March 19 - ”Surprise”

After a morning of scraping old paint and digging in a flower bed, we drove into Texas.  We had been invited to be a part of an attempt to surprise a sweet lady from Seaside.  Sam is about my age and has never had a surprise birthday party before.  In fact from the sounds of the scuttlebutt as we waited for her to arrive, she hasn’t been surprised for any occasion … ever. 

The venue was a family-style barbecue and chicken fried steak restaurant near Ann’s (Sam’s step-mom) house.  Apparently it is their family’s gathering place of choice for all family events.  Last night they even had a live band made up of several retired workers from the Houston Chronicle.  We had the inside scoop on them because Ann worked with them all for 30 years as the Chronicle’s food editor. 

The word we got was that we needed to be there by 5:15, and Sam was supposed to arrive by 5:30.  Traffic was horrendous.  Imagine that?  Spring Break in Galveston and Rodeo in Houston.  Why wouldn’t the traffic be bad?  We made good time, though, and arrived right at 5:30.  Hustling inside so we wouldn’t spoil the surprise, we had a surprise of our own.  We were the only ones there.  Not in the whole restaurant.  It was hopping.  But no one from the party was there.  Not Ann.  Not Sam’s sister, Cathy.  Not Jennifer from church (the one who invited us).  We thought maybe we had been punked.  But there was a reserved table.  And the guy who owned the restaurant personally welcomed us, encouraged us to get a drink, and helped us find our way around.  And I remembered that Sam has told us before that her family has a way of being late for virtually every event imaginable.  Ann finally got there around 6.  Jennifer arrived shortly thereafter, as did Cathy.  Traffic was the culprit and the topic of conversation all around.  Well, that and the fact that Cathy’s weimeraner had won a dog show competition in Dallas that morning.

Cathy had the cake, so now we were officially ready to party.  When Sam finally walked in around 6:45 or so, our little band of revelers was ready to do our shouts of surprise and get started on some chicken fried steak or baked potatoes or even catfish.  So Sam was surprised.  The Squirrel special cake from HEB was delicious.  The company was lots of fun.  Thanks for the invitation, and as someone at the party said, “Thanks, Sam, for being born and giving us an excuse to have a party.”

1 Timothy 6:11 says, “But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.”

Father, bless Sam.  Give her healthy and happy days.  Amen.

March 18 – “Trimming”

Short and sweet message today.  I finished with the Kilzing coat of paint on the raw wood around the house.  Next step is scraping and power washing.  Can’t wait.

Then I joined Chris working in the back yard.  She is trying to get everything up to snuff for the party we are having in a few weeks to celebrate Jachin and Micah getting baptized.  That means digging through all the flower beds.  So yesterday, I trimmed a tree.  Brazilian pepper that does its best to take over everything, and right underneath the power lines to our house.  And I trimmed an ivy.  This one has been around for a long time.  It was growing under the deck steps and onto the deck steps and into the ground and running out into the lawn.  Crazy wild ivy.  And I trimmed some sunflowers.  We have a mine field of sunflowers from some that Cailyn planted a few years ago.  Why the “mine field” reference?  Because they chose to grow, yea to thrive, right smack in the middle of the grass.  Makes it really difficult to mow, so I’m trimming out all the lower branches like they are some kind of tree.  Wow.  I have never treated a weed so well.  Oh, speaking of trimming, maybe I can get my hair trimmed at church tomorrow …

Once we finished outside and had a bite to eat and watched SMU lose a really close game to USC, we got cleaned up and went to WalMart.  Yep.  WalMart on a Friday evening during Spring Break in Galveston.  Life doesn’t get much better than that.  Actually we did need some things, but the people-watching was particularly extravagant.  We ended up introducing ourselves to one guy who was not following any particular pattern in his shopping, but we kept running into him.  Our checker almost lost it when the guy behind us asked what time they started “not allowing people to go down on the beach.”  Chris and I helped out with that one.  We assured him that as long as he didn’t fall asleep or start a fire, he would probably be fine.  I really want to go back again today.  Maybe I can come up with some excuse after I’ve done some paint scraping …

1 Timothy 6:9-10 says, “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

Father, take care of all these tourists through the rest of the weekend.  Thank you for the great weather you have provided for them.  Amen.

March 17 – “Oooold friends”

Boy did we ever have a great treat yesterday afternoon.  We were visited by some old and very dear friends from our days in Denver, Colorado, Mike and Olivia Wilson.  Olivia and I spent at least two weeks together every summer we lived in Colorado … OK, have you thought about that one for a few seconds?  Actually she and I were usually the only adults who could always go as sponsors to youth camp and mission trips.  Mike is now a professor at Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth.  He was finishing up preaching an old-fashioned revival meeting at a little church in Louisiana, so they decided to take the southern route back to Fort Worth. 

And that southern route just happens to take them right through beautiful Galveston Island.  We met up with them at Nick’s (that place on the seawall that uses Gaido’s kitchen and serves the same food as Gaido’s but charges a little less and doesn’t use cloth tablecloths).  I had fried shrimp and crab cakes.  The shrimp was OK, but they left the crab cakes in the deep fryer a little too long.  Not that they were inedible by any means.  I managed to force myself to enjoy them anyway.  OK.  They were actually pretty good.  But the great company made everything taste just a little better.  And they even joined us at the house for a cup of coffee after we ate.  Nick was probably happy to see us go.  Lots of laughter.

Cailyn was with us, too, and I think she would agree that Mike and Olivia are pretty fun folks to be around.  In fact, when I took her to softball practice, she was ecstatic when there wasn’t a soul to be seen anywhere near any of the fields.  That meant she could go back home and hang out with “our friends.”  We did our best to talk them into spending the night with us, but they had been away from their own bed for five nights.  And in Mike’s words, “when you get a certain age, you know, your own bed has a certain appeal.”  They did stick around until after six so they could miss the bulk of the Houston traffic.  I think they have made another friend for life in Cailyn.  She even reminded me to pray for them last night at family worship time.

1 Timothy 6:6-7 says, “But godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.”

Father, thank you for the chance to catch up with Mike and Olivia.  Help them to be happy.  Amen.

March 16 – “Sagas are quite tiresome”

Next round in the homeowner’s insurance saga.  The bill is taken out of my bank account monthly.  Our agent set it up so we would have a set amount to anticipate every month.  Then last month, the first month of the draw, we discovered there was an extra $3 fee imposed.  OK.  I can understand and live with that.  Until this month’s draw came through with another dollar taken.  Now we are not at the point yet where one dollar will make or break up, but that was just a bit much, don’t you think?  Our agent is tracking that charge down now. 

Oh, they did appreciate the pictures I took of the finished carpentry.  They had one request, though.  Wanted me to send a picture of the same areas they took that were in such bad shape.  I informed them that I had done just that.  They replied that they didn’t recognize the “area where the board was pulling away from the house.”  My frustrated answer?  “That’s because it is fixed now.”  With understanding behind us, they moved on to their next request.  Could I please send them photos of those same areas again once they are painted?  As reasonable as that sounds, we are planning to paint the entire house.  That entails deciding on a paint color, getting the paint, borrowing a paint sprayer, borrowing someone who can operate the paint sprayer, and a myriad of prep stuff.  Did they want us to just paint the area we have repaired and send them a picture, or would a snapshot of the area covered in a coat of Kilz be sufficient?  Initial queries made it appear that the Kilz coat will be acceptable.  So I painted just the areas in question with a quick coat of Kilz, and then sent the pictures on.  As of press time I haven’t heard the outcome.  Sigh.  Sagas are quite tiresome.

1 Timothy 5:17-18 says, “The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.  For the Scripture says, ‘Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain,’ and ‘The worker deserves his wages.’”

Father, thank you for the many, many, many opportunities you have given us to develop patience through our little home improvement project.  Amen.

March 15 – “Done … so prove it”

The carpentry work on the house is officially all done.  Nathan and his neighbor came over yesterday and finished the last of the trim work on the soffits.  After they left I caulked all the cracks and seams so that all that remained would be painting.  In fact I even got one side of the new siding painted over with the Kilz coat before I was done in for the day.  I noticed while I was painting though, that there are some areas that need more caulk.  Guess that’ll be on the list for the next round. 

I sent our insurance agent pictures of the new work before painting so they could see that the work has been done.  All’s well, right?  Well … maybe.  I got a reply from the agent.  Now the company wants to see the contractor’s invoice showing that we have paid at least 30% of the cost.  They also want an estimated completion date.  Well, OK.  I sent back a reply that it is 100% paid for.  There is no contractor invoice because we did the work ourselves (Well, Nathan and his buddies did.  I was just the glorified gopher and future painter).  I haven’t received any further reply as yet.  I guess I could send them the Home Depot receipt.  Oh, and maybe the Little Caesar’s ticket for the pizza we fed the guys. 

Chris and I made another trip to Home Depot to return some materials we didn’t use.  While we were there we picked up some paint samples.  Chris and April put their heads together this morning and came up with four possibilities.  That was up from the one I thought we had decided on.  We did manage to narrow the field back down to two, though.  So we got samples of each and Chris slapped some on the wall outside.  Then she took a picture and sent out a phone poll.  I’m not sure, but I think the one that is more blue is winning over the more gray one.  Translation for people like me … the lighter one rather than the darker one.  Whichever one she chooses, I hope we can get it all done in the next week or so.  One of the fire fighters has a paint sprayer that we can use, so that should cut our time way down.  Then all we have to worry about is the white trim.  Well, that and convincing the insurance company that it is really painted.  Don’t worry.  I’ll save my receipts.

1 Timothy 5:1-2 says, “Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.”

Father, thank you for Nathan and Trey coming back and helping with the house.  Bless them for their time and effort.  Amen.

March 14 – “Colors and cold”

I’ve had just about enough of this whole “March comes in like a lion” thing.  Although in our case it has been more like a polar bear.  OK, OK. I appreciate that the Northeast is getting socked with an aircraft carrier load of snow about now, but here on our island paradise we are hitting the low 50’s again.  That’s just … too cold. 

And to make things worse, Nathan and his crew are supposed to come over today to finish up the work on the house. We still have to get done with phase two of the house work.  That would be work on the house, not mopping the floors and making the beds.  I finished up caulking all the seams of the siding and hammering down the metal water barrier.  Now all that’s left is changing out the rotten boards on the soffits.  Well, that and painting, of course. 

And speaking of painting, Chris and I went over to Home Depot last night.  We wanted to check out paint colors and look for a new swing for the back yard.  Eight grandchildren have taken their toll on the ones we have.  In fact we are already on swing number three as it is. Sadly, they had no swing.  They recommended we try McCoy’s.  That’s a rival home improvement store around here.  Guess somebody’s been watching Miracle on 34^th Street.  Isn’t that the one where Santa tells people at Macy’s that they can find what they want over at Gimbel’s instead?  Anyway, no swing.  Also sadly … too many colors.  Shades of colors in particular.  I thought Chris already had one picked out, but there are so many.  And she insists they are all different.  We want something that is somewhere between blue and gray, not too dark.  Trim will be white, so that one will be easy.  I checked out the base aisle to see if we would have to do a primer coat first.  Looks like we’ll need to do either a primer or at least two coats of the actual paint.  Exterior paint with primer built in costs over $40 a gallon.  And one of the companies, can’t remember if it was Glidden or Behr, didn’t even have five gallon buckets.  Oh, they looked similar, but the actual contents line read 4.43 gallons.  Marketing ploy to charge more without appearing to, of course. 

Well, we left Home Depot empty handed.  Unless you count the color charts Chris brought home.  I told her she had to choose the color by this morning.  Think she can do it?  Oh, but we did get to see a friend there.  Seasider and fire fighter Cody was looking for a dog door to replace his before he went on shift this morning.  Hope he got finished in time to keep this horrible winter weather at bay.

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, keep us warm and the folks in the Northeast safe.  Amen.

March 13 – “Let the repairs begin”

How many of you were able to enjoy a nice, relaxing Sunday afternoon, lounging on the couch or in your easy chair, watching some World Baseball Classic on TV and drinking a tall glass of iced tea?  Sigh.  Sounds inviting, doesn’t it?  So was that the image of my house yesterday afternoon?  Not exactly. 

Immediately after church, while Chris got her hair cut by our incredible church hair stylist, I entertained some students from Texas A&M who are staying in our retreat center.  They apparently arrived shortly before their sponsor, do they were huddling inside to get away from the cold, damp air.  They were quite amiable, too, and even agreed to help remove some stickers from our new driveway reflectors.  Oh, and they carried the trash out as well.  Great start for their ministry trip to Galveston.  By the time we got home Nathan and his fire fighter buddy John were already well into the demolition phase of the house repairs our insurance company required of us.  John had to leave soon after, but two of Nathan’s neighbors soon arrived, and they were there for the duration.

Nathan and I headed off to Home Depot to get the supplies while the finishing touches were accomplished on the demo.  We found most of what we were looking for.  They didn’t carry the nails we really wanted, so we had to settle for next best.  And then when we got back to the house we realized they didn’t fit the nail gun we had anyway.  Fortunately, the guy who owned the gun had plenty of extras that he happily donated to the cause.  We stopped on the way home to pick up some pizzas for the guys to eat.  They took care of two of them in short order.  Of course they had help from Cailyn and the daughter of one of the workers.  Cailyn had to leave very soon after we got started working, but the other youngster stuck around.  Little did Chris know that she was going to have an opportunity to be Nana for the entire afternoon.  And she apparently did a bang-up job.  The little one cried when it was time to go home.  She just didn’t want to leave.

And finally, let the repairs begin.  The three neighbors worked well together.  Measuring twice, cutting the siding, adding a two by four brace as needed, making sure the moisture barrier was in place, carefully placing the pieces, and nailing it.  And then there was the old guy, hanging out with a broom, acting like he was actually part of the process.  Occasionally Nathan took pity on me and asked for help cutting something.  I appreciated the chance to whatever I could without getting in the way.  We finished up most of the siding part of the job.  Still have to caulk the seams and prep it all for painting.  We didn’t get to the eave work, though.  That will be a job for another day.  Tuesday, actually, weather permitting.  That’s Nathan’s next day off.  Once we get that done I’ll take some pictures and send them to the insurance company to see if they will sign off on them.  Hopefully they will give us a few days to get the painting done.  We want to do the entire house when we do paint, so there is a lot of prep work we still need to do there.  In the meantime, though, our work crew is to be soundly applauded for their efforts.  Thank you so much fellas.  Couldn’t have done it without you.

1 Tim 2:8 says, “I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.”

Father, thank you for the guys who worked so hard yesterday to get the house fixed up.  Bless them for their efforts.  Amen.