June 14 – “Sumo mishap”

 

 

We had an interesting day with Mom yesterday.  She agreed to go to Libbie's Place.  That was a good thing.  She hasn't done the out and out rebellion against it like she did back when she was having those medication issues.  In fact she seems to really enjoy it now when she goes.  When I picked her up, though, she tried to buckle her seat belt … onto her sweater button.  I helped her get it done correctly, but as I looked closely at it, I could see why she made the mistake.  Her button was just about the right size to fit into the hole in the seal belt clip.  And the button was the first thing she came across on her way across her lap.  Made sense to me.  Think I'll remember that one.  I could probably use it someday.

 

Last night as I drove to church I got a text from Chris.  Apparently Mom got kind of upset that I left without her.  Not that she wanted to go to youth group with me.  She was thinking that I was going to take her home.  That's been a tough one to deal with lately.  She walks over to the front door and looks longingly at the house across the street where she used to live.  I think we need to become friends with the folks who live over there now in case she decides to pop in for a visit sometime.  She is doing really well physically, though. 

 

We had a bit of a crisis at the church the other night.  Not with anybody from Seaside.  One of the youth groups that is staying in our building for a mission trip had a mishap.  They rented some of those huge padded sumo wrestler costumes that you crawl inside of and bounce off of each other.  One of the girls was wearing one and she got bumped, just as was intended.  The problem came when she lost her balance and flew backwards.  The helmet she had on fell off, and her head cracked against the tile floor, just off the padded matt.  They rushed her to the hospital in an ambulance, and she stayed in ICU overnight for observation.  Her family rushed to Galveston to be with her, but had some trouble getting here.  Something about traffic coming onto the island.  The final diagnosis was a slight fracture and of course a concussion.  She is fine, but they have warned her to take it easy for a long time.  No more wrestling, sumo or otherwise, in her future.  I imagine that's all right by her. 

 

Psalms 3:3-4 says, "But you are a shield around me, O Lord; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.  To the Lord I cry aloud, and he answers me from his holy hill."

 

Father, watch over that girl in the hospital.  Bring her healing quickly.  And show her youth group how to rally around her with encouragement.  Amen.

June 13 – “Baseball, politics, and garage sales”

 

 

And in baseball news … the Roger Clemens trial went to the jury yesterday.  Big time liar?  Innocent victim?  Or perhaps just too-big government?  Wait.  Was that a political statement?  Let's move on to the signing of Galveston phenom Billy "Nick" Williams.  He gets to play for his favorite team.  Drumroll here.  No, not the Astros.  They signed the other 17-year-old – the one from Puerto Rico.  Our guy goes to the Texas Rangers.  Well, after he goes to Arizona for instructional league and eventually down to Nolan Ryan's team near Austin – the one that used to be the Astros farm team.  So in three years he might get a chance to play in Arlington.  But he gave up a scholarship to A&M.  In three years he could have been almost done with a college education, then headed for the pros.  But he did get $500,000 to sign now.  Half a million dollars.  That's twelve and a half years of working at $40,000 a year.  And he hasn't even boarded the plane to Arizona yet.  But will he live like he's making $40 K a year so it will last that long?  Hmm.

 

Big garage sale coming up this Saturday at Seaside.  Nathan went with me to pick up some donated stuff yesterday.  Very nice cabinet with a 5-cd changer (that would be an antique ipod), a cassette player (that would be an antique cd player), and that contraption with all the little slide bars that controls the various aspects of noise that emanate from the two tall speakers.  Also some nice assorted dishes and even a box of books.  Good start.  Nathan and I talked about getting rid of some of the old bed frames we have as well, either at this sale or at the one they plan to have "someday."  Mom and Dad had a bunch of them stored up in their attic that we salvaged after Hurricane Ike.  Still kind of rusty, but definitely useful to someone.  We also have a box or two of stuff in the garage that I'm anxious to part with.  What would we do with some actual room to turn around in the garage?  Christi said she is interested in the student desks we have, so I may have to get serious about cleanup there instead of just taking them as-is to the sale.  I did decide as a result of my work thus far on them that I want an electric drill.  The battery one just doesn't last long enough.  So as I see it, this garage sale has the potential to cost me at least the price of a good drill and a lot of sweat.  Not a bad trade-off, I guess.

 

Psalms 1:6 says, "For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish."

 

Father, looks like some of your watching is needed over there in Washington … again.  Amen.

June 12 – “Recurring theme”

 

 

We had a great surprise visit yesterday from a guy who used to live next door to us.  We haven't seen James since not long after Hurricane Ike.  He's now driving a truck professionally, and he told u she prefers to deliver up North.  Something silly about it being cooler up there in the summer time.  He mentioned something about low humidity, whatever that is.  Of course when he showed us the picture of his car buried in three or four feet of snow, all that pipe dreaming about humidity came into clearer focus. 

 

Speaking of humidity, I spent some time cleaning up one of the antique student desks we have laying around.  It went through Hurricane Ike, so it has a lot of rust on it.  I guess I'll have to try out some of the anti-rust remedies I heard about the last time I attempted something like this.  We're waiting to see if josh and Christi want to use them or if they will end up in our big church-wide garage sale this weekend.  That would be Saturday, by the way.  Come buy stuff and help our youth get to camp.

 

We went to lunch with Nathan and April and Cailyn.  Very nice.  Not just because we were at Shrimp and Stuff, either.  We occasionally get together with them for no particular reason.  Kind of calls to mind the days when we lived together after Hurricane Ike.  I just realized there has been a recurring theme of Ike-mentioning throughout these few paragraphs.  Not that I'm nostalgic or anything.  But it is hurricane season again.  Guess I'll have to start paying closer attention to the Tropics.  Again.  Welcome to Galveston.

 

And in the spirit of the theme, Hurricane Cailyn spent the night with us last night.  Not that she was wild or anything.  Of course she is perfect when she stays with us.  Why would I admit to anything less?  All of our grandkids are perfect when they are with us.  How could they be anything less?  Makes it a lot easier to share with them my all-time favorite DadDad reply when they ask for something.  Yes.  No, I'm not daydreaming, looking into the nothingness that surrounds me with glazed-over eyes.  Well, I may be doing a little bit of that.  It is. After all, not yet six in the morning.  I just meant that is my favorite answer … Yes. 

 

2 Corinthians 1:19-20 says, "For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me and Silas and Timothy, was not 'Yes' and 'No,' but in him it has always been 'Yes.' For no matter how many promises God has made, they are 'Yes' in Christ. And so through him the 'Amen' is spoken by us to the glory of God."

 

Father, your yes is so much more satisfying than mine.  Help our little ones seek yours.  Amen.

June 11 – “Mama’s happy”

 

 

We had a great day at church yesterday.  It's summer in Galveston, so our influx of visitors has begun in earnest.  It's always exciting to see the building nearly full.  It was also one of those days when my plans for a teaching ran headlong into God's plans.  Guess who won?  The lesson turned into a time of directed prayer.  We followed the acronym ACTS, for adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication.  I read a psalm that fit each category, and then we spent some time praying.  I even read the general confession prayer from the episcopal prayer book I keep on my desk.  The visual verse was 2 Chronicles 7:14, the one where God promises to respond if his people pray.  Then when we started to sing in the response to the Word section, the songs the guys had picked out and worked on fit perfectly with the prayer theme.  Way to go, God.  It was a different experience for a lot of folks.  We also had a meeting of those interested in mentoring youth who are going to camp in two weeks.  One of our college students who is now in college, Kelly, led the meeting and the prayer time afterwards.  She did a great job.  Wish we could hire her as a summer intern. 

 

Later in the afternoon Chris and I tackled the yardwork for the week.  Kind of surprised me that she joined me.  She doesn't usually do anything she considers work on a Sunday.  I didn't consider it work, myself.  Just a chance to get all sweaty and accomplish something that is obvious to see by just looking at it.  That's one of the frustrating things about being in the ministry.  You can't always see the results of the work you put in from week to week, teaching to teaching.  The yard does look nice now.  I even spent some extra time trying to knock down some of the growth in between the fences.  The people in the house behind us built a wooden fence after Hurricane Ike so they wouldn't have to look at the yard next door to us (that house still hasn't been cleared out after the hurricane, by the way).  The problem was, they built it with about a six or eight inch gap between the wood fence and our chain link fence.  Just enough space to grow a bundle of weeds, and just wide enough that I can't reach it by sticking my fingers through the openings.  So I used our old weedeater.  The guard has long since fallen off, so it fit nicely into the space.  I had to stand on a stool to avoid getting stabbed by the barbs on top of the fence, and I had to constantly pull out more string, but it did the job.  Except for where Chris has been nurturing a wisteria vine (I think that's what she calls it).  It has covered a big area of the fence, so I couldn't get to that part.  Back to sitting in the dirt and reaching through with my fingers.  It's not quite as bad as it was.  And Chris said she was satisfied with it.  That's what counts.  Mama's happy, right? 

 

Psalms 1:6 says, "For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish."

 

Father, thank you for drawing all those people to worship even when they are on vacation.  Give them a fun week.  Amen.

June 10 – “Happy Birthday, Zakary”

 

The celebration of Zak's birth was not a one-time thing this year.  It started just minutes after we arrived Friday and continued until we left yesterday afternoon.  We gave him the present we got for him right away so we could actually see him open it.  A little later Kel and Christina and their boys arrived, so they did the same thing.  In the spirit of the giving season, we pulled out the gift we brought from Nathan and April and Cailyn and gave him that one, too.  Not a bad start.

 

The whole Starbucks plan for this morning finally happened, but not exactly as I had hoped.  I was up around 5:30, but Kel didn't get up until 7:30 or so.  He and Christina headed on over to the old house, so we ended up leaving from there.  The big birthday bash started at the neighborhood swimming pool around 10.  Quite a few kids from their church came, so it was crowd the crowd.  The most exciting even of the day came when the pod races started.  Oh, did I forget to mention that the whole theme was Star Wars?  Josh and Christi decided shortly after Zakary was born that they would make his sixth birthday something special.  A real rite of passage.  So they wouldn't allow him to see any of the Star Wars movies until he turned six.  That made for several levels of celebration on the big day.  Hence the theme.  Everyone was issued a light saber (pool noodle) when they arrived.  The decorations were all Star Wars images, and most of the gifts fit the theme as well.  But the pod races really took the cake, so to speak.  Josh and Kel and another Dad lined up at one end of the pool.  Each was assigned a float with one of the kids on it.  On "Go" the adults became the engines and pulled the kids' pods through the water.  Great fun for everyone, except maybe the "engines." 

 

After the party the family, which by now included Christi's parents as well, retired to Josh and Christi's house for pizza.  And two college guys we knew from Arlington arrived just in time to eat.  What is it about being in college and arriving just in time for pizza?  Ah, those were the days.  After pizza?  What else?  We watched Star Wards, Episode IV, the first one they produced.  Zak was entranced, and never took his eyes from the screen.  And I thought the day was done after the movie, but no.  We all walked into the kitchen where Christi produced a birthday cake, candles and all, decorated with Legos Start Wars characters.  Cake and Blue Bell ice cream.  The best.  The final event of the day (for us at least, because we had to get on the road back to Galveston) was a huge light saber battle between the two college kids and all the little guys.  Josiah even made an appearance or two as they beat on each other time and time again with those pool noodles.  If the level of laughter was any indication, I would say they had a pretty good time.  So, Happy birthday, Zakary.  When does Empire Strikes Back begin?

 

Psalms 1:1-3 says, "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.  But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.  He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.  Whatever he does prospers."

 

Father, thank you for blessing us with the boys you gave us and the grandchildren you gave us through them.  Sure is fun.  Amen.

June 9 – “Sixth birthday”

 

 

We spent much of yesterday in the car.  We left first thing in the morning to go to Zakary's sixth birthday in San Antonio.  The party is actually later this morning, but we wanted to get here at least a little bit early.  Mom came with us, so we couldn't leave at 4 a.m. like I threatened her with, but we did get on the road by 8:15.  Kel and Christina and their boys came, too, so we made a race out of it.  We took Beltway 8 and they went through downtown Houston.  The report from I 10 put us in the lead, but only slightly.  We stopped just past Columbus at the rest stop for a bathroom break, but they decided to press on a little farther, so they took the lead.  Then they texted that they had stopped at Buccee's for their break.  Not long after that we past Buccee's and took the lead for good.  We all got into San Antonio in time to have lunch at Josh and Christi's.

 

Last night we went over to a Mexican Food restaurant where we met Christi's parents.  They came up for the party, too.  Now, lest you think we are duplicating our Hurricane Ike evacuation party of four years ago, when we had not only us and Kel's family, but also several others from seaside as well, Josh and Christi just closed on a new house.  That means for this weekend they have two homes for people to stay in.  We drew the new one with Kel and Christina.  All the boys stayed at the old one.  So did the coffee pot.  Our plan is for Kel and I to head straight for Starbuck's as soon as we both wake up.  I just have to assume at this point that the plan worked.  See, there is no internet service here yet, so I won't be able to post this until we get back to the old house later on.  Interesting dilemma. 

 

Mom weathered the trip just fine, but she was very confused by the time we arrived.  She has a great attitude about everything, though.  She is very bubbly and happy.  She just has no idea where we are or who most of the people around are.  We just keep assuring her that we will be heading back to Galveston after lunch. 

 

And now on to Zakary's pool party.  Sitting outside around water with a lot of people I don't know.  And this is different from Galveston how?

 

Job 1:20-22 says, "At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart.  The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.'  In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing."

 

Father, thanks for family fun and pool parties and trips to far off places to do so.  Amen.

June 8 – “Like A Wooden Flower”

 

 

I did get Chris a gift for our anniversary.  Well, I made her one.  I don't usually do this sort of thing until around Christmas, but I carved her something.  Every time I do I wonder if that one will be the last one I'll be able to do.  Oh, I have my share of cuts and scrapes from the knife, but that has happened from the very first Christmas I started this venture.  The problem lately has been this infernal arthritis.  It leaves my hands sore for days every time I work on a carving.  Very frustrating to have to put it away when it feels so close to being finished.  Of course I never really feel completely satisfied with any of them.  There is always something else I feel I could have done or maybe one more rub with the sandpaper would make it just right.  Anyway, I had an idea in my head that wouldn't go away, and I had one more pieces of soft pine to work with, so I decided to give it a shot.

 

Now Chris loves to work in the yard.  She can get a vision of what some plant will look like three years from now, and plant this scrawny little twig in the ground and be satisfied.  Then three years later it looks amazing, just as she knew it would.  Our yard is in its "three years later" mode.  There are red flowers and blue ones and yellow ones and pink ones and purple ones.  I know all those colors are there because she told me.  They all look blue or red or yellow or green to me.  There are all different shapes of flowers, too.  Some look like cups with little yellow hairs sticking up in the middle.  Others look like the old "she loves me, she loves me not" kind, with petals all in a circle.  Some of them are very tiny, and some of them are really big.  They look so real they almost look fake.  And at any given time they are in some stage or the other of dying.  Great fable about life.  Birth, growth, explosion of potential, slow drooping, and finally death. 

But this year I wanted to say something to Chris about our thirty-seven years together.  I wanted to say that it has been one of those "explosion" after another that I wouldn't trade for anything.  And I wanted it to continue as long as we could open our eyes in one last squint of recognition.  So I made her a wooden flower.  It was not any particular breed or style or whatever they call kinds of flowers.  It was just something that was growing around in my head that needed to get out.  And being made out of wood, it won't droop.  Or wither.  Or fade.  Now there's the symbolism I was searching for.  Forever-ness.  I love you, Chris.  Like a wooden flower.

 

Isaiah 40:8 says, "The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever."

 

Father, give us a few more years of forever-ness.  Amen.