January 22 – “Grab his thumbs”

I finally took apart my old laptop – which is actually newer than my new laptop which I got from Bo and Nancy.  The monitor went dark awhile back, and a friend told me all I had to do was unscrew it and replace the bulb.  So I did that.  There is no bulb.  Nothing that even remotely resembles a bulb.  I'm gonna try emailing the company and asking how much it would be to replace the monitor.  Or maybe I won't do anything.  We're actually using it hooked up to a different monitor now.  I  guess I should just transfer the Norton Utilities account from our dead desktop to that computer and live with it.  See how much longer it lasts.   Speaking of laptops, my friend Brian fixed the new older one up so we can use it to see the words to songs at homegroup.  It was a simple selection on one of the windows that I never knew existed.  I figured it had to be there somewhere.    We did our trial run to San Antonio.  We had to find out how to get to Josh's house for future reference.  We are tentatively planning a more extended run in February around Josh's birthday.  We have to cancel home group on the 17th anyway.  It's the Gideons' pastors' banquet.  This year it's at Gaido's.  Always a good event, made even better by location.  Maybe we can leave for San Antonio that Friday and stay a few days.  I'd like to ask Mike to preach again, anyway.    This trip resulted in some great roughhousing.  Most of it was between the boys and Josh and me.  We even had a time while Caleb was still asleep that we had one-on-one time with just Zakary.  Chris did get a few minutes in, but not so much with the boys.  She reverted back a few years to when our boys were getting to be teenagers.  She discovered that all she had to do to get control over a situation like this was to grab the thumbs.  For some reason that was an incapacitating move.  So she stepped in and grabbed Josh's thumbs.  You should have seen Christi's eyes light up when she realized the import of that simple act.  She promised to store that knowledge for future use.  Josh and Christi were also the stars of our trip to a playground near their house.  Zakary challenged everyone to a game of chase.  At one point it was Christi's turn to catch Josh.  And she never gave up.  She pretended to several times, but always in her eyes was that look, that searching for an advantage.  No matter how long it took, she would get him.  And always in Josh's eyes was that look of fear and determination.  She would not catch him.  Never.  They finally collapsed in each other's arms.  Christi claimed victory.  Josh assured us he had deliberately approached.  No certainty either way.  But the entertainment value was priceless, especially for their children.   Hebrews 11:1-3 says, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.  By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible."   Father, thank you for some great examples faith.  Gives me a lot to look up to.  Amen.