June 16 - “Father’s Day report”

Nathan kicked off Father’s Day with a really sweet text message. April sent a hilarious Tik Tok thing. Chucked belching out “Happy Father’s Day over and over. Loved it. 

Father’s Day at church was really nice. I donned my new shirt from the Waco Vaughan’s and headed out to Seaside. Great singing. One of the best, most engaging sermons Kel has preached that I have heard, and how can you beat Third Sunday dinner-on-the-grounds? And by that I mean banana pudding and peach cobbler, of course. 

The Astros took up our early afternoon. As usual on afternoon games, a couple of AAA guys played. Pitcher and third base. They weren’t horrible. Good enough to get them to extra innings, where the Astros won it. 

‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭28‬ says, We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.

Father, thank you for my boys. And for the families they brought to us. Amen. 

June 15 - “More bonkers”

Remember those thunderstorms we lived through in Waco? They found us. Around 6 a.m. we heard a particularly loud blast of thunder - loud enough that Freddy immediately shifted her position in the bed … to my head. Fortunately I was getting up anyway. And boy, did those storms continue. Drove Freddy even more bonkers than she already is. 

With all the rain we couldn’t do any walking. Well, not any outside walking, anyway. Every hour or so Chris would jump up from whatever she was doing and start pacing around the house in circles. I jumped in behind her a time or two, and she even grabbed my hand to join her once.  I don’t know how many steps that got us, but we did something. 

Most of the afternoon Chris spent working on a quilt. I started on an old puzzle, but quickly realized that a substantial number of edge pieces simply weren’t there. That was a bit too disappointing, so I boxed it back up and tossed it in the trash. Not a big loss, though. It was a picture full of cats in Santa costumes. Sacrilegious. And the Astros game was on, anyway. Ah. It’s good to be home. 

Proverbs‬ ‭29‬:‭25‬ says, The fear of man is a snare, but the one who trusts in the Lord is protected.

Father, thanks for the rain again. The lawn is sure looking lush. Amen. 

June 14 - “Poor cattle”

We had a rather relaxed drive on our trip back home. Didn’t leave until well after 9. On the way back we saw evidence of some pretty massive flooding. Fortunately, it was relegated to wide open spaces like cattle grazing land. Poor cattle, though. 

Speaking of open spaces, we took a little short cut on our way to Buc-ees. It wound through some of that ranch land. Lots of cattle, and a really large ranch with a chicken in its logo. We even saw Camp Allen, an Episcopal church camp I went to when I was a teenager. Apparently the big flyover bridge we usually take was being worked on … or under. But never fear. We made safely to our Beaver-ish destination. 

From there things were going swimmingly … until they started actually going swimmingly. Houston was engulfed by a huge mass of thunderstorms. The city was under a flash flood warning. It had been having hundreds of lightning strikes per hour. By the time we arrived, though, there was a break in the rain. Not so much in the traffic. That was still about comparable to a typical rush hour … at 1:30 p.m. Chris is an amazing driver, though. She navigated the mess like a champ. 

Colossians‬ ‭1‬:‭13‬ says, He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves.

Father, please keep the folks safe who have to be driving in the storms. And keep our own travelers safe coming home. Caleb, Josiah, Brennan. Amen. 

June 13 - “Puzzling”

I had the special breakfast order yesterday. Donuts. Shipley’s Donuts. That’s a major special treat for the youngun’s around here. AnnaGrace gets strawberry iced. Luke gets cherry iced. They each also get a dozen donut holes. Oh, and DadDad gets an apple fritter. Hey. It’s my guilty pleasure. I don’t mind sharing. 

We made one quick errand before lunch. We visited the local library to get the kids some books. I gravitated to a table in the middle of the room set up with a jigsaw puzzle just aching to be put together. I didn’t have time to do much more than turn all the pieces right side up, gather together the edge pieces, and put together a few of the edges. My goal was to make things easier for the next person who stops in to work on it. Mission accomplished. 

Christi had an afternoon meeting, and Josh was at work, so we got to be the babysitting grandparents. AnnaGrace and Luke did their required reading, then spent some time playing that weird video game called Minecraft. I still don’t see much of a point in it. 

The last session of basketball camp went well, once again. A few of the guys who had been regulars all week couldn’t be there, so we had to adapt some of the small groups. Overall, though, I would say it was a successful camp. Everyone from the least skilled to the most accomplished indicated that they took some new skill or basketball insight away with them. Now all we can do is hope the improvement shows in the upcoming season. 

After practice we went over to Michael’s. I ordered a baseball and baseball card display case online that had to be picked up in person. Now I can get my last autographed ball and card into a case. Wilmer “Vinegar Bend” Mizell. I met him when he spoke at Seaside years ago. 

Psalms‬ ‭30‬:‭5‬ says, For His anger lasts only a moment, but His favor, a lifetime. Weeping may spend the night, but there is joy in the morning.

Father, thanks for the chance to touch the lives of those boys at camp. Help them retain the skills and info they learned. Amen. 

June 12 - “Pretty intense”

I got to join in the planning fun yesterday. First, though, it was raining (had been all night), so we didn’t get to do our walk. So instead we dove into the vacation planning mode. 

I thought Chris was pretty intense as a planner. Nope. Christi wins in a close race. They had me searching out hotels and ticket prices and locations. We made some reservations and bought a few tickets (we got the ones to the minor league baseball game, so I’m happy), but other things were put on hold for them to ponder and process. I guess we’ll be ready when the time comes. 

AnnaGrace had swimming lessons in the afternoon, so we hung out with Luke. Actually, he spent most of the time playing a video game. 

Speaking of video, last time we were here the kids introduced us to a YouTuber named Ryan Something. AnnaGrace thinks he’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. The guy and his wife are traveling around the U.S. trying to spend the night at a creative bed and breakfast in each state in just 50 days. Lots of fun and quite clean (in more ways than one).  

Basketball camp went great again. The boys are really showing a lot of improvement in a very short time. Christi told us that some of the moms commented that their sons were actually coming home and showing them skills they had learned. Sounds like a win to me. One more night to go. 

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭10‬:‭3‬-‭5‬ says, For though we live in the body, we do not wage war in an unspiritual way, since the weapons of our warfare are not worldly, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments and every high-minded thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive to obey Christ.

Father, be with Christi and Chris as they finish up plans for this trip in July. Amen. 

June 11 - “Happy birthday, Zak

I forgot to mention a pretty big event we got to be a part of on Monday. Soon after we arrived, up drove Zak and Lindsay, a friend of theirs, and Josh. After we made our way inside, Christi came in with a birthday  cake for Zak. He turned 19 on Monday, so we had to do a little celebrating. Happy birthday, Zak!

Yesterday Chris and I got in a two-miler around the neighborhood. Just beat a major thunderstorm. She and Christi then spent a few hours doing vacation planning for our trip together next month. I did help a little when it came time to buy our tickets to the minor league baseball game in North Little Rock. Looking forward to that one. 

Camp went well on day two. My station was switched to rebounding from passing. Much more fun. I taught a game called My Ball. It’s designed to teach aggressiveness, and for some of the boys … it worked like a charm. They learned that the answer to any loose ball or to the question, “Who’s ball is it?” is … MY BALL!  They were still diving and grappling for balls during the general drill at the end of practice. And the head coach noticed. 

Revelation‬ ‭21‬:‭4‬ says, He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away.

Father, thanks for the rain. It seems to have cooled things off a bit. Amen. 

June 10 - “To Buc-ees and beyond!”

After a quick stop at Walmart (why not?), we took off for Waco. We had already killed some time waiting for the severe thunderstorm to pass by. It was a big one, but we’ve seen worse. And the storms were completely gone by the time we got on the freeway. Smooth sailing all the way to Buc-ees and beyond!

The basketball camp day one went pretty well. I had the passing station. It was kinda tough because of the wildly varying skill levels. It took me the whole session working with one youngster on passing as pushing the ball from his chest instead of tossing it underhanded. I considered that a big win. There were also a handful of the guys who were actually really good. Josh took them aside and did some intensive offensive skill drills. There’s a lot of potential there. I really appreciated the helpers from the guy’s JV team and the girl’s varsity team. Hope they are there all week. 

‭‭Luke‬ ‭18‬:‭14‬ says, … everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

Father, be with these youngsters this week. Keep them safe and help them learn. Amen.