October 21 – “A Real Pirate Ship”

I took today off from school to spend the day with Josh and Christi and Zak and Caleb.  They were only going to be here today.  This morning we headed over to see the Elissa.  We almost didn't.  Josh checked the internet site and saw that the ship had sailed to Corpus Christi.  I remembered the regatta was last week, so it sounded reasonable to me.  But when he double-checked it, we found out that he was reading an article from 2007.  We got into the gift shop to buy our tickets about five minutes before the first wave of rain hit.  It actually went by fairly quickly, though, so we boarded ship during a light sprinkle.  Zakary was great.  He couldn't believe we were getting on a real live pirate ship.  He is planning to dress like a pirate on Halloween, so this was quite a treat for him.   We had to choose somewhere other than Luby's for lunch, so we went to the Spot.  Even Zakary commented on how loud the music was.  He and I did have fun pretending after we ate.  The dining room became our … you guessed it! … our pirate ship.  He would go to each window and check the waves.  The air conditioning condenser unit became the ship's engine.  His favorite place was the window facing the beach.  That made it seem really real.    After a rest time, all the cousins descended on the house.  For the rest of the afternoon chaos prevailed at the Vaughan house.  The boys were running constantly around and around and squealing and laughing.  Cailyn wouldn't go far from her Mom.  She couldn't figure those boys out.  I fried a batch of fish for supper, and the wildness finally settled down around 8 or so.    Josh had his laptop with him, so I tried to make it easier for him to connect to the internet by changing something in the way the wireless works on my dsl.  Bad decision.  To make a long story short, now we don't have internet service at all, and the software that operates our air card is not there anymore.  Computers can do strange things.  I called tech support and the best they could do was tell me we needed to switch to a slower bandwith because we must be too far away from the nearest signal.  Doesn't make much sense to me.  OK, Geek squad, help me.   Psalms 36:7-9 says, "How priceless is your unfailing love!  Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings.  8 They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights.   9 For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light."   Father, cover me with your light so that is all I can see.  I'm tired of the dark.  Amen.