I met an old war veteran the other day. We were in line together to get Wednesday night supper at Josh’s church. Out of the blue he asked if I knew who Audie Murphy was. I said I did. He then told me an anecdote he personally witnessed. “Audie was a little man, but not someone you would mess with. He was giving a training talk and a fella way up in the top of the bleachers was talking to the fella next to him. Audie had enough of that and called the chatty one down to the front next to him. He looked the fella in the eye and said, ‘Take me down.’ The young man didn’t believe him at first, but Audie insisted. So the fella came at him. Audie took him right down to the ground in no time. Then he helped him us and said, ‘Now get back up there to your seat and shut up.’”
Josh,
Christi, and Zak left around seven. They were taking Zak for his college visit
to Hardin Simmons University. It’s about two hours away, and so far is his top
choice. Christi imparted all the pertinent instructions to me. As far as I can
remember there were only two:
1.
Make
sure they eat.
2.
If
they want to do video games, text me for a list of chores they have to do
first.
I
might have that second one a little garbled, though. I think what she meant to
say was, “If they want to play video games, say yes.” I figure the eating part
will take care of itself. We’ll just make sure there are plenty of chips and
donuts cookies around.
Well,
best laid plans and all that. My schemes to keep things that simple kind of
died in the water when Chris got up. Sigh. Sorry, kids. Chores it is.
I
took a brief break about mid-morning to run up to Target. The Sunday School
class we attend when up here is doing a project where they give gift cards to
the teachers and staff of a nearby elementary school. We thought we would grab
one and let Josh and Christi turn it in for us. Target had an array of cards to
random places, but I decided to stick to the familiar. I debated between-Target
and Starbucks, but Target gift card won in the end.
After
lunch we all worked faithfully to fulfill Mom’s list of chores that she left
for each kid to do before any video games were allowed. I had helping AnnaGrace
to clean her room. Loved her answer when I asked where something went. “In the
doll pile right over there.” Of course. Why didn’t I think of
that?
I
still don’t know if we ever found the right place for the “Doll Pile” and its
myriad of contents. We did get down to where you could see the floor, though. I
hurriedly took a picture and sent it to Christi as proof of accomplishment. Why
hurriedly? Before I could even stoop to pick up the dirty socks I
found, AnnaGrace had begun re-establishing the ever-present Doll Pile. What was
I thinking?
When
the college visitors returned, I joined Josh and Caleb for a trip to the phone
store. Josh’s phone no longer holds a charge for longer than an hour or two. He
checked at ATT but ended up at the battery store to just replace the battery.
While we waited for the installation, we made our way to a nearby hobby store,
where Caleb flew a simulator for model airplanes. We also went over to the
nearest Half Priced Books store. In case you are interested, on Black Friday
they are having a big sale. Everything in the store is $1.00.
Mark 16:15 says, “He said to them, “Go into all the world and
preach the gospel to all creation.”
Father,
thanks for getting Josh and Christi and Zak home safely. And thanks for our day
with the other three. Amen.
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