December 7 – “Covering the components”

We attended a funeral yesterday.  Our across-the-street neighbor had been in hospice care for some time, and finally passed away on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  The service was held at the Methodist church they attended.  The highlight of the event was the obituary of sorts put together by his wife.  It was called a “family remembrance,” and it was truly amazing.  It was funny, lighthearted, yet a tribute to George’s kindness.  And even more amazing was the fact that she was able to read it herself.  At least all except the prayer at the end.  At that point her son, who had been standing by her side, took over.  Very powerful stuff.  Very proud of her.  Nice job, Cory.

After the funeral we went over to Shrimp and Stuff for some lunch.  It has been a while since we last ate there, and there were some changes.  Oh, the food was the same, still really good.  But they have been doing some expanding.  Looks like they might even be planning a deck area.  It’s always interesting to see how progress changes things.  I just hope the food stays the same.  So … dress up.  Attend an event.  Eat some lunch.  All the components of a date, right?  Check.

In the afternoon we began work in earnest on our Christmas gift list.  Well, OK.  Chris did.  I worked in the garage.  And of course we had our Featured Friday Fone call from Josh mixed in there as well.  And last night we checked out a brand new Lifetime movie … Winter Storm Meghan was blasting into Chicago this time.  Quite interesting, since the story was set in the Silicon Valley of California.  Pretty tough stretch to find a way to get a mention of good ol’ Meghan in there, but they did it.  I was proud. 

Titus 2:11-12 says, “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.  It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.”

Father, please continue to walk with Cory through her grief.  Amen.

December 6 – “Symptoms of the Season”

I was afforded the privilege of assisting Chris in a most difficult endeavor yesterday.  Last night was our home group meeting night, so she knew she was under the gun to clear out all the Christmas boxes.  That meant her house decoration frenzy had to kick into high gear.  And … it did.

We located manger scenes all over the house.  Little Praying Santa figurines popped up everywhere as well.  We spent a long time rearranging things on our bookcases so the Precious Moments manger scene figurines would fit.  The crèche I got in Jerusalem found its spot on one of the shelves.  Manger scenes depicting the Christ Family in numerous other cultures are peppered in as well.  Eskimo.  Mexico.  Peru.  It’s a fascinating walk through Christmas around the world.  The figurines are made from glass and plaster and pewter and olive wood and there is even the one I carved out of pine.  That would be the one with the massive-winged angel.  They are everywhere. 

My desk acquired a vase full of holly.  The little table by the front window holds a junior-sized Christmas tree.  There is a fire fighter Santa Claus on my shelf.  Fisherman Santa is hanging out in the bathroom.  Two or three stuffed Christmas bears are patrolling the grounds.  And of course three are wreaths hanging out in strategic locations. 

Chris has declared the area officially ready for Christmas.  The garage is stacked high with empty and partially-filled boxes of stuff that didn’t make the display cut this year, so I guess that’s a symptom of the season as well. 

Oh, and one other symptom that assures me the season has definitely arrived.  I cut my finger yesterday working on the annual Christmas carving for Chris.  Happens every year in varying degrees of ouch.  This one was a pretty good one.  Dripped blood on the floor on my way to the sink to wash it.  Didn’t go get stitches though, so I guess that’s a good thing.  Merry Christmas …

Matthew 23:11 says, “The greatest among you will be your servant.”

Father, looks like we are welcoming in the Advent Season with a bang.  Bring on Christmas … Amen.

December 5 - “Our guest designer”

We had an aspiring interior designer assist us in decorating for Christmas this year.  Her name?  Noa.  Yep.  That’s our six-year-old granddaughter.  Back on Thanksgiving when we pulled the decorations down from the attic, the plan was supposed to be to decorate the tree right then.  That, however, did not happen.  Josh and his family had to leave to get back to Waco right after the Turkey Bowl.  Nathan and April had already pulled the tree and got it started, but they also had to move on.  But when her own parents decided it was time they head home as well, Noa was crushed.  Who will help poor old Nana and DadDad decorate their tree? 

Well, that was all Nana needed to hear.  Arrangements were discussed and a new plan was hatched.  Noa would join her Daddy on his way to work and we would pick her up at the post office.  She would then have the whole day to help us get those pesky ornaments on that tree.  And she jumped right in.  Apparently ornaments were her specialty.  She seemed to really enjoy all the history - the stories behind each ornament Nana handed her to hang on the tree - from the first ornament to hang, the nail of Christ, to the ones with her Daddy’s and Uncle’s names on them, to the replacement ornaments we received from special friends in Arlington after Hurricane Ike swept away ours, to the little wooden ones we hand-painted our first year as a married couple.  It was pretty special to watch and listen as Chris imparted all that wisdom.  Noa probably won’t remember much of it, but it made for a great Hallmark moment from my perspective.  She was also a great companion when I had to make a quick trip to the bank and then to WalMart to get my glasses adjusted.  Good having her around.

Speaking of Hallmark, later that evening Chris was working at the table on Bethlehem Market stuff.  I was watching a Hallmark Christmas movie.  Suddenly almost all of the lights on the Christmas tree went out (Our tree, not the Hallmark one).  It took a while, but we tracked it to the last of the leftover strands from years past.  It was a chore, but we got that one removed.  Now we have all new 2019 lights.  Hope they hold out for the rest of the season …

Matthew 5:8 says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

Father, thank you for our little designer.  Bless her and give her a great Christmas this year.  Amen.

December 4 – “New friends”

We attended a pastor/staff Christmas party for the Galveston Baptist Association the other night.  It is really hard for me to be very involved in the workings of the group day to day, with stuff at the church and the fire stations – not to mention family – generally taking priority.  I do try to touch base every now and then, though, and it worked out this time where we had a free evening that coincided with the gathering.

As is our custom when we attend a function like this, we sat at a table by ourselves near the back.  We only knew a few of the pastors there.  But soon we were joined at our table by a contingent of three from Galveston’s Chinese Baptist Church.  The five of us worked together during the game.  Well, as it turned out Chris and I had great fun helping them understand the game – deciphering adages like “Don’t cry over spilled milk” out of weird combinations of letters and numbers.  That’s a really hard thing to do when you don’t know the regular language that well, much less the sociological slang.  They had a great attitude, though, and really seemed to appreciate our attempts at explanations, whether they fully understood them or not. 

We did have one very strange thing happen at the table, though.  An African-American guy (important to know later) sat down with us at one point to chat.  Now first, he wouldn’t shake hands with anybody.  He said that it was flu season and he didn’t want to spread any germs around or catch anything.  Odd, but one of our table mates responded, “Thank you for being considerate toward us.”  Beautiful answer to an uncomfortable situation.  Next, in an effort to make conversation, he asked our table mates if they were Chinese or Vietnamese.  Now that question could be construed as awkward at best.  Our new friends handled it with great class.  Then he asked if they spoke Chinese at their church, because if they did he couldn’t come because he can’t speak Chinese.  They didn’t respond to that one.  Just looked at each other and at us with quizzical expressions.  His comment about the game we were playing was most odd.  He indicated that the phrases were “THEIR” slang (nodding at Chris and me), so he couldn’t understand it.  Finally he said, “They used to call us African-American, but now we’re just blacks.”  Hmm.  For one thing, we had just met him, so I know for a fact I have never called him either of those things.  And besides, both terms are inherently divisive.  Sigh.  I suppose racism works both ways.  Again our tablemates looked at us with questioning eyes.  I’m pretty sure our eyes reflected the questions we had as well.  I can only surmise that the guy had been hurt at some point in his past.  I sincerely hope he has begun to experience the healing and love of Jesus through it all, though.

Ah, well.  At least we made some new friends and came home with a box of Snickers bars from the white elephant game.  

Isaiah 26:9 says, “My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you.  When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.”

Father, please continue your work in the heart of that guy who came by our table.  And bless our sweet tablemates with the joy of Christmas.  Amen.

December 3 – “Synchronized Ducking”

Did I ever get around to mentioning the winner of the Turkey Bowl 2019 Turkey Ball Trophy?  That’s not a misprint, by the way.  The trophy is a Nerf football spray-painted gold with gold tail feathers, all mounted on a trophy placard.  It is beautiful.  The trophy is awarded every year to the individual or individuals who best exemplify the true characteristics – the utter essence – of the Turkey Bowl spirit. 

First the runners-up.  One goes to Luke for his flying gain of massive yardage (in the arms of his Dad).  And then there was the Speed Demon himself, Brennan who made his first ever Turkey Bowl reception and turned on the blinding speed. 

But this year’s winners are … drum roll here …

Cailyn and Micah for their masterful display of Synchronized Ducking.  

A long pass floated lazily through the air toward them, and as it reached their realm of influence, Cailyn ducked one direction and Micah went the other - in a perfectly synchronized movement worthy of an Olympic medal … well, in swimming.  Their nomination was entered by Uncle Josh, who saw the whole thing up close and personal.  Some say he may or may not have been a third component to the synchronization, because he did avoid any attempt to field the ball himself, simply squatting down and turning to gaze in awe and wonder in the direction of the other two. 

So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen.  Cailyn and Micah.  Synchronized Ducking.  Their name will be immortalized on the back of the Turkey Ball Trophy.  As soon as DadDad finds a sticker to write on …

Matthew 6:3 says, “But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.”

Father, thank you for football games for fun and the people who make it so.  Amen.

December 2 – “Tales of Turkey 2019”

Guess I need to finish up the Tales of Turkey 2019, Saturday Edition.  I think I barely got the day started with the story of Caleb and the Tricycle Lady.  Here are a few more events from the day, in no particular order …

We actually had another little local cousins birthday party for AnnaGrace.  Cupcakes miraculously appeared.  We all gathered around the table for her to blow out candles and for us to wax melodious in singing “Happy birthday to you.”  We presented her with two gifts.  The first was a Precious Moments figurine.  That’ll go on the shelf, though, so we had to add a play-with-able gift as well.  That would be a child princess figurines collection, including my favorites … not one but two trolls. 

The kids got our Christmas decorations down from the attic.  Smaller ones were positioned up in the abyss while larger ones stood on the ladder and handed boxes down to a line of waiting muscles on the floor.  Pretty efficient operation.  We got the tree kind of halfway up.  Even had lights on that bottom half.  Nathan declared the rest of the lights to be no good, however, and after a double check perusal later on by Chris, she agreed. 

SUNDAY UPDATE: we stopped by WalMart on our way home from church and picked up some replacement lights.  We also got a string or two to add to the now-big-enough crepe myrtle tree in our front yard.  Chris continued meticulously stringing the lights until time to add the next segment of the tree.  That’s when we discovered it.  There were two remaining tree segments to be installed.  One was the topper.  Obvious there.  However, the other one … seems it was supposed to have been added before the one Chris had just strung lights on so carefully.  No way to fix it other than unstring all the lights and start over again.  We did get it right, though.  And got the new lights strung almost to the top.  It became apparent that we would need just one more string, though.  We were talking about the most effective means of tying it into the rest when catastrophe struck … Boom.  No lights were on at all.  Well, no lights on the tree, I mean.  After some searching I was able to ascertain that the culprit was the very first string of lights at the bottom of the tree.  It had overheated and just gave up the ghost.  New plan.  I removed that strand altogether and interred it with the other discarded strands.  Ignoring that area altogether, we then plugged in a brand new strand directly into the plug and ran it from the bottom all the way to the top section that still needed lights.  Success.  Chris then shifted into home decorator mode and had me push the whole tree around so it would be in perfect position when viewed through the front window.  We also had to shove it together a bit better.  It was leaning.  We haven’t had this much trouble with a tree since we used to get live ones.  But it is up.  Ready for ornaments.  Ho.  Ho.  Ho.

And then there was the turkey bowl.  But I’ll save that tale for tomorrow.

Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Father, thank you for a great day at church.  And thanks as well for the patience we needed to get that tree up.  Amen.

December 1 – “Coincidence?”

Well, it was inevitable.  December has arrived.  Hurricane season is officially over.  So is Thanksgiving (The season, not the practice … hopefully).  Christmas season is in full swing (and has been since shortly before Halloween).  Hallmark and Lifetime movies abound.  Our cruise to the Panama Canal is but 50 days away.  Here we go …

A few quick words about yesterday.  Caleb joined me on the post-cousins’ sleepover donut run.  That one turned into a full-on rescue mission.  On the way to the donut shop we saw a lady riding one of those adult-sized tricycles.  She had some boxes strapped to the back, and to her side she was holding onto a bicycle that she was struggling to pull along with her.  Interesting sight, to be sure.  We grabbed our donuts with little wait time and headed home.  And as we turned into the neighborhood, there was the bicycle towing lady on the tricycle right in the middle of the road.  She was off the trike and seemed to be struggling with something.  I pulled over to see if we could help. 

The problem was, as she rode along, the pedal of the bicycle had become embedded in the spoke of the tricycle.  Of course that caused both vehicles to grind to an immediate halt.  She appeared to be fine, but the pedal, and hence the bike was stuck fast.  It took some doing, but I finally managed to extricate the pedal and separate the vehicles.  As it happened, Caleb and I had been forced to take the truck since their car was parked behind ours and his mom and dad were still asleep.  Coincidence?  We loaded up the bike and took it to her house, which was not far away. 

Caleb helped me unload, and the lady asked if we lived in the neighborhood.  I said that I did, but Caleb lived in Waco.  She mentioned a place there that she used to sing at many years before.  And with that question Caleb took over the conversation.  He reaffirmed his home in Waco and added, “Yes, ma’am.  I do live in Waco, and unfortunately we will be returning home later today.  It has been a really fun weekend for us.”  Wait.  Just how old is this master of the English language?  We further discovered that the lady was disabled and lived with her husband who also had a disability.  She asked God to bless us, and we prayed the same for her.  And on the way home we remarked to each other, "So THAT'S why we had to take the truck this morning ..."

Speaking of mastering the language … Later in the day little three-year-old Ezra approached me and out of the blue said, “DadDad, just so you know … the attic is upstairs and the attic is in the garage, too.”  Well, thank you for that important tidbit of information, “just so you know …” 

More about the day in tomorrow’s post.  For now it’s time to get ready for a long day at church.  Advent begins.  Hanging of the Greens right after church.

Isaiah 40:3-5 says, “A voice of one calling: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.  And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together.  For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Father, please be with that lady Caleb and I helped yesterday.  May that tiny act of kindness spark in her a desire to draw closer to you.  Amen.