Friday, October 14, 2016

October 14 – “On food prep, tattoos, and Regatta-watching”

We had some visitors yesterday.  Christina had a doctor’s appointment in Houston, and Kel went with her, so we had the youngsters for a few hours.  Well, a more accurate assessment of the situation would be to say Chris had them for a lot longer than I did.  I had ukulele class for two of those hours.  I guess things are getting better on that front.  I do fine with the strumming part and learning cords, but trying to pick out individual notes and play melodies is killing me.  Most of those people learned all that music stuff in elementary school.  I was blessed not to.  Or maybe cursed.  Oh, I get the concept, I’m just too lazy to learn the names of all those lines and spaces.  I’ll keep trying.  We have an actual recital in four weeks.  Now that’ll be interesting. 

So with the kids here, I was assigned to Noa for one period of time.  Not that I regret pulling Noa duty.  It is always fun and eye-opening.  This time she found some play money, so she was intent upon going shopping.  Not to buy clothes or shoes or even toys.  This girl was headed to the grocery store.  She had me write down her shopping list: juice, watermelon, more juice, barbecue, salad, broccoli, celery, and pie.  Oh, and chicken strips.  Almost forgot chicken strips.  Nice, healthy balance, wouldn’t you say?  After our shopping preparation (It’s all about the preparation, you know.  We didn’t have to go to the actual store.  After all, we had our list.  Perfect logic.  The food will automatically appear in the kitchen.  Just like when Mommy makes her list), she returned to searching “her” office.  Oh, yes, she informed me that my office was now hers.  I had to get her a chair so she could sit in front of the other computer and go through drawers.  This time she discovered some temporary tattoos.  Of course she had to have one.  Immediately.  And why not?  I asked her where she wanted it, and she instantly pulled up her shirt, pointed, and said, “Right here.”  So Now went home with a butterfly tattoo on her belly.  Great surprise for Mom at bath time.

When Kel and Christina got back we all went out to the beach to check out the Regatta.  Every year there is a big sailboat race from Galveston to Port Aransas.  Takes them two days to get there, so they have to sleep on their boats.  Sorry.  Not something this old man has any desire to add to his bucket list.  All of the sails on the water did look pretty impressive, though.  Not impressive enough to hold the kids’ attention for very long.  They were busy racing and building sand castles.  Josiah asked his Mom if he could get in the water.  Great interchange there:
Josiah: “Mom, can we get in the water?”
Christina: “If you get in the water we don’t have a change of clothes for you, so you’d have to go home wearing wet clothes.”
OK.  Now Josiah is only six years old.  And he’s a guy.  So he has not yet developed a sense for what women mean when they say things like that.  To Christina, and to most women, and certainly just about every Mom, the logical leap from what she just said would be, “No.  Don’t get in the water.”  But this is Josiah.  His logical leap went in an entirely different direction …
Josiah (excitedly): “OK.  So that means we can get in the water, right?”
And off he went.  That’s my boy.

2 Corinthians 12:9 says, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.”


Father, thank you for the beauty of the sails against the horizon.  Watch over those folks as they attempt to reach their destination today.  Amen.

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