July 24 – “Enforced rest”

I was determined to spend today taking it easy.  I felt a lot better, and I didn't want to jeopardize my recovery.  And Chris told me to get rested up today.  But everything that I wanted to get done today seemed to entail something outside or some kind of physical labor.  I wanted to take a Weedeater to the fence line of the abandoned house next door – from their side of the fence.  The wild ivy or whatever that plant is has taken over that whole back yard and is doing its best to attack ours.  I also need to finish cleaning out the stuff in the garage that needs to be put in the attic.  But that means I also need to put down the rest of the flooring in the attic so we'll have a place to put it.  It also means we'll have a little bit of room opened in the garage to start bringing over the stuff we have stored in our friends garage.  She sure has been patient with us.  And if it was up to me I'd probably just go over there and stack it all up to be hauled away with the trash.  But it's not up to me.  And the one it is up to (Chris, of course) is sort of out of pocket for awhile.  So what to do for one whole Saturday inside?   I did get out my ukulele and practice the "I'm a Nut" camp song that will debut after the youth camp worship service tomorrow.  That was really difficult to write this year.  Since we didn't go I had to base all the verses on text messages, FaceBook posts, emails, and phone calls.  I guess it does provide for more suspense, though.  They have no idea who or what "made the song."   I also drew a Visual Verses picture to present Sunday.  It took awhile, but I finally found out from our youth pastor one of the key Scriptures from camp.  We'll see how many of them remember it in Visual Verse form.   About 11:30 Mom came in and asked if I felt up to going out to eat.  Good thing about that would be that her favorite place has become Golden Corral.  It's a buffet with vastly varying kinds of food.  I was sure I could find something that would set well with my now-tender stomach.  It took us awhile to get there.  The city of Galveston decided that a Saturday morning in the middle of summer tourist season was the best time to restripe some streets on the seawall.  Traffic was backed up for many blocks.  Ah, such a wise decision.    Kel and Christina and the boys were able to join us, so Mom was happy.  The boys like that place.  Jachin thinks everything is free, since you can go back for as much as you want.  Micah loves their fruit and ice cream.  So they were happy.  Christina didn't have to cook, so she was happy.  And since they had been playing baseball at a local schoolyard, all Kel wanted was to get in out of the heat.  He was happy.  I found some meatloaf and beans and watermelon that did fine within.  So that meant everybody was happy.  Just wish Chris could have joined us.  Oh, well.  I'll see her tomorrow if all works out.   Psalms 68:3 says, "But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful."   Father, thank you for the moments you give me when I recognize that I am content.  Happy is nice.  Amen.