January 7 – “Mommy Gut”

On Sunday morning Josh was already up again and hard at work on his computer.  And this time he was really awake.  Something about it being Sunday morning in a pastor’s house just teems with anticipation.  It was kind of disconcerting though, not being the first one up.  I can’t remember the last time someone beat me up at home.  Wait.  That didn’t sound exactly right.  I didn’t mean beat me up.  I meant beat me up … awake.  Oh, except of course for Luke.  He beat us all up.

Christi’s “Mommy Gut” was telling her to keep Luke home from church.  I never have understood that.  It somehow combines intuition and instinct and a vast array of old wives’ tales to form this uncanny ability to “just know” things about your child.  It’s kind of scary, actually.  But Luke was really stopped up and having a hard time breathing.  Stuffy noses are the pits when you haven’t learned how to breathe out of your mouth yet.  Minus two on the roster for church. 

At the table Caleb asked his Mommy to sit by him while he ate breakfast.  So Christi took Luke back from Chris and settled down next to him to feed Luke.  And … Caleb promptly vomited.  No warning.  Fortunately I was in the other room getting dressed.  Three down.  Zak calmly made the observation, “Now I’m the only one going to church.”  So what are we, Zak, chopped liver?

Church was nice.  Felt strange to be worshipping from a pew and sitting next to … who was that good looking woman, anyway?  Oh, yeah.  That would be my wife.  Josh preached powerfully.  They still like him a lot.  Caleb was doing much better when we got home.  He must have just had a birthday hangover.  Pork roast and potatoes and carrots and green beans and corn for lunch. 

But finally the time came for us to head back home.  Back to the Island.  The trip home was uneventful.  We stopped in College Station at Cracker Barrel for supper.  That’s becoming sort of a tradition for us.  Fried chicken livers for me.  Chicken fried chicken for Chris.  Fuel for the final leg of the journey.  Healthy stuff, huh? 

Proverbs 31:25-28 says, “She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.  She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.  She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.  Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her.”

Father, thank you for that weird Mommy Gut you have graced the special women in my life with.  May it ever increase to the benefit of their children.  Amen.

January 6 – “THE birthday party”

I woke up around 6:30 to find Josh already at his computer.  Not that unusual an occurrence, but he was wearing a floor length, flowing blue robe, and was hunched over in his chair in front of the computer.  He looked quite regal, actually.  I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.  Let’s say he was praying.

Didn’t take long before Zak woke up and joined him on the small couch.  Josh had obviously completed his time of contemplation and had returned to his computer work.  Zak had the iPad and was intently working his way through levels of a video game.  Great picture of a modern-day father and son.  No more of this pitching hay or chopping wood together.  No sir-ee.

Finally Caleb woke up.  I say “finally” because Zak had been chomping at the bit to wish him a happy birthday.  He still had to wait a bit before presenting him with the present he had picked out for him.  Legos, of course.  Some kind of Ninjago thing.  We got caught up in the moment as well and gave him our present.  Also Legos.  Ours was Spiderman vs. Doc Oc.  I guess we made a good choice.  Zak was very excited.  He cried out to Caleb, “That’s just the one you wanted.”  The next few hours were spent putting Legos together and playing with Luke.  Grandparent Heaven.

In the spirit of Dads working with their sons, I had a chance to work with a Josh a little bit on preparing for his funeral.  Not his personally – the one he is leading on Monday.

Now about Caleb’s birthday party …

It was to be held at their church’s recreation building.  Yes, they have an entire three or four story building dedicated to recreation.  It’s kind of old and needs lots of “deferred maintenance,” but it’s certainly functional.  

One party activity we stumbled upon became an instant hit.  Christi had one of those helium tanks for the balloons she was using as the centerpiece.  Josh came across a few of those long, skinny balloons clowns use to make animals and swords and things.  On a whim, I filled one of them up with helium.  What a strange reaction.  I never expected it.  The balloon didn’t just float to the ceiling like a normal round one would have.  Instead it stayed within arms’ reach of the boys, but made some strange and wonderful dips and spins when tossed up.  We filled up all the clown balloons we had, and Caleb and Zak had a blast with them.  So that decision was made.  Josh and I made a trip to the local Party Store and got a whole bag of the things.  And they were an instant smash at the party.  They actually stood up on the ground with one end in the air like they were growing.  Josh made a field of them, and the kids ran through and tried to knock them all down.  For some reason they were especially sensitive to static electricity and the kids discovered that they could touch them to the wall and they would stay there.  We probably could have just let them play with those balloons the whole time and they would have been fine. 

The church owned several bounce houses, so one of them was set up for the kids to use as well.  Meanwhile,we finalized the made-up games for the party:

“High five Boba Fett” – This one became an instant classic.  Somewhere Josh acquired a life-sized cardboard cutout of the Star Wars figure.  Christi came up with the idea of pinning a Baylor basketball jersey on him.  The game was simple.  The kids would see how high onto Boba Fett they could jump and slap a piece of sticky pad paper.  Later Josh received a recommendation.  Next time rename the guy “Baylor Fett.”  Definitely region-appropriate.
“Chase the cows” – Josh found this one on line and adapted it.  Pretty simple.  The kids were in two lines.  Two at a time chased the two balls he rolled, grabbed them, returned and made a shot in the lowered basket.
“Moving basket” – This one came to my warped mind as I contemplated a laundry basket.  What if the basket could move?  For this one the kids were divided into pairs and each pair was given a laundry basket.  Josh then tossed a bunch of balloons in the air.  The object of the game was to catch as many balloons as you could in your laundry basket. 
I’m not one of the kids, so I don’t know how the games really went over, but they sure did a lot of laughing and giggling.  Sounded like fun to me.

We adjourned to another room for cake and ice cream.  Christi and Chris did a bang-up job decorating in there.  With Zak and Caleb’s help, of course.  Oh, and our friends Cary and KayLynn from Arlington helped, too.  They are surrogate grandparents for the boys and have been our great friends for years.

As the kids enjoyed eating, one little boy was explaining something to Zak with great intensity.  And when he realized I was listening, he graciously included me in the conversation.  His passion was centered around the greatest basketball player ever.  From what I heard, this player won five championships and never ever lost.  “That’s pretty impressive,” I offered.  “You must be talking about Michael Jordan.”  And was I ever stunned by his answer.  Ready for this one?  He looked at me blankly and said, “Who?”  Nope.  Never heard of Michael Jordan.  What are the youngsters of this world coming to?  I had to press a little bit to get him to tell me the name of this incredible superstar who made people forget Jordan ever existed.  Finally it came out.  “Jeremy Lin.”  Oh.  OK.  Not so much in the same ballpark as Jordan, but at least he plays for the Rockets.

We returned to the house after the party for some pizza and for the team effort that it took to put together Caleb’s life-sized castle.  Well, Caleb-sized, anyway.  Cool thing.  Once it’s put together, the kids colored it to make it their own personalized castle.  Well, the kids and Christi.  She couldn’t resist. 

Psalms 119:35 says, “Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight.”

Father, thank you for letting me see so much delight in the eyes of the children.  Reminded me to seek delight every day, too.  Thanks for showing me where to find it.  Amen.

January 5 – “Hypnoeyes”

We finally arrived at Josh and Christi’s a little after eight.  Then Brittany, a friend they know from Arlington who often babysits the boys, came by for a visit not long after we arrived.  As a result it was a very late night for the little ones.  And by “little ones” I mean me.  Zak and Caleb and Luke did just fine.  It was probably around midnight before we actually got to bed. 

It was great fun to watch the interaction between the boys and their Dad.  Once, Caleb approached Josh slowly, with eyes wide, both arms raised in front of him, hands swaying back and forth, fingers slowly moving in tiny circles of their own.  When he had Josh’s complete attention, he solemnly announced, “I’m gonna hypnoeyes you.”  And with that he had his Dad under his spell.

I met neighbor Mike from across the street while watching the boys shoot baskets and ride bikes in the 20 degree weather.  I was wearing a hoodie, and in response to his calling out the boys’ names, I turned to face him.  He stopped in his tracks and back-pedaled a bit.  “Oh, you’re not Josh,” he stammered.  Then quickly collecting himself and flashing a huge smile, he stroked his bushy gray beard and added, “You have a bit more about you.”  Perfect introduction, I thought.  Always great to meet a kindred spirit in the facial hair category, especially when he thinks so highly of one of my boys. 

Josh joined us shortly after that and he and Zakary decided to do some roller blading.  Zak got his first pair for Christmas, and Josh was teaching him some of the finer points of basic skating (in the absence of Uncle Nathan, who no doubt would have regaled him with tales of jumps and spins and roller blading off the roof).  Zak was appropriately cushioned with pads over the vulnerable joints of his body – knees, elbows, wrists – and he dutifully wore a helmet.  Nani would have been proud of his attention to safety details.  And Josh?  Well, I’ll just say Nani wouldn’t have been quite so proud.  On one of Zak’s solo excursions he met with the inevitable fate of all beginning skaters, he plopped to the ground on his rear end.  To his great credit, he bounced right back up.  Well, right after his classic comment, “Do they make bottom pads?”

Josh received one of those sad pastor notifications when he was informed that a lady on staff at the church had died suddenly at her home.  She had been head of the food services division at the church for many years, and a long-time member of the church and choir.  We met her one of the times we had been here.  Very sweet lady and she had an even sweeter Mom who worked with her.  As a result our topic of discussion over Mexican food at lunch was funerals from the pastor’s perspective.  I emailed him a copy of the last funeral I did to help him draw together some ideas on order of service and the like.  And after a lunch like that?  A nap, of course.

We ended the day at a Baylor basketball game.  We literally had our choice of seats.  Josh had been given two at courtside and four in another area just above courtside.  We all ended up sitting together in the raised area.  Much better view anyway.  There were not many fans there.  Christmas break was still going on.  After watching that game, I am not at all sure how they are ranked number nine in the nation.  Or how they beat Kentucky for that matter (except Kentucky obviously has lots of problems this year).  Or how they are 12 and 1.  Maybe it was just that it was their first game back after the holidays.  They sure played sluggish.  Oh, they won handily enough, but then, Savannah State is not exactly a basketball powerhouse.  Caleb sure loved the attention, though.  We were there as part of his fifth birthday celebration, after all.

It made for another late night, though.  Christi still had a lot of preparing to do for the big Caleb Birthday Bash the next day.  It was to be basketball themed, so the venue was perfect - the church’s basketball court.  But Christi never does anything half-way.  There were decorations to be sorted, goodie bags to be filled, trail mix to mix.  We even put our heads together to make up some games for the kids to play.  Should be fun.

1 Corinthians 15:54-55 says, “When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.  Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting?’”

Father, walk with Naomi’s family as they struggle to come to terms with her sudden death.  Surround them with your love as she experiences the love and compassion of the church.  Amen.

January 4 – “Painted Churches … the second leg”

As we drove away from Bay City, Chris sighed and lamented, “Well, so much for Painted Churches and antique stores.”  Wait.  Antique stores?  I didn’t know anything about antique stores.  But I was determined more than ever to be able to say we had driven past at least one of those painted churches.  And it would be up to me to find us an appropriate route.

Oh, speaking of stores, antique or otherwise, we drove through some mighty small towns.  One was Morales.  At least that’s what it said on the map.  The “town” was actually a store.  “The Morales Store.”  That’s it.  Nothing else. 

And speaking of maps, since Chris was driving I was the navigator.  No problem, right?  GPS on the phone, right?  Not this time.  We had one of those antique artifacts among our belongings.  It’s called a map.  It is made out of paper and requires no batteries or electrical connection to operate.  Old school.  Really old school.  I devised a plan based on that old hunk of dead trees.  At the very least we would drive by some of those elusive Painted Churches. 

Now, speaking of small towns, here are a few of the ones we cruised through:

Kinkler, Old Kinkler, Gleckler, High Hill, Dubina, Ammannsville, Nechanitz.  Classics, every one.  At least for the wildlife.  Didn’t see any people.

Speaking of wildlife, we saw some pretty incredible wildlife on the adventure.  Chris noticed the hawks.  Numerous hawks.  Which, of course indicated the presence of a considerable critter population that we couldn’t (and Chris didn’t care to) see.  On one road leading to the middle of nowhere (which, by the way, was where every one of those churches was located – the middle of nowhere), we saw not one, but fifteen or twenty deer.  Not intimidated by the car at all, they casually grazed or frolicked around the fields.  And around the next bend we were startled when a wild turkey flew across the road right in front of us.  That was something we had never seen before, so we stopped to admire the strange sight.  He (or she – I certainly am not the one to tell them apart) landed in the field to our right, and to our surprise, there was a whole flock of them (do turkeys have flocks?).  I took some pictures, and when they realized we were there, instead of flying away in fear, guess what they did?  They attacked!  Ran right at the car.  That was a strange feeling.  We survived the encounter, though.  We ran away.  Or drove away to be more accurate.

We did get to see the inside of a few of the churches.  Amazingly beautiful.  Stained glass windows.  Ornately carved altars.  Life sized statues of saints and Mary and Jesus.  Oh, and all of them were still decorated for Christmas.  Manger scenes and garland and even a big Christmas tree in one.  Each one had a sign-in book for visitors to show where tourists had come from to see the spectacle.  Interestingly enough, at every church I signed in right under the name of none other than John Hancock from Pennsylvania.  What year is this anyway?  One particularly Czech area also had men’s and women’s outhouses outside – marked in English and Czech.  No, I’m serious.  They were outhouses.  The only thing missing on them was the half-moon on the door.  Sadly, they were no longer operational and were nailed shut.  Of course I got that close.  These were major historical landmarks.  We received a text from Luke inquiring as to the whereabouts of his dear Nani.  Yes, it was from Luke.  I know he was only born in October, but our grandchildren are quite special.  Seems he was desperately trying to settle down for a nap, and he wanted some Nani-ish arms to hold him and rock him.  As you might imagine, the Painted Churches tour ended right there.

Our driver got a bit frustrated just outside of Giddings.  We were stuck behind a travel trailer doing 55 in a 70.  Come on.  Didn’t he know we had a Nani on a mission?

Pop.  Road kill possum courtesy of the car in front of us.  Still wiggling when we passed by, but it wouldn’t be long until he was ready to be served up.

Just outside of Rockdale –watch out.  A deer was taking her sweet time easing across the road like she lived there or something.  We missed her.  Bambi still has his Mommy for one more day at least.

Stopped at Subway in Cameron for supper.  After that it was no holds barred.  Chris would get to Luke in the shortest amount of time possible.  She had to live up to my follow-up text, “We’re coming, Little man.”

Psalms 24:1-2 says, “The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.”

Father, thank you for the beauty we experienced, both the man-made kind and that special splendor that can only have come from your hand.  Amen.

January 3 – “Painted Churches … the beginning”

We have arrived in Waco, safe and sound, after our travel adventure through some of the southeastern regions of this strange country they call Texas.  I thought it might be fun, and infinitely easier for me, to leave my array of notes in somewhat of their original form, to give you a window into the twisted realm of my thoughts.  Beware, for I know not what substance may spew forth.

Our plan at the beginning is to stop for lunch in Bay City.  They have an incredible restaurant there, called K2, that serves homestyle cooking of a wide variety of foods.  Good stuff.  Then we would head to Victoria to drop off a load of things Chris’ Mom had left in her will to Chris’ brothers.  Then we planned to head for the Schulenburg area to see some of the Painted Churches of Texas.  (You have to add “of Texas.”  When I googled just “painted churches,” it sent me to Hawaii).  Finally, we would move in the direction of Waco and see how close we could get before needing a place to crash.  Caleb’s birthday celebration was the long-term goal of this mission. 

Chris, of course, drove.  And I managed to stay awake almost to Hitchcock.  I think.  At least that’s the last I remember until I roused up enough for Chris to make a comment about a random trailer park somewhere on FM2004 before Lake Jackson.  Oh, and I remember the 18-wheeler that raced past us into oblivion.  No idea where that was. 

Lunch was great.  I had fried shrimp.  Chris had liver.  We both had fried green beans.  Well, she had fried green beans.  Not my favorite delicacy.  Oh, I tried a few.  Enough to make my Mommy proud of me for trying. 

Next we went by to check on Chris’ Dad.  This would be the Dad who adopted her when she was a tiny baby and who raised her.  She didn’t find out she was adopted until she was 30 years old, though.  But that’s another story.  Another book.  Or at least another season of a soap opera.  Chris and her brothers and sister have been trying for at least two years to convince her Dad to move to either Galveston or Victoria to be closer to his kids.  So far no luck.  But word had it that a move was afoot by the lady he lives with to have him put in a nursing home.  No particular medical reason.  Apparently she just reached a point where she couldn’t take care of him anymore.  Our assignment was to gather as much information as we could and report back to “headquarters” (the rest of the family).  We talked to them for at least an hour.  Chris started by talking to the lady.  I talked to her Dad and had a chance to make sure he was ready to die spiritually.  Then Chris went in to talk to her Dad.  I was kind of on a roll, I guess, so I talked to the lady about her spiritual condition.  She said, “Well, I guess I do need to spend some time with him again.  But I was a nun for fifteen years, so I figure I must have earned some points there.  And I think God had me taking care of Harold here.  That should count for something.”  I didn’t know about the whole nun thing, but I had a reply.  “It would count for something if God worked like that.  But he doesn’t.  You can never do enough stuff to get right with him.”  I explained some more about trust and relationship, and she grew very quiet and reserved.  I got the impression she had never heard Christianity explained in just that way.  She had no response at that point, but her response is not my responsibility.  That’s the Holy Spirit’s work.  He’s a lot better at it than I am.  I’ll keep praying for her.

Chris’ two brothers drove up from Victoria not long after that.  We were able to transfer our load of artifacts into their truck and forego our trip to Victoria.  That was good news, but it was already almost 3:00.  The adventure into the Realm of the Painted Churches seemed to be in jeopardy, however.  Would we have time to see any of them?  Would they still be open?  And not the least important consideration, where were they located, anyway?  To be continued …

Ephesians 2:8-10 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Father, continue to draw Pat to you so that she can understand your grace.  Amen.

 

January 2 – “Before the Old Grind”

So … “Happy New Year” is over and done with.  Well, almost.  I guess it’s really not over until after the college football National Championship.  That doesn’t happen until Monday night.  I can remember when all the key games were played on New Year’s Day and the only worry about conflict came when that day also happened to fall on a Sunday.  Oh, the conflict wasn’t with church or anything like that.  The worry was which game would get the most television coverage, a pro football game or the college championship.  Gotta consider that “almighty dollar.”  I understand the powers that be are moving to some kind of a playoff system for the colleges now.  I think the competitive spirit in me agrees with that decision.  Maybe it will do away with the bickering and posturing that come out of the ranking system.  It also makes for those improbable situations where a huge underdog can sneak into the national spotlight.  And you gotta love the underdog.  Just ask Central Florida fans.  Ouch.

Chris and I do have one more thing planned before the “old grind” returns for 2014.  We are heading up north into Texas for a few days.  First stop will be Victoria.  We plan to deliver a load of things to Chris’ brother that are his as a result of their mother’s will.  That means three of the dolls that have been staring at me every night as I try to sleep will now do their evil glowering at someone else.  Once that is done we hope to take our time moving on toward Waco for Caleb’s birthday party on Saturday.  And the plan is for the “moving on” part to take us past at least some of the churches on what is called the “Painted Churches Tour.”  We saw one of them a few years back when we stopped to visit some friends in Flatonia, Texas.  Yep.  Flatonia.  I didn’t know where it was either.  It is somewhere between Houston and San Antonio.  Great place to eat there called the Railroad Station or something like that.  Anyway, we can skip that one, but apparently there are quite a few of those old churches that have been fixed up and are now available for visiting and viewing.  Maybe we can find a few of them, anyway.  At least it will be an adventure that we can enjoy together.  It’s been a while.  Thanks, Jennifer, for being available to stay with Mom for those few days. 

1 Timothy 4:12 says, “Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.”

Father, in this next year, strengthen the underdogs and soften the perennially victorious so that both may understand that you are all they need.  Amen.

January 1, 2014 – “ … the igloo of interest …”

What a New Year’s Eve we had.  In that one day we had all the elements of life that one could ever hope for.  Anticipation.  Suspense.  A major crisis.  A last minute heroic rescue.  Drama.  Tedium.  Excitement.  Sweetness.  Treachery.  Romance.  What more could anyone ask to start the New Year?  Once again the Vaughan household proves itself as the place to be, the site of sites, the igloo of interest, the establishment of enthusiasm.  What’s that?  You want details?  Are you sure you can handle them?  Well, all right.  Here goes …

I made a visit to fire station number four to return the dishes I borrowed on Christmas Eve.  They sent me home that night with enchiladas and bean soup.  Good stuff.  I sat together with the crew for a few minutes, wondering what sort of crazies would be out later in the evening.  Anticipation.  

We ordered some paneling from McCoy’s for some repairs at the church.  A phone call in the morning revealed that no one there knew anything about the order.  We were assured, however, that the order would be in the store by three o’clock.  Would it actually arrive?  Would the project have to be put on hold?  Suspense.

As it turned out, the paneling did get there.  Since I have a truck, I went to pick it up and deliver it to the church.  My plans were to get it inside and check on a few things while I was there.  But wait.  As I set the final sheet of paneling on the church porch and reached into my pocket, I realized … that I had forgotten to pick up my church keys.  A major crisis.

I made a desperate phone call, and Ned, the hero of the day, assured me he would see to it that the paneling made its way indoors within the next few minutes.  Truly a last minute heroic rescue.

Once I made it home and realized that the Aggie football game didn’t start until 7:30, we started trolling Netflix.  And there we discovered a new series that made it through 23 episodes.  It was based on the DC comics character Green Arrow – loosely based – and was called, amazingly enough, Arrow.  Within two episodes we were hooked.  Drama. 

I suppose drama is something that can be quite different for everyone.  It was certainly a perspective issue around here for Mom.  She kept slumping over onto the couch and dozing off.  And Chris kept “assuring” her it was not yet time for bed.  Finally, when Chris woke her up to help her get ready for bed, a startled Mom turned the tables with her quip, “Are you all right?”  Tedium.

And finally the Aggies football game began.  And finally, they made an unheard-of, incredible, come-from-behind victory.  Excitement. 

As a special treat, Chris made a batch of her famous homemade caramel popcorn for us to enjoy during the game.  Sweetness. 

Then there was that unbelievable moment just before halftime in said football game, when the Duke coached called for an on-sides kick … and it was successful.  Treachery. 

And finally, the evening drew to a close.  After managing to stay awake past midnight (thanks to Johnny Football and Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow character), I shared an all-too brief kiss and a toast (in some old plastic kids’ take-home cups from Luby’s) of chilled sparkling grape juice with the love of my life.  Romance.

As I said, what more could anyone ask?  Happy New Year.

Lamentations 3:22-23 says, “Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

Father, thank you for giving us one more shot at this life thing.  How about you take the lead this year?  Amen.