Saturday was a looooooooooooong day! We left early in the morning to drive up to Rockville so we could attend a memorial service for an old friend who passed away during the winter. Traffic heading up was light and no issue at all. I had picked up several new DVD's for the girls the day prior so they enjoyed them - they watched Astro Boy for the first part of the trip then the little one watched Chestnut - it looked like an innocent enough movie about a dog but half way through I had to give her a tissue to wipe her tears - it seems the landlord told the family they couldn't have a dog in the apartment anymore so the little girl took the dog to Central Park to let it go. It all worked out in the end as the dog saved the landlord and he changed his policy about animals in the building - our little one can certainly put herself in these positions and takes full ownership of a movie!
We arrived in Rockville and the teenager met some friends at Rockville Center - they had about 2 hours together so they went to the library, walked around and had lunch. I took the litte one and the dog (yes, we took the dog with us - ugh) to see her elementary school and our former house. The area around our former home is really nice - they had been working on upgrading the pond by the elementary school for a year or so - it was finished and looks so nice. They actually relocated the original pond, moving it up the hill a little bit, adding a boardwalk and basketball courts. The play area there has always been terrific but the upgrade to the pond area really enhances the whole area. With all of that said, while I greatly appreciate the opportunity we had to live in the Rockville area, today just reminded me that our quality of life is just so much better now.
We stopped at Jerry's for lunch then it was time to meet the teens at the library. We arrived at the church about 30 minutes early and had a chance to spend with so many of our friends that still live there. I also had the chance to see the new sign that took nearly 2 years for the county to approve - it really does enhance the church and it looks so much nicer.
The memorial service was so nice and so well done. I did feel so badly though - there was so much about this gentleman that I did not know; I'll have to certainly work harder on that aspect of life.
After the service we stayed for the fellowship. The banana pudding was cleaned out quickly - there was plenty of food and desserts! I had a chance to spend some time with the pastor as well as some of my closer friends. We made a quick run to the bookstore and then met the 'surrogate grandparents' for supper at their new apartment. These are the folks that basically adopted us during our time there - they came to my wife's graduation and they call me at least once a week to check on us. They are adjusting to apartment life after over 40 years in their last home. They appear to be happy in the senior's housing which is honestly very upscale. They fed us in the formal dining room downstairs then took us up to their apartment to show us around. They have a private balcony, huge bathrooms, big closets, a very nice kitchen and living/sleeping quarters.
The drive home was pretty good - the area where the beltway merges with I95 is always a mess and tough to navigate - a true chokepoint - but other than that, the traffic flowed pretty well. We got home just before 11pm exhausted and fell into bed - unloading the car can wait until tomorrow.
Day Forty Seven comes to an end, here's looking forward to Day Forty Eight.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Day Forty Six - March 19, 2010
Friday's are always an exciting day around here - mainly because the girls really don't mind going to school on Fridays for some reason!! If the teachers could find out what they are doing differently that day to make it exciting for the kids and use that daily, that would certainly be nice!!
It has been a long week with all that has gone on. When you already have a busy schedule and then you add a major event like the Revival to it, you really are challenged. But we've survived. Today was absolutely gorgeous weatherwise. I took the laptop out on the backdeck and did some work. Had three loads of laundry and dusted downstairs plus ran the vacuum. I also finished my topic and PowerPoint for tonight's Teen Program.
Had a chance to spend an hour talking with my wife via Skype and that was just so wonderful! Of course the dog had to come over and check it out to see what I was doing that was preventing me from paying attention to her all that time! Come to find out she's a little camera shy!! We'll see how much longer we are able to use Skype as the Internet option where my wife works could be going away which would be a shame.
I spent the afternoon ironing clothes, made a quick run to WalMart and made banana pudding for Saturday's memorial service in Rockville. I'm getting better at making it and dirtied up less bowls this time!
Both girls had good days at school but they were excited to be home. The little one came home, dropped her backpack and jacket in the living room floor and headed straight for the family room couch!! Said she was just tired!! 10 minutes later and she was passed out!! I let her sleep for about 40 minutes - figured she needed it!
The oldest daughter made it home a little later and was in a good mood. Once she got settled, we loaded up the car and left for the teen program. Tonight's topic was "Trusted with a household" and endurance was our theme. We had a decent group there tonight with 5 first time teens in addition to our regular group. We also had a "guest cook" who had worked in an Italian Restaurant in New York City. After trying his sauce I can now see why he is working in a grocery store instead of a restaurant! The missionary sat through the last portion of my lesson tonight and he was a good addition to the class. He's been a missionary for almost 40 years and really knows his Bible - even more important, he's not afraid to listen to others and learn something new.
The last night of Revival!! I'm not a big fan of the revival process but I support what our church is trying to do. I just think they reach the wrong audience - the ones that come to all the sessions are not really the intended group. The missionary saw this and didn't go for the salvation message, instead he was able to broaden our knowledge base and I really appreciate that. Several folks from other local churches were there tonight so we had a positive group there. We got home around 9:30 and everyone went straight to bed.
The girls devotion was "Never too busy" referencing Philippians 2:3-5. My devotion was "The way of Abraham in faith" referencing Hebrews 11:8.
One more busy day in this week and then we can throttle back a little. I am certainly looking forward to a different pace for next week! Day Forty Six comes to a close, here's looking forward to Day Forty Seven.
It has been a long week with all that has gone on. When you already have a busy schedule and then you add a major event like the Revival to it, you really are challenged. But we've survived. Today was absolutely gorgeous weatherwise. I took the laptop out on the backdeck and did some work. Had three loads of laundry and dusted downstairs plus ran the vacuum. I also finished my topic and PowerPoint for tonight's Teen Program.
Had a chance to spend an hour talking with my wife via Skype and that was just so wonderful! Of course the dog had to come over and check it out to see what I was doing that was preventing me from paying attention to her all that time! Come to find out she's a little camera shy!! We'll see how much longer we are able to use Skype as the Internet option where my wife works could be going away which would be a shame.
I spent the afternoon ironing clothes, made a quick run to WalMart and made banana pudding for Saturday's memorial service in Rockville. I'm getting better at making it and dirtied up less bowls this time!
Both girls had good days at school but they were excited to be home. The little one came home, dropped her backpack and jacket in the living room floor and headed straight for the family room couch!! Said she was just tired!! 10 minutes later and she was passed out!! I let her sleep for about 40 minutes - figured she needed it!
The oldest daughter made it home a little later and was in a good mood. Once she got settled, we loaded up the car and left for the teen program. Tonight's topic was "Trusted with a household" and endurance was our theme. We had a decent group there tonight with 5 first time teens in addition to our regular group. We also had a "guest cook" who had worked in an Italian Restaurant in New York City. After trying his sauce I can now see why he is working in a grocery store instead of a restaurant! The missionary sat through the last portion of my lesson tonight and he was a good addition to the class. He's been a missionary for almost 40 years and really knows his Bible - even more important, he's not afraid to listen to others and learn something new.
The last night of Revival!! I'm not a big fan of the revival process but I support what our church is trying to do. I just think they reach the wrong audience - the ones that come to all the sessions are not really the intended group. The missionary saw this and didn't go for the salvation message, instead he was able to broaden our knowledge base and I really appreciate that. Several folks from other local churches were there tonight so we had a positive group there. We got home around 9:30 and everyone went straight to bed.
The girls devotion was "Never too busy" referencing Philippians 2:3-5. My devotion was "The way of Abraham in faith" referencing Hebrews 11:8.
One more busy day in this week and then we can throttle back a little. I am certainly looking forward to a different pace for next week! Day Forty Six comes to a close, here's looking forward to Day Forty Seven.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Day Forty Five - March 18, 2010
Okay, first and foremost just let me brag here - on my ESPN Tournament Challenge Pool, I picked ODU to beat Notre Dame, Northern Iowa over UNLV, Murray State over Vandy, St Mary's over Richmond AND OHIO UNIVERSITY OVER GEORGETOWN!!!! If you are a doubting Thomas, let me know and I'l be happy to send you a copy of my bracket directly from ESPN. The only two games I missed so far from Day One were the Florida/BYU & Marquette/Washington games - I picked Florida and Marquette. There are still two games playing but I'm not going to pretend to be silly enough to stay up to find out who wins - SportsCenter tomorrow will let me know all I need to know. Still with all of those upset winners, I am #597 in the national contest and only 10 points behind the overall leaders (which is one game)!! Not too bad. By the way, I have Kentucky winning the national championship game over Ohio State.
Okay, back to reality. Today was a very good day. Both girls got up without issue, had their breakfast, did their chores, didn't wake the missionaries and got on the bus. After the little one got on the bus, I made a trip to Goodwill to get rid of the last load of "stuff" we no longer appreciated enough to give a home.
My morning routine was changed with a trip to college this morning to sit in Dr. Yoho's class and meet the Dean at his school. Just let me say that Dr. Yoho is perhaps the single smartest person I have ever met when it comes to the Bible. For two straight hours this man talked with great authority about the Bible, quoted so many scriptures and displayed just an intense knowledge and love of the Bible. His passion was just radiating through that room. I will admit his knowledge is so expansive and he knows so much about each portion of the Bible that he can really lose you if you are not paying careful attention. For example, he said "Paragraph E" then he started talking about whatever paragraph E was - 20 minutes and four pages of notes later he says "Paragraph F" - his notes were simple one liners, he supplied all the rest of the information. From one chapter of Mark, he quoted 36 verses while walking around the room - oh my goodness!! Before today I was very happy I could remember John 1:1 and that was about it - what a humbling yet wonderful experience.
I did have the pleasure of talking with my wife just before the class started. It appears she has broken the greatest of sins during deployment - she has started counting days until she gets to come home. I'm not sure if she is counting them down because she misses me that much or if she just dislikes being over there that much!? Something to ponder isn't it?
I got home just before the little one's bus and we worked on her homework. Thursday night is also parent's homework night - we have to look over their work from the previous week, sign the folder and send it back the next morning. Most of the stuff I've already looked at each evening - what I'm looking for is things like spelling tests, AR tests, notes from the teacher and those type items. Tonight I was most concerned about a yellow block she had in her nightly signature page - that means she did something during the day to warrant a warning from the teacher - when I asked her about it, she said she couldn't remember. Now if you don't speak "8 year old daughter talking to her dad" this clearly means "dad, you're not going to like what I have to tell you so I'd rather not talk about it right now, I'd prefer to take my punishment later." Of course she got done with an in-classroom assignment before everyone else so she felt like talking to a neighbor. This is about a once a week or every other week at the most happening with her. Intellectually, she should be higher than the 2nd grade. Maturity wise, she's in the right grade. Even if the school did bring up the subject of pushing her ahead an additional grade, I will not let it happen - she can progress normally with this bunch. It is okay to be one of the smarter kids in your group, it is something completely different to be less mature than the group though.
The oldest daughter made it home without issue but with plenty of homework. She has also broken her cell phone and cannot get it to turn on so this is causing her some concern. I think her texting finger is going through DT's!
We grabbed chicken sandwiches on our way to dance/singing class at Hurrah tonight. The oldest daughter studied on the trip up - we got caught by the Great Bridge draw being open so that really plugged up traffic - I don't think the harbor master realizes how much trouble he (or she) causes when they raise the drawbridge at 5pm but it was a good sized mess. We arrived just before the class started and was able to watch part of a practice session for the Grease broadway play being performed next month - they were pretty good.
The practice went well and we rushed back to Chesapeake to make it to the revival. I had let the pastor know we'd be there around 7:50 - based on the past two nights, the sermon should just be starting. We were on schedule when we had to stop for the drawbridge opening on the steel bridge on US17 - just no luck tonight with drawbridges!! We made it to church at 7:56 so that was good, slipped in the back pew and caught almost all the sermon. It was about prayer and very good - I didn't learn anything new but it was a good refresher.
A lady at church had baked a cake for the girls so they had cake when we got home with ice cream. The missionary's wife had some as well. We all watched the end of the Ohio University/Georgetown basketball game - and OU won as I so clearly prognosticated with ESPN!!! Since I'm not working, I have to rub it in somewhere so there it was!! I'm sure my wife would just smile and roll her eyes at me. Just in case you didn't know, I fully believe in the power of the otter - whatever hat the big otter at the front door wears, no one is allowed to touch his hat but me on the day of a game. If someone even accidently bumps or touches the hat, that team will lose. I'm telling you, the power of the big otter is great indeed!! Ohio State is the football recipient of the power of the big otter. The Reds get the baseball power. Today my Ohio University hat was on the big otter and they came through!! Now, if I could get the lottery to make a hat I'd be in there! On Saturday evening when the folks from church were over visiting, my youngest daughter was showing some of the women through the house and when they noticed the two otters, she told them not to touch the big otter's hat - got her trained anyway!! Laugh if you want, but never doubt the power of the big otter!
The girls devotion tonight was "Missing" referencing Matthew 18:10-14. My devotion was "Shall I rouse myself up to this?" referencing 2 Corinthians 7:1 - it talked about putting God first.
Day Forty Five comes to a close; here's looking forward to Day Forty Six!
Okay, back to reality. Today was a very good day. Both girls got up without issue, had their breakfast, did their chores, didn't wake the missionaries and got on the bus. After the little one got on the bus, I made a trip to Goodwill to get rid of the last load of "stuff" we no longer appreciated enough to give a home.
My morning routine was changed with a trip to college this morning to sit in Dr. Yoho's class and meet the Dean at his school. Just let me say that Dr. Yoho is perhaps the single smartest person I have ever met when it comes to the Bible. For two straight hours this man talked with great authority about the Bible, quoted so many scriptures and displayed just an intense knowledge and love of the Bible. His passion was just radiating through that room. I will admit his knowledge is so expansive and he knows so much about each portion of the Bible that he can really lose you if you are not paying careful attention. For example, he said "Paragraph E" then he started talking about whatever paragraph E was - 20 minutes and four pages of notes later he says "Paragraph F" - his notes were simple one liners, he supplied all the rest of the information. From one chapter of Mark, he quoted 36 verses while walking around the room - oh my goodness!! Before today I was very happy I could remember John 1:1 and that was about it - what a humbling yet wonderful experience.
I did have the pleasure of talking with my wife just before the class started. It appears she has broken the greatest of sins during deployment - she has started counting days until she gets to come home. I'm not sure if she is counting them down because she misses me that much or if she just dislikes being over there that much!? Something to ponder isn't it?
I got home just before the little one's bus and we worked on her homework. Thursday night is also parent's homework night - we have to look over their work from the previous week, sign the folder and send it back the next morning. Most of the stuff I've already looked at each evening - what I'm looking for is things like spelling tests, AR tests, notes from the teacher and those type items. Tonight I was most concerned about a yellow block she had in her nightly signature page - that means she did something during the day to warrant a warning from the teacher - when I asked her about it, she said she couldn't remember. Now if you don't speak "8 year old daughter talking to her dad" this clearly means "dad, you're not going to like what I have to tell you so I'd rather not talk about it right now, I'd prefer to take my punishment later." Of course she got done with an in-classroom assignment before everyone else so she felt like talking to a neighbor. This is about a once a week or every other week at the most happening with her. Intellectually, she should be higher than the 2nd grade. Maturity wise, she's in the right grade. Even if the school did bring up the subject of pushing her ahead an additional grade, I will not let it happen - she can progress normally with this bunch. It is okay to be one of the smarter kids in your group, it is something completely different to be less mature than the group though.
The oldest daughter made it home without issue but with plenty of homework. She has also broken her cell phone and cannot get it to turn on so this is causing her some concern. I think her texting finger is going through DT's!
We grabbed chicken sandwiches on our way to dance/singing class at Hurrah tonight. The oldest daughter studied on the trip up - we got caught by the Great Bridge draw being open so that really plugged up traffic - I don't think the harbor master realizes how much trouble he (or she) causes when they raise the drawbridge at 5pm but it was a good sized mess. We arrived just before the class started and was able to watch part of a practice session for the Grease broadway play being performed next month - they were pretty good.
The practice went well and we rushed back to Chesapeake to make it to the revival. I had let the pastor know we'd be there around 7:50 - based on the past two nights, the sermon should just be starting. We were on schedule when we had to stop for the drawbridge opening on the steel bridge on US17 - just no luck tonight with drawbridges!! We made it to church at 7:56 so that was good, slipped in the back pew and caught almost all the sermon. It was about prayer and very good - I didn't learn anything new but it was a good refresher.
A lady at church had baked a cake for the girls so they had cake when we got home with ice cream. The missionary's wife had some as well. We all watched the end of the Ohio University/Georgetown basketball game - and OU won as I so clearly prognosticated with ESPN!!! Since I'm not working, I have to rub it in somewhere so there it was!! I'm sure my wife would just smile and roll her eyes at me. Just in case you didn't know, I fully believe in the power of the otter - whatever hat the big otter at the front door wears, no one is allowed to touch his hat but me on the day of a game. If someone even accidently bumps or touches the hat, that team will lose. I'm telling you, the power of the big otter is great indeed!! Ohio State is the football recipient of the power of the big otter. The Reds get the baseball power. Today my Ohio University hat was on the big otter and they came through!! Now, if I could get the lottery to make a hat I'd be in there! On Saturday evening when the folks from church were over visiting, my youngest daughter was showing some of the women through the house and when they noticed the two otters, she told them not to touch the big otter's hat - got her trained anyway!! Laugh if you want, but never doubt the power of the big otter!
The girls devotion tonight was "Missing" referencing Matthew 18:10-14. My devotion was "Shall I rouse myself up to this?" referencing 2 Corinthians 7:1 - it talked about putting God first.
Day Forty Five comes to a close; here's looking forward to Day Forty Six!
Day Forty Four - March 17, 2010
Evidently a lot of the world celebrates St. Patrick's Day - it received a lot of coverage on the news, you could buy green t-shirts, hats, beads, buttons, socks and anything else you wanted - most with a leprecaun or four leaf clover on it. Both girls were to wear green to school today - the oldest found a green Christian t-shirt and the little one found a green shirt with a rainbow on it. We also had the all important stickers for her - I found some Trader Joe St. Patrick Day stickers in a book - must have been a couple of years old. She gave one to her bus driver and wore one on her shirt - the others went to school with her to give to friends who forgot to wear something green.
So the morning routine went well, the girls both wore green and the day started normally. Today was landscaping day out front - I wasn't really looking forward to it but I am happy with the way it turned out. After breakfast, I got two boxes together to ship to my wife and also two rather large clinical manuals she needed. I wound up double-wrapping them to make sure they stayed as safe as possible.
Had a good workout this morning - having the garage back to normal was very nice plus I now have an 80" screen to watch while I run!! Very nice indeed. It had been a few days since I ran on the treadmill and boy, did I ever feel it! But I survived. Fortunately I caught my breath and didn't sound like I was dying when my wife called. Her day was good but exceptionally hot.
Right after talking with her, I spoke with our pastor from the church in Maryland. We are driving up there Saturday to attend a memorial service for a friend who passed away several weeks ago - he was such a nice person and so enjoyable to be around - he would never allow me to walk to him, he would always insist he should walk to my pew and speak to the entire family. You have to remember he was in his mid 90's - I do so appreciate his character. And yes, we are bringing banana pudding.
From there it was off to the post office and then Lowe's to get the mulch. I spent the extra twenty cents per bag and got the reddish mulch that is guaranteed to stay red for one year - we'll see because last year that stuff turned brown shortly after the first rain - which around here is nearly every day! It takes 12 bags of mulch to properly fill in our landscaping beds. I also took care of that mess next to our front step by the water faucet - the builder put in these two nasty looking low shrubs and I've not enjoyed that area the entire time we've been here. I transplanted these two guys to the bigger bed next to my twisty tree at the end of the porch and I put in two rose bushes - one pink and one red. I'm hoping they bush up nicely and fill the area in - you really have to use your imagination because right now they look like hacked up stumps sticking out of the ground. I also attached the downspout extensions to the gutters. I will say all the work was definitely worth it - the front of the house looks terrific! I do have some work to the front yard left to do - in a couple of weeks I'm going to build up the bed around the two weeping cherry trees out front.
The little one got home just as I was putting the last of the downspout extensions on the gutters and she did the last one - I guess she has the right to claim the whole day's worth of projects! She had a good day at school and was in a good mood. From there, I moved into the garage and built a shelf to hold the projector and then loaded up the car for a run to Goodwill Thursday morning. The pastor and his wife stopped by to pick up the missionaries for supper and we chatted for a few minutes then they were off. They hung around long enough so the pastor's wife could welcome the oldest daughter off the bus from school and that was neat for her! Of course our dog has to be the center of attention and she just wants everyone to only pet her - what a mess she is!
Supper was good again!! I made thin sliced sirloin steaks, fried potatoes, alfredo noodles and green beans. Dinner conversation was good, got all caught up on the goings on at high school - not much has changed since I was in high school a few years ago!!
The evening service went well and the message was good. The missionary started out by showing slides and updating us on his work throughout the world. He has projects in Romania, Vietnam, the Philippines and Honduras - quite a wide spread operation. Then he moved into his message about Joseph from Genesis - mirrored my current series on Friday nights.
During the service, Dr. Yoho slipped in to hear the missionary speak. After service we had a chance to talk and he invited me to sit in on his class for a couple of hours Thursday morning which I will do.
We got home around 9pm and the girls were worn out. Their devotion was "Happily ever after" referencing Revelation 21:1-5 - it talked about how many story books end with "and they lived happily ever after" - nice to know we are aware of our happily ever afters as well. My devotion was from 2 Corintians 5:9 and titled the "worker's ruling passion." It was quite deep and talked about keeping your private life in order so your public life will reflect it.
Day Forty Four is in the books, here's looking forward to day Forty Five!
So the morning routine went well, the girls both wore green and the day started normally. Today was landscaping day out front - I wasn't really looking forward to it but I am happy with the way it turned out. After breakfast, I got two boxes together to ship to my wife and also two rather large clinical manuals she needed. I wound up double-wrapping them to make sure they stayed as safe as possible.
Had a good workout this morning - having the garage back to normal was very nice plus I now have an 80" screen to watch while I run!! Very nice indeed. It had been a few days since I ran on the treadmill and boy, did I ever feel it! But I survived. Fortunately I caught my breath and didn't sound like I was dying when my wife called. Her day was good but exceptionally hot.
Right after talking with her, I spoke with our pastor from the church in Maryland. We are driving up there Saturday to attend a memorial service for a friend who passed away several weeks ago - he was such a nice person and so enjoyable to be around - he would never allow me to walk to him, he would always insist he should walk to my pew and speak to the entire family. You have to remember he was in his mid 90's - I do so appreciate his character. And yes, we are bringing banana pudding.
From there it was off to the post office and then Lowe's to get the mulch. I spent the extra twenty cents per bag and got the reddish mulch that is guaranteed to stay red for one year - we'll see because last year that stuff turned brown shortly after the first rain - which around here is nearly every day! It takes 12 bags of mulch to properly fill in our landscaping beds. I also took care of that mess next to our front step by the water faucet - the builder put in these two nasty looking low shrubs and I've not enjoyed that area the entire time we've been here. I transplanted these two guys to the bigger bed next to my twisty tree at the end of the porch and I put in two rose bushes - one pink and one red. I'm hoping they bush up nicely and fill the area in - you really have to use your imagination because right now they look like hacked up stumps sticking out of the ground. I also attached the downspout extensions to the gutters. I will say all the work was definitely worth it - the front of the house looks terrific! I do have some work to the front yard left to do - in a couple of weeks I'm going to build up the bed around the two weeping cherry trees out front.
The little one got home just as I was putting the last of the downspout extensions on the gutters and she did the last one - I guess she has the right to claim the whole day's worth of projects! She had a good day at school and was in a good mood. From there, I moved into the garage and built a shelf to hold the projector and then loaded up the car for a run to Goodwill Thursday morning. The pastor and his wife stopped by to pick up the missionaries for supper and we chatted for a few minutes then they were off. They hung around long enough so the pastor's wife could welcome the oldest daughter off the bus from school and that was neat for her! Of course our dog has to be the center of attention and she just wants everyone to only pet her - what a mess she is!
Supper was good again!! I made thin sliced sirloin steaks, fried potatoes, alfredo noodles and green beans. Dinner conversation was good, got all caught up on the goings on at high school - not much has changed since I was in high school a few years ago!!
The evening service went well and the message was good. The missionary started out by showing slides and updating us on his work throughout the world. He has projects in Romania, Vietnam, the Philippines and Honduras - quite a wide spread operation. Then he moved into his message about Joseph from Genesis - mirrored my current series on Friday nights.
During the service, Dr. Yoho slipped in to hear the missionary speak. After service we had a chance to talk and he invited me to sit in on his class for a couple of hours Thursday morning which I will do.
We got home around 9pm and the girls were worn out. Their devotion was "Happily ever after" referencing Revelation 21:1-5 - it talked about how many story books end with "and they lived happily ever after" - nice to know we are aware of our happily ever afters as well. My devotion was from 2 Corintians 5:9 and titled the "worker's ruling passion." It was quite deep and talked about keeping your private life in order so your public life will reflect it.
Day Forty Four is in the books, here's looking forward to day Forty Five!
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Day Forty Four - March 16, 2010
If we are going to struggle with our daily routine, Tuesday's and Thursday's are the most like candidates to do so. I have no idea why Tuesday is such a struggle - Thursday is the day after Wednesday evening service so that might explain that day. But both girls were a little groggy this morning when they got out of bed. The little one perked up well after her shower but the teenager drug around the house all morning long - maybe she should take up drinking coffee or something!!
Speaking of coffee, our house is normally coffee free - I don't drink anything warmer than a room temperature bottle of Mountain Dew from time-to-time and my wife drinks hot tea but neither of us drink coffee. But with the missionaries in the house, the whole place smells like coffee!! They don't eat breakfast at all, lunch consists of a bowl of cereal for each and then someone from church takes them out to eat supper but they really put away the coffee!
I don't see much of the missionaries, in fact today I didn't see them at all until we went to church in the evening. They are working on a summer youth program in the Philippines and stuff for other countries so that is keeping them busy.
When we went out to meet the bus, we were getting some of that rain from the storm in New England. It was that little, itty bitty rain that feels like needles, coming sideways at an unusual angle and my goodness was it ever cold when it hit your skin!! The missionaries have their Excursion and their trailer parked in our driveway and our cars are across the street on the dead end road - the trailer is pretty tall so it is hard to see the bus coming down the street - so we put on our caps and braved the elements. Today was "wear a hat for kids with cancer day" at the elementary school. Each school kid was able to pay a dollar and they wore a hat to help the kids with cancer. They also got the most important prize imaginable to a second grader - a sticker to wear on their shirt all day!!! If you don't know of the power of a sticker to a second grader then you are really missing out on one of the most powerful motivational devices known to elementary schools! Our daughter absolutely loves them and will wear it like she had just won the congressional medal of honor! As a parent and head laundry person, I have to be ever vigilant for the stickers on dirty clothes - normally she takes the sticker off when she gets home, places it on the railing of the upper bunk and keeps it there - should she forget and if I was to wash that sticker, let's just say the wrath of an 8 year old who just lost a sticker to the washer is a much greater wrath than any adult female can spew forward! Fortunately I'm rather thorough when I check the laundry before it goes into the wash - girls don't shove mud or rocks down their pants pockets as much as boys do but you find all kinds of stuff that will ruin laundry - magic markers, nail polish, lip balm and most importantly, wayward stickers on shirts!
The teenager finally found the energy to get out the door as the bus was coming. I cleaned up the kitchen, swept the floors, watched a few minutes of SportsCenter, read the paper and had breakfast. Then it was off to the garage!
I made terrific progress out there today - I figured I would once I got the shelving arranged. The garage looks a little naked right now but I have everything where I want it. I do need to put up some type of curtain over the back door going outside from the garage and I want to put up a curtain around the mezzanine level. I still need to make a run to Goodwill to get rid of the last little bit of stuff we are going to donate - I'll do that Thursday morning.
I had a chance to talk with my wife again today and that is so nice. I remember many deployments of my own where we had to go several months without talking with loved ones or getting mail. But now we can call and e-mail as well as regular mail. At least by talking daily she can remain caught up on the day-to-day things around here and nothing should come as a total shock to her when she returns. Well, except how much the children have grown and matured while she was gone. More importantly, we can know daily that she is okay. Still, all of that doesn't make it any easier to be apart.
The final item for phase one of the garage project was installing the pull down screen for the projector. I mounted it into the facing board of the mezzanine and it looks really good. The nice thing is it is white and will blend right in once I paint the facing board - I plan on doing that next week when the missionaries are gone and it warms up outside.
The mailman delivered a package from my wife today - it was a video she had made a week ago. The USO has a program where the servicemember can read a book to the kids while they are being videotaped. The DVD is sent along with the book and the kids can read along. Very appropriate timing and once the little one got home she was able to watch and read along with her mom on the big screen in the garage. I was able to get photos of it and share them with my wife and family members. When the teenager got home, she enjoyed it as well. I see great potential from the new garage - it will be our own personal drive-in movie theatre once I get through a couple more phases. But before I go there, I have to work on the landscaping out front (ugh).
Supper tonight was outstanding and everyone enjoyed it. We had fried ham slices, pineapples, stuffing, mac&cheese and corn. I didn't figure the girls would enjoy the stuffing but that was their loss! I cheated and got that Bob Evans stuffing in a microwave container - you have to microwave it for a couple of minutes, stir and microwave for a couple more minutes - then dump it in a pan and put it under the broiler - outstanding!! I love that semi-crunchy top and moist interior combination! My wife makes great stuffing - Bob Evans isn't as good as hers but for now, it'll do!
After cleaning up the kitchen yet again, we got dressed and headed over to Oscar Smith High School. The second grader won a writing contest and was getting an award. It was for all the students in the Chesapeake Public Schools and she was so excited! Oscar Smith isn't too far away, just over the Great Bridge - after we parked the car and were walking in, we met up with her principal and talked with him. He was very gracious and nice - my daughter about died when I asked if he minded taking a picture with her - he obliged and it was a very nice photo. After he left, she asked me how could I do that, after all he was her principal!! So grown up for such a little person. But no matter how embarrassed she was then, she'll cherish that picture for a long time. I must admit her book was very, very well done and I was very proud of her. She has a friend from Maryland and they have been writing back and forth since we moved down here - her book was titled "Pen Pals" and it showed a lot of heart, emotion and was well written. Even better, she illustrated it as well! She received a blue ribbon last night and they will be sending her award and book to her school so she can bring it home later. A very nice ceremony.
The little one called her grandparents in Kentucky after we left the ceremony to share her news! And when we got to church, the folks there were very appreciative of her accomplishment! The evening revival service was good and we had a few visitors so that was nice. The thing about revivals is they tend to run long so we didn't get home until close to 9pm!
The girls devotion tonight was "Stubborn Love" referencing Luke 6:27-36. It talked about loving others even when it hurts. My devotion was "The Master Assizes" referencing 2 Corinthians 5:10. I know I am in trouble with a reading when I have to look up the exact meaning of a word in the title. Oswald Chambers was writing in a different era of the english language and sometimes is hard to follow - fortunately the story he is talking about is timeless so it is easy to get. In tonight's devotion he talked about the deadliest Pharisaism is not hypocrisy, it is unconscious unreality - pretty deep for 10pm at night!
Day Forty Four comes to a close as we look forward to day Forty Five!
Speaking of coffee, our house is normally coffee free - I don't drink anything warmer than a room temperature bottle of Mountain Dew from time-to-time and my wife drinks hot tea but neither of us drink coffee. But with the missionaries in the house, the whole place smells like coffee!! They don't eat breakfast at all, lunch consists of a bowl of cereal for each and then someone from church takes them out to eat supper but they really put away the coffee!
I don't see much of the missionaries, in fact today I didn't see them at all until we went to church in the evening. They are working on a summer youth program in the Philippines and stuff for other countries so that is keeping them busy.
When we went out to meet the bus, we were getting some of that rain from the storm in New England. It was that little, itty bitty rain that feels like needles, coming sideways at an unusual angle and my goodness was it ever cold when it hit your skin!! The missionaries have their Excursion and their trailer parked in our driveway and our cars are across the street on the dead end road - the trailer is pretty tall so it is hard to see the bus coming down the street - so we put on our caps and braved the elements. Today was "wear a hat for kids with cancer day" at the elementary school. Each school kid was able to pay a dollar and they wore a hat to help the kids with cancer. They also got the most important prize imaginable to a second grader - a sticker to wear on their shirt all day!!! If you don't know of the power of a sticker to a second grader then you are really missing out on one of the most powerful motivational devices known to elementary schools! Our daughter absolutely loves them and will wear it like she had just won the congressional medal of honor! As a parent and head laundry person, I have to be ever vigilant for the stickers on dirty clothes - normally she takes the sticker off when she gets home, places it on the railing of the upper bunk and keeps it there - should she forget and if I was to wash that sticker, let's just say the wrath of an 8 year old who just lost a sticker to the washer is a much greater wrath than any adult female can spew forward! Fortunately I'm rather thorough when I check the laundry before it goes into the wash - girls don't shove mud or rocks down their pants pockets as much as boys do but you find all kinds of stuff that will ruin laundry - magic markers, nail polish, lip balm and most importantly, wayward stickers on shirts!
The teenager finally found the energy to get out the door as the bus was coming. I cleaned up the kitchen, swept the floors, watched a few minutes of SportsCenter, read the paper and had breakfast. Then it was off to the garage!
I made terrific progress out there today - I figured I would once I got the shelving arranged. The garage looks a little naked right now but I have everything where I want it. I do need to put up some type of curtain over the back door going outside from the garage and I want to put up a curtain around the mezzanine level. I still need to make a run to Goodwill to get rid of the last little bit of stuff we are going to donate - I'll do that Thursday morning.
I had a chance to talk with my wife again today and that is so nice. I remember many deployments of my own where we had to go several months without talking with loved ones or getting mail. But now we can call and e-mail as well as regular mail. At least by talking daily she can remain caught up on the day-to-day things around here and nothing should come as a total shock to her when she returns. Well, except how much the children have grown and matured while she was gone. More importantly, we can know daily that she is okay. Still, all of that doesn't make it any easier to be apart.
The final item for phase one of the garage project was installing the pull down screen for the projector. I mounted it into the facing board of the mezzanine and it looks really good. The nice thing is it is white and will blend right in once I paint the facing board - I plan on doing that next week when the missionaries are gone and it warms up outside.
The mailman delivered a package from my wife today - it was a video she had made a week ago. The USO has a program where the servicemember can read a book to the kids while they are being videotaped. The DVD is sent along with the book and the kids can read along. Very appropriate timing and once the little one got home she was able to watch and read along with her mom on the big screen in the garage. I was able to get photos of it and share them with my wife and family members. When the teenager got home, she enjoyed it as well. I see great potential from the new garage - it will be our own personal drive-in movie theatre once I get through a couple more phases. But before I go there, I have to work on the landscaping out front (ugh).
Supper tonight was outstanding and everyone enjoyed it. We had fried ham slices, pineapples, stuffing, mac&cheese and corn. I didn't figure the girls would enjoy the stuffing but that was their loss! I cheated and got that Bob Evans stuffing in a microwave container - you have to microwave it for a couple of minutes, stir and microwave for a couple more minutes - then dump it in a pan and put it under the broiler - outstanding!! I love that semi-crunchy top and moist interior combination! My wife makes great stuffing - Bob Evans isn't as good as hers but for now, it'll do!
After cleaning up the kitchen yet again, we got dressed and headed over to Oscar Smith High School. The second grader won a writing contest and was getting an award. It was for all the students in the Chesapeake Public Schools and she was so excited! Oscar Smith isn't too far away, just over the Great Bridge - after we parked the car and were walking in, we met up with her principal and talked with him. He was very gracious and nice - my daughter about died when I asked if he minded taking a picture with her - he obliged and it was a very nice photo. After he left, she asked me how could I do that, after all he was her principal!! So grown up for such a little person. But no matter how embarrassed she was then, she'll cherish that picture for a long time. I must admit her book was very, very well done and I was very proud of her. She has a friend from Maryland and they have been writing back and forth since we moved down here - her book was titled "Pen Pals" and it showed a lot of heart, emotion and was well written. Even better, she illustrated it as well! She received a blue ribbon last night and they will be sending her award and book to her school so she can bring it home later. A very nice ceremony.
The little one called her grandparents in Kentucky after we left the ceremony to share her news! And when we got to church, the folks there were very appreciative of her accomplishment! The evening revival service was good and we had a few visitors so that was nice. The thing about revivals is they tend to run long so we didn't get home until close to 9pm!
The girls devotion tonight was "Stubborn Love" referencing Luke 6:27-36. It talked about loving others even when it hurts. My devotion was "The Master Assizes" referencing 2 Corinthians 5:10. I know I am in trouble with a reading when I have to look up the exact meaning of a word in the title. Oswald Chambers was writing in a different era of the english language and sometimes is hard to follow - fortunately the story he is talking about is timeless so it is easy to get. In tonight's devotion he talked about the deadliest Pharisaism is not hypocrisy, it is unconscious unreality - pretty deep for 10pm at night!
Day Forty Four comes to a close as we look forward to day Forty Five!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Day Forty Three - March 15, 2010
This is going to be one boring post but it was a very productive day! Guess it is nice to have a day where nothing major happens from time-to-time.
With today being Monday, we started out the day early. The missionaries will be with us all week and they have the master bedroom suite - we tested our "stealth" abilities to do what we needed to do without waking them. It appears we were successful as I didn't see or hear either one of them until later in the morning.
Both girls did very well this morning getting ready. We've moved the hair drying evolution to the downstairs bathroom to minimize noise upstairs. Breakfast went well and without drama and we were off to the bus. Was a nip to the air all day long as we have a storm system just to our north dragging cooler air in from New England - I was hoping for nothing but t-shirt weather from here on out but I guess I can live with a coat for a couple more days.
Just as the first bus was about to arrive, the pastor texted me asking if I could change the sign to reflect the revival going on all week. That was simple enough so I put the little one on the bus and drove over to the church. It took about 40 minutes total to change the old letters and put the new ones in place. I'll probably do that more often trying to keep the sign fresh - you never know when the right message will catch someone's attention!
From 8:15am until about 2:30pm I worked in the garage. The shelving was the real issue, taking it apart and putting it back together. It appears I have two different kinds of wooden shelves and they don't play well together - once I figured that out, I was able to get it going. The rain outside limited my ability to put things outside and the garage still looks messy. I figure a few hours on Tuesday and I'll be done with phase one (I hope).
I did get a chance to talk with my wife today for about 15 minutes. She sounded good and had been productive. Those first few days in a new place are a learning experience. She had a list of things she needs sent over to her - so far she hasn't received anything I've sent up to this point - it would be nice to know that the mail is getting through to her before sending off more stuff.
Once the little one got home, we went over her homework and she had a snack. They went to the library today and that is always a good day for her! She showed me each of her books and why she picked each of them up. My day quickly changes from only having the dog to talk to, to having the little one talk constantly at me!! She didn't come equipped with a mute button but I probably wouldn't use it if she had one.
While we waited on the teenager to get home, one of the missionaries came downstairs and he watched some of the baseball game with us - we were watching a spring training game between Detroit and Toronto. The missionary has had a lifetime of experiences and is interesting to talk with. They had been in the master bedroom all day working on projects all around the world. Sounds as if they are really making a difference. The nice thing about supporting missionaries is getting to share in what they are doing.
Once the teenager got home, we got her ready for work and went over what she did all day. About 30 minutes later, we took her to work and then returned home for supper. Someone from the church is taking the missionaries out to eat supper each night so they were leaving about the same time we were. Our head deacon was taking them tonight and he is quite the character - he loves messing with our youngest daughter and I think she takes great pleasure in messing with him!
Supper was quiet and laid back since it was just the two of us. We had grilled turkey and cheese sandwiches, salad and fried potatoes. After that, we got dressed and went to church for the evening service which was very good.
After service, we picked the teenager up and came home. We all had a chance to talk with the missionaries for a few minutes before they went to bed. The girls devotion tonight was "Seed sowing" referencing Matthew 13:3-8. My devotion was "The discipline of dismay" referencing Mark 10:32 - it talked about self-doubt when following Jesus and His example.
Day Forty Three comes to a close - here's looking forward to Day Forty Four!!
With today being Monday, we started out the day early. The missionaries will be with us all week and they have the master bedroom suite - we tested our "stealth" abilities to do what we needed to do without waking them. It appears we were successful as I didn't see or hear either one of them until later in the morning.
Both girls did very well this morning getting ready. We've moved the hair drying evolution to the downstairs bathroom to minimize noise upstairs. Breakfast went well and without drama and we were off to the bus. Was a nip to the air all day long as we have a storm system just to our north dragging cooler air in from New England - I was hoping for nothing but t-shirt weather from here on out but I guess I can live with a coat for a couple more days.
Just as the first bus was about to arrive, the pastor texted me asking if I could change the sign to reflect the revival going on all week. That was simple enough so I put the little one on the bus and drove over to the church. It took about 40 minutes total to change the old letters and put the new ones in place. I'll probably do that more often trying to keep the sign fresh - you never know when the right message will catch someone's attention!
From 8:15am until about 2:30pm I worked in the garage. The shelving was the real issue, taking it apart and putting it back together. It appears I have two different kinds of wooden shelves and they don't play well together - once I figured that out, I was able to get it going. The rain outside limited my ability to put things outside and the garage still looks messy. I figure a few hours on Tuesday and I'll be done with phase one (I hope).
I did get a chance to talk with my wife today for about 15 minutes. She sounded good and had been productive. Those first few days in a new place are a learning experience. She had a list of things she needs sent over to her - so far she hasn't received anything I've sent up to this point - it would be nice to know that the mail is getting through to her before sending off more stuff.
Once the little one got home, we went over her homework and she had a snack. They went to the library today and that is always a good day for her! She showed me each of her books and why she picked each of them up. My day quickly changes from only having the dog to talk to, to having the little one talk constantly at me!! She didn't come equipped with a mute button but I probably wouldn't use it if she had one.
While we waited on the teenager to get home, one of the missionaries came downstairs and he watched some of the baseball game with us - we were watching a spring training game between Detroit and Toronto. The missionary has had a lifetime of experiences and is interesting to talk with. They had been in the master bedroom all day working on projects all around the world. Sounds as if they are really making a difference. The nice thing about supporting missionaries is getting to share in what they are doing.
Once the teenager got home, we got her ready for work and went over what she did all day. About 30 minutes later, we took her to work and then returned home for supper. Someone from the church is taking the missionaries out to eat supper each night so they were leaving about the same time we were. Our head deacon was taking them tonight and he is quite the character - he loves messing with our youngest daughter and I think she takes great pleasure in messing with him!
Supper was quiet and laid back since it was just the two of us. We had grilled turkey and cheese sandwiches, salad and fried potatoes. After that, we got dressed and went to church for the evening service which was very good.
After service, we picked the teenager up and came home. We all had a chance to talk with the missionaries for a few minutes before they went to bed. The girls devotion tonight was "Seed sowing" referencing Matthew 13:3-8. My devotion was "The discipline of dismay" referencing Mark 10:32 - it talked about self-doubt when following Jesus and His example.
Day Forty Three comes to a close - here's looking forward to Day Forty Four!!
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Day Forty Two - March 14, 2010
One less hour of sleep but everyone cooperated - not a bad way to start a busy Sunday morning! Having company in the house changes the dynamics of the household, but I think we did pretty well today. The missionaries staying with us for the week have taken over the master bedroom and the master bath - fortunately I planned ahead and moved most of my necessary clothes and stuff to the spare bedroom. We didn't even see them until about 20 minutes before time to leave for church.
The morning was good - all of us were able to talk with my wife for a little bit - the Veteran's of Foreign Wars had arranged for a free phone call day for the troops overseas so that was nice. My wife is settling in nicely and doing her usual wonderful job. She was also able to find a church service there so she felt good about that. Was nice to hear her sound rested and productive.
Had a chance to speak with the mother-in-law for about 10 minutes today and she was good. I think having a daughter in a war zone is a tough thing to go through and probably moreso when you are somewhat removed from the military as they are back in Kentucky. Things move at a different pace there - it is a very comfortable pace in a very small community, but they are still insulated from many things. While I think many folks in the country think they understand the military and what goes on, they really don't - it is something you have to experience first hand.
Sunday School went well this morning. It is always a little intimidating when you have a seasoned missionary and his wife in your class but the curriculum we are using will stand up to the most intense scrutinization. I just included them in the class as a regular person and I think they appreciated that.
Some good news at church this morning, we are going to buy the bus and start a bus ministry so that is a wonderful outreach. We have a few more hurdles to jump but this is quite the positive. I was able to tour the bus with the pastor and was pleasantly surprised how nice it was. The upholstery needs some updating and attention but we can absolulely live with it in its current condition.
The missionary gave a wonderful sermon this morning and like most missionaries, he talked about why we have missions in the first place. He is a very polished speaker and he was very good at laying out his points in a classical manner. He made four major points that all started with the letter C. Then the sub points under each major heading all started with the same letter - for example the first major heading was "command from above" then he went with authority, accountability, activity, area, assignment and audience. This was all from Mark 16:15 if you want to read along.
After the morning service we had fellowship in the modular and the food was good. Since we are hosting the missionaries, we were told we didn't need to bring anything and that was good - I doubt I had time to really prepare something!
The afternoon was quiet. The missionaries took a nap and stayed in the master bedroom. The teenager studied for her upcoming AP tests in May and then took a nap - I don't really know how much studying she was able to do. The little one stayed downstairs with me, terrorized the dog, played on the trampoline outside and then asked about a zillion questions while I tried to watch the UK/Mississippi State basketball game - Kentucky finally pulled it out in overtime to with the SEC Championship.
The evening service was very good. The missionary's sermon was excellent and was something I had never thought about - the title was "where's the beef?" He started in Deuteronomy 11:22-32 and talked about God's covenant with the people. Then he went to Numbers 32:1-4 and talked about how the 2.5 tribes wanted the land east of the Jordan because of their cows. Then he went to Mark 5:1-15 and showed how these same people no longer were raising cows, they were farming swine - where's the beef? It was very good.
After service we came home and had a light supper. The missionaries came home a little later and we had a nice conversation - they appear to be quite nice people. I helped them get onto my network so they could use the Internet to do their necessary business. The girls devotion tonight was "Locked out" referencing Psalm 119:57-64. My devotion was "Obedience" referencing Romans 6:16.
Day Forty Two comes to a close, here's looking to Day Forty Three!
The morning was good - all of us were able to talk with my wife for a little bit - the Veteran's of Foreign Wars had arranged for a free phone call day for the troops overseas so that was nice. My wife is settling in nicely and doing her usual wonderful job. She was also able to find a church service there so she felt good about that. Was nice to hear her sound rested and productive.
Had a chance to speak with the mother-in-law for about 10 minutes today and she was good. I think having a daughter in a war zone is a tough thing to go through and probably moreso when you are somewhat removed from the military as they are back in Kentucky. Things move at a different pace there - it is a very comfortable pace in a very small community, but they are still insulated from many things. While I think many folks in the country think they understand the military and what goes on, they really don't - it is something you have to experience first hand.
Sunday School went well this morning. It is always a little intimidating when you have a seasoned missionary and his wife in your class but the curriculum we are using will stand up to the most intense scrutinization. I just included them in the class as a regular person and I think they appreciated that.
Some good news at church this morning, we are going to buy the bus and start a bus ministry so that is a wonderful outreach. We have a few more hurdles to jump but this is quite the positive. I was able to tour the bus with the pastor and was pleasantly surprised how nice it was. The upholstery needs some updating and attention but we can absolulely live with it in its current condition.
The missionary gave a wonderful sermon this morning and like most missionaries, he talked about why we have missions in the first place. He is a very polished speaker and he was very good at laying out his points in a classical manner. He made four major points that all started with the letter C. Then the sub points under each major heading all started with the same letter - for example the first major heading was "command from above" then he went with authority, accountability, activity, area, assignment and audience. This was all from Mark 16:15 if you want to read along.
After the morning service we had fellowship in the modular and the food was good. Since we are hosting the missionaries, we were told we didn't need to bring anything and that was good - I doubt I had time to really prepare something!
The afternoon was quiet. The missionaries took a nap and stayed in the master bedroom. The teenager studied for her upcoming AP tests in May and then took a nap - I don't really know how much studying she was able to do. The little one stayed downstairs with me, terrorized the dog, played on the trampoline outside and then asked about a zillion questions while I tried to watch the UK/Mississippi State basketball game - Kentucky finally pulled it out in overtime to with the SEC Championship.
The evening service was very good. The missionary's sermon was excellent and was something I had never thought about - the title was "where's the beef?" He started in Deuteronomy 11:22-32 and talked about God's covenant with the people. Then he went to Numbers 32:1-4 and talked about how the 2.5 tribes wanted the land east of the Jordan because of their cows. Then he went to Mark 5:1-15 and showed how these same people no longer were raising cows, they were farming swine - where's the beef? It was very good.
After service we came home and had a light supper. The missionaries came home a little later and we had a nice conversation - they appear to be quite nice people. I helped them get onto my network so they could use the Internet to do their necessary business. The girls devotion tonight was "Locked out" referencing Psalm 119:57-64. My devotion was "Obedience" referencing Romans 6:16.
Day Forty Two comes to a close, here's looking to Day Forty Three!
Day Forty One - March 13, 2010
Looking back over today, all I can say is "whew" what a day! The weather started out as a rainy morning but changed around noon to quite the sunny, beautiful day. We didn't really have a chance to sleep in today because our day was scheduled pretty tight. I got the teenager up at 6:30 to start her day - she gave the dog a bath, got herself cleaned up and then cleaned her bathroom and bedroom. The little one contributed as well - she cleaned her room and then helped dry the dog - I think she likes drying the dog because she knows the dog hates the hair dryer - for such a pretty and sweet child, she does have a touch of a mean streak in her; I think she must get that from her momma!
Speaking of my wife, she had a chance to send an e-mail then call later in the morning. She had a shower, although it was a cold one, and she now has her own bed so she'll be able to sleep in a bed instead of a chair so that is nice. They put her to work almost immediately upon her arrival so she's settling in. Even though it was a busy day and I didn't expect to talk with her, it was a very nice addition to the day.
The morning continued by running the teenager to work then we stopped at the post office to mail off two boxes and one package to my wife. The package had her reading material for the Wednesday night class and our Sunday School class in it plus I sent her some work the girls did at school, copies of report cards and that type of stuff.
From the post office, we went by WalMart and re-stocked the refrigerator and pantry shelves. The store was busy on a Saturday morning but well stocked. I find it quite interesting to watch the interactions among people in the store - there was a family argument in the frozen foods, two separate little kid tantrums in the various aisles, a couple of poor guys who obviously hadn't been food shopping in a few years, of course we had the obligatory old couple who plugged up an entire aisle and then the one lady with the cart who thought she was speed walking - I love those people, they walk as fast as they can and from time-to-time you just see their arm flick out from their body, grab something from the shelf and toss it in the cart - of course they are talking on their cell phones attached to their ear while they are doing that. Just a Public Service Announcement here - if you don't realize how silly you look with your phone wrapped around your ear in WalMart in your velour "sweat suit", please look again! My favorite WalMart shopper - the middle aged woman on a cell phone trying to communicate with someone else in the store "yeah, I'm right here by the peas, where are you?" - "now I am by the canned potatoes, no I don't see you yet" - this WalMart shopper doesn't really need a cell phone, you can hear her on the other side of the store anyway!!
We got home safely with the groceries and I got them put away. Of course I had to deal with the dog for a few seconds and then the little one who wanted to terrorize the dog. We had just enough time to put the groceries away, fold the load of towels in the dryer and mop the hardwood floors before we had to leave to pick the teenager up from work - she only worked 3 hours today on computer training. We made it back to her grocery store just as she was walking out. I had spoken with the head deacon earlier while I was in WalMart so we met him and the missionaries at the church. I took the missionary's wife to the house and gave her a tour, showed her where they would be staying and gave her a key to the house. After taking her back to church so they could finish setting up, I took the girls to lunch and then we drove to Norfolk for the play.
Norfolk is building a new light rail system and that construction has really messed up the downtown area. They also are building a couple of new buildings so you wind up with total gridlock. I was able to drive the highway up there - this area is serviced by several tunnels and drawbridges that serve as traffic choke points if you're not careful - we were between drawbridge lifts on the Berkeley Bridge so we went that way and into downtown. We parked close to the mall and walked over to the theatre.
The theatre is pretty nice - it is one of those old, refurbished RKO theatres and it has some character. The youngest daughter saw her Thursday night dance/singing teacher there and they had a nice chat. The play was the broadway production of Tom Sawyer and they did a very nice job with the production. At the same time, we couldn't help but notice the one empty seat we had.
We remained on a tight schedule - we were to meet some of the church and the missionaries at the restaurant at 6pm. The play didn't end until 5:20, we had about a 10 minute walk to the car and I had promised the teenager she could stop at Barnes and Noble to pick up some study guides for the AP tests coming up in May. The mall in downtown Norfolk is very, very nice but they have a rule teens cannot be in the mall after 5pm without an adult so that ruled out me letting her run in to get the books while I got the car and met her at the front door. But we made it and were in the car by 5:50pm. I sent a text message to the pastor letting him know we'd be there by 6:10 - of course he texted back he was going to be late as well. We wound up being there before everyone except one lady so that was good.
Supper was nice - anytime you don't have to cook is nice! The waitress did well considering the group we had assembled. After spending nearly 2 hours there, almost everyone came over to the house to relax and spend some time talking. Yes, that was too much for our dog so we had to put her in the very, very messy garage. But it was a nice evening.
The girls did their devotion but left the book in the little one's room and I dont' want to wake her so I'll update that tomorrow. My devotion was "The abandonment of God" and referenced John 3:16. It was a positive spin on a very familiar verse.
Day Forty One was a whirlwind of activity, a very busy day and actually a very quick day! We get one less hour of sleep as we look forward to day Forty Two!
Speaking of my wife, she had a chance to send an e-mail then call later in the morning. She had a shower, although it was a cold one, and she now has her own bed so she'll be able to sleep in a bed instead of a chair so that is nice. They put her to work almost immediately upon her arrival so she's settling in. Even though it was a busy day and I didn't expect to talk with her, it was a very nice addition to the day.
The morning continued by running the teenager to work then we stopped at the post office to mail off two boxes and one package to my wife. The package had her reading material for the Wednesday night class and our Sunday School class in it plus I sent her some work the girls did at school, copies of report cards and that type of stuff.
From the post office, we went by WalMart and re-stocked the refrigerator and pantry shelves. The store was busy on a Saturday morning but well stocked. I find it quite interesting to watch the interactions among people in the store - there was a family argument in the frozen foods, two separate little kid tantrums in the various aisles, a couple of poor guys who obviously hadn't been food shopping in a few years, of course we had the obligatory old couple who plugged up an entire aisle and then the one lady with the cart who thought she was speed walking - I love those people, they walk as fast as they can and from time-to-time you just see their arm flick out from their body, grab something from the shelf and toss it in the cart - of course they are talking on their cell phones attached to their ear while they are doing that. Just a Public Service Announcement here - if you don't realize how silly you look with your phone wrapped around your ear in WalMart in your velour "sweat suit", please look again! My favorite WalMart shopper - the middle aged woman on a cell phone trying to communicate with someone else in the store "yeah, I'm right here by the peas, where are you?" - "now I am by the canned potatoes, no I don't see you yet" - this WalMart shopper doesn't really need a cell phone, you can hear her on the other side of the store anyway!!
We got home safely with the groceries and I got them put away. Of course I had to deal with the dog for a few seconds and then the little one who wanted to terrorize the dog. We had just enough time to put the groceries away, fold the load of towels in the dryer and mop the hardwood floors before we had to leave to pick the teenager up from work - she only worked 3 hours today on computer training. We made it back to her grocery store just as she was walking out. I had spoken with the head deacon earlier while I was in WalMart so we met him and the missionaries at the church. I took the missionary's wife to the house and gave her a tour, showed her where they would be staying and gave her a key to the house. After taking her back to church so they could finish setting up, I took the girls to lunch and then we drove to Norfolk for the play.
Norfolk is building a new light rail system and that construction has really messed up the downtown area. They also are building a couple of new buildings so you wind up with total gridlock. I was able to drive the highway up there - this area is serviced by several tunnels and drawbridges that serve as traffic choke points if you're not careful - we were between drawbridge lifts on the Berkeley Bridge so we went that way and into downtown. We parked close to the mall and walked over to the theatre.
The theatre is pretty nice - it is one of those old, refurbished RKO theatres and it has some character. The youngest daughter saw her Thursday night dance/singing teacher there and they had a nice chat. The play was the broadway production of Tom Sawyer and they did a very nice job with the production. At the same time, we couldn't help but notice the one empty seat we had.
We remained on a tight schedule - we were to meet some of the church and the missionaries at the restaurant at 6pm. The play didn't end until 5:20, we had about a 10 minute walk to the car and I had promised the teenager she could stop at Barnes and Noble to pick up some study guides for the AP tests coming up in May. The mall in downtown Norfolk is very, very nice but they have a rule teens cannot be in the mall after 5pm without an adult so that ruled out me letting her run in to get the books while I got the car and met her at the front door. But we made it and were in the car by 5:50pm. I sent a text message to the pastor letting him know we'd be there by 6:10 - of course he texted back he was going to be late as well. We wound up being there before everyone except one lady so that was good.
Supper was nice - anytime you don't have to cook is nice! The waitress did well considering the group we had assembled. After spending nearly 2 hours there, almost everyone came over to the house to relax and spend some time talking. Yes, that was too much for our dog so we had to put her in the very, very messy garage. But it was a nice evening.
The girls did their devotion but left the book in the little one's room and I dont' want to wake her so I'll update that tomorrow. My devotion was "The abandonment of God" and referenced John 3:16. It was a positive spin on a very familiar verse.
Day Forty One was a whirlwind of activity, a very busy day and actually a very quick day! We get one less hour of sleep as we look forward to day Forty Two!
Friday, March 12, 2010
Day Forty - March 12, 2010
In Old Testament times we are now at the same point as the rain storms Noah endured! Fittingly, it is raining pretty hard here right now as well!!!
Day Forty fell on a Friday. The girls were excited; the bus driver was excited; heck, I'm excited too! I don't think the dog was too excited about it - I might not be either if I walked around with a fur coat and water made me smell like a dog! But despite the all day rain and what the dog thought, it was a good day. I don't mind the rain much as I find it soothing.
The girls both made it off to school without too much drama. The teenager had a headache but I think it was more along the lines of a test-induced experience than anything else - today was the day for the infamous chemistry test on the stuff she told me "the teacher wasn't teaching out of the book about" - yep, remember that one?
I did talk with my wife twice today. She's not able to tell me much so I won't tell you much. She was very tired though and said she needed a shower. Still, it was great to talk with her. The first time I spoke with her, I was at home. The second time, she called while I was at Marshall's and she was able to vicariously go shopping with me!! Good thing she called, I would have gotten the wrong sized dress for the teenager!
Zero progress on the garage today - the rain was my main excuse but I really didn't have time to get around to it. I went to Lifeway to pick up some secret pal gifts - found something for all three of the secret pals. Then I stopped by Marshall's to pick up an Easter dress for the teenager. Found her a really nice white Calvin Klein dress that was originally $319.99 - paid just a touch more than 10% of that price so I'm very happy with that. Do you think places like Marshall's and Ross put inflated price tags on their clothes to make you feel better about your purchase decision? Are they secretly trying to make us save our way into the poor house?? I hope not, that would be an ethical issue on many levels. I'll just trust that they aren't messing with my mind via price tags. I also found a very nice pair of shoes for the little one that matched her dress. No, I never had a vision when I was a kid growing up of me picking out the right pair of shoes for an 8 year old daughter some day!! I also never thought I'd be carrying around purses and baby dolls either but that is a different story.
I stopped by Office Max to pick up the copies of the program we are using on Wednesday night. Wasn't cheap but well worth it. The rain was really coming down so I stopped by Paradocks for lunch, watched a little of the Ohio State versus "that place up north" basketball game while I ate. Was still raining when I came out so that plan failed but I had a full tummy! It did stop raining by the time I got home though.
I got home in time to watch the end of the Ohio State game - they pulled it out with a last second three pointer from about 40 feet out - very nice shot! Kentucky was losing but they came back to beat Bama in their game as well.
The little one got home as normal and was full of energy - well, for a little while. She laid on the couch like a big old log and passed out while watching PBS! I know, PBS puts a lot of folks to sleep!! I covered her up and wished I could take a nap as well! I took advantage of the time, loaded up the car for the evening teen program and started some laundry.
When the teenager got home, it was nearly time to go. She was going to see a movie after the teen program tonight with the pastor's grandson - the pastor's wife is chaperoning so that is okay. Of course she couldn't find just the right shirt so we had mild drama. That tension was resolved and away we went to church.
The program was good with a fair turnout considering the weather. We had hot dogs and sauce. You get spoiled by a certain type of taste and when you encounter something a little different, you have to re-think what you're eating. The pastor's wife made chili sauce for the dogs - it was okay but still different. Tonight was part II of our look at Joseph and Trust. Tonight we talked about God's preferred future for Joseph and Joseph's response to it.
The rain continued as we came home. Tomorrow will be a light clean up around the house, the teenager has work at 10am and then we are off to see the play Tom Sawyer in downtown Norfolk in the afternoon. Saturday evening we are meeting a group from the church for supper to greet the missionaries and then the missionaries are staying with us for a week. Somewhere in there I need to clean the garage a little so it doesn't look like the total disaster area it does now, plus I need to study my Sunday School lesson as well.
The youngest daughter did her devotion tonight then watched Planet 51. Her devotion was "God's way, my way (part 1)" referencing Matthew 5:38-44. My devotion tonight was "Abandonment" referencing Mark 10:28. It talked about commercialized self-interest versus real abandonment.
A rainy day forty is in the books. Here's looking forward to day forty one.
Day Forty fell on a Friday. The girls were excited; the bus driver was excited; heck, I'm excited too! I don't think the dog was too excited about it - I might not be either if I walked around with a fur coat and water made me smell like a dog! But despite the all day rain and what the dog thought, it was a good day. I don't mind the rain much as I find it soothing.
The girls both made it off to school without too much drama. The teenager had a headache but I think it was more along the lines of a test-induced experience than anything else - today was the day for the infamous chemistry test on the stuff she told me "the teacher wasn't teaching out of the book about" - yep, remember that one?
I did talk with my wife twice today. She's not able to tell me much so I won't tell you much. She was very tired though and said she needed a shower. Still, it was great to talk with her. The first time I spoke with her, I was at home. The second time, she called while I was at Marshall's and she was able to vicariously go shopping with me!! Good thing she called, I would have gotten the wrong sized dress for the teenager!
Zero progress on the garage today - the rain was my main excuse but I really didn't have time to get around to it. I went to Lifeway to pick up some secret pal gifts - found something for all three of the secret pals. Then I stopped by Marshall's to pick up an Easter dress for the teenager. Found her a really nice white Calvin Klein dress that was originally $319.99 - paid just a touch more than 10% of that price so I'm very happy with that. Do you think places like Marshall's and Ross put inflated price tags on their clothes to make you feel better about your purchase decision? Are they secretly trying to make us save our way into the poor house?? I hope not, that would be an ethical issue on many levels. I'll just trust that they aren't messing with my mind via price tags. I also found a very nice pair of shoes for the little one that matched her dress. No, I never had a vision when I was a kid growing up of me picking out the right pair of shoes for an 8 year old daughter some day!! I also never thought I'd be carrying around purses and baby dolls either but that is a different story.
I stopped by Office Max to pick up the copies of the program we are using on Wednesday night. Wasn't cheap but well worth it. The rain was really coming down so I stopped by Paradocks for lunch, watched a little of the Ohio State versus "that place up north" basketball game while I ate. Was still raining when I came out so that plan failed but I had a full tummy! It did stop raining by the time I got home though.
I got home in time to watch the end of the Ohio State game - they pulled it out with a last second three pointer from about 40 feet out - very nice shot! Kentucky was losing but they came back to beat Bama in their game as well.
The little one got home as normal and was full of energy - well, for a little while. She laid on the couch like a big old log and passed out while watching PBS! I know, PBS puts a lot of folks to sleep!! I covered her up and wished I could take a nap as well! I took advantage of the time, loaded up the car for the evening teen program and started some laundry.
When the teenager got home, it was nearly time to go. She was going to see a movie after the teen program tonight with the pastor's grandson - the pastor's wife is chaperoning so that is okay. Of course she couldn't find just the right shirt so we had mild drama. That tension was resolved and away we went to church.
The program was good with a fair turnout considering the weather. We had hot dogs and sauce. You get spoiled by a certain type of taste and when you encounter something a little different, you have to re-think what you're eating. The pastor's wife made chili sauce for the dogs - it was okay but still different. Tonight was part II of our look at Joseph and Trust. Tonight we talked about God's preferred future for Joseph and Joseph's response to it.
The rain continued as we came home. Tomorrow will be a light clean up around the house, the teenager has work at 10am and then we are off to see the play Tom Sawyer in downtown Norfolk in the afternoon. Saturday evening we are meeting a group from the church for supper to greet the missionaries and then the missionaries are staying with us for a week. Somewhere in there I need to clean the garage a little so it doesn't look like the total disaster area it does now, plus I need to study my Sunday School lesson as well.
The youngest daughter did her devotion tonight then watched Planet 51. Her devotion was "God's way, my way (part 1)" referencing Matthew 5:38-44. My devotion tonight was "Abandonment" referencing Mark 10:28. It talked about commercialized self-interest versus real abandonment.
A rainy day forty is in the books. Here's looking forward to day forty one.
Day Thirty Nine - March 11, 2010
Today continues the great garage project - I figure about one more week of working out there and I'll be okay with it! We had some rain during the night and the gutters worked as they were supposed to - it is very nice to walk out the doors and not get dribbled on from the roof!
The girls both had very good mornings. We changed the teenagers routine a little so she could get a little more study time in the morning and day one of that went good enough. We'll see next week when we have company and she does it four or five days in a row how much "sunshine" she can ooze!!
The sun was out and it was very pleasant when the bus ran for the little one. After she got on the bus, I made a quick trip to Goodwill to donate some stuff out of the garage. Fortunately they have a 24 hour box about five miles from the house. I made it home before the teenager left.
Once both girls were gone for the morning, I cleaned up e-mails and got the Make a Difference ready for next week. I will admit I've been slacking a little bit on that - normally I'm 30 days ahead but I allowed it to run down some. I'll start building it back up again to stay ahead. I also took part of the morning to finish the PowerPoint and my notes for the Friday night program. We will be talking about part II of Joseph from the Old Testament and how he was trusted with God's vision to save the Hebrews well before the famine.
Just as I was getting ready to leave to run some errands, my wife had the chance to call and that always makes the day so very nice. So far, we've only had one day out of 39 where we were not able to talk. I doubt that streak lasts much longer but I'll take what I can get. She only had 30 minutes to talk but that was okay - allowed me to catch her up on all that is going on and let her know all was good here. And in all honesty, things are all good here.
After the phone call, I sent a quick e-mail to our family members to update them - my wife did have some news I needed to share with them - so I took care of that. Then it was off to run errands and to fix something.
The afternoon was spent in the garage. The main issue is moving the shelving I already have in the garage - in order to do that, I have to unload the shelves, put it on the floor, dismantle the shelves, clean them, re-assemble the shelves and star loading them back up. Some things are going up in the loft area, some in the garbage and some on the shelving. I'll just say that progress was slow today.
When the little one got home, we did her homework and then went to the dentist. Perhaps the best thing about our house is that we are probably one mile from everything - two or three at the most. A lot of folks might be able to say "go one mile and you're at the store" - we are actually one mile from the dentist office, one mile from the elementary school, one mile from a drug store, one mile from several fast food places, one mile from 7Eleven and other gas stations and one mile from the library/city center. We're two miles from church but that is okay. The only things that doesn't fit the one mile radius is Wal Mart - it is 1.5 miles away - and the high school - it is maybe 3 miles away. But, we had coordinated this morning exactly what was going to happen with the dentist. The first appointment was at 4pm which is exactly when the teenager gets home off the bus. The dentist is really great and they have a terrific theatre for kids to sit in and watch tv before/after their appointment. They also have the required dentist/doctor office oversized aquarium with colorful fish. I took the little one and got her appointment started, then ran back to the house to get the teenager. Then the cell phone rang and the teenager was still on the bus at 4pm - they had a substitute driver who was driving the route backward!! Of course on the day we needed to be coordinated - I told her to get off the bus at the next stop and I would get her. I grabbed her travel packet with floss, rinse, brush and toothpaste then drove back toward the dentist office - she had gotten off at a friend's house less than a half block from the dentist office - so that worked out well. Both girls had good checkups with zero cavities!! Almost as good news was the magazines in the waiting area were all relatively new!
We ran over to WalMart afterward to pick up one item that of course turned into three things - does anyone ever go into that place and get only the one item they went after?? The girls were hungry so we stopped at Applebee's for supper. We've only been in this Applebee's three times and each time we've had the same waitress - fortunately she is perhaps the best waitress I've ever had anywhere so that made for a pleasant dining experience.
Once we got home, I worked in the garage for another 30 minutes then the rain really started coming down and we had thunder so I decided to come inside the house. We dusted all the rooms and ran the vacuum. I installed the new roman shade in the master bath and it looks very nice plus it enhances the room as well.
The girls devotion was "I should have listenend" referencing Hebrews 1:1-2 - it talked about a little girl who went to Florida without a jacket - basically the story was about being prepared and listening to adults. My devotion yesterday was "Have a message and be one" referencing 2 Timoth 4:2. My devotion tonight was "Vision" referencing Acts 26:19. Just as I was getting ready to shut down the computer for the evening, I wound up exchanging e-mails with the pastor regarding the bus ministry and some enhancements to the church grounds.
The rain continued to fall as we close out Day Thirty Nine. Here's looking forward to Day Forty!!
The girls both had very good mornings. We changed the teenagers routine a little so she could get a little more study time in the morning and day one of that went good enough. We'll see next week when we have company and she does it four or five days in a row how much "sunshine" she can ooze!!
The sun was out and it was very pleasant when the bus ran for the little one. After she got on the bus, I made a quick trip to Goodwill to donate some stuff out of the garage. Fortunately they have a 24 hour box about five miles from the house. I made it home before the teenager left.
Once both girls were gone for the morning, I cleaned up e-mails and got the Make a Difference ready for next week. I will admit I've been slacking a little bit on that - normally I'm 30 days ahead but I allowed it to run down some. I'll start building it back up again to stay ahead. I also took part of the morning to finish the PowerPoint and my notes for the Friday night program. We will be talking about part II of Joseph from the Old Testament and how he was trusted with God's vision to save the Hebrews well before the famine.
Just as I was getting ready to leave to run some errands, my wife had the chance to call and that always makes the day so very nice. So far, we've only had one day out of 39 where we were not able to talk. I doubt that streak lasts much longer but I'll take what I can get. She only had 30 minutes to talk but that was okay - allowed me to catch her up on all that is going on and let her know all was good here. And in all honesty, things are all good here.
After the phone call, I sent a quick e-mail to our family members to update them - my wife did have some news I needed to share with them - so I took care of that. Then it was off to run errands and to fix something.
The afternoon was spent in the garage. The main issue is moving the shelving I already have in the garage - in order to do that, I have to unload the shelves, put it on the floor, dismantle the shelves, clean them, re-assemble the shelves and star loading them back up. Some things are going up in the loft area, some in the garbage and some on the shelving. I'll just say that progress was slow today.
When the little one got home, we did her homework and then went to the dentist. Perhaps the best thing about our house is that we are probably one mile from everything - two or three at the most. A lot of folks might be able to say "go one mile and you're at the store" - we are actually one mile from the dentist office, one mile from the elementary school, one mile from a drug store, one mile from several fast food places, one mile from 7Eleven and other gas stations and one mile from the library/city center. We're two miles from church but that is okay. The only things that doesn't fit the one mile radius is Wal Mart - it is 1.5 miles away - and the high school - it is maybe 3 miles away. But, we had coordinated this morning exactly what was going to happen with the dentist. The first appointment was at 4pm which is exactly when the teenager gets home off the bus. The dentist is really great and they have a terrific theatre for kids to sit in and watch tv before/after their appointment. They also have the required dentist/doctor office oversized aquarium with colorful fish. I took the little one and got her appointment started, then ran back to the house to get the teenager. Then the cell phone rang and the teenager was still on the bus at 4pm - they had a substitute driver who was driving the route backward!! Of course on the day we needed to be coordinated - I told her to get off the bus at the next stop and I would get her. I grabbed her travel packet with floss, rinse, brush and toothpaste then drove back toward the dentist office - she had gotten off at a friend's house less than a half block from the dentist office - so that worked out well. Both girls had good checkups with zero cavities!! Almost as good news was the magazines in the waiting area were all relatively new!
We ran over to WalMart afterward to pick up one item that of course turned into three things - does anyone ever go into that place and get only the one item they went after?? The girls were hungry so we stopped at Applebee's for supper. We've only been in this Applebee's three times and each time we've had the same waitress - fortunately she is perhaps the best waitress I've ever had anywhere so that made for a pleasant dining experience.
Once we got home, I worked in the garage for another 30 minutes then the rain really started coming down and we had thunder so I decided to come inside the house. We dusted all the rooms and ran the vacuum. I installed the new roman shade in the master bath and it looks very nice plus it enhances the room as well.
The girls devotion was "I should have listenend" referencing Hebrews 1:1-2 - it talked about a little girl who went to Florida without a jacket - basically the story was about being prepared and listening to adults. My devotion yesterday was "Have a message and be one" referencing 2 Timoth 4:2. My devotion tonight was "Vision" referencing Acts 26:19. Just as I was getting ready to shut down the computer for the evening, I wound up exchanging e-mails with the pastor regarding the bus ministry and some enhancements to the church grounds.
The rain continued to fall as we close out Day Thirty Nine. Here's looking forward to Day Forty!!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Day Thirty Eight - March 10, 2010
We had a very pleasant start to the day where everyone had a chance to talk with my wife on the phone for a few minutes. She didn't have much news to talk about, sounds as if she's trapped in the Navy's "hurry up and wait" mode. I remember that quite clearly from my military days - they would hurry up and rush us to a certain spot, then we'd wait. And wait. And then wait some more. Kind of kills the momentum of all concerned. Not that I'm fussing in my wife's situation - I'd rather her be bored where she's at right now that busy at her final destination. But it was nice to talk with her.
I was also able to share some photos of the gutters and what I'm doing in the garage with her via e-mail late last night - she was able to view them and comment. The gutters do blend in nicely with the house and are quite "un-noticeable" if that is a word. But that is very important in the gutter world! And to her credit, she could see what I was doing in the garage - the photos weren't the best but I did give her a narrative. And we had talked about this project before she left so she knew it was coming.
After talking to their mother for a little while, both girls got up and started getting ready. Breakfast was incident free and all progressed well. It was 50 degrees when the little one went outside and a perfectly clear day. She was happy I didn't make her wear gloves and a hat. Once her bus showed up, I worked in the garage a little while. I got all the holiday stuff up off the floor and onto the decking, swept that side of the garage really well and then started going through stuff on the other side of the garage. My whole goal is to get everything off the floor and on the deck - that will open the floor up completely. I have an 80" projection screen I'm going to mount so we can watch movies and the girls can play video games in the garage. While I'm not turning the whole garage into a playroom, we will certainly have more livable space for the entire house by doing this.
I stopped after about 90 minutes in the garage, got cleaned up and just as I was getting ready to leave the Head Deacon at our church called. He asked if I remembered seeing some brick at the new modular last night when I was there for out meeting. As he told me why he was asking, I told him I was heading down Battlefield to the post office anyway, I'd swing by the church and call him back. I took our nutso dog with me and away we went.
All was quiet at the church - no workers around or anything going on. I called the deacon back and we worked out the situation with the contractor. Of course Casey had run over to visit with Huck, the neighbor's dog, and I had to get her back in the truck so we could continue on.
Zero line at the post office this morning and two boxes were shipped off. What was left of the morning was spent cleaning the house, doing laundry and making sure I had all the bills done for the month. I spent part of the afternoon in the garage moving more stuff around - I'm really liking this project, it is going so well so far!
The little one came home and just as she got into the garage it started raining. We didn't get enough to test the gutters, that should happen tomorrow. I had to start supper early because today was the oldest daughter's first day at work - once she got home, she would have to change, eat and go to work. I'd be the taxi driver - taking her to work, then picking her up a couple of hours later and driving to church for evening service.
Our teenager doesn't handle stress well at all so she showed a little attitude when she got home. One of her teachers had e-mailed me earlier today that she didn't do well on an in-class assignment and it was obvious she hadn't studied. I gave her a little time to get organized and cleaned up, then as we were going downstairs for supper I asked her how chemistry class was going. I got the standard teenager "fine". I asked how she did on that particular assignment and if she was ready for the test Friday - she said that she wasn't sweating it. I asked what she scored and then the attitude popped out "99.9% of the kids did poorly and the teacher didn't seem concerned about the test plus she's not teaching from the book" she snarled! She doesn't give me attitude too often because she knows she rarely wins - I knew this was more because she was stressed about work, school and keeping her chores up so I remained calm. I said that her teacher must care, she took the time to send me an e-mail and in it 7 of 24 kids did exceptionally well which is no where near 99.9% and unfortunately she (my teenager) was somewhere on the backside of the Bell Curve instead of the frontside with her score. She had her chemistry book in her hand - the teacher had included the page number of the chart she was supposed to memorize, so I opened to that page and asked "is this the page she's not teaching from?" Like I've said before - we moved to this area specifically for the schools - they communicate exceptionally well with us and the kids can't pull much bologna. I reminded her who the adult was and who the high school student was, then asked her if she would like to rephrase her previous statement in the form of truth and proper tone. An e-mail from the teacher has a terrific way to stop teenager BS in its tracks pretty quickly. We moved past that discussion quickly with a plan to study for the Friday test.
After taking the teenager to work, we returned home and cleaned the kitchen. I also ironed my slacks and the little one's dress. It wasn't long before we had to return to pick the teenager up and then go to evening church.
The Wednesday night service is a small group of folks but the book we are using is excellent. It is the ABC's of Christian Growth and we are going very slowly. Tonight we started on the letter B - Bible!
Tournament basketball has started on TV - I watched a little of the games on ESPN tonight but wasn't really vested in any teams on. I'm not a real fan of any college basketball team but I will watch Kentucky or Ohio State if they are on. Other than those two, it is just noise in the background.
The girls devotion tonight was "Passing Grade" referencing 1 John 1:5-9. The little one read it to the dog - she'll listen to anything as long as you rub her belly! It talked about cheating at school and our 2nd grader had a hugely long story about a boy who cheated in her class - I asked her if only boys cheated or if girls could cheat as well; she said she only knew of boys that cheated but no Christian would cheat! Nothing like the faith of a child!! I took my devotion book with me in the car as we were waiting on the teenager but left it in there - I'll have to update you tomorrow on it.
Day Thirty Eight is in the books - here's looking forward to Day Thirty Nine!
I was also able to share some photos of the gutters and what I'm doing in the garage with her via e-mail late last night - she was able to view them and comment. The gutters do blend in nicely with the house and are quite "un-noticeable" if that is a word. But that is very important in the gutter world! And to her credit, she could see what I was doing in the garage - the photos weren't the best but I did give her a narrative. And we had talked about this project before she left so she knew it was coming.
After talking to their mother for a little while, both girls got up and started getting ready. Breakfast was incident free and all progressed well. It was 50 degrees when the little one went outside and a perfectly clear day. She was happy I didn't make her wear gloves and a hat. Once her bus showed up, I worked in the garage a little while. I got all the holiday stuff up off the floor and onto the decking, swept that side of the garage really well and then started going through stuff on the other side of the garage. My whole goal is to get everything off the floor and on the deck - that will open the floor up completely. I have an 80" projection screen I'm going to mount so we can watch movies and the girls can play video games in the garage. While I'm not turning the whole garage into a playroom, we will certainly have more livable space for the entire house by doing this.
I stopped after about 90 minutes in the garage, got cleaned up and just as I was getting ready to leave the Head Deacon at our church called. He asked if I remembered seeing some brick at the new modular last night when I was there for out meeting. As he told me why he was asking, I told him I was heading down Battlefield to the post office anyway, I'd swing by the church and call him back. I took our nutso dog with me and away we went.
All was quiet at the church - no workers around or anything going on. I called the deacon back and we worked out the situation with the contractor. Of course Casey had run over to visit with Huck, the neighbor's dog, and I had to get her back in the truck so we could continue on.
Zero line at the post office this morning and two boxes were shipped off. What was left of the morning was spent cleaning the house, doing laundry and making sure I had all the bills done for the month. I spent part of the afternoon in the garage moving more stuff around - I'm really liking this project, it is going so well so far!
The little one came home and just as she got into the garage it started raining. We didn't get enough to test the gutters, that should happen tomorrow. I had to start supper early because today was the oldest daughter's first day at work - once she got home, she would have to change, eat and go to work. I'd be the taxi driver - taking her to work, then picking her up a couple of hours later and driving to church for evening service.
Our teenager doesn't handle stress well at all so she showed a little attitude when she got home. One of her teachers had e-mailed me earlier today that she didn't do well on an in-class assignment and it was obvious she hadn't studied. I gave her a little time to get organized and cleaned up, then as we were going downstairs for supper I asked her how chemistry class was going. I got the standard teenager "fine". I asked how she did on that particular assignment and if she was ready for the test Friday - she said that she wasn't sweating it. I asked what she scored and then the attitude popped out "99.9% of the kids did poorly and the teacher didn't seem concerned about the test plus she's not teaching from the book" she snarled! She doesn't give me attitude too often because she knows she rarely wins - I knew this was more because she was stressed about work, school and keeping her chores up so I remained calm. I said that her teacher must care, she took the time to send me an e-mail and in it 7 of 24 kids did exceptionally well which is no where near 99.9% and unfortunately she (my teenager) was somewhere on the backside of the Bell Curve instead of the frontside with her score. She had her chemistry book in her hand - the teacher had included the page number of the chart she was supposed to memorize, so I opened to that page and asked "is this the page she's not teaching from?" Like I've said before - we moved to this area specifically for the schools - they communicate exceptionally well with us and the kids can't pull much bologna. I reminded her who the adult was and who the high school student was, then asked her if she would like to rephrase her previous statement in the form of truth and proper tone. An e-mail from the teacher has a terrific way to stop teenager BS in its tracks pretty quickly. We moved past that discussion quickly with a plan to study for the Friday test.
After taking the teenager to work, we returned home and cleaned the kitchen. I also ironed my slacks and the little one's dress. It wasn't long before we had to return to pick the teenager up and then go to evening church.
The Wednesday night service is a small group of folks but the book we are using is excellent. It is the ABC's of Christian Growth and we are going very slowly. Tonight we started on the letter B - Bible!
Tournament basketball has started on TV - I watched a little of the games on ESPN tonight but wasn't really vested in any teams on. I'm not a real fan of any college basketball team but I will watch Kentucky or Ohio State if they are on. Other than those two, it is just noise in the background.
The girls devotion tonight was "Passing Grade" referencing 1 John 1:5-9. The little one read it to the dog - she'll listen to anything as long as you rub her belly! It talked about cheating at school and our 2nd grader had a hugely long story about a boy who cheated in her class - I asked her if only boys cheated or if girls could cheat as well; she said she only knew of boys that cheated but no Christian would cheat! Nothing like the faith of a child!! I took my devotion book with me in the car as we were waiting on the teenager but left it in there - I'll have to update you tomorrow on it.
Day Thirty Eight is in the books - here's looking forward to Day Thirty Nine!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Day Thirty Seven - March 9, 2010
I must totally be over my jet lag - I was up at 4:30am and fully rested this morning! The past week I had the "swimmy head" as my wife's grandmother used to say and that is not a good way to start the day. Swimmy head doesn't go away until about the 10th soda!! But today, was good on many levels.
The girls both did well again today starting their day out so that was wonderful. Little one fixed cereal for her breakfast - the dog benefitted because there was a trail of milk soaked Cheeri-O's from the counter to the table - she had tilted her bowl a little too far to one side. The dog did a good job cleaning up, all I had to do was mop later in the morning!
Everyone had a chance to talk with my wife this morning and that was very nice. We'll take those phone calls as long as we can get them. She was in good spirits and sounded good. We decided what to get her on her birthday - she washed her I-Pod so we'll get her a new one and load it up for her then mail it to her. I didn't fuss at her, I figured she had enough on her mind in the first place and if washing an I-Pod is the worst thing that happens, then I'll be thankful. I think getting to talk with the girls made her day as well so it was a win-win for everyone.
I anticipated - well, let me change that to I expected - the guy doing the work in the garage to be there around 8ish this morning. He called about 8:15 to tell me his helper didn't show up and he was looking for him. Those of you that know me realize what was going through my mind - of all the things I value, being where you said you were going to be when you said you would be there is pretty close if not at the top of my list of things you must do. But I realize who I was dealing with so I was kind and told him to call me when he was on his way.
I took the dog to get her flu booster shot - it is always something with a pet around here! The vet is just around the corner, less than one mile from our front door to their entrance. Our dog is a mess when she goes into the vet's - it is also in the same building as the kennel - I don't speak dog so I don't know if she's excited, nervous or just an idiot when she gets in public - whatever it is, she's no fun to be around! It took the tech all of 30 seconds to get her, take her to the room, give her the shot and bring her back. That was one dollar per second!! Good thing it wasn't an hour long procedure!!!! I'm not done with dog stories yet - she has one more "rooftop" moment later in the day.
I got home and the guy still hadn't shown up. I worked on a few things, folded laundry and stayed busy around the house. Finally at 10:32am (can you tell I'm a little peeved by now?) he calls and says he is on his way. He started in this great big, long, overboard story about how he couldn't find the guy and all that - I told him I didn't want to hear his story, I would see him soon.
Lunch was enjoyable considering the guy still hadn't shown up. It was close to 12:30 or so when he finally did. Now, I'm a very easy person to read and I do very little to mask my emotions - he caught on real fast I wasn't interested in hearing his story, I just wanted the work done and done correctly.
As with most laborers like him, he forgot one item from his original bill of materials. He said he was going to run to Lowe's to pick it up but I stopped him and told him he should stay here and start the process, I would go get it. That little trip took about 30 minutes round trip - he did have a good start on the project by the time I got back so that was good for him.
It was a little stuffy in the house so I opened a window close to my desk. The screens were out in the garage and in a place I couldn't get to but to be quite honest I didn't think much about it. A few minutes before the little one arrived home from school, I walked out to the front porch and then down in the yard to wait on the bus. As I was standing in the yard I heard the dog bark at me - I turned toward the upstairs to see her walking on the roof!!! The dog had climbed out the window and was walking on the second floor roof line - YIKES!! I don't take her out to meet the bus because she can't sit still when the bus arrives and I'm afraid she will run in the street to meet the little one so I leave her inside. But I never, ever thought she would run back upstairs and climb out the window on the roof but there she was! The bus was coming up the street so I had to sprint back inside and up the stairs to the open window - yes, I know my fault for leaving the window open - and grabbed her. I was afraid when she saw the bus pull up she would leap off the roof and get hurt - just what I didn't need. Yes, the screens are back in the upstairs windows!! Stupid dog - stupid me!
The little one got home as normal and had a good day at school. She only had a little bit of homework and she got that done. It was a beautiful day so she went outside to play on the trampoline while I sat on the back deck and read a book. I could hear the saw and nail gun from the garage so that was good.
The oldest daughter got home with a pile of homework again. I don't remember having that much home work in high school but she does stay busy.
Supper tonight was very good - seasoned pork chops, alfredo noodles, green beans and bread. The pork chops from the butcher are really good - nice and thick with the right amount of fat on the edges - as you cook them they stay so moist and juicy - almost like a bacon wrap! Once you cut away the fat, the meat is just so good.
The guy in the garage finally finished right as we finished supper. I checked his work, had him clean up his mess and paid him. I will admit his work was good and exactly what I wanted. Now I'll just need to paint it and move forward. Once I finish the garage project, I'm going to work on the landscaping that took a beating during the winter months and rain storms.
We had the pastor's roundtable tonight and that was good. A small group but those are the best kind. We didn't have much new business and that leads to more time for prayer and reflection. We don't make decisions for the church in these meetings but we do discuss items, come to an understanding and then once we present it to the church during a business meeting, we appear to be more unified. It really keeps issues to a minimum in the church.
The oldest daughter got a call from her new job tonight and she will start the computer stuff tomorrow evening. We are going to have to adjust her homework/study schedule so she'll be able to pull this off.
The girls' devotion tonight was "Casts and crutches" referencing Philippians 4:10-13. It talked about complaining and letting a physical ailment hinder you. We talked how the same thought process works for allowing money issues to hinder you as well. My devotion was "the time of relapse" referencing John 6:67 - it talked about walking with Jesus while you do His work then reminded us many do the work of the church for their own reasons, not God's reasons.
Day Thirty Seven comes to a close - here's looking forward to Day Thirty Eight!
The girls both did well again today starting their day out so that was wonderful. Little one fixed cereal for her breakfast - the dog benefitted because there was a trail of milk soaked Cheeri-O's from the counter to the table - she had tilted her bowl a little too far to one side. The dog did a good job cleaning up, all I had to do was mop later in the morning!
Everyone had a chance to talk with my wife this morning and that was very nice. We'll take those phone calls as long as we can get them. She was in good spirits and sounded good. We decided what to get her on her birthday - she washed her I-Pod so we'll get her a new one and load it up for her then mail it to her. I didn't fuss at her, I figured she had enough on her mind in the first place and if washing an I-Pod is the worst thing that happens, then I'll be thankful. I think getting to talk with the girls made her day as well so it was a win-win for everyone.
I anticipated - well, let me change that to I expected - the guy doing the work in the garage to be there around 8ish this morning. He called about 8:15 to tell me his helper didn't show up and he was looking for him. Those of you that know me realize what was going through my mind - of all the things I value, being where you said you were going to be when you said you would be there is pretty close if not at the top of my list of things you must do. But I realize who I was dealing with so I was kind and told him to call me when he was on his way.
I took the dog to get her flu booster shot - it is always something with a pet around here! The vet is just around the corner, less than one mile from our front door to their entrance. Our dog is a mess when she goes into the vet's - it is also in the same building as the kennel - I don't speak dog so I don't know if she's excited, nervous or just an idiot when she gets in public - whatever it is, she's no fun to be around! It took the tech all of 30 seconds to get her, take her to the room, give her the shot and bring her back. That was one dollar per second!! Good thing it wasn't an hour long procedure!!!! I'm not done with dog stories yet - she has one more "rooftop" moment later in the day.
I got home and the guy still hadn't shown up. I worked on a few things, folded laundry and stayed busy around the house. Finally at 10:32am (can you tell I'm a little peeved by now?) he calls and says he is on his way. He started in this great big, long, overboard story about how he couldn't find the guy and all that - I told him I didn't want to hear his story, I would see him soon.
Lunch was enjoyable considering the guy still hadn't shown up. It was close to 12:30 or so when he finally did. Now, I'm a very easy person to read and I do very little to mask my emotions - he caught on real fast I wasn't interested in hearing his story, I just wanted the work done and done correctly.
As with most laborers like him, he forgot one item from his original bill of materials. He said he was going to run to Lowe's to pick it up but I stopped him and told him he should stay here and start the process, I would go get it. That little trip took about 30 minutes round trip - he did have a good start on the project by the time I got back so that was good for him.
It was a little stuffy in the house so I opened a window close to my desk. The screens were out in the garage and in a place I couldn't get to but to be quite honest I didn't think much about it. A few minutes before the little one arrived home from school, I walked out to the front porch and then down in the yard to wait on the bus. As I was standing in the yard I heard the dog bark at me - I turned toward the upstairs to see her walking on the roof!!! The dog had climbed out the window and was walking on the second floor roof line - YIKES!! I don't take her out to meet the bus because she can't sit still when the bus arrives and I'm afraid she will run in the street to meet the little one so I leave her inside. But I never, ever thought she would run back upstairs and climb out the window on the roof but there she was! The bus was coming up the street so I had to sprint back inside and up the stairs to the open window - yes, I know my fault for leaving the window open - and grabbed her. I was afraid when she saw the bus pull up she would leap off the roof and get hurt - just what I didn't need. Yes, the screens are back in the upstairs windows!! Stupid dog - stupid me!
The little one got home as normal and had a good day at school. She only had a little bit of homework and she got that done. It was a beautiful day so she went outside to play on the trampoline while I sat on the back deck and read a book. I could hear the saw and nail gun from the garage so that was good.
The oldest daughter got home with a pile of homework again. I don't remember having that much home work in high school but she does stay busy.
Supper tonight was very good - seasoned pork chops, alfredo noodles, green beans and bread. The pork chops from the butcher are really good - nice and thick with the right amount of fat on the edges - as you cook them they stay so moist and juicy - almost like a bacon wrap! Once you cut away the fat, the meat is just so good.
The guy in the garage finally finished right as we finished supper. I checked his work, had him clean up his mess and paid him. I will admit his work was good and exactly what I wanted. Now I'll just need to paint it and move forward. Once I finish the garage project, I'm going to work on the landscaping that took a beating during the winter months and rain storms.
We had the pastor's roundtable tonight and that was good. A small group but those are the best kind. We didn't have much new business and that leads to more time for prayer and reflection. We don't make decisions for the church in these meetings but we do discuss items, come to an understanding and then once we present it to the church during a business meeting, we appear to be more unified. It really keeps issues to a minimum in the church.
The oldest daughter got a call from her new job tonight and she will start the computer stuff tomorrow evening. We are going to have to adjust her homework/study schedule so she'll be able to pull this off.
The girls' devotion tonight was "Casts and crutches" referencing Philippians 4:10-13. It talked about complaining and letting a physical ailment hinder you. We talked how the same thought process works for allowing money issues to hinder you as well. My devotion was "the time of relapse" referencing John 6:67 - it talked about walking with Jesus while you do His work then reminded us many do the work of the church for their own reasons, not God's reasons.
Day Thirty Seven comes to a close - here's looking forward to Day Thirty Eight!
Day Thirty Six - March 8, 2010
It appears everyone is finally over the jet lag we seemed to be hampered by late last week! Today was a very productive day for all concerned. The little one got up, took her shower, got dressed and made her breakfast without a problem. Just a note about her making her breakfast - it is just as much, if not more work for me but she is developing a spirit of independence that I think everyone needs. We've cleaned up a couple of milk messes and had some issue getting a cereal bowl or two from the "pouring" spot to the table but I can live with those. Right now we are working on her being more consistent in getting her empty dishes from the table to the sink!
Our teenager must have been fully rested, all I had to do was open her door and turn on the light this morning for her to get going!
The day was absolutely beautiful - so nice in fact that the regular bus driver took the day off! Fortunately both girls were able to jump on another bus that runs by the house later to make it to school.
Had a chance to talk with my wife for 15 minutes today - we'll certainly have to remember the USO the next time they ask for financial assistance! They have certainly made things nice for all concerned. She was in good spirits and sounded well. One of her former division directors was in camp and she saw a couple of other people she had worked with in the past so that gave her some comfort!
After the phone call, the day really shifted into a higher gear. I talked with the guy who was going to work in the garage Tuesday just to make sure the list was correct, then it was off to the lumber yard. They were quite organized so getting the lumber was easy enough, loading it was a different story! But I was able to do so and get it home and into the garage. Later in the day, I made a trip to Home Depot and Lowe's to pick up some other items for the project. I'm ready to get this one over with - I'm sure it will enhance the house a lot; I promise you it will enhance my feelings about the garage!
The line at the post office today was long, at least for our branch. They had two postal workers at the counter so the line went pretty fast. I can remember days in Maryland waiting 45 minutes to an hour at the post office on a normal day - here 10 minutes is a long wait! I was able to mail off two more boxes so once all these arrive she should have plenty of supplies. I have four more boxes at home packed, wrapped and ready to go. I'll probably send two more Wednesday and two Thursday. Once my wife arrives at her final destination she can tell me what the PX doesn't stock.
The youngest daughter made it home safely and we ran out to the guy's house that was working on my computer. He was able to get it to run and work but it still won't access the Internet but I can live with that. I'll make sure I have all my files off the computer that I want and then we'll see what we'll do with it.
The oldest daughter had a good day at school but came home loaded down with homework. She always comes home with a backpack full of books so you never know what she really has to do or not but she worked hard most of the night.
The girls wanted hot dogs for supper so I made those, mac&cheese and fries. Plus we had a good chat while eating so that was nice. We talked about suppers for the rest of the week as well as the missionaries coming to stay with us for a week.
The first part of the evening after supper we moved things around in the garage so the work could begin tomorrow. I just need to move the freezer in the morning and he can get started. The girls were a big help until the first spider came out of his slumber and they decided that was enough for them - darn city girls! I spent part of the evening working on my topic for Friday night and getting it ready - we are in week two of a look at Joseph's life from the Old Testament giving it current day implications to our lives. I also took a little time to clean up my Internet - I've decided I'm going to minimize my exposure to negative people and cut way back on my Internet time - both are real thieves of my time.
My devotion tonight was "The Relinquished Life" referencing Galatians 2:20. The girls devotion tonight was "slug bug" referencing Numbers 13:25-33 - it spoke about how you see things - good or bad? Kind of went along with my resolve to minimize or eliminate my exposure to negative people!
Day Thirty Six comes to a close. Here's looking forward to Day Thirty Seven!
Our teenager must have been fully rested, all I had to do was open her door and turn on the light this morning for her to get going!
The day was absolutely beautiful - so nice in fact that the regular bus driver took the day off! Fortunately both girls were able to jump on another bus that runs by the house later to make it to school.
Had a chance to talk with my wife for 15 minutes today - we'll certainly have to remember the USO the next time they ask for financial assistance! They have certainly made things nice for all concerned. She was in good spirits and sounded well. One of her former division directors was in camp and she saw a couple of other people she had worked with in the past so that gave her some comfort!
After the phone call, the day really shifted into a higher gear. I talked with the guy who was going to work in the garage Tuesday just to make sure the list was correct, then it was off to the lumber yard. They were quite organized so getting the lumber was easy enough, loading it was a different story! But I was able to do so and get it home and into the garage. Later in the day, I made a trip to Home Depot and Lowe's to pick up some other items for the project. I'm ready to get this one over with - I'm sure it will enhance the house a lot; I promise you it will enhance my feelings about the garage!
The line at the post office today was long, at least for our branch. They had two postal workers at the counter so the line went pretty fast. I can remember days in Maryland waiting 45 minutes to an hour at the post office on a normal day - here 10 minutes is a long wait! I was able to mail off two more boxes so once all these arrive she should have plenty of supplies. I have four more boxes at home packed, wrapped and ready to go. I'll probably send two more Wednesday and two Thursday. Once my wife arrives at her final destination she can tell me what the PX doesn't stock.
The youngest daughter made it home safely and we ran out to the guy's house that was working on my computer. He was able to get it to run and work but it still won't access the Internet but I can live with that. I'll make sure I have all my files off the computer that I want and then we'll see what we'll do with it.
The oldest daughter had a good day at school but came home loaded down with homework. She always comes home with a backpack full of books so you never know what she really has to do or not but she worked hard most of the night.
The girls wanted hot dogs for supper so I made those, mac&cheese and fries. Plus we had a good chat while eating so that was nice. We talked about suppers for the rest of the week as well as the missionaries coming to stay with us for a week.
The first part of the evening after supper we moved things around in the garage so the work could begin tomorrow. I just need to move the freezer in the morning and he can get started. The girls were a big help until the first spider came out of his slumber and they decided that was enough for them - darn city girls! I spent part of the evening working on my topic for Friday night and getting it ready - we are in week two of a look at Joseph's life from the Old Testament giving it current day implications to our lives. I also took a little time to clean up my Internet - I've decided I'm going to minimize my exposure to negative people and cut way back on my Internet time - both are real thieves of my time.
My devotion tonight was "The Relinquished Life" referencing Galatians 2:20. The girls devotion tonight was "slug bug" referencing Numbers 13:25-33 - it spoke about how you see things - good or bad? Kind of went along with my resolve to minimize or eliminate my exposure to negative people!
Day Thirty Six comes to a close. Here's looking forward to Day Thirty Seven!
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Day Thirty Five - March 7, 2010
The absolute toughest day of the week is Sunday! Well, more accurately from 11am until about 12:30pm is the toughest part of the week!! It wasn't much easier today but I was able to survive!
I was so glad I cleaned the kitchen last night before I went to bed - I strongly considered waiting until today. Personal self-discipline is a key to being a stay-behind person on the deployment - I can see where it might be tougher for someone without kids in the house during a time like this because there are moments when you just want to say "who cares, it'll be there tomorrow" and forget about it. But I'm not going to allow myself to get into that mindset - once it happens the first time, it will become a consistent failure not to mention a poor example for the girls.
I am glad I set the alarm last night though - I probably would have slept a little longer than I did! When the dog heard the alarm, she was at the door waiting on me - she really had to pee and must have been full to her eyeballs! I grabbed the paper and waited on her - I'm really going to have to put some type of shoe by the front door at night, the concrete is quite chilly in the morning! Once back inside, I started the water for the elbow macaroni and I checked on the banana pudding I made last night - okay, so maybe I took a little taste but someone had to be the first to try it! It tasted very good. I'll never be a five star chef or anything like that, just not my passion, but I can certainly read a recipe card! The macaroni and cheese went into the oven as we were eating a bowl of cereal. Both girls were in good spirits and they both enjoy going to church. Plus today our friend, Dr. Yoho was going to lead Sunday School, the 11am and 6pm services talking about 1 Corinthians 13. I have only known him for a few months now but we have developed a really good friendship.
Getting dressed and ready went good. We had the great fortune of talking with my wife again this morning - she was at the USO and was able to call. She was no longer a zombie as she had 11 hours of sleep last night and sounded much more like her normal self. But all was good with her - she can't go into much detail or specifics with us about who, what, when, where and how but the important thing was we all got the chance to talk with her.
I let the teenager drive to Sunday School this morning and her decision making process is still off a little. By now she should be able to drive from the house to church with her eyes closed but it just isn't happening yet. I'm hoping the light comes on quickly - I'll jump ahead a little bit to after church and letting her drive home - let's just say she got chewed out for her rather poor performance on the way home and she was told to either find her focus or there was no way I was going to even let her attempt to get her license in April when she's eligible.
I started off the Sunday School service by taking prayer requests and leading the opening prayer. Dr. Yoho took over after that and gave us a re-hash of what he talked about at our Valentine's Dinner - he started this series then but today he was going to go all the way through it over the three services. I'll just suffice it to say that he gave an excellent sermon and I wound up with three pages of notes! I must also compliment our pastor - not many pastors would step aside and let another man speak from God's pulpit like that but our pastor is big enough to allow others to be a voice.
We had fellowship after the 11am service and the food was very good. I was surprised the macaroni and cheese was wiped out quickly - I will admit it did taste good. We had an abundant supply of desserts as well and my wife's banana pudding was cleaned out as well. Dr. Yoho and his wife sat at our table and we had a very pleasant conversation over fried chicken, mac&cheese, potato salad, green beans and dessert. Yoho has been both a source of wisdom and a challenge to me - I really do enjoy people that cause me to stretch outside of my normal self - Yoho does that quite well.
After our less than decent drive home and heart-to-heart discussion, I started a load of towels in the laundry while the girls got their homework finished and backpacks ready for school. The little one terrorized the dog and vice versa for a little while. Finally the chicken kicked in and the girls laid across the bed playing video games for about an hour. I did some research based on my conversation with Dr. Yoho and then applied for a job. After that, I took a short nap - I was just completely out of gas!
We had to be back to church at 5 for choir practice - the teenager drove and did better this time - she does well as long as she is completely focused. The girls are in the choir and enjoy it a lot. They were practicing their Easter presentation of songs - I was in the back pew talking with the pastor and some how I wasn't paying enough attention to the music director, the next thing I know I wind up with a speaking part for the presentation!! I'm going to have to keep an eye on them women next week so I don' wind up with more!!
I will continue my thought process that I cannot even imagine taking on the challenge of maintaining a decent home for the girls during a deployment without being actively involved in the right church. This group of people are so very wonderful and so encouraging. I also had a chance to talk with Dr. Yoho before the service and we'll continue our discussions over the next few weeks.
Yoho's conclusion to 1 Corinthians 13 was exceptional. I have never been the kind of person that could quote Bible verses from memory very well and I was amazed at how strong his memory and retention of the verses was. I wound up with almost 2 more pages of notes.
As with most guest speakers, the service ran a little longer than normal but that was okay. We drove through Wendy's on the way home and had chicken sandwiches. The girls devotion tonight was "Brianna's Baby Book" referencing Colossians 3:23-24 and it talked about not dwelling on failures and mistakes. The teenager needed that after her driving this afternoon! My devotion was "Undaunted radiance" referencing Romans 8:37. It was a continuance of yesterday's reading.
30 Sundays to go!! I've gotten a lot of advice from folks about counting or not counting how many days, weeks or months to go. Each person has their own logic behind why or why not to count a certain way - to be honest none of them really make the time go faster, it all comes down to how your mind is best able to handle the time apart. Day Thirty Five is in the books, here's looking forward to Day Thirty Six!!
I was so glad I cleaned the kitchen last night before I went to bed - I strongly considered waiting until today. Personal self-discipline is a key to being a stay-behind person on the deployment - I can see where it might be tougher for someone without kids in the house during a time like this because there are moments when you just want to say "who cares, it'll be there tomorrow" and forget about it. But I'm not going to allow myself to get into that mindset - once it happens the first time, it will become a consistent failure not to mention a poor example for the girls.
I am glad I set the alarm last night though - I probably would have slept a little longer than I did! When the dog heard the alarm, she was at the door waiting on me - she really had to pee and must have been full to her eyeballs! I grabbed the paper and waited on her - I'm really going to have to put some type of shoe by the front door at night, the concrete is quite chilly in the morning! Once back inside, I started the water for the elbow macaroni and I checked on the banana pudding I made last night - okay, so maybe I took a little taste but someone had to be the first to try it! It tasted very good. I'll never be a five star chef or anything like that, just not my passion, but I can certainly read a recipe card! The macaroni and cheese went into the oven as we were eating a bowl of cereal. Both girls were in good spirits and they both enjoy going to church. Plus today our friend, Dr. Yoho was going to lead Sunday School, the 11am and 6pm services talking about 1 Corinthians 13. I have only known him for a few months now but we have developed a really good friendship.
Getting dressed and ready went good. We had the great fortune of talking with my wife again this morning - she was at the USO and was able to call. She was no longer a zombie as she had 11 hours of sleep last night and sounded much more like her normal self. But all was good with her - she can't go into much detail or specifics with us about who, what, when, where and how but the important thing was we all got the chance to talk with her.
I let the teenager drive to Sunday School this morning and her decision making process is still off a little. By now she should be able to drive from the house to church with her eyes closed but it just isn't happening yet. I'm hoping the light comes on quickly - I'll jump ahead a little bit to after church and letting her drive home - let's just say she got chewed out for her rather poor performance on the way home and she was told to either find her focus or there was no way I was going to even let her attempt to get her license in April when she's eligible.
I started off the Sunday School service by taking prayer requests and leading the opening prayer. Dr. Yoho took over after that and gave us a re-hash of what he talked about at our Valentine's Dinner - he started this series then but today he was going to go all the way through it over the three services. I'll just suffice it to say that he gave an excellent sermon and I wound up with three pages of notes! I must also compliment our pastor - not many pastors would step aside and let another man speak from God's pulpit like that but our pastor is big enough to allow others to be a voice.
We had fellowship after the 11am service and the food was very good. I was surprised the macaroni and cheese was wiped out quickly - I will admit it did taste good. We had an abundant supply of desserts as well and my wife's banana pudding was cleaned out as well. Dr. Yoho and his wife sat at our table and we had a very pleasant conversation over fried chicken, mac&cheese, potato salad, green beans and dessert. Yoho has been both a source of wisdom and a challenge to me - I really do enjoy people that cause me to stretch outside of my normal self - Yoho does that quite well.
After our less than decent drive home and heart-to-heart discussion, I started a load of towels in the laundry while the girls got their homework finished and backpacks ready for school. The little one terrorized the dog and vice versa for a little while. Finally the chicken kicked in and the girls laid across the bed playing video games for about an hour. I did some research based on my conversation with Dr. Yoho and then applied for a job. After that, I took a short nap - I was just completely out of gas!
We had to be back to church at 5 for choir practice - the teenager drove and did better this time - she does well as long as she is completely focused. The girls are in the choir and enjoy it a lot. They were practicing their Easter presentation of songs - I was in the back pew talking with the pastor and some how I wasn't paying enough attention to the music director, the next thing I know I wind up with a speaking part for the presentation!! I'm going to have to keep an eye on them women next week so I don' wind up with more!!
I will continue my thought process that I cannot even imagine taking on the challenge of maintaining a decent home for the girls during a deployment without being actively involved in the right church. This group of people are so very wonderful and so encouraging. I also had a chance to talk with Dr. Yoho before the service and we'll continue our discussions over the next few weeks.
Yoho's conclusion to 1 Corinthians 13 was exceptional. I have never been the kind of person that could quote Bible verses from memory very well and I was amazed at how strong his memory and retention of the verses was. I wound up with almost 2 more pages of notes.
As with most guest speakers, the service ran a little longer than normal but that was okay. We drove through Wendy's on the way home and had chicken sandwiches. The girls devotion tonight was "Brianna's Baby Book" referencing Colossians 3:23-24 and it talked about not dwelling on failures and mistakes. The teenager needed that after her driving this afternoon! My devotion was "Undaunted radiance" referencing Romans 8:37. It was a continuance of yesterday's reading.
30 Sundays to go!! I've gotten a lot of advice from folks about counting or not counting how many days, weeks or months to go. Each person has their own logic behind why or why not to count a certain way - to be honest none of them really make the time go faster, it all comes down to how your mind is best able to handle the time apart. Day Thirty Five is in the books, here's looking forward to Day Thirty Six!!
Day Thirty Four - March 6, 2010
Today started out a little earlier than I planned but it was a very welcome wake up call from my wife. She had arrived safely at an intermediate destination and she was tired but okay. The USO had provided each person with a free 15 minute phone call home and it was so nice to hear her voice and she was safe. Currently her living arrangements aren't the best in the world but it could be worse - she's living in a tent with 24 other women - kind of a modern day harem if you will!! I doubt their uniforms are veils and mid-riff baring shirts though.
I took advantage of being the only one up and cleaned up the downstairs while the girls continued to sleep. Made my shopping list for a run to WalMart later in the day, took the dog for a walk and read the newspaper. I called my mother-in-law at a reasonable hour when I knew she would be up getting ready for work to let her know about her daughter and then we had a pleasant talk. She said she was surprised and happy to receive the photos with my wife's address on the back - I used a photo of my wife and mother-in-law from my wife's graduation from the master's program at USUHS. Now she can give them out to her friends at church and from her butcher shop in the grocery store. My mother-in-law is very nervous about her daughter being deployed and that is understandable - but at the same time she wants to be as involved as she can be so this helps her a little bit.
The girls were really tired and slept until well past 8am. I had baked biscuits and fried up some sandwich ham I picked up from the meat market. In theory and sight, it should have been pretty good - very nice cuts of meat and just the right thickness and size to fit on the biscuit. But boy were they ever salty!! Must have been double salt cured or something - I had about half a slice and couldn't take anymore. I had also fixed eggs so I went with that and put jelly on my biscuit. The little one wasn't a fan either but the teenager thought it was good. We all agreed that while it was a nice effort, we probably won't pick those up again!! At the same time, I think we were all smelling lunch that I had put in the crock pot - the smell of bar-b-que was really good and made us all look forward to lunch!
The rest of the morning was spent giving the dog a bath, cleaning bathrooms and then I spent the rest of the morning in the teenager's room - she was fussing she didn't have anything to wear to church so we cleaned out her closet and drawers. Let's just go with a little organization goes a long way - I knew her mom had gotten her plenty of dresses and skirts, we just had to find them and put them together. Sure enough, we found plenty of Sunday clothes as well as Monday through Saturday as well. We did wind up with three large garbage bags full of "donate" clothing. Her closet and drawers look very good now - we'll see how long that lasts!
Lunch finally arrived and we had boneless short ribs soaked in bar-b-que sauce, fried potatoes, baked beans and bread. Just in case we didn't have enough sauce on the ribs, which we did, I took the sauce from the crock pot and put it in a bowl so we could dip our rib into it. The ribs got the thumbs up from everyone and the girls want to have this one again soon - it wasn't very hard so we'll certainly do that! Even better, Phineas & Ferb were on TV as we had lunch!! Afterward, we all resisted the temptation for a nap and did a few more things around the house. The teenager also had a ton of homework to get done so she worked on it. The little one helped me.
In the evening we met a few other folks at the church. We drove to the house of a couple who attended the church but have not been physically able to attend the past couple of months. They are in their mid 80's and he is now really sick. It was a very nice service and the lady has always been so kind to us - was nice getting to see her again.
The day wasn't over just because the sun went down!! We stopped for some chicken on the way home and had a late supper. The girls stayed home and played video games on the TV downstairs while I ran to WalMart. We are having a farewell luncheon after church on Sunday. I decided to make banana pudding and baked mac&cheese plus we needed a few other things. I made the pudding when I got home and it tastes really good so I'm happy with that. At the same time, it does mess up several bowls so I had to do a late night sink full of dishes. Trust me when I say I don't function well at all after 9pm!! I'll have to really re-check all those bowls before I put them away! I'll make the mac&cheese in the morning before we go.
The girls devotion today was "Getting clean" referencing Revelation 21:10, 22-27 and talked about salvation. My devotion was "undaunted radiance" referencing Romans 8:37. It talked about things that can get in the way between you and God.
Day Thirty Four comes to a close. Tomorrow is another Sunday but Dr. Yoho will be speaking at all three services so I don't have to be prepared to lead the Sunday School class - here's looking forward to Day Thirty Five!
I took advantage of being the only one up and cleaned up the downstairs while the girls continued to sleep. Made my shopping list for a run to WalMart later in the day, took the dog for a walk and read the newspaper. I called my mother-in-law at a reasonable hour when I knew she would be up getting ready for work to let her know about her daughter and then we had a pleasant talk. She said she was surprised and happy to receive the photos with my wife's address on the back - I used a photo of my wife and mother-in-law from my wife's graduation from the master's program at USUHS. Now she can give them out to her friends at church and from her butcher shop in the grocery store. My mother-in-law is very nervous about her daughter being deployed and that is understandable - but at the same time she wants to be as involved as she can be so this helps her a little bit.
The girls were really tired and slept until well past 8am. I had baked biscuits and fried up some sandwich ham I picked up from the meat market. In theory and sight, it should have been pretty good - very nice cuts of meat and just the right thickness and size to fit on the biscuit. But boy were they ever salty!! Must have been double salt cured or something - I had about half a slice and couldn't take anymore. I had also fixed eggs so I went with that and put jelly on my biscuit. The little one wasn't a fan either but the teenager thought it was good. We all agreed that while it was a nice effort, we probably won't pick those up again!! At the same time, I think we were all smelling lunch that I had put in the crock pot - the smell of bar-b-que was really good and made us all look forward to lunch!
The rest of the morning was spent giving the dog a bath, cleaning bathrooms and then I spent the rest of the morning in the teenager's room - she was fussing she didn't have anything to wear to church so we cleaned out her closet and drawers. Let's just go with a little organization goes a long way - I knew her mom had gotten her plenty of dresses and skirts, we just had to find them and put them together. Sure enough, we found plenty of Sunday clothes as well as Monday through Saturday as well. We did wind up with three large garbage bags full of "donate" clothing. Her closet and drawers look very good now - we'll see how long that lasts!
Lunch finally arrived and we had boneless short ribs soaked in bar-b-que sauce, fried potatoes, baked beans and bread. Just in case we didn't have enough sauce on the ribs, which we did, I took the sauce from the crock pot and put it in a bowl so we could dip our rib into it. The ribs got the thumbs up from everyone and the girls want to have this one again soon - it wasn't very hard so we'll certainly do that! Even better, Phineas & Ferb were on TV as we had lunch!! Afterward, we all resisted the temptation for a nap and did a few more things around the house. The teenager also had a ton of homework to get done so she worked on it. The little one helped me.
In the evening we met a few other folks at the church. We drove to the house of a couple who attended the church but have not been physically able to attend the past couple of months. They are in their mid 80's and he is now really sick. It was a very nice service and the lady has always been so kind to us - was nice getting to see her again.
The day wasn't over just because the sun went down!! We stopped for some chicken on the way home and had a late supper. The girls stayed home and played video games on the TV downstairs while I ran to WalMart. We are having a farewell luncheon after church on Sunday. I decided to make banana pudding and baked mac&cheese plus we needed a few other things. I made the pudding when I got home and it tastes really good so I'm happy with that. At the same time, it does mess up several bowls so I had to do a late night sink full of dishes. Trust me when I say I don't function well at all after 9pm!! I'll have to really re-check all those bowls before I put them away! I'll make the mac&cheese in the morning before we go.
The girls devotion today was "Getting clean" referencing Revelation 21:10, 22-27 and talked about salvation. My devotion was "undaunted radiance" referencing Romans 8:37. It talked about things that can get in the way between you and God.
Day Thirty Four comes to a close. Tomorrow is another Sunday but Dr. Yoho will be speaking at all three services so I don't have to be prepared to lead the Sunday School class - here's looking forward to Day Thirty Five!
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Day Thirty Three - March 5, 2010
The girls were really happy it was Friday this morning - I think the weekend of travel and our normal schedule caught up with them! But they still did good getting up and going this morning. Even the bus driver was ready for the week to be over, she showed up early and honked the horn out front to get the youngest daughter!
The weather was beautiful all day - perfectly clear skies, mid 40's or so and just nice. I was able to walk around the yard and pick up some debris that had flown into the yard the past few days and checked out the gutters a little closer. We might get to test them out early next week! So much for the theory that my house's lack of gutters caused all the rain in the area the past year!
I spent the morning getting boxes ready to ship to my wife who was still on an airplane heading toward her destination. She left Thursday evening and I imagine they would be flying all day Friday. The lady at the post office was very nice and she gave me a stack of the custom's forms that have to be put on each package. I figure after the first week or so, I'll mail one package a week. Right now the packages serve two purposes - the plastic shoe box so my wife can safely store her stuff (I'll send a total of 10 for now) and then the stuff inside so she has some reserve. The postal clerk did give me a sermon on why we cannot send pork products overseas - that is not really a concern for us, I hadn't planned on sending any over there but it would eliminate potted ham and vienna sausages - my wife doesn't care much for those anyway so I've been sending tuna packages (in water).
I took the dog with me this morning and of course when I got back to the car I got the "you've been gone for years and I've missed you so badly" interrogation my dog gives! I was running low on caffeine so a quick stop at 7Eleven where the lady gave me a dog treat for the dog (casey was in the front window watching my every move) and we drove over to the church. They had bought a new gas grill with side burners the few days I was gone - I don't remember volunteering to put it together but they said I did, so I spent an hour putting it together. They picked it up at WalMart and I will give them credit - it is very nice.
Lunch was another meat loaf sandwich - while it was good, I'm a little tired of meat loaf now! The pastor from our church in Maryland sent an e-mail saying he had received the photos I sent him - I mailed them 150 photos of my wife with her address on the back. They have been such a good church and a loving bunch of people. Will be nice to see them when we go up on the 20th!
The youngest daughter got home as normal and said she was "flat out tired"! She had a small snack of grapes and a cheese stick then went up to her room to put her school stuff away. She was laying on her floor watching TV and petting the dog when I came by - about five minutes later she was passed out on the floor and the dog was asleep in her bed! Something wrong about that picture! But I left them alone, covered her up and let her take a nap - I did make the dog get off the bed, she knows she's not allowed on the furniture - she just went down to the front door and slept in the sunny spot. The oldest daughter had to stay after school to make up a test she missed Monday so we had a little time to spare.
Around 4ish I got the youngest daughter up and ready, we headed over to the high school and once the oldest daughter was done with her test, we drove over to the church. We had a nice turn out for the teen group. Food was good enough - they cooked mild italian sausage, sundried tomatoes and pasta. I didn't figure the little one would like it and she didn't - I told her we'd feed her something a little later. The lesson was well received - it was an overview on Joseph from the Old Testament and Trust. I'm going to spend the next few weeks on the subject.
The girls devotion was "Not just a game" referencing Acts 16:16-19 - it talked about comfort of your future - it went well with what I had talked about in church earlier and how we needed to trust God. My devotion was "Is he really Lord" referencing Acts 20:24. I talked about the joy in hearing "well done, good and faithful servant."
Day Thirty Three was the first time we hadn't heard from my wife but I trust she was safe. I know it had to be a long, long flight for her - it was a long, long day for us! Here's looking forward to Day Thirty Four.
The weather was beautiful all day - perfectly clear skies, mid 40's or so and just nice. I was able to walk around the yard and pick up some debris that had flown into the yard the past few days and checked out the gutters a little closer. We might get to test them out early next week! So much for the theory that my house's lack of gutters caused all the rain in the area the past year!
I spent the morning getting boxes ready to ship to my wife who was still on an airplane heading toward her destination. She left Thursday evening and I imagine they would be flying all day Friday. The lady at the post office was very nice and she gave me a stack of the custom's forms that have to be put on each package. I figure after the first week or so, I'll mail one package a week. Right now the packages serve two purposes - the plastic shoe box so my wife can safely store her stuff (I'll send a total of 10 for now) and then the stuff inside so she has some reserve. The postal clerk did give me a sermon on why we cannot send pork products overseas - that is not really a concern for us, I hadn't planned on sending any over there but it would eliminate potted ham and vienna sausages - my wife doesn't care much for those anyway so I've been sending tuna packages (in water).
I took the dog with me this morning and of course when I got back to the car I got the "you've been gone for years and I've missed you so badly" interrogation my dog gives! I was running low on caffeine so a quick stop at 7Eleven where the lady gave me a dog treat for the dog (casey was in the front window watching my every move) and we drove over to the church. They had bought a new gas grill with side burners the few days I was gone - I don't remember volunteering to put it together but they said I did, so I spent an hour putting it together. They picked it up at WalMart and I will give them credit - it is very nice.
Lunch was another meat loaf sandwich - while it was good, I'm a little tired of meat loaf now! The pastor from our church in Maryland sent an e-mail saying he had received the photos I sent him - I mailed them 150 photos of my wife with her address on the back. They have been such a good church and a loving bunch of people. Will be nice to see them when we go up on the 20th!
The youngest daughter got home as normal and said she was "flat out tired"! She had a small snack of grapes and a cheese stick then went up to her room to put her school stuff away. She was laying on her floor watching TV and petting the dog when I came by - about five minutes later she was passed out on the floor and the dog was asleep in her bed! Something wrong about that picture! But I left them alone, covered her up and let her take a nap - I did make the dog get off the bed, she knows she's not allowed on the furniture - she just went down to the front door and slept in the sunny spot. The oldest daughter had to stay after school to make up a test she missed Monday so we had a little time to spare.
Around 4ish I got the youngest daughter up and ready, we headed over to the high school and once the oldest daughter was done with her test, we drove over to the church. We had a nice turn out for the teen group. Food was good enough - they cooked mild italian sausage, sundried tomatoes and pasta. I didn't figure the little one would like it and she didn't - I told her we'd feed her something a little later. The lesson was well received - it was an overview on Joseph from the Old Testament and Trust. I'm going to spend the next few weeks on the subject.
The girls devotion was "Not just a game" referencing Acts 16:16-19 - it talked about comfort of your future - it went well with what I had talked about in church earlier and how we needed to trust God. My devotion was "Is he really Lord" referencing Acts 20:24. I talked about the joy in hearing "well done, good and faithful servant."
Day Thirty Three was the first time we hadn't heard from my wife but I trust she was safe. I know it had to be a long, long flight for her - it was a long, long day for us! Here's looking forward to Day Thirty Four.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Day Thirty Two - March 4, 2010
Today was a beautiful day and very productive for each of us. Today was also the one day we had been dreading for several months now. So much good but one great pain - which weighs more heavily on a heart?
The morning started out with the little one taking a shower. It was picture day at school and we had to tame the hair. She is letting it grow out so she can donate it to Locks of Love - she has done that twice in her life and enjoys doing so. They are a group that takes at least 12 inches of hair from donors like my daughter and wife, then weave the hair into wigs for those with cancer or other diseases that causes the person to lose their hair. It is such a pleasure to see such a loving heart and spirit in someone so little as our daughter. Still, we are going to have to visit the hair cut store soon to trim it up some - same with the oldest daughter; her hair doesn't grow long, it just gets really full and thick.
So, we tamed the hair and found the right outfit. Even though it was very pretty outside, it was still chilly so we debated on whether to wear a dress or jeans and a sweater. We went with the jeans and sweater. The primary purpose of today's photo was a class picture and the secondary was individual photos. The school had their photos done in September so this will be the second time around for the little one this year.
She had Cheerio's for breakfast - I've never seen anyone take so long to eat a bowl of cereal as she does! After that, she finished up her room and was ready to leave for school. While all this was going on, the oldest daughter was up and about, getting ready. I had gotten her a new shirt yesterday and she was going to wear it to school today but had to find the right jeans to wear also. I figured any old pair of jeans would go with a t-shirt but I guess I was wrong - had to be the perfect pair!
Once the girls were gone, I concentrated on my sermon topic for tomorrow night. I'm quite happy with what I came up with - tomorrow I'm going to do an overview of Joseph from the Old Testament and the five separate acts of his life. I'll spread the five acts out over the next month or so, taking a break for Palm Sunday and Easter - I have those presentations already completed. The basis of my topic is going to be Trust. I also prepared the PowerPoint slides for it as well.
I did have a couple of chances to talk with my wife today. They were all packed up and getting ready to board the airplane. They cleaned the barracks and did all their mustering and stuff. She sounded well and was ready to get the whole event started and over with. Same here.
The gutter guys came and installed the new gutters. They did an excellent job matching the gutter to the paint on the facia board - if you didn't know any better, you would have thought the gutters had been there the whole time.
I also talked with the guy who is going to work in my garage. He'll be here either Monday or Tuesday so I'll have to get the supplies this weekend and move the garage around. I'll be glad to get this project done.
I ordered the roman shade for the bathroom today as well. It took two additional phone calls from the company but the order is being processed and built. How hard is it to make a 46.5" x 46.0" roman shade in chocolate fabric with a white blackout liner on the back, inside mount and left side draw string? I'll let you know once it arrives. It appears the installation is pretty easy - the rep asked me if I could physically pick up a screwdriver; when I answered "yes" he said then I could install it. I never had a doubt I could get it in there though!
I was going to cook short ribs for supper but after talking with my wife, I'm going to wait until Saturday when they can be in the crock pot for 8 hours. Her logic made sense so I cooked minute steak and stewed them in diced tomatoes in the crock pot for a few hours. We had fried potatoes, corn and a roll with it also.
I finally got the summer camp thing all figured out, paid for and in the mail today. If there is a more confusing form or catalog, then I don't want to see it!
I printed my topic and slides for tomorrow, put them in my brief case and took the little one to dance/singing class. She really enjoys the class and I'm finding the obnoxious parents must be reading my blog because they aren't coming around anymore. Still one or two adults there still living vicariously through their kids - hoping all their fantasies are realized by their children. I've never understood that in a parent - I want my children to be abundantly happy and successful beyond all belief, but I want them to do so at something they want to do, not something I wish I had done. The hallway was quiet at Hurrah Players tonight and I was able to review and edit my presentation so it was productive. They really worked the kids hard tonight and my little one was tired when she finished. As a reward, we stopped at Sonic on the way home for three milk shakes!
I did have one final chance to talk with my wife this evening while I was sitting at Hurrah. She also talked with the girls and that was nice. She might give me one more call when the plane stops for refueling in middle America but we'll see. Once she gets over the Atlantic Ocean, she'll remove the battery from her cell phone, store it in a plastic bag and we'll use Skype or calling cards to talk. I doubt we'll be able to talk with her much at all while she's gone though.
The tax preparer left me a message while I was gone this evening and my amended return is ready to be picked up - I'll pick that up tomorrow and mail it in; Uncle Sam won't be too happy when he sees it though!
The girls devotions tonight were "Like Desert Plants (Part I)" referencing Psalm 37:30-31 and "Part II" referencing Isaiah 55:8-11. It talked about problems feeling like rain, falling all around you and our response to it. My devotions were "The unrelieved quest" referencing John 21:17 and "Could this be true of me" referencing Acts 20:24. We are all caught up now and I hope I remember our books the next trip we take!!
One final piece of good news - my desktop computer had caught a virus and shut itself down. A young man at church said he could fix it - while I was skeptical, I gave him a chance and he just called saying he was able to get it to work which is great news! When I get it back, I'll get everything off of there and stored on an external site. I've been backing up the laptop daily on Mozy.com so I'll probably do the same with it.
Day Thirty Two is over with and in the books. Here's looking forward to Day Thirty Three!!!
The morning started out with the little one taking a shower. It was picture day at school and we had to tame the hair. She is letting it grow out so she can donate it to Locks of Love - she has done that twice in her life and enjoys doing so. They are a group that takes at least 12 inches of hair from donors like my daughter and wife, then weave the hair into wigs for those with cancer or other diseases that causes the person to lose their hair. It is such a pleasure to see such a loving heart and spirit in someone so little as our daughter. Still, we are going to have to visit the hair cut store soon to trim it up some - same with the oldest daughter; her hair doesn't grow long, it just gets really full and thick.
So, we tamed the hair and found the right outfit. Even though it was very pretty outside, it was still chilly so we debated on whether to wear a dress or jeans and a sweater. We went with the jeans and sweater. The primary purpose of today's photo was a class picture and the secondary was individual photos. The school had their photos done in September so this will be the second time around for the little one this year.
She had Cheerio's for breakfast - I've never seen anyone take so long to eat a bowl of cereal as she does! After that, she finished up her room and was ready to leave for school. While all this was going on, the oldest daughter was up and about, getting ready. I had gotten her a new shirt yesterday and she was going to wear it to school today but had to find the right jeans to wear also. I figured any old pair of jeans would go with a t-shirt but I guess I was wrong - had to be the perfect pair!
Once the girls were gone, I concentrated on my sermon topic for tomorrow night. I'm quite happy with what I came up with - tomorrow I'm going to do an overview of Joseph from the Old Testament and the five separate acts of his life. I'll spread the five acts out over the next month or so, taking a break for Palm Sunday and Easter - I have those presentations already completed. The basis of my topic is going to be Trust. I also prepared the PowerPoint slides for it as well.
I did have a couple of chances to talk with my wife today. They were all packed up and getting ready to board the airplane. They cleaned the barracks and did all their mustering and stuff. She sounded well and was ready to get the whole event started and over with. Same here.
The gutter guys came and installed the new gutters. They did an excellent job matching the gutter to the paint on the facia board - if you didn't know any better, you would have thought the gutters had been there the whole time.
I also talked with the guy who is going to work in my garage. He'll be here either Monday or Tuesday so I'll have to get the supplies this weekend and move the garage around. I'll be glad to get this project done.
I ordered the roman shade for the bathroom today as well. It took two additional phone calls from the company but the order is being processed and built. How hard is it to make a 46.5" x 46.0" roman shade in chocolate fabric with a white blackout liner on the back, inside mount and left side draw string? I'll let you know once it arrives. It appears the installation is pretty easy - the rep asked me if I could physically pick up a screwdriver; when I answered "yes" he said then I could install it. I never had a doubt I could get it in there though!
I was going to cook short ribs for supper but after talking with my wife, I'm going to wait until Saturday when they can be in the crock pot for 8 hours. Her logic made sense so I cooked minute steak and stewed them in diced tomatoes in the crock pot for a few hours. We had fried potatoes, corn and a roll with it also.
I finally got the summer camp thing all figured out, paid for and in the mail today. If there is a more confusing form or catalog, then I don't want to see it!
I printed my topic and slides for tomorrow, put them in my brief case and took the little one to dance/singing class. She really enjoys the class and I'm finding the obnoxious parents must be reading my blog because they aren't coming around anymore. Still one or two adults there still living vicariously through their kids - hoping all their fantasies are realized by their children. I've never understood that in a parent - I want my children to be abundantly happy and successful beyond all belief, but I want them to do so at something they want to do, not something I wish I had done. The hallway was quiet at Hurrah Players tonight and I was able to review and edit my presentation so it was productive. They really worked the kids hard tonight and my little one was tired when she finished. As a reward, we stopped at Sonic on the way home for three milk shakes!
I did have one final chance to talk with my wife this evening while I was sitting at Hurrah. She also talked with the girls and that was nice. She might give me one more call when the plane stops for refueling in middle America but we'll see. Once she gets over the Atlantic Ocean, she'll remove the battery from her cell phone, store it in a plastic bag and we'll use Skype or calling cards to talk. I doubt we'll be able to talk with her much at all while she's gone though.
The tax preparer left me a message while I was gone this evening and my amended return is ready to be picked up - I'll pick that up tomorrow and mail it in; Uncle Sam won't be too happy when he sees it though!
The girls devotions tonight were "Like Desert Plants (Part I)" referencing Psalm 37:30-31 and "Part II" referencing Isaiah 55:8-11. It talked about problems feeling like rain, falling all around you and our response to it. My devotions were "The unrelieved quest" referencing John 21:17 and "Could this be true of me" referencing Acts 20:24. We are all caught up now and I hope I remember our books the next trip we take!!
One final piece of good news - my desktop computer had caught a virus and shut itself down. A young man at church said he could fix it - while I was skeptical, I gave him a chance and he just called saying he was able to get it to work which is great news! When I get it back, I'll get everything off of there and stored on an external site. I've been backing up the laptop daily on Mozy.com so I'll probably do the same with it.
Day Thirty Two is over with and in the books. Here's looking forward to Day Thirty Three!!!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Day Thirty One - March 3, 2010
We woke up to snow on the ground and slush on the roads this morning plus we had those giant, puffy snowflakes falling from the sky. As I walked out to rescue the newspaper, our ditches were full of water, the concrete was slippery and slushy and the snowflakes were really, really wet - almost like someone throwing a small slush ball at you! I thought for sure the girls would get to sleep in a little bit or school would be cancelled but that didn't happen. I opened the garage door and we stood in there waiting on the bus to show up - I had to shovel a path through the slush so the little one could safely make it to the bus. The bus driver blamed us for bringing the weather back with us from Seattle!!
I wound up running a couple of errands this morning since I won't be able to go anywhere Thursday due to the gutter guys coming. I stopped by the post office to drop off box number two and some letters - we still send birthday cards to the folks back at Central and stay in touch. We have two office supply stores relatively close by and neither one has everything you need. I picked up a new projector so I don't have to lug around the big 42" tv when I speak at church plus the oldest daughter has been using a dining room chair at her desk since her desk chair broke so I got her a really nice chair. Most of the cards I have for stationary have something written in them or are sympathy or birthday cards, so I stopped by Lifeway and picked up some blank cards so I could write to my wife and drop those in the mail. I'm going to encourage the girls to write often as well and keep their mom posted on what is going on - not only will it be good for all of them and keep her in the loop, it will enhance their letter writing skills. Our oldest daughter is such a creative writer but she struggles so much when we have her write a thank you or birthday card to someone.
The afternoon was quiet until the youngest one got home. I put the new chair together for the oldest daughter and swapped it out with the dining room chair. The other good thing about her new chair is she won't be able to lean back on one or two legs - it was just a matter of time before she broke that dining room chair even though it is relatively heavy duty.
Of course it was raining when the little one got home and an even bigger "duh" is she came sprinting off the bus with her jacket unzipped and no hood on. I can't wait for 20 years from now when she is fussing at her kids to zip up their jacket, wear their hats and wonder where all the gloves went - I can sit back and say "I remember when you didn't do any of that stuff, why should your children do it?" I'm sure she'll tell everyone she was an angel and deny all of it. Just in case, I'd better take photos!! We've been telling the oldest daughter for years now that when she gets an apartment or house, we're going to come over and drink red KoolAid on her furniture, not use a napkin and wipe our hands on the furniture, jump and bounce on the floors and furniture, leave our shoes in the middle of the floor and never, ever, ever replace an empty toilet paper roll - we'll just go to another bathroom instead of all that labor involved with swapping out a new roll.
We had what is fast becoming our favorite dinner tonight - meat loaf!! I will admit that it doesn't get much easier than this recipe and it is quite good. I get really good ground chuck from the meat store, add one egg, 1/2 cup milk, 1 cup bread crumbs and 2 tablespoons of spices from a bag the butcher sells, slather some ketchup across the top, bake at 350 for one hour, add some mashed potatoes and peas, put out a roll, fill three glasses of water and there you have supper! We have a few rules we must observe in the house - with mashed potatoes you have to have either peas or corn but you cannot have steamed peas, they must be from a can. Also, the corn has to be whole kernel, do not dare put cream corn out. A regular slice of bread from a loaf will not work either - you have to buy either potato rolls or those hawaiian breads. See, isn't meal time so much fun!! The good thing is I'll have meat loaf sandwich for lunch tomorrow!
Church service this evening was good and everyone was in a nice mood. We don't seem to have much in the way of gossip or poo-stirrers in this church and it is so nice. We are going through the ABC's of Christian Growth on Wednesday nights and it is such a nice compliment to the Sunday School class I teach. We've loaded the course on my wife's computer and I'll start sending her the lesson answers so she can keep up on both of them. The writer of the course I'm using on Sunday mornings is quite the hoot - he sends some very funny e-mails almost daily - he stays closely connected to our church and really likes us. We met him our first Sunday when we visited this church and we've e-mailed since.
We had a chance to talk with my wife tonight. She was doing some of her final phone calls before she leaves, talking with her sister, her mom and dad. She sounded good and is staying positive. I'm sure she must be nervous but I'm not hearing it in her voice. She just wants to get this started and over with. I'll probably have the chance to talk with her tomorrow during the day and that will be it for awhile. We all just want this over with. The good news is the first month flew by - we have March madness staring in a week or so and that time always seems to fly by, then baseball season starts in April. Even though they play 162 games, the season flies by as well - she'll be home just as the regular season ends and the Reds have finished a couple of games below .500 again!
The devotions tonight were good. The girls did "Family Members" referencing Galatians 4:1-7 and "The Picture Puzzle" referencing Romans 12:3-8. They should be caught back up after tomorrow night and will be able to return to one per night. My book has a February 29th in it, so I did three tonight - the first was "What do you want the Lord to do for you?" referencing Luke 18:41. The second was "The undeviating question" referencing John 21:17. Finally I read "Have you felt the hurt of the Lord?" once again referencing John 21:17.
As Day Thirty One comes to a close, it is still raining outside. It must be low tide because our ditches are less than half full. Tomorrow is a full day and one when my concern for my wife's safety will start to kick in overdrive - still, I'm looking forward to Day Thirty Two; without it, there cannot be a Day Two Hundred and Forty Six.
I wound up running a couple of errands this morning since I won't be able to go anywhere Thursday due to the gutter guys coming. I stopped by the post office to drop off box number two and some letters - we still send birthday cards to the folks back at Central and stay in touch. We have two office supply stores relatively close by and neither one has everything you need. I picked up a new projector so I don't have to lug around the big 42" tv when I speak at church plus the oldest daughter has been using a dining room chair at her desk since her desk chair broke so I got her a really nice chair. Most of the cards I have for stationary have something written in them or are sympathy or birthday cards, so I stopped by Lifeway and picked up some blank cards so I could write to my wife and drop those in the mail. I'm going to encourage the girls to write often as well and keep their mom posted on what is going on - not only will it be good for all of them and keep her in the loop, it will enhance their letter writing skills. Our oldest daughter is such a creative writer but she struggles so much when we have her write a thank you or birthday card to someone.
The afternoon was quiet until the youngest one got home. I put the new chair together for the oldest daughter and swapped it out with the dining room chair. The other good thing about her new chair is she won't be able to lean back on one or two legs - it was just a matter of time before she broke that dining room chair even though it is relatively heavy duty.
Of course it was raining when the little one got home and an even bigger "duh" is she came sprinting off the bus with her jacket unzipped and no hood on. I can't wait for 20 years from now when she is fussing at her kids to zip up their jacket, wear their hats and wonder where all the gloves went - I can sit back and say "I remember when you didn't do any of that stuff, why should your children do it?" I'm sure she'll tell everyone she was an angel and deny all of it. Just in case, I'd better take photos!! We've been telling the oldest daughter for years now that when she gets an apartment or house, we're going to come over and drink red KoolAid on her furniture, not use a napkin and wipe our hands on the furniture, jump and bounce on the floors and furniture, leave our shoes in the middle of the floor and never, ever, ever replace an empty toilet paper roll - we'll just go to another bathroom instead of all that labor involved with swapping out a new roll.
We had what is fast becoming our favorite dinner tonight - meat loaf!! I will admit that it doesn't get much easier than this recipe and it is quite good. I get really good ground chuck from the meat store, add one egg, 1/2 cup milk, 1 cup bread crumbs and 2 tablespoons of spices from a bag the butcher sells, slather some ketchup across the top, bake at 350 for one hour, add some mashed potatoes and peas, put out a roll, fill three glasses of water and there you have supper! We have a few rules we must observe in the house - with mashed potatoes you have to have either peas or corn but you cannot have steamed peas, they must be from a can. Also, the corn has to be whole kernel, do not dare put cream corn out. A regular slice of bread from a loaf will not work either - you have to buy either potato rolls or those hawaiian breads. See, isn't meal time so much fun!! The good thing is I'll have meat loaf sandwich for lunch tomorrow!
Church service this evening was good and everyone was in a nice mood. We don't seem to have much in the way of gossip or poo-stirrers in this church and it is so nice. We are going through the ABC's of Christian Growth on Wednesday nights and it is such a nice compliment to the Sunday School class I teach. We've loaded the course on my wife's computer and I'll start sending her the lesson answers so she can keep up on both of them. The writer of the course I'm using on Sunday mornings is quite the hoot - he sends some very funny e-mails almost daily - he stays closely connected to our church and really likes us. We met him our first Sunday when we visited this church and we've e-mailed since.
We had a chance to talk with my wife tonight. She was doing some of her final phone calls before she leaves, talking with her sister, her mom and dad. She sounded good and is staying positive. I'm sure she must be nervous but I'm not hearing it in her voice. She just wants to get this started and over with. I'll probably have the chance to talk with her tomorrow during the day and that will be it for awhile. We all just want this over with. The good news is the first month flew by - we have March madness staring in a week or so and that time always seems to fly by, then baseball season starts in April. Even though they play 162 games, the season flies by as well - she'll be home just as the regular season ends and the Reds have finished a couple of games below .500 again!
The devotions tonight were good. The girls did "Family Members" referencing Galatians 4:1-7 and "The Picture Puzzle" referencing Romans 12:3-8. They should be caught back up after tomorrow night and will be able to return to one per night. My book has a February 29th in it, so I did three tonight - the first was "What do you want the Lord to do for you?" referencing Luke 18:41. The second was "The undeviating question" referencing John 21:17. Finally I read "Have you felt the hurt of the Lord?" once again referencing John 21:17.
As Day Thirty One comes to a close, it is still raining outside. It must be low tide because our ditches are less than half full. Tomorrow is a full day and one when my concern for my wife's safety will start to kick in overdrive - still, I'm looking forward to Day Thirty Two; without it, there cannot be a Day Two Hundred and Forty Six.
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