July 3 – “Happy birthday, Micah and Nathan!

We made our way through our second pancake breakfast of the year at church on Saturday.  Not all that many people came, but the ones who did stuck around for a while and chatted with each other.  We gained a few hundred more dollars toward the swing set, though.  We also, again, had several requests to keep offering the breakfasts on a fairly regular basis.  Since we had bacon and sausage left over – and it is horrible to let such delicacies go to waste, we offered breakfast again at church.  It was hard to tell which was more popular, the usual donuts or the super special bacon and pancakes option.  Maybe this is one of those times a ministry is unfolding before us ….

Nathan and his neighbor Trey came to the church and tore down the old playground structure.  There were numerous rusty bolts that were extremely sharp – injuries just waiting to happen.  They also discovered the presence of some tiny little bug critters in a part of the structure.  It was not long for this world, anyway.  Now we have to add that lumber to the “haul away” pile.  Sorry, Guys.  Nathan was able to salvage the slide, the tire swing, the glider swing (but that one is questionable), and maybe the rock wall.  Hopefully he can use it to build his own playset in the back yard.

Yesterday we bravely made our way through the hordes of tourist traffic and up into Texas for Micah’s birthday party.  Cailyn came with us.  It was an outdoor water play themed kind of event, and there were a lot of kids everywhere.  They played every goofy kids game you can imagine, except with a water balloon or a giant squirt gun or a bucket of water somehow involved.  The five or six Dads who were there alternated between watching the live action outside and the Astros action on TV.  He scored an array of fun gifts.  We gave him the final piece to the Voltron giant action figure.  I’m not quite sure if that was more for Micah or for his Daddy. 

After everyone else left we were invited to stick around for some supper and to let Cailyn continue enjoying her “cousin fix.”  I was invited to join Kel and Noa on a walk.  They still have had no word on the whereabouts of their missing dog, so Kel wanted to make one last loop around the neighborhood.  Noa was quite entertaining.  She never stopped talking the whole time we were out – well over a mile.  I found out from her that the “pond” (AKA drainage ditch) was filled with electric eels and alligators and maybe crocodiles.  And the high grass between the path and the water is full of snakes.  I don’t think she’ll be wandering too close. 

We made it back home shortly after 8:30.  It didn’t take long for Cailyn to collapse into bed.  Guess who followed shortly thereafter …

James 3:7-8 says, “All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.”

Father, thank you for birthdays.  Bless Micah and Nathan in great ways.  Amen.