May 14 – “Uh Oh”

Uh Oh.  Chris realized something yesterday that placed a bit of a black cloud over Sneakaway 2017.  She has been having a lower backache over the last few days.  At first she thought it was just the way she slept or an errant twist during one of our walks.  But then … uh oh.  A tiny bit of a rash began to appear.  And the symptoms surrounding the rash led her to the inescapable conclusion.  She has shingles.  On our vacation.  I told her that I really appreciated her being close to my Mom and all, but she simply did not have to emulate her by getting shingles on vacation (Same thing happened to Mom went with us on a north and west jaunt way back in the day.  We ended up leaving Yellowstone Park and heading for the nearest doctor that she would trust, one who was treating a high school friend of mine in Washington State).  Now, here’s the thing.  Josh has a friend and church member here who he trusts.  Chris allowed him to make a phone call, and based on the symptoms he called in some of that shingles anti-viral medication so she could get started on it.  He said he could take a quick look at it at church today to make sure.  In the meantime, Chris is doing her best to keep the rash covered and to stay away from AnnaGrace.  How’s that for Grandparent Horror? 

On the positive front, Luke started our day again with a new chant: “AnnaGrace, Cutie Face.”  I kinda like it.  Has a nice ring to it.

Caleb’s baseball game was set for eleven o’clock.  When we arrived at the field and started unloading the car, Zakary noticed that Caleb’s baseball cap was turned backwards, like a catcher or maybe a rapper would wear.  His comment?  “Caleb’s a hippie.”  Not exactly the criteria I remember for being called a hippie, but perhaps the history books have been re-written since I lived through it.  The game itself turned into a blowout early, in favor of Caleb’s team.  They hit at least four home runs.  Three came in the first inning … from the first four batters of the game.  Everybody on the team got a hit of some kind or another.  They even made several great plays in the field.  Their coach had a right to be proud of that one.  Caleb mystified me with his batting stance.  It seems to be a mixture of Ty Cobb and the new guy on the Astros, Aoki.  He managed a hit, though.  Way to go there, Caleb.  I’m proud of you. 

After a lunch at a local pizza house we had yet another surprise excursion … a boat ride on Lake Waco.  Plus a swim in the lake for the boys.  Josh did a great job operating the vessel (belongs to a church friend).  The hard part was getting it all stowed away at the marina.  As we finally got back to the cars with some tired kiddos, I realized that I had left our car keys in the stow box on the boat.  Josh and I headed back, and he managed to dig his way in with little difficulty.  Finally we were off.  Well … not so finally.  Josh realized he had forgotten his sunglasses back by the boat when he went back for the keys.  We finally got everything we needed and headed home to get those youngsters in bed.  Chris and I made a quick run to Rudy’s Barbeque and brought some back for supper.  Good stuff.

Oh, and there was one other uh oh.  Nay, make that two.  Or three.  Christi’s parents called to let them know they couldn’t make it.  Uh, oh.  Seems they had been hit by another car and theirs was totaled.  Everybody is OK, though.  We discovered a water leak in the newly installed sprinkler system at the house.  Uh oh.  And then the AC unit froze up, resulting in a not-so cooled off house.  Uh oh.  I’m pretty sure everything will eventually be fine, though.  Good enough for us to head to church for a certain gorgeous little girl’s dedication ceremony. 

Hebrews 9:11-12 says, “When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation.  He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.”

Father, thank you for understanding doctors and for car wreck protection and for weekend plumbers and for AC repair guys.  Thanks for being the Ultimate Uh Oh Remover.  Amen. 

May 13 – “A happy hour slushie kind of day”

Early morning.  Luke woke up and saw me at the computer.  He said, “You need to go to bed so I can wake you up.”  So I went to bed.  Chris had just finish making it, so the two of us climbed back in and waited.  Mere seconds later we felt a tug at the covers near our feet and suddenly we had an extra passenger on board.  “I’m in the middle” had arrived, and so the day began.

Later on in the kitchen Christi had a dilemma: “Luke, I I’m missing some makeup.  Do you know …?”

And before she could finish her thought, Luke brightened up: “I know where some might be,” and he raced off into his bedroom.

Sure enough the exact missing pieces of makeup were right where he thought they might be.  What a little hero. 

Since Luke had school and the older boys, Josh included, discovered that I had brought that Harry Potter prequel DVD I tried so hard to watch on the way up here, guess what we did while eating lunch?  I saw a few more scenes that I didn’t remember, so I must have stayed awake through a little more of it.  Josh and the boys, and by then even Christi, were all enthralled by the action, so I guess they liked it.  The rest of the afternoon we were inundated with talk and play of all manner of magical creatures.

After we picked up Luke we went Mother’s Day shopping with Josh and the boys.  They were really torn between the riding lawn mower and the go carts.  Sadly, both were vetoed.  Not because they were bad choices, though.  It was strictly a question of economics.  Now we came up with a lot of other possibilities.  Why, every shelf we passed had something on it that Christi really “needed.”  In fact, when she called to check in with us, Josh told her, “We are shopping like men.”  She would have had an array of fine gifts, too, had Chris not been with us.  As it is, though, I think she will be quite happy with the boys’ final selection.  And speaking of home, on the way back there we stopped for a real treat.  Happy hour slushes from Sonic.  Cherry limeade all the way for this old boy.

In an effort to recover some of our physical fitness, we took an evening walk.  Well, the adults walked.  The kids were in one form of wheeled conveyance or another.  Zak slid along on his razor.  Caleb led the way on his bike.  Luke was on a bike, too, complete with training wheels.  AnnaGrace followed the action from her stroller.  Now once at the park we got distracted by the playground equipment and didn’t leave until after eight.  Gotta love daylight savings time.  I’m not sure how many came from that stroll to the park and back, but we ended up with 6,000 plus steps, around two and a half miles, for the day.  Not bad. 

So, then, scheduled portion of the Sneakaway Trip number one, championship basketball, is in the books.

Today we face scheduled portion of the trip number two, Caleb’s baseball game.  Tomorrow we complete the scheduled portion of the mission with number three, AnnaGrace’s dedication. 

Beyond that … who can say what mysteries, what adventures lie ahead. 

Hebrews 8:10-12 says, “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord.  I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts.  I will be their God, and they will be my people.  No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.  For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

Father, thanks for our happy hour slushie kind of day.  Amen.

May 12 – “Sneakoff Adventure 2017”

Sneakoff Adventure 2017 has officially begun.  Although I did have someone tell me yesterday that it can’t be much of a sneakoff when I post pictures on FaceBook.  But hey, that’s all part of the misdirection process.  Every good secret agent knows that trick, right?  So this journal will suffice as the official, after the fact record of where we end up from day to day.  Which, for the most part, we have no idea until it actually happens.  It’s kind of our way of carrying living day to day to the extreme. 

So what happened yesterday?  Our original mission was set to begin on Friday, today.  But we got word that our middle son Josh was to be involved in a championship basketball game on Thursday evening.  He has been playing in a church league, and his team was thrust into the championship game by virtue of an unexpected victory in their last game.  That’s the one where tempers flared on the opposition and things didn’t go so well in their relationship with the referees.  Josh’s team maintained their composure, however, and as a result the calm and cool won out in the end.  The championship game was a back and forth affair, but the young legs of the opposition proved too much, and they lost by just a few points.  Both teams had a great attitude, though.  It was a fun game to watch.

But let me back up just a bit and fill in our itinerary.  We made one stop on our way out of town.  Whataburger.  Needed some protein for the journey, right?  And then it was hit the road.  Chris was driving, as usual.  I was determined to watch an in-flight movie without falling asleep.  It was that Harry Potter prequel about incredible magical creatures being let loose on New York City back in the 1920’s.  We had already watched it once, but I’m pretty sure I fell asleep then, too.  Did you catch that clue there?  “Too.”  Yep, I fell asleep yet again.  I did wake up in time to see one of those catchy freeway signs.  This one was on one of those high-dollar electronic sign things.  It said, “Irv’s Clean Restroom.”  That’s all.  It set me to wondering.  Does Irv have just one restroom?  And if he has more, is just one of them clean?  Ah, the disturbing philosophical quandaries one finds oneself pondering in the midst of a Sneakoff Adventure.  There was one other sign that struck me.  I wanted a picture of it for my FaceBook trip archive, but I didn’t move fast enough.  This one read “Pass Carefully When Allowed.”  So does that mean when I’m not allowed, it’s OK to step on it?  And who gets to decide when I’m allowed?  I never saw a sign further ahead that said “You are now allowed to pass, but do it carefully, remember.”  I finally returned to my movie.  Finished it, too.  Awake.

As it turned out, we actually arrived in Waco too early.  By that I mean Christi was out running errands and Josh hadn’t returned from work yet.  The kids were safely ensconced with a baby-sitter, but they hadn’t yet been told that we were coming.  So we decided to wait for Josh to get home so he could be part of the surprise.  We pulled into the parking lot of a school for a while and tried to find some information on the Lake Waco National Park.  We want to buy a National Park entry pass for seniors.  Why?  Well, right now they are only $10 for us oldies.  But they are about to increase that to $60.  Gotta take advantage in case we run across a National Park “out there.”  Parents started arriving to pick up their children, so we left the parking lot and drove by the house.  The baby-sitter’s car was still parked out front, so we took a little drive through the neighborhood and down by the park.  We ended up just parking behind the baby-sitter’s car.  About that time Josh drove up, so we could honestly tell him that we just arrived. 

The surprise was a good one.  Caleb was playing a video game in the living room, and Zak was doing the same on the bedroom computer.  AnnaGrace was hard at work in her little walker thing, spinning and squeezing and slapping at the fun array of options before her.  And Luke?  Well, Luke was hiding behind some pillows in the guest room.  Why?  No idea.  But he emerged from the safety of his lair to give me a hug.  It was a bit more difficult for the older two to tear themselves away from their games, but they did acknowledge our presence.  AnnaGrace smiled sweetly.  Close enough for me.  actually, I’m pretty sure the reason for the grin was that she saw her Daddy over my shoulder.  But I’m claiming the DadDad right of rewriting history.  She smiled at me.  That’s my story and I’m sticking with it.

Hebrews 8:1-2 says, “The point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man.”

Father, thank you for a day one safe trip.  I’m looking forward to the wonders of day two.  Amen.

May 11 - “STAARS of the show”

We were assigned Cailyn pick up from school duty the other day, and while waiting outside I noticed some interesting behavior from the youngsters as they exited to head home.  Students in some of the older grades had been doing the dreaded STAAR testing.  In an effort to motivate them as they had arrived that morning, someone had taken sidewalk chalk and plastered catchy, inspirational phrases all over the sidewalk approach to the front door.  “You can do it.”  “You are the real STAARS.”  Things like that. 

Now to the interesting part … watching the younger age classes (kindergarten through second grade) as they exited the building.  I guess part of it was the novelty of seeing the letters upside down, but I began to notice every so often a little girl’s head would bob up and down.  Then, after a few minutes, another would do the same.  I readjusted my positioning so I could better see what was happening.  Sure enough, girl after girl, in separate classes and totally devoid of any overt contact with each other, was doing her best to play hopscotch through the maze of letters.  Hey, chalk on the sidewalk.  What else could it possibly be for?  Right, girls? 

My interest now fully piqued, I began to notice the boys.  No hopscotch for them.  No way.  That’s too girly, I guess.  The guys, in that same totally random matter, upon seeing the chalk, immediately and inexplicably began dragging their sneakers.  Some even walked sideways, or with one foot dragged behind them like The Mummy in a horror movie.  And again, there was no obvious concerted effort or publicized management.  The responses just came naturally.  That’s when I realized what they were doing.  It had become their task in life to surreptitiously erase the chalk.  Again, I totally understood.  Guys are just naturally helpful beings, right? 

Ah, observation of human behavior.  As Mr. Spock would say … Fascinating.

Hebrews 7:27 says, “Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.”

Father, watch over those youngsters as they do all that testing from year to year.  And be with their teachers as they work to prepare them and encourage them.  Amen.

May 10 – “Invasion”

I went into Texas with Chris yesterday.  Ready for this one?  To go shopping … for her … clothes … at the mall.  Yes, this is really me talking here.  I wasn’t abducted by aliens for the morning and replaced by a clone.  I went willingly.  Happily, even.  I don’t know why.  I just can’t explain it.  I spent some time with my sweetheart doing something that she doesn’t particularly like to do.  Yep.  Didn’t know that about Chris?  She doesn’t really like to go clothes shopping for herself.  Never has.  Ain’t she a dream?

And here’s the truly amazing thing.  The very first store we went into … she found something.  I’m not sure that has ever happened.  As I said, she is a very – umm – “careful” shopper.  Well, I liked it, too.  A skirt and blouse that goes with it.  Now we are both all set to dress up for AnnaGrace’s baby dedication on Sunday.  Oh, did I forget to mention?  I went shopping, too, just not yesterday.  The other day when we stopped in at WalMart to get some fruit, I nabbed two new Island flowerdy shirts.  Nine ninety-nine each.  What a deal.  Nice.  They both go with my Sunday best jeans.  And I can wear either my sandals or my Nikes.  See?  I’m just as ready as she is. 

The best part of the trip yesterday, though, came when we went out to lunch.  We decided to make it something really special, so I hit the Around Me app on my phone.  And what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a Five Guys hamburger joint just around the corner.  Never heard of Five Guys?  Well, that’s probably because you have never been to Huntsville, Alabama, then.  We were introduced to the then-local chain back a few years ago when we were on our Totally Random Driving Tour Vacation.  Our then-Alabama friends Larry and Diane encouraged us to try it while we were in the area.  I gotta say, that’s a good burger.  The junior cheese bacon burger that I ordered was at least as big as a Whataburger, and the lettuce and tomatoes and pickles were fresh and crispy.  You can also get grilled onions, jalapenos, and a host of other options.  And we ordered French fries, regular sized as opposed to small or large.  Should have gone with small.  They don’t fry them until you order them, and we ended up having to throw some away.  They even have a sign on the wall that tells where in Idaho they ordered the potatoes from.  They also have free peanuts you can munch on while you wait, so if there are nut allergies in your life, stay away.  To their credit, though, there was a sign on the door asking, “To protect our neighbors with nut allergies, please do not carry peanuts outside of the establishment.”  So a new burger place has invaded Houston.  I for one am glad they have seen fit to go international and enter Texas.

Hebrews 7:26 says, “Such a high priest meets our need — one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.”

Father, thank you for successful journeys and fun discoveries.  Amen.

May 9 – “Gentle direction”

We walked three miles yesterday.  Measured as accurately as possible by one of those antique instruments still available on trucks built in 1992.  It’s called an odometer.  Now, I know what you are thinking.  “My car has an odometer.  What’s so antique about the one in your raggedy old truck?”  Ah, my friend, did you know that back in the day they used to include tenths of a mile?  And the numbers appeared slowly as they rolled around and around inside a thing called a gauge.  Does your brand new car show tenths of a mile?  Now here’s the thing.  The new-fangled step counter on my phone app said that we went closer to four miles.  Who do we trust: technology or old faithful?  Anyway, just the three miles would be a new record for Team Vaughan.  5K’s, here we come.  

Chris went into Texas to babysit while Josiah and Jachin were tested to determine the extent of their allergy difficulties.  I stayed home and worked in the office all afternoon.  So what was the verdict?  Jachin is pretty severely allergic to nuts.  All nuts.  Especially cashews and walnuts.  To such an extent that he has to keep an epi-pen with him at all times.  So not really anything new there.  We found that out when he was four years old.  Confirmation.  Josiah, on the other hand, is new at this allergy testing business.  He was there because he seems to have a perennial case of asthma.  Sure enough, he popped out positive for several things.  Cockroaches.  Jachin thought that was a pretty cool thing to be allergic to … if you had to be allergic.  Feathers were included, so birds.  Stay away from the birds, Josiah.  I saw the movie, man.  They can be dangerous.  Especially seagulls.  Mice/rats made the list.  No argument there from Nana.  We’ll never know if she is allergic to them or not, but let’s just say she is taking no chances.  Cats.  Ah, the dreaded feline.  They don’t have a cat, and the only time they did have one, it lived outside and ate mice, like every good cat should.  Shouldn’t be a problem there.  But finally … dogs.  Yep.  Dogs.  Like Freddy, who he loves to pick up and carry all around the house.  Like their own pet, Lucy.  Now Lucy is about a gazillion years old, so there is no picking her up, but she does wander around the house a lot.  The “official” party line from the doc was, “Get rid of your dog.”  But practically speaking, he knows that doesn’t usually happen when he encourages it.  So instead he gave her a regimen of cleaning and dusting and mopping instructions.  Yikes.

Last night we went to the last t-ball game of Josiah’s illustrious career.  Next year he moves up in the ranks to kid-pitch.  He did really well in his swan song game.  I’m sure it is frustrating to him at times, though.  He has not one, but two baseball playing older brothers, so Josiah knows the rules of the game.  He knows where to get force outs and the best angle to take to track down a base runner before he can score.  He even does his best to “gently” educate his teammates.  Like last night, for instance.  There was a runner heading from first to second.  The ball was fielded by the guy next to Josiah, and the kid obviously didn’t know what to do with it.  So Josiah, purely in an effort to assist him, “gently” directed him toward second base.  The youngster must have tripped over a blade of grass or a clod of dirt or something, because he sprawled down onto the ground.  Sadly, the runner was safe.  Josiah’s coach was right there watching, and he even gave him a high five for the assistance.  Later Josiah tried to get another kid to throw him the ball so he could tag out a kid at home.  That one didn’t work either.  Josiah was fine with it after the game though.  They got some really good snacks.  And he’s pretty sure they won the game. 

Hebrews 7:23-25 says, “Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood.  Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.”

Father, thank you for kids who have their priorities straight.  Be with Jachin and Josiah and their family as they learn to live with these allergies of theirs.  Amen.

May 8 – “It’s been a long road …”

After church we went to Salsa’s with a group of friends.  It was a lot of fun introducing Jennifer to the mysterious world that is the life of Robert, the “Maybe Secret Agent.”  When we got home I quickly turned on the Astros game.  Sadly, though, I was pretty beat, so I dozed off.  Almost missed Altuve’s homerun, too.  I roused up just as he was coming to the plate to bat.  Exciting stuff. 

After the game we decided to watch some of that all-time endearing favorite, that classic science fiction thriller with the most endearing opening theme song ever.  In fact I have appropriated a phrase from it that I now use to refer to Chris, in case you ever hear me mention it to her.  She is now the “Faith of My Heart.”  Sigh.  Anyone who has ever seen Star Trek: Enterprise understands the impact of that little song that starts every episode.  It’s one of those masterpieces that you just can’t get out of your head anyway, so you may as well embrace it and sing along.  “It’s been a long road … getting from there to here…”  Sorry.  I was humming and the words just spilled out.

So as we tried to get to Netflix yesterday to catch the next exciting episode, we had another interesting error code show up.  Something along the lines of, “Something truly terrible has occurred.  Your television set will self-destruct in 30 seconds if you don’t leave Netflix immediately.  And don’t even think about returning until you are willing to discuss terms of unconditional surrender.”  And then it began counting down from thirty.  It was quite the frightening experience.  So much so in fact that hastily punched the escape button.  But then, as you might imagine, my curiosity got the best of me, and I failed to heed the warning.  I returned to Netflix.  Same error code and warning popped up on the screen.  This time I let the countdown continue.  All the way from 30 to zero.  I was on the edge of my seats, anxiously awaiting the impending explosion, paralyzed by my dread, yet eerily excited at the prospect of being there when it finally happened.  Five.  Four.  Three.  Two.  One.  Zero.  I tried to close my eyes, but I couldn’t force then shut.  I had to witness the horror for myself.  And then it happened.  A brief blank screen.  And then … and then … it tried to reconnect to Netflix.  Wait.  Is that all?  Is this the horror that we were warned about?  Of course the reconnect attempt failed as well. 

Come to find out, our internet was temporarily down.  Chris figured it out when she tried to go online to check email or go online shopping or something.  I rebooted our modem and after five or ten minutes we were back in business.  “It’s been a long time.  But my time is finally here … I’ve got faith of the heart …”

Hebrews 7:22 says, “Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.”

Father, thank you for food with friends and for the “Faith of my Heart” wife you gifted me with.  Amen.