July 3 – “Happy Birthday, Nathan”

 

 

That would be my youngest son, Nathan.  He was born when we lived in Mansfield, Texas.  All the festivities of the Fourth of July occasion made it easier for the old man to take care of his two older brothers while Mom was in the hospital.  We went to a parade.  And then for years Nathan thought all the whoopla surrounding the Fourth was in honor of his birthday.  I think it was one of his brothers that finally let the cat out of the bag that the country was just a bit older than he was.  Ah, the sadness of having a childhood assumption crushed.  But he seems to have lived through it and done okay for himself. 

 

We got the camp vans returned to the leasing company yesterday with not too much difficulty.  We were a few miles over the allowed free mileage rate, so that added a few dollars to the tally.  They were going to charge us $5 a gallon to bring the gas level up to where it was when we checked them out.  However, there was a specific statement in the contract that said the fuel level could be on empty when we returned it.  The contract won.  Especially when the manager came in and showed us that they have since blacked out that very line of the contract.  Glad I still had my copy of the original. 

 

Our quick trip to Bay City to meet Taylor's Dad and drop her off turned into a bit more than we bargained for.  We were waiting at the McDonald's there when Taylor finally called him.  He had just received the message that we were leaving Galveston, so he hadn't even left Victoria yet.  So we climbed back into the car and started in that direction.  We eventually met him on the road in the middle of nowhere and made the handoff.  I guess we got back home around 7 or so last night. 

 

Today I'm headed up to the church for Vacation Bible School.  A group from Mineral Wells is leading it.  Then we have to do a WalMart run, and somewhere in there I have to mow the grass.  That's before Josh and his family get here tonight.  Back to the grind of living, I guess.  Funny.  Youth camp never feels like a vacation, but there are sure a lot of after-vacation type chores to attend to when we get back. 

 

Psalms 7:17 says, "I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High."

 

Father, invade our VBS this week and touch some children and their parents.  Amen.