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!