May 5 – “Ninja on the Prowl”

I spent most of the morning working on the teaching for home group tomorrow night.  With Corey and Janell already in the hospital being induced, and Christina at the point where she could go any time, I really wanted to get the preparations done early.  I fully expected to get a text from Corey saying the time had come, but things seemed to be going rather slowly for them.  I had plenty of time to finish.  Now if I just get some time to study it tomorrow I'll be fine.   Cailyn was here this morning.  She was in a "hold me" mood.  Not fussy, just wanted someone to hold her.  So Chris "suffered" through most of that oh-so-difficult task.  Hah.  I was jealous.  She finally crashed and took a two hour nap.  I did get to see her do something that cracked me up.  We were at the table eating.  Well, Chris and I were eating.  She was just drinking her cup of juice.  At one point the cup was on the table.  She hunched her shoulders over like she was a ninja on the prowl.  She got a guilty look on her face that totally reminded me of the times her Dad would try to get away with something he knew was wrong.  She cut her eyes to the right and to the left as if watching for just the right moment when no one was watching.  Her hands crept slowly up from beneath the table, inching closer and closer to the cup.  Her mouth was turned down into a serious frown of concentration.  Closer.  Closer.  Suddenly her hands jumped forward, grabbing the cup and pulling it close to her chest.  The look on her face changed from serious, focused,  "I'm-so-gonna-get-in-trouble-for-this" to a slow grin, then to outright joy and exaltation.  Success.  It's done.   "I think I'll have a drink of juice to celebrate."    What a surprise when we drove into the driveway and saw someone actually mowing the grass at the abandoned house next door.  We walked over to cheer them on.  They were hired by the city to clean out the yard.  Didn't think they could get it all done today, though.  He said it would be "a work in progress."  They were going to hit it with the weedeater until they ran out of gas or string.  They didn't have a trailer or anything to haul away the fallen trees in the backyard, so that will have to wait until next time.  He encouraged us to keep on calling the city and telling them it's not finished yet.  That way they would keep calling him and he'd get a paycheck.  Everybody will be happy.  Well, unless the huge dead pine tree in the front yard falls on our car.   Hebrews 13:5 says, "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.'"   Father, thank you for this "one of my favorites" promise.  Don't go.  Ever.  Amen.