Day Twenty One - February 21, 2010

The peacefulness of the weekend morning is quite wonderful! School days are usually rushed and you seem to miss quite a bit of what is going on in the world around you. But this morning was very nice. It was already in the low 40's when I got the paper - I was able to go on the back deck and just sit and enjoy nature for a few minutes. Plus it was the first time I've really been able to survey the damage this winter has done in the back yard - several limbs have fallen and a few more need to come back. The grass is dormant and lifeless. We have several squirrels that were running through the yard and the trees on the back of the property and a flock of orioles were feeding in our backyard as well. The nature God created for each of us can certainly make you feel quite small at times. I learned to love feeling small when I was on an aircraft carrier - there cannot be a "smaller" feeling than to be on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier engulfed by total darkness, the only sound was the hull of the ship cutting through the waves and looking up to the heavens to see an impossible number of stars, planets, moons and other heavenly objects. I think God created moments like this morning to remind us that we all need His help to make it each day.

All went well this morning. Our Sunday routine is a little different than Saturday but it was stress free. I showered then got the teenager up and pointed toward the shower. I was going to let the little one sleep another 20 minutes or so, thus I went downstairs and started breakfast. The youngest daughter came down a few minutes later and she was in a good mood so we got breakfast ready. After the teenager showered and dried her hair, breakfast was done and we enjoyed breakfast together while we watched Pink Panther on Boomerang - the girls think the older cartoons like The Flintstones and Jetsons are just ancient and they don't always get the humor so they always have a lot of questions. The Pink Panther cartoon today was one I've seen close to a hundred times - the little guy is conducting an orchestra and the Pink Panther causes him problems - at the end, the little guy goes away and Pink Panther finishes conducting the orchestra in the Pink Panther Theme. Our girls are too logical and think too literal to get something like the Pink Panther - I keep telling them it's not funny if I have to explain it!

After breakfast I showered the little one, dried her hair and got her dressed. It helps so much laying out church clothes the night before and removes all stress, especially for the teenager!

Before we left, I put meatballs and sauce in the crock pot on low so we could have meatball subs for lunch. Sunday School was great and the material was very powerful - Dr. Woodard did a great job and gave me a lot to work with on this one. I'm finding that his writing is working well with my skills and thus we are having a great class each week. Our lead deacon spoke with me afterward and paid a compliment on the class - said he is learning so much - always humbling when a leader of the church recognizes you but I also must remember the glory cannot rest in me, we are working from God's book not mine. The class is starting to grow and we had a full room today so I was thankful for that.

The church service was very good today. In my Sunday School class I always stress that if you don't get something out of worship service, then you cannot blame the pastor, the sermon, the music or any other reason - we are in church for one reason only and that is to worship God - if I fail to get something from the service or I am less than satisfied, I have no one to blame but myself. The church was very much alive today and the greatest majority of folks were there to worship, not to be preached to. I still have a personal struggle with parts of Sunday Morning worship service - I just feel incomplete. Still, I was able to get past my personal shortcomings and have a wonderful worship experience.

After meatball subs for lunch, the afternoon was relaxed and very good. The guy who was supposed to meet me at the house about the garage wasn't able to make it so we rescheduled for tomorrow. I'll already be at home most of the day and the gutter guys are supposed to be there at 11:30am as well. Besides the two groups coming to the house, the only pressing need I have is to schedule doggie day care for Thursday through Monday.

The girls took advantage of the beautiful weather and played outside for a couple of hours today. They also had a chance to play some of their new video game - it is quite a weird game and is one of those role-playing games but you still have to beat each level to move forward. Whatever happened to the good old days when Mario went running through the sewer and beat up Bowser??

I did have several opportunities to talk with my wife today and we had an extended discussion about the training manager job. We also had a chance to catch up on a few other things we missed out on talking about this week. I gave her all the flight information for this weekend as well. I think everyone is looking forward to the trip!

The girls had choir practice at 5:15pm. I let the teenager drive us to church both times today and she also drove us home from the morning service. I'm really praying that practice will help her - my alternate prayer is that if she doesn't improve, I won't turn to alcohol to keep my nerves calm!!! There are things she does really well; there are things she does really bad; there is no middle road things!

While the girls went to choir practice, I went out to the back of the church lot and started measuring for the community garden. If the city doesn't call me back this week, I'm going to formulate my own strategy. I feel our success rate will be imminently higher with the professionals help but I also have confidence that God will bless this endeavor if I have to do the planning. I am also confident that the plants that perish in my pursuit of helping others will one day bloom abundantly in my front yard in heaven - of course in heaven the squash plants will all produce chocolate glazed donuts instead of squash - so will the okra and tomato plants as well!!!

Evening service was very good. The atmosphere in our church is so relaxed and so loving; it is just a wonderful place to spend time with God. Normally the Sunday evening service has 10 or 12 people there, but tonight we had 21. I hope if you've gathered nothing else from this blog and are going through or preparing for a deployment of a loved one that you understand just how important it is to be intimately involved with a strong, bible believing church - just don't go to the services but be actively involved in the worship of God. The second thing you must have is a positive prayer life. Everything else is just details if you have these two things right in your life.

We drove through McDonald's for chicken and fries on the way home. We kind of wish we had held out for Popeye's instead once we did get home but there is always the next Sunday we are in church! Those red beans, rice and spicy chicken would have hit the spot though. Yes, you can also say heartburn around 2am as well!!

My devotion tonight was "have you ever been carried away for Him?" referencing Mark 14:6. It talked about being of value to God. The girls devotion was "Questions" referencing Luke 2:41-52. It talked about patience.

Day Twenty-One is over; we have 32 Sunday's left in the schedule for this deployment! I can wrap my mind around 32 much easier than I can the total days of 32x7 (yes, I can do the math but I don't want to think about how many actual days there are). In all honesty, if the rest of the time goes by as fast as the first 21 days, I'll be very happy. Here's looking forward to day Twenty-Two!