July 29 – “Hot in the attic”

Today we went through a bunch of the yellow room boxes and repacked a lot of stuff into plastic tubs.  The idea is now they can go into the attic or the top shelf of a closet and the critters won't be able to get in.  Chris was funny.  She would come across something and not remember which son it belonged to.  At one point Josh called and she immediately hit him with the "Who owned Jar Jar Binks?" question.   It was a big doll, so he confessed that it must have been Nathan's.  She finally told him that she was going to make a big pile of stuff, and when he came he could go through it and decide what was his.  He agreed on the condition that Kel not get to go first.  He seemed to think that Kel would claim everything.    It's hot in our attic.  It's hot outside, but it's really hot in our attic.  We put all the Christmas stuff up there that we salvaged from our stuff and Nathan's and Mom's, as well as the stuff people gave us this past Christmas.  Did I mention that it's hot in our attic?   I also cleaned and polished and set up (inside) the bed we hope to use in the yellow room.  It looks nice, except for the part where the wagon wheel in the frame began to straighten out.  I think those are ornamental, though.  I'm still more worried about the structural integrity.  Hopefully after we put in slats and a box spring, the weight distribution will even out and it won't collapse.  Looks like Christi will be the first to get to try it out when they come next weekend.  She's tough.   A worker came to do stuff on the house.  He built the little stand out back for the chimney to sit on as it makes it turn toward the sky after exiting the house through the wall rather than the roof.  The tile guy can't come until next week, though, so the chimney lady won't come until he is done.   The worker guy also replaced a baseboard piece that our contractor and Chris decided wasn't perfect.  Then he installed some weather stripping around the air conditioner door.  It's supposed to make the unit more efficient by forcing the air to the return air vent.  We were going to do that, but it was on our contractor's list, so he couldn't stand it.    Right in the middle of polishing I had to stop and listen to a kid give a sales pitch for knives.  We know him, so Chris said he could come.  He gets paid for making the presentation, so we didn't have to buy anything.  I always thought the best knives were called ginsu.  Maybe that shows my age.  His did all the cool things that ginsu used to do like cutting a penny and slicing through rope.  Problem is they cost way more than we can afford. At Youth group tonight the camp kids shared with those who didn't get to go what the experience meant to them and how they wanted to change now.  One girls wanted to know from the kids who didn't go if they had seen a change in anybody who went.  Another wanted to get baptized this Sunday so everyone could see that she's committed to change, and hold her accountable.  And the youth pastor wasn't even there.  Wow.    Matthew 18:2-4 says, "He called a little child and had him stand among them. 3 And he said: 'I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.'"                                    Father, help these kids who so desperately want to change.  Give them role models and accountability partners so they won't feel like they are walking through a fire alone.  Amen.