Such a sense of accomplishment I am enjoying today! Earlier in the church office I made Mike C. laugh as I did a little victory dance upon the successful photocopying of the service folder for this Sunday. One down, one to go! When I arrived at the office this a.m. I was faced with making corrections (rats!) to the work I did on Wednesday after I thought I might have had been error free. Nope, there were boo boos but mostly because of the "adjusting" being done to a synod template, to incorporate it into our service. We are having three weeks of stewardship focus, this first week about how we are God's children, His heirs. One of the readings is the Prodigal Son, a story I find to be poignant. The closing hymn is "Children of the Heavenly Father", and when I read that I said aloud, "Oh, oh...." Pastor then remembered that this hymn is a trigger one for me but I told him it was fine, in fact, perfect for the message it delivers. We cannot worry about the tears being shed, as long as the message is delivered. Here is some history of the hymn: "Shortly before writing this hymn, Katharina Sandell and her father were on a boat trip, when he fell over board and drowned before her eyes. It is thought this tragedy gave birth to the lyrics."
*
Here is a stanza of the hymn she wrote:
Though He giveth or He taketh,
God His children ne’er forsaketh; His the loving purpose solely
To preserve them pure and holy.
*
Okay, let us move on----I made the changes to the service folder and got it printed off. Mike C. had to help me figure out how to make the two-sided copies as it has been over two years since I have done this and I just plain forgot how to do it. Once he showed me, it came back, at least a bit anyway. You would think one never forget how to do the things we once did with our eyes closed, like memorizing the nation's area codes or making copies. But somehow, we do!
*
Upon finishing my task, I headed toward home, stopping first at the cemetery to check on the bouquet I had put there two Sundays ago. It had pretty much been toasted in the sun and blown apart by the wind, so I carried it to the trash bin on the corner. As I strolled back, along came Corey, one of the guys who works there. He was feeling poorly and was considering going home at noon, where his son was already home with the same malady. He still had time to chat, asking about Justin and how things are going. We also discussed the football game from the other night and he is a Viking fan, so the conversation was a bit........'nuff said! Corey told me that the guys were going to be laying some pipe underground to try and dry the ground around Timmy's spot, and I told him there seemed to be rust on the markers in that area. He said it was from water sitting there. He is going to have the guys lift the marble bench as it is settling into the ground and also pull the marker up a bit, too, as it was sinking again. Draining the area will certainly help with the softness of the ground.
*
I had some leftovers from Longhorn for lunch, leftovers from Monday, not Wednesday, when I met Martie there for lunch before working at church. The manager told me he was going to give me an apron because I am there so often. Martie took my leftover chix home with her for Ernie, since I already had a mess of leftovers to use up. Last night Justin and I had dinner together as he was hungry for some Koko's. He played some with my phone, downloading my perfect "Phantom of the Opera" ring tone, which he assured me was a one-time charge. He had better be correct about that! Now that I think about it, he ate all his dinner, or at least, did not have a to-go box when he left. I had to get going to make it to choir on time so off we went our separate ways. It was great to have dinner with him, but it had only been a week or so since we last ate together.
*
Oh, and I totally freaked him that morning! When I was at Art Guild Tuesday night, I set my phone to quiet so it would not ring during the meeting, but did not set it for loud again the next morning. It seems my boy was trying and trying and trying to reach me, and I was not answering. Finally I happened to look at my e-mail and saw a message from him. "R u ok". Text lingo from him wondering if I was okay. Why shouldn't I be? Here he had been trying to reach me for nearly three hours via phone, text messages, finally resorting to sending an e-mail and google chat. He was freaked that something was wrong. When I finally answered his call, he said, "There you are!" like I was a naughty child. I told him now he knows what it feels like to be a mama...and he agreed. Justin said he knew I was not at aquarobics for three hours.....and if he had not been in Aberdeen he was thinking of coming over to check on me. Wow! And all he was wanting to ask me was if I had seen the beautiful way the sun was breaking through the clouds onto the river! Yes, I had and mentioned it on Facebook earlier, probably about the time he started calling me! I love that kid!
Here are some of God's children, having their lunch in the kindergarten classroom. Mario is looking at something on the bulletin board while Wesley drinks his juice. He loves to eat!
