February 4 – “SOUPer Bowl Special”

Great day in church again yesterday.  Those counting had totals ranging from 77 to 87.  I’m pretty sure there were around 83.  We had locals and our beloved Snowbirds and even a few brand new visitors.  One unexpected guest was a couple from the Seaside past who moved to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Tom and Cathy Bollman.  Always good to see a Seasider come back to check in. 

The SOUPer Bowl Commercial Party was also a fun time.  We had seventeen people gathered together, all cheering for their respective team.  Actually that is not a very accurate statement.  Any cheering going on from the ones watching the game would better be described as rooting against the Patriots.  Or for finally getting another Bingo square covered.  Or for an especially good chunk of crab meat.  Or maybe for seconds on a bowl of chili.  Yep.  The masses were just not very “into” this particular Super Bowl.  Oh, the commercials were passable at least, although none were really spectacular.  I’m pretty sure the beer companies spent the most money at five million for each 30 second spot. 

Chris made two big batches of chili, one somewhat hotter than the other.  I didn’t taste that one.  My stomach is just not built for the mega-spice attractions.  Sam brought her signature crab dip, which I did my best to hide from the rest of the guests.  That is always by far my favorite food of the evening, although the seven-layer dip came in a pretty close second.  Oh, and the fried cheese.  Gotta love fried cheese. 

We did play some games.  I put together a trivia game, the highlight of which was the first ever facial recognition section of people connected to this year’s event.  Actors, football player, coaches – anyone related in any way to the spectacle on television – were fair game.  As it turned out Cory (the cop, not the fiddle player) got all the faces correct but one.  He just couldn’t figure out the quarterback of the Rams.  Of course, the photo made him look like a movie star.  Then there were the Bingo games.  Three options this year.  The easy, generic version, with answers found relating to commercials and football.  The middle of the road version, with commercials being cited.  And the all-new, most difficult version with company logos instead of actual words, kind of a visual verse version of bingo.  James smoked everyone with the first Bingo.  He then drew a super bowl advertiser’s name from a bag and received something that advertiser advertises.  He was one of the lucky ones.  He won a big old bag of Doritos.  Cory (again, the cop, not the fiddler) actually picked up wins in the full card Bingo and the trivia games.  The advertisers he drew?  Colgate, which garnered him a brand new tube of toothpaste.  And Avacados from Mexico, which reaped none other than … not one, but TWO avacacados.  Several other winners took home the eight-pack of Pepsi and the cans of Pringles and the can of Peanuts. 

All in all, I would say the night was a success.  After everybody left and we got the house cleaned up, we even watched some of that new show, The World’s Best.  Glorified version of America’s Got Talent.  Odd that the show ended with the escape artist trapped inside a cube of water and eerie music playing and close-ups of celebrity judges’ horrified faces.  You have to wait until Wednesday to find out what happens.  Yeah … nope.  Not impressed. 

Psalms 139:1-4 says, “O Lord, you have searched me and you know me.  You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.  You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.  Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord.”

Father, thank you for the friends who joined us last night.  May the fellowship work your magic and develop intimacy among the Body of Christ.  Amen.

February 3 – “Phil or Armand?”

I understand the groundhog didn’t see his shadow yesterday.  Doesn’t that mean Spring is coming sooner?  Or is it the other way around?  I have never been able to get that right.  I’m just wondering if Armand the Armadillo saw his shadow.  I’m pretty sure he’s the one who speaks for Texas, not that Yankee Rodent …

We were once again blessed by an onslaught of LaMarque Vaughan children last Saturday evening.  Mom and Dad went on a date.  The kiddos had pizza and played video games, mainly.  Except for the hour or so where they introduced me to some tiny little dollish action figures they called Heroclix.  That is apparently the hottest new gaming thing.  They go to tournaments on the weekends to play whatever it is you play using the figures.  Each one has some sort of ability that helps him in the games. 

Now, I assumed that meant the little people were superheros.  Silly me.  Not so much.  Most of them I couldn’t even figure out WHAT they were, much less who.  One of them was a huge (in the realm of Heroclix anyway) brown whale-looking creature with sharp teeth that could walk.  It kind of had the look of meatloaf that has been left out on the counter … for three days.  I naturally assumed it was Moby Dick’s cousin Albert.  I was, however, mistaken.  Strange.  As if that wasn’t bad enough, they handed me one that they insisted was Spiderman.  What I saw was a guy stuck to a wall, Spiderman-y, sure enough, but he looked older than me.  That’s just not right.

Oh, and we did engage in a night of learning as well.  We asked Siri about all sorts of historical figures and learned some fun facts about Abraham Lincoln.  Siri assured us that when old Honest Abe saw the large size of his son’s head, and noted the way the child constantly wriggled and squirmed around, he started calling him Tadpole, Tad for short.  Gotta love those nicknames. 

Psalms 138:8 says, “The Lord will fulfill [his purpose] for me; your love, O Lord, endures forever — do not abandon the works of your hands.”

Father, thank you for groundhogs and armadillos and grandchildren.  They all make the world a little more interesting.  Amen.

February 2 – “Barry Bonds and the Cyrillian Warbler”

Chris really surprised me yesterday.  She told me that I should get back into my long-time hobby of baseball card collecting.  Well, actually it was Cailyn who kind of breached the topic, ignited the spark.  Seems she is doing a report for school on major league baseball player Barry Bonds.  I’m not at all sure why he was in the mix to choose from, but, hey, a baseball player is a baseball player, right?  After we heard about the report I rummaged through one of my baseball card tubs until I managed to find a card of Barry Bonds for her.  It was from back when he was just a really good, all-star caliber player for the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Long before he (allegedly) discovered steroids and became a muscle-bound beast.  Hope she can use the card in her report somehow.  But back to the collecting.  My next goal is to complete the set of 1961-62 (It came out over two years) Fleer Baseball Greats.  I have most of the second issue, since I started collecting cards in 1962.  And our research yesterday indicated that the 1961 set should be much easier - and cheaper – to find.  And it does appear that there are a myriad of places to begin online.  Not as much fun as gong to card shows and little shops, but I guess we all have to adapt. 

In the afternoon we took our walk and did our stair-walking.  I still did lunges up on the deck in between flights of steps.  It wears me out, but I think it’s really helping the knee rehab.  Afterward we rested a bit in our new patio chairs.  That’s when we saw a fascinatingly cute little blueish bird flitting about our bushes.  I tried to get a picture, but it would stay still long enough.  It obviously wasn’t a hummingbird, which we see all the time, so Chris grabbed her trusty iPad mini and looked it up.  Best we can figure it was a Cyrillian Warbler.  Sounds like a creature on Star Trek to me …

Psalms 138:7 says, “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes, with your right hand you save me.”

Father, thank you for sharing that tiny bit of your creation with us.  It was beautiful.  Amen.

February 1 – “’No’ days”

February.  February.  I have to type it out a few times so I can get used to it.  Not that I have trouble spelling it or anything.  It’s just hard to believe that, once again, time is flying by.  Seems like just yesterday it was January …

I suppose I should be excited about days like yesterday.  It was basically boring. 

No fun trips.  Well, unless you count our excursion to Whataburger with Cailyn after we picked her up from school.  She and the old retired teacher guy who works there now traded dance moves, so there was that spectacle.  And yes, I did join them briefly on our way out the door.  We even saw a Seasider enjoying a Whataburger of his own on his way home from work. 

No new animal friends to add to our stuffed (in more ways than one) zoo.  Unless, of course you count Cailyn.  She is squeezably cute, you know. 

No extremes on the knee recovery front.  We walked our two miles.  Well, Chris walked three.  Then we walked the deck steps.  I added a couple of extra minutes to mine to account for adding lunges every time I reached the top of the deck.  Not sure how many Chris did.  She operates by counting the number of times she scales the steps.  Six is her usual number. 

No surprise visitors.  Unless you count the ones who braved the terrible weather to come to home group last night.  Small group.  Just Corey and Janell and Brennan and Sam and Cailyn and Chris and me.  Really good Bible study time, too.  Book of Numbers. 

Hmm.  For a lot of “No’s” that turned out to be a pretty positive day.  I’ll take it.  It’s all in the way you look at it …

Psalms 138:6 says, “Though the Lord is on high, he looks upon the lowly, but the proud he knows from afar.”

Father, thank you for the way you always turn “no” days into positive, fun experiences.  Amen.

January 31 – “Muddlethorpe Monkey”

So when was the last time you went to Space Center Houston?  Before yesterday, for us it was way back right after they changed the name from NASA and turned it into a major tourist trap – er – attraction.  And the transition has been made, and made quite effectively.  What I remember was a mass of humanity all bent on experiencing every one of the hands-on opportunities.  Yesterday there were a lot of people, but not overpowering by any means.  There was one large group from Australia.  Some kind of Catholic Youth Organization. 

One of the things that wasn’t available back in the day was the opportunity to go into the plane that carried the shuttle and into the shuttle itself (or the mockup of one they have).  That meant walking up and down three flights of stairs.  Well, we could have taken the elevator, but I had to get my steps in somehow.  The plane in particular was kind of fun.  Why?  Because Noa finally realized that she was standing inside an actual airplane.  She’d never been in one before. 

Inside the boys went berserk with all the hands-on science paraphernalia.  Oh, speaking of science, we listened to a wacky lady give a fun lecture/demonstration of some of the basic principles of rocket science.  Our little guys got to be a part of the whole thing when they were very quick to volunteer.  We also saw two of the movies they showed on one of those gigantic surround screens.  One was about a time a space station scientist/astronaut almost drowned in his space suit.  The other was an animated feature.  Something about a pet ostrich and an alien, walking, talking pile of lime green jello all working together to save the International Space Station.  I was almost asleep when the light came back on.  I hope the space station guys are OK.

Oh, and we found another new friend who agreed to come home with us.  His name is Muddlethorpe Monkey, the Astronaut Ape.  I know.  How can a monkey also be an ape?  But ol’ Muddy is a wonder of nature.  Guess that’s why NASA just had to have him.

Psalms 138:4-5 says, “May all the kings of the earth praise you, O Lord, when they hear the words of your mouth.  May they sing of the ways of the Lord, for the glory of the Lord is great.”

Father, thank you for another chance to experience something a little different with my wife and those goofy, great grandkids.  Amen.

January 30 – “Spring teaser … aaaaaaand gone”

So Monday’s touch of Spring turned into Tuesday’s funny Winter joke.  Temperatures were in the low 40’s with windchills in the low 30’s.  That meant the wind was so strong that garbage can lids were being opened and in some cases cans themselves were upended all over the neighborhood.  The three huge boxes that our patio chairs came in were strewn all over the place.  One was up at our garage door, no doubt trying to get inside to escape the cold.  Another was in the middle of our next door neighbor’s yard.  The third was … gone.  Nowhere in sight.  Just gone. 

I spent the morning working on sermons and Bible studies.  Our physical break came in the afternoon when we went over to Walmart to get some much-needed groceries.  Aside from the accomplishment of re-populating our pantry, we got to see a few Seasiders who were out doing some grocery gathering of their own.  Always a pleasure to run into folks we know amidst the hordes of picturesque WalMart consumers. 

This morning our goal is to connect with the LaMarque Vaughans.  That means a trip into Texas, of course.  The plan is to go to NASA for the kids to roam around in their visitor center.  I think a picnic is involved as well.  Doesn’t give me much time to work. Guess I should finish up what preparations I can for the SOUPer Bowl party here at the house Sunday night …

Psalms 138:2-3 says, “I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.  When I called, you answered me; you made me bold and stouthearted.”

Father, thank you again for that little Spring teaser.  Makes us long for the real thing, and we do like anticipation.  Amen.

January 29 – “Spring???”

My day began early.  I had to meet the fire inspector at Seaside to get the building checked out.  Seems we need to replace a smoke detector cover.  Other than that we scored perfect.  Good for another year.  I got some cleaning and rearranging done in the church office while I was waiting for them.  Interesting the things you find when everyone has access …

We went for our walk after lunch.  It was “plumb hot” as my grandmother used to say.  Not so much this morning, though.  42 with a wind chill of 32.  Brrrr.  We also walked the deck stairs when we got back.  Oh, and I added some lunges in between steps.  Yep.  I was beat.  And sore.  The good kind of sore, though.

After cooling down out on our new chairs in the back, we took down the old rope lighting encircling the deck.  Long strips of lights were out at intermittent intervals, so we decided to replace the whole lot of them.  As it turned out we had to use pliers to get the screws out, because they were so rusted.  So, now we need to pick a day and string up the new ones.  You know, all this cleaning and rearranging.  It feels way too much like Spring.  So … what time is the Astros game?

Psalms 138:1 says, “I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; before the ‘gods’ I will sing your praise.”

Father, thank you for the really beautiful day yesterday.  I know there are more to come.  Amen.