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!
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