November 6 - “First Saturday”

We had a big morning out at the church. It was First Saturday Breakfast day. Lauren and Cathy made a veritable feast (as usual). They served breakfast tacos and banana bread and pumpkin bread and fruit. All the food was available for a donation to our mission to Alaska fund.

 

Ray made a great sign out of some big cardboard boxes: “Tacos to Go.”  We were hoping to draw in some of the motorcyclists in town for Biker Weekend. Many of the biker group staying in the retreat center came. But when Noa and Josiah and Brennan got out there by the road and started jumping up and down and twirling those boxes, traffic picked up. Several people came inside with the comment: “The kids got me.”  Another person found out what the cause was and told Noa, “I don’t want any food, but here’s a donation.  We went to Alaska last summer.”  Hey … nostalgia is a heartstring-tugger. I haven’t heard how we did money-wise, but for me it was a great time of getting to know several new people and reacquainting with some others.

 

Oh, and by the way … ASTROS ARE WORLD CHAMPS!!

 

Matthew 6:11 says, “Give us today our daily bread.”

Father, help us remember and recognize and appreciate “enough.”  Amen.

November 5 - “New Doc”

Chris had an early appointment with the eye doc. They did a full-blown exam. She had to start from scratch breaking in a new doctor. Hers left for greener pastures.

 

The new doc was fairly young and seemed to really know her stuff. She detailed what was probably going on. The consummate professional. But through it all, she was also quite engaging. She even asked me if I had questions.

 

And the bottom line of the visit? Cataract surgery will be forthcoming. First comes another visit to take specific measurements for the new lens.

 

In the afternoon, Chris did some sewing. I worked on our latest jigsaw puzzle. Baby Yoda, or whatever his name is. We also chatted with Josh and his kids for a while. It felt kind of strange to not excitedly anticipate an Astros game. Ah, well. Tomorrow …

 

Ecclesiastes 4:9 says, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor:”

 

Father, thank you for this new doctor. She seems like the kind of doc we can trust. Amen.

November 4 - “Hospital surprise”

We made it off our street before the big machines came to chew up the old asphalt. They worked fast once they got started, though.  They were out by four.  The most unexpected thing about the work was how much water they used, I guess to cool the engines of the grater.  They got it by tapping into the water hydrant at the corner.  It made for some seriously low water pressure around here. Now they have to lay the actual new asphalt. It looks like they are planning to grate all the streets in the neighborhood first, then come back and lay the new stuff.  Guess that’s why they notified us to be ready for street closures until the 17^th.

 

Chris had an appointment at the cardiac device clinic to check in with them concerning the monitor she has installed. We escaped the street before the machines showed up, and then we parked at a neighbor’s house around the corner when we got home. The sea wall was blocked off in the west bound direction to make way for all the motorcycles due in town for the big Biker Rally. Needless to say, we drove home down Broadway instead.

 

We did have a surprise at the hospital. We were in the waiting room, and I was admittedly dozing.  Suddenly, a tap on the shoulder revealed not one but two of our good nurse friends, Teri and Melissa. They work in the Cardiac Cath lab, which uses the same waiting room as the device implant division. Good hugs.

 

The afternoon was spent eagerly anticipating the next game of the World Series.  This one would determine who had the three games to two lead heading back to Houston.  The Astros had Hard-luck Verlander going for them. With all of his amazing exploits over the years, he has never won a World Series game.  He was pitted against the entirety of the Phillies bullpen.  And in another real nail-biter, the Astros – and Verlander – picked up the win, 3-2.  Jeremy Pena was the game hero, getting two of the RBI’s.  Bring it home, guys!

 

Colossians 1:13 says, “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves”

 

Father, please be with Teri and Melissa and the rest of the nurses at the hospital.  Give them stamina and a spirit of encouragement.  Amen.

November 3 - “I’ll take that gift”

Walked a mile with Chris. She kept going. I came back home and did my back and hip exercises.

 

Truck battery died again. This time I just pulled it out and took it back. It’s a three-year battery that is barely a year and a half old. They couldn’t get their computer/cash register to work for what they were supposed to do (give me a new battery with whatever the remaining warranty time was). After a call to a customer service manager and some serious finagling by him, he finally did a cash return as if the old one cost the same as the new one. He even had to take the exact change out of the register. Then he rang up the new battery as a brand-new purchase. Good for me. Now I have a new battery and a full three-year warranty. I’ll take that gift. I got the old one out and the new one in pretty quickly, so the truck is now parked in the Geran’s driveway, awaiting the brand-new street the city is planning to give us … starting sometime this morning.

 

After lunch I spent some time working on a poster for our very first First Saturday Breakfast at Seaside. It’s a fund raiser with the proceeds going toward the upcoming mission trip to Alaska. Guess I got elected because I had the most pictures of the Humphries Family.

 

Last night was back to … the TV. World Series game 4. The Astros were down two games to one. They came back and did it in style. Three pitchers combined for just the second no-hitter in World Series history. Pretty exciting stuff.

 

Psalms 23:1-2 says, “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,”

 

Father, thanks for being our shepherd.  Sometimes just knowing you are there is enough. Amen.

November 2 - “Round and round”

It was pouring down rain when we woke up yesterday.  Enough that Chris did her walk inside. Round and round the house she went, gradually gaining more and more speed. I watched her for a while before dragging myself into the den and doing my back and hip exercises.

 

After lunch Chris had an appointment with an ENT doctor to see if they can do anything to help her dizziness. She had to sign up to do two key tests in the future. So we’ll see …

 

We got a notice in the mailbox yesterday that the city will be redoing our street over the next two weeks. We have to park off the street, and if we don’t want tar on the car, we have to park on a different street altogether. All that starts on Thursday. What fun.

 

When she got back, we went to Randall’s to pick up some prescriptions. Grabbed some more bananas and a pineapple, too. Oh, and I also got one of their Antone’s deli sandwiches. All set for some baseball last night. Of course that part didn’t turn out so well. Good guys lost 7-0.  No less than five home runs given up by the same pitcher.  He must have had some kind of tell that they were picking up on. Oh, well.  They are at it again tonight.

 

Romans 8:18 says, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

 

Father, please be with these new docs Chris is seeing. Give them wisdom. Amen.

November 1 - “Ho, Ho, Ho!”

By about 5 p.m., preparations were completed for our Halloween hosting of the big outreach party of the year. Hundreds of kids were expected. The weather was great. The pizza was hot (at least for a while). The candy filled the pots. The boxes of Bibles were situated by the door. And most importantly … the World Series game was going on the TV. As it turned out, there didn’t seem to be as many kids as in years past. And the Astros game was rained out. We did have a good evening, though.

Best guess was 375 new testaments given out before we ran out. Who knows how much candy. The adults got into the swing of things. Great costumes by Sam (unicorn), Walt (abducted by alien guy), Mary (retreating giant baby-head - figure that one out. It was frightening), Sandy (old swingin’ grandma.  Ask Kel about that dance), and Ron (pumpkin). PK started as an Astros fan, but soon switched to his Santa hat, with a lot of Ho, Ho, Ho’s. Across the street, Corey reprised his role as the mad scientist, and even played his violin. Janell was some kind all-black creature.

Brennan, Josiah, and Noa all took turns scaring people from up in the big sycamore tree. But the award for absolute scariest has to go to Ezra. He wore a ninja costume, climbed up in the oleander bush and growled the most horrendous, low, deep-throated growl I have ever heard. He scared the pants off of several adults - big burly male adults.

We did have one unmanufactured scare when Sam’s knee gave away as she tried to stand up. She had plenty of help getting back up, though. All was good.

Hebrews‬ ‭11‬:‭6‬ says, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

Father, thank you for times of fun that are mixed with opportunities to give away your word. Use it to draw someone closer to you. Amen.

October 31 - “Festival-izing”

Our house guest Josiah bailed on us early yesterday. He went across the street to scarf down on donuts and ride to church with the boys. I’m pretty sure his early departure was more about the donuts and less about the glorious singing rendition he received to “encourage” him to rise and shine.  I did get a hug before he left. Before Nana got her hug. 

 

We had a really big crowd in church for Kel’s teaching on marriage.  Obviously, the Lord drew quite a few there who needed to hear it.  After church we went right to work, getting everything set up after church for our Fall Festival. We did take a brief break to enjoy some pizza from Way West Grill, though.  I was excited to see so many stick around to help with the set-up. It made the really tough parts (like setting up the two bounce houses) much easier. The festival itself went really well.  Kids were given Halloween bags to color with gospel tracts inside. Jim and Doug and Corey played live music as Cat Herder, Mad Scientist, and Gold-Face.  The chili dog I had was really good.  A new idea burst onto the scene with the Halloween pinata.  All the games were attacked by the kiddos of all ages who came. And best of all, there were lots and lots of blue shirts – Seasiders wearing their brand-new shirts to identify them as someone with answers – in more ways than one. 

 

When the community folks left, we still faced the massive chore of tear-down and clean-up.  The youth kids took care of hauling chairs back upstairs.  The blue-shirts pitched in and packed up the games for another year.  Leftovers (candy and soft drinks) were sent home with us for the Halloween outreach party tonight.  With great effort by Pastor Kel, Christina, Mr. Bob, and Mr. Bill, both bounce houses were deflated and shoved back into the party trailer, also to be used another day. 

 

After swinging back by the house to let Josiah pick up his sleeping bag, we took Cailyn back home. It was great to have a chance to sit around with Nathan and April and just chat. It has been a long time.  The trip into Texas made for a long day, but it was all well worth it.

 

Colossians 3:17 says, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

 

Father, thank you for the great response of Seasiders as well as community folks.  Amen.