July 30 – “Set set up”

No movement on 40 Steps yesterday.  Eerily quiet.  I thought about taking a walk among the erected pilings and globs of lumber and deserted earth movers.  That thought didn’t last long, though.  Can’t waste energy on frivolous pursuits when it is 89 degrees outside.  Along those lines, however, we did drive over to where the same company is building more houses.  We found one that looks like it might be a similar floor plan.  Shouldn’t be too ugly.

We spent most of our day over at the church.  We were waiting for a certain long-anticipated delivery.  That’s right.  The new playground equipment was delivered and installed yesterday.  The two guys who did the setup were really nice.  Very limited English, but they sure knew how to get the set set up (I’ve been waiting to use that phrase for a long time.  “set set up.”  Love it).  We bought the two guys a Subway sandwich and joined them for lunch.  Not much communication happened, but they were genuinely surprised and grateful.  As far as the equipment goes, it looks great.  Two swings and a place for a baby swing to be added later.  One rope disc swing.  A rock climbing wall.  A rope ladder.  A ten foot slide.  And, because of Cailyn’s single demand for the structure, a set of monkey bars.  In fact, she will be happy to find out about a little glitch we had.  Seems they were actually out of stock on the monkey bar add-on for this particular set.  We were going to have to wait 3 to 5 weeks for another one to come in, then set up yet another appointment for delivery and installation.  Instead they got permission from corporate to substitute the monkey bars add-on for a larger structure.  It’s just a few bars longer and a bit sturdier.  We’ll suffer through the replacement.  Now all we need is the wood mulch pit underneath.  But that's a whole other story.  We didn’t tell anyone at church about the delivery.  We weren’t completely certain that it would happen.  But I already got a text from Lauren.  It seems she noticed it …

I officiated another wedding last night at the San Luis Hotel.  It was out on the lawn, but they didn’t use the gazebo.  They aligned it for a much better view of the Gulf.  I guess they wanted lots of water in their photos.  They were from El Paso.  Not much ocean available out there.  The bride’s mom and dad dint speak much English, so I used the Spanish version of “Who presents this man to be married to this woman?”  Dad was pretty surprised when he heard what I said, but he gathered himself and answered … also in Spanish.  I have no idea what his answer was, but I said thank you and continued on with the ceremony.  While Dad spoke to and shared a hug with the groom, I whispered to the best man, “Did I say it right?”  He grinned broadly and said, “You got it perfect.”  Whew. 

1 Peter 1:24 says, “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.”

Father, take care of the two guys who did the setup on the swing set.  They have a really hot job.  Amen.