September 6 – “We’re playing Families”

I spent the first half of the Labor Day Monday holiday doing what I do pretty much every other Monday.  I followed my weekly work schedule.  Of course waking up at 2 a.m. and not being able to get back to sleep, and then actually getting up from around 2:45 to 4:15 kind of helped.  It’s amazing how quiet it is at that time of morning.  I managed to doze off in the recliner between 5 and 6, but 6 is when I usually get up anyway, so my body communicated to my brain that it was simply time to get up and stay up.  So I dove into the day … again.

After lunch I tried watching a bad movie off of Netflix hoping it would put me to sleep.  It didn’t.  and the movie was still bad.  It was called something like Valhalla Rising, about a guy who didn’t speak but could really fight well.  It was set during the Crusades.  Stay away.

In the afternoon we went up into Texas to Kel and Christina’s house.  He was barbequing some ribs and chicken.  We had dessert and side dish responsibilities.  Oh, and Pepsi.  We had to bring the Pepsi.  So after a quick trip to WalMart for ingredients, Chris made baked beans, brownies, and a peach dump cake.  I haven’t had one of those things in a long time.  We were introduced to dump cakes by a guy named Robby Surguy, who lived with us back when he and I were both in seminary.  Great recipe.  Dump some fruit (in this case, peaches, the key ingredient that makes this sort of a fruit salad instead of an actual decadent dessert) in a pan.  Dump a box of white cake mix on top of it.  Dump a bunch of cinnamon on top of that.  Bake it until the cake mix color kind of matches the cinnamon.  I don’t know how hot, though.  I have to maintain some level of ignorance in the whole kitchen experience.  Can’t raise expectations too much or I might find myself spending too much time in there. 

After the meal Kel and JJ (Not Watt.  This guy was a friend from their church) and I hung out on the couch and watched the Astros defeat the Cleveland Indians.  The ladies talked at the table for a while, then went outside with the kiddos.  The boys found some neighborhood friends to play with.  Noa and the other two girls (JJ’s kids) were quite intense in their play as well.  I was informed by the older girl in one of her passes through the room that, “We’re playing ‘Families.’”  Fascinating study there.  At one point they were all babies, with pacifiers in their mouths and tiny little pillows and blankies.  Then they each took on a family role.  My favorite part.  The older girl was the Mommy.  She went to work while Noa, the Daddy, stayed home and took care of “all the babies.”  Gotta love this window into their worlds. 

1 Corinthians 15:33 says, “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’”

Father, thank you for good company yesterday.  And for families, however they look.  We’re still praying for a job to open up for Kel.  Keep his family in your arms.  Amen.