April 13 – “Late night”

I’m a different kind of sore this morning.  We spent the morning of my “day off” in the back yard, meticulously pulling up weeds that have forced their way into the lawn back there.  Some of them agreed to come along nicely, even responding to being tugged at with a rake.  Others, however, were stubborn.  They simply refused to give up without a fight.  Gotta give them some kudos for their stick-to-it-tive-ness, I suppose.  We only managed to get through about half of the yard – the worst infected half, though.  Not sure what today holds, but I am sore.  Back sore.  Side sore.  You-crawled-around-on-your-hands-and-knees-pulling-weeds-for-hours sore.  Oh, but that reminds me.  I can bend my new knee a little farther than before.  Still feels very weird to kneel on it at all, but it can be done.   

Yesterday evening I had an appointment to meet with a family in Jamaica Beach.  When I got home there were two extra little ones and their mother hanging around.  Noa and Ezra (and Christina) were over.  Their brothers and Dad had also been there for some supper, but I missed them.  They were already at a hero-clix tournament in LaMarque.  As it turned out, Noa helped me make palm crosses for our Palm Sunday services at church.  Ezra helped too.  He brought us palm branches.  Noa had a good mnemonic way of remembering how to do it, too.  Something about folding like a letter in her name, down, down again, going through the back door, oops he forgot his keys, now he forgot to lock the door, and now he forgot to put the watermelon on the kitchen counter.  And there it is.  Chris tried to follow along.  She has trouble remembering how to make one every year.  Guess she doesn’t think like an almost-six-year-old.

We both slept in this morning.  Chris because I left her alone and there were no strange dishes-clanking, keyboard-clattering, Freddy-scruffling noises to contend with.  Me?  Well, I sort of stayed up late last night.  Oh, I fully intended to go to bed around ten or so.  In fact, I actually did.  My problem was two-fold.  The afore-mentioned soreness was a tad more severe, thus making it difficult to get comfortable.  And two … well, the Astros were playing in Seattle.  That’s a two-hour time zone difference.  The game didn’t even start until after nine.  I was serious about heading to bed, though.  I snuck in watching the game on my phone app.  I think I could have made it, too.  Right up until Altuve hit a grand slam home run.  Then I knew it was time to just return to the den and watch the rest of the game there.  Strictly so I wouldn’t wake up Chris, you understand.  I was only thinking about her.  As it turned out, Gurriel later added a second grand slam, and the Astros won 10-6.  Guess it was worth the late night.  I finally settled into bed around 12:30.  Slept until 7:30 this morning. 

Psalms 46:10 says, “He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.’”

Father, thank you for my cross-making assistant last night.  Amen.