door closes, another tends to open - a company from Canada is looking to expand their curriculum development presence here in America and they called this morning asking if I would be interested in talking with their Project Manager. More than likely they are going to go after some government contracts and need to assemble a team before bidding - normally the bidding requires a complete bio of the team in place - I won't let them use my bio without at least a personal services contract in my hand. What I really need to do is find some quiet time and really, really decide what I want to do - the first thing I have to answer is do I want to continue to make money for other folks or do I want to do something on my own?
After stopping by the barber shop, I went to WalMart. We didn't need much but we still were out of a couple of items including parts of tonight's supper. I spent the afternoon running errands and answering questions. I also gathered up my clothes for the trip as well as the youngest daughters. I just talked with my wife and I'll get her clothes together once this is posted.
Supper was good - we had country fried steak, gravy, mashed potatoes, corn and bread. Even better, we watched Phineas & Ferb while we ate!
Anticipating many people asking for my wife's mailing address, I ordered a bunch of photos from our online storage company - Ofoto.com. The prints are fifteen cents each and right now they have a special where you receive free shipping so that was nice. Our former church in Rockville, the church in my wife's hometown and our current church were the churches I planned on sending the photos to. For the church in my wife's hometown, I used a photo of my wife and her mom from USUHS Graduation in May. Our "surrogate grandparents" in Rockville gave my wife a framed photo for the same graduation - I used a photo of her holding that photo (lot of photos there) for the Rockville church. For our church I used a photo of her carrying a bowl of "slime" from last years Fall Festival. I purchased a bunch of Avery Labels, typed in her mailing address and ran 400 of them off on the computer. We put her mailing address on the back of each photo and I'll mail them to the pastor in Rockville so he can distribute them as well as to my mother-in-law - she'll pass them out in her church. I took them to our church tonight and the pastor will distribute them Sunday to those not there tonight. For our family, I took a really good photo of my wife from our December visit to the Aquarium of the Smokies and did the same thing with the address. The folks in the churches can use the photo like they do missionary cards - put them on their refrigerator or other prominent place in the house and when they see the card, they are reminded to pray for her. Having the address on the back is just a bonus for everyone.
The rain continued all evening so attendance was down at the evening service. At least the spirits were high there though! A lot of positive things are happening in this church and that is so nice. We have been praying for a choir leader and we might have found one - at the very least he is coming to visit Sunday. I saw his listing on Craig's List under nonprofit jobs of all places, forwarded it the pastor and they have been in communication since. I wish finding a church van/bus would be that easy!
The girls devotion tonight was "Something Beautiful" referencing Psalm 37:18-23. It talked about Jesus taking something that seems worthless in your life like finishing last in a race, blending it with positive things and then it starts to bloom. Speaking of blooming, I just remembered that we have snow crocus' starting to pop through the landscaping in our front yard!! They are vibrant green with a yellow flower - they should be a little taller and more visible when we get back. My devotion tonight was "The delight of sacrifice" referencing 2 Corinthians 12:15. It talked about laying down your life for a friend, doing the hard thing when you really don't want to do it.
I'm off to get my wife's clothes ready and pack the bag - my bed is loaded down with clothes so there is little room to sleep! I purposely did that so I would pack the bag before going to bed tonight! Day Twenty Four is in the books, here's looking forward to a long, long Day Twenty Five!!
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