October 23 - “Baseball and a wedding”

We spent the morning yesterday watching baseball. I know the Astros didn’t play until the afternoon.  Wasn’t them.  Josiah is in an instructional league here in Galveston. You can tell it’s instructional. Lots and lots of walks. And they don’t keep score.  The boys seem to be having fun, though. Josiah was clearly the best defensive catcher on the field in either game of his double-header. And he got on base every time as the lead-off hitter.  Proud DadDad moment …

 

Back to the Astros game … we only got to see the last half-inning. Why?  I was officiating a wedding at the Tremont Hotel in downtown Galveston.  I was trying to remember if I have ever been inside that hotel before.  I know that’s where Kel and Christina spent their wedding night, but in all my years here in Galveston, both before and after my exile to the mainland, I don’t remember being inside.  The place is pretty ornate.  It has been renovated extensively.  And pretty much the whole lobby is a bar of sorts, so there were lots of people coming and going.  Pretty upscale bar, I might add.  Almost everyone was dressed to the hilt, except for the few fans in Astros gear watching the game on the bar TV (not that I noticed the game at all, or that the Astros were winning). 

 

The wedding went well.  The groom was a semi-retired pastor, and the bride was from Columbia.  Just a few friends and family were in attendance.  One unusual thing about the service, itself – they had no fewer than five songs.  The lady who performed them was really good, too.  Very passionate about her singing, for sure.  After the ceremony we all sat down to a meal provided by the hotel.  Fancy stuff, and really good, too.  Filet mignon.  Potatoes.  Asparagus.  Some kind of crab cake that was really good.  Carrot cake for dessert.  And everyone got a gift from the bride and groom – a small bag of coffee from Columbia.  Can’t wait to try it.

 

Go Astros … sweep the Yanks!

 

Psalms 23:3 says, “he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.”

 

Father, please be with Jim and Martha as they start a new life together.  Amen.

October 22 - “Turnabout is fair play”

I tried to get back into the flow of things a little bit yesterday. I did take my day off walking. Instead, I stayed at my desk and made lists. The proverbial to-do list is back in my life. Not that I particularly want to “to-do” anything on there, but at least the list is complete. That’s a finished task, right? 

 

In the early afternoon we met up with Kel and Christina and all their crew (Jachin was home for the weekend) at the Rosenberg Library. The library was doing a presentation about the 1900 storm. There is a new exhibit up on the library’s fourth floor about the storm. It’s always good to check up on what people are saying about our tropical island paradise.

 

From the library we stopped off at the funeral home. I know.  Not your usual Friday afternoon jaunt.  But this time we went by to pick up some New Testaments. The proprietors of the establishment are some Gideon friends of ours, and they gave us a few hundred New Testaments to give away on Halloween.  Thanks, Rusty and Mike.

 

On the way home we stopped at Randall’s to get some stamps and a roast for Sunday lunch. Being me, I had to go to the bathroom first, so we stopped off there.  It took Chris a long time to come out, and I was about to go in after her when she finally appeared.  Seems she had one of her spells and cut her arm when she leaned into a door for support.  She looked a bit peaked (is that really a word, and how do you pronounce it?), but insisted she was fine. I drove home.  The funny thing was, apparently someone saw us there and called Nathan to ask why his Mom looked so pale at Randall’s.  Hey.  We used to tell them all the time when they were kids that we had eyes everywhere. Guess turnabout is fair play …

 

Last night we journeyed up to Texas to watch the LaMarque Vaughan kids in their MMA sparring night.  That’s where they spend 45 seconds wailing on an opponent and get scores for their team.  They all did a great job. I even saw Micah do some kind of reverse, spinning, jump-kick to the head king of move.  Not sure what it was called, but it got him three points.

 

1 John 4:11 says, “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

 

Father, thank you that there are eyes and ears that care enough to follow us around wherever we go.  Amen.

October 21 - “Wake -up call?”

Well, my old back woke me up at about 2:30. I got up and moved to my recliner so I wouldn’t keep Chris up. Also took a Tylenol to try to take the edge off. It worked enough for me to doze off a little bit. Well, at least until the neighbor’s dog discovered something that desperately needed barking at. And bark he did …

Later in the morning we walked a few miles. The back eased up some, but the hip kicked in. Never ending story. I do have an appointment coming up with the orthopedic doc who does the shots into the joint. After yesterday … bring it on.

 

The rest of the day we did our weekly (or in this case first time after three weeks) house cleaning. Home group folks were due to be here for the first time in three weeks, and Chris can’t have them showing up to a dusty house.

 

Speaking of home group, we had a full house for our return engagement. We are studying through the Bible, and we just got to the third chapter of 1 Samuel, where the boy Samuel first hears from God. The folks assured me that they really did miss getting together on Thursdays. I think what they really missed was wondering just what the next cliff-hanger was going to be …

 

Romans 15:5 says, “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had,”

 

Father, thanks for the folks in our home group. Bless them with your joy. Amen.

October 20 - “Goldilocks”

Chris had her turn in the barber chair. It was after her sleep study, so before she left the house, she washed her hair twice, trying to get the sticky stuff off. It was the remnants of the tape and electrodes they had strapped to her head. She still planned to warn the stylist of what might come out.

 

We did some research on freezers and garbage disposals. Yep. Both have gone out at our house. We’re afraid that things do not bode well for any of our other major appliances, since they were all purchased at the same time, after Hurricane Ike in 2008. In fact the fridge has been refusing to dispense water or ice lately. It’s probably on the chopping block as well. Sigh. Guess our traveling days are on hold for a while until we can get some things paid for here.

 

We made the trip to Home Depot to pull the trigger on the two most immediate casualties. The garbage disposal was an easy find. It was the freezer that took a while. For that much money, we wanted to make sure. They had one that was quite a bit bigger than what we had. Overkill. Another was a little smaller than what we had. I was beginning to feel like Goldilocks and the three freezers. We finally decided on the third option. Just a little bigger than what we had, but it had to be ordered and delivered to the house. It should arrive on Tuesday. That gives us a few days to clear a path through the garage and establish a new format for the room where the new one will reside. Oh … and two years to pay it off without interest.

 

Hebrews 12:11 says, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

 

Father, thank you for the sales guy who helped us get the freezer today.  Please bless him. Amen.

October 19 - “The drama continues”

After that midnight wake-up call I thought the drama was over for the day. But no. I had a chance to be neighborly before breakfast. Seems our neighbor locked herself out of her car at work and needed me to go over and wake up her husband so he could come rescue her. Hey. Never a problem to be a good neighbor. And I was awake anyway.

 

Later in that long morning I added a much-needed haircut and beard trim to my day. Chris had the rotten end of the deal this time. She was on the phone for an hour or two with the hospital and insurance company trying to resolve a billing issue that she has had to call about for the last three months in a row. They have someone listed as her PCP who she has never seen. After I was gone for an hour, I came home to her still sitting at the desk, on the phone, trying to sort things out. 8:30 a.m. to just before 1 p.m.  That’s a long time on the phone. And gist of it all? She had to file a grievance to get it kicked up to the next level and hope someone there knows what to do with it.

 

Last night we took Josiah to baseball practice. They kind of combined with another team, because neither had enough to scrimmage. I heard the coaches say something about it being too cold for some of them. Hmm. 65 degrees. Plenty cold enough for me. Josiah is actually one of the best players on his team. In fact, he was one of maybe three guys on the whole field who were good. He was especially good as catcher. And at bat?  He hit a line drive that rolled all the way to the fence. Proud DadDad moment here.

 

John 5:24 says, “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”

 

Father, please help them figure out that insurance mess. Chris doesn’t need that stress. Amen

October 18 - “The Great Toe Blood Pressure Taking”

No rest for the travel-weary. We had to be at a doctor’s appointment at 7:45.  That’s A.M., but we’re used to getting up early now. Hey. We don’t even know what time zone we’re in yet.

 

I got right in for the test. It was a vascular imaging thing to see if I have correct blood flow to my feet. Apparently a blood clot in the hip could cause the pain I’m having there, but it would also restrict blood flow to the feet. The test was kind of odd, to be honest.  They had me lie down so they could take my blood pressure in both arms and at both ankles.  OK so far.  That was what I expected.  Then they pulled a fast one that almost had me laughing out loud.  They wrapped tiny little blood pressure cuffs around each of my big toes.  How about that?  Great Toe Blood Pressure Taking.  That was a new one on me.

 

Results were all good. I have some calcification in the veins, but all in all, it all looks good. So now we move on to the next possibility. Next week I go to the doc who does the shots into the joints. Ouch.

 

Last night around 12:30 a.m. we were awakened by the horrendous noise being generated by the air conditioner.  It was like the power was being turned on and off very quickly.  And the clock by the bedside was flashing on and off in time with the surging.  I expected the whole house to take off into outer space any minute.  We got up and turned off the air conditioner.  It didn’t matter.  It kept surging on and almost off, on and almost off. That weirded us out.  Chris poked her head outside, and sure enough one of the transformers down the street was glowing in an electrical frenzy.  And when that fire finally went out, so did the power in our house.  I called in the outage.  We went on back to bed, this time with a window open to take advantage of the cool breeze.  About an hour and a half later, the power was restored, and all was well.  Took me a long time to get back to sleep, though.  And I was up and at ‘em by 5:30 this morning. Hey.  Can’t waste those precious morning hours.

 

Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

 

Father, thank you for the power workers who came out last night and fixed whatever issue we were having.  Bless them with a good sleep when they get a chance.  Amen.

 

October 17 - “Waco Weekend”

We continued our full Waco weekend by heading to church to worship and hear Josh preach. He did a great job, of course. Key point: your perspective matters.

 

After the service we went up some stairs to one of the Sunday School rooms. Caleb sang there with an ensemble of other teenagers (3 girls and 2 guys).  It was their first time singing “in public.”  They were really good. I think they’ll get other gigs real soon.

 

After saying our goodbyes, we hustled out of there and to the car.  A cold front was just reaching the area, so we wanted to get in front of it. We did get wet hurrying to the car, but for the most part we stayed on the front edge of the storm. Like most places we have been over the last three weeks, Waco needs the rain, so we were happy for them.

 

On the way home, we listened to the service at Seaside through the miracle of modern Facebook Live. We were kind of sad to be missing out on dinner on the grounds, so we decided to splurge one last time and stop at Cracker Barrel for lunch.

 

We were met at the house by our neighbors Corey and Janell and Brennan. They helped us unload the car. Freddy was home already, so we had her excited greetings as well. Great to be home.

 

2 Corinthians 9:7 says, “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

 

Father, please grant Caleb and those kids who sang with him all the encouragement they need to keep singing for you. Amen.