After my wonderful day having, as Gretchen referred to it, "a good, Lutheran day", and resting my bones last night, I am yet not up to snuff. Losing the hour of sleep can be to blame or perhaps having something else which causes me distress and heart sickness might as well, can wear on a person. Next week is a special 'meeting' at church which rather has me in a knot.
I did not attend Bible study this a.m. as I was still so sleepy when I woke up, and would rather watch the news from my bed than get up and dressed! I got to church early enough to be one of the only ones inside. Man, it was cold in there! Warmer outdoors than in, and when I woke up, it was 41 above zero! Fortunately after church, it had warmed substantially, to the mid-70's as I drove home.
Robbie, "The Maestro" played for our service today, using the piano to accompany the hymns. The Sunday school children sang the first hymn, "Were You There?", memorizing the first three stanzas, four kids making up the little choir. Sarah, my goddaughter, was supposed to sing also but her daddy came to pick her up after SS. After the kids had returned to their seats, Emily came in and was looking around for Paul and Sarah. I explained that Paul came earlier but that she was not there to sing. It seems he picked her up and went to Sam's Club to buy gas, and then she wanted a doughnut, so he got her one, although she'd had breakfast. Emily was irritated for a number of reasons, not the least being she was scared, wondering what became of them! Plus the little choir could have used Sarah's voice! The five children of the Sunday school made up a tenth of our attendance today, so we need every single voice! Paul and Sarah came in just after the kids finished their anthem.
On the bright side, Marky came to church again this week, and sat with his Aunt Jean. He had called me on Wednesday to find out the service time but did not make it for Ash Wednesday. It delights me beyond measure to have him back at church, making the effort to 'regroup' as it were. There was a little fellowship gathering after the service sponsored by the Outreach folks so I went inside and got a slice or two of salami on crackers, and two home-baked chocolate chip cookies. Mmmm....delicious! Judy and Terri T. were counting today so we did not go to lunch, and I came home after stopping at Publix for soda. Managed to get a few other items as well, as the buy one/get one bins greet us at the door. Today I got more tuna for the stocking-up closet plus some fruit cups to eat with my cottage cheese. I was out of gallon-sized food bags and those were on the BO/GO display as well. Not sure I needed that many bags, nor did I need the brand name, but the price was right. And the Diet Coke, of most import, was buy two and the third is free! Not bad, not good, but not bad, either.
Yesterday's ride to The Villages area was lovely. First, I drove to Judy's house and then together we drove to get Gretchen in Mandarin. I could have gone to pick up Gretchen before going to Judy's but then she would have had to get up even earlier to be ready for me. This way, Gretchen had an extra half hour to ready herself. It took a bit of talking to get her to go, so we wanted to make sure she did! Then the 2 1/2 hour ride, sometimes in the fog, and then through the beautiful horse country. It was interesting to hear about the two ladies' history, those who came from the Missouri Synod churches, where they met each other, and so on. Great stories between them, and about the Schreier's and Zelenak's and others who were formerly LC-MS.
Our speaker for the Rally was a young mother from AZ who is active in the "Truth in Love Ministry", with their focus being the Mormons. She told such interesting details about their religion, how easily folks are fooled into believing the LDS are Christian, and most especially how to witness to them. She has the distinction of being asked to leave the grounds at the temple at Salt Lake City for handing out literature to the Mormons. We had to break for lunch and I got us a table near the doors and the bathroom, greeting the 2 Victory ladies and had them join us. It turned out we were asked to start the buffet line and Judy said, "Good choice of tables, Kim!" We had a catered chicken dinner which was great but the table company even better. Some traveling Kingdom Workers plus a man who serves on the mission board...plus a Facebook friend, Carolyn. Marvelous day, marvelous event!
Only the night before Judy had gotten a phone call that her oldest son, Billie, was in Tampa and would be coming up from there to see her. Rats! She was going to be gone most of the day and would not change her plans but Michael was home to entertain him. He was making ribs on the grille for their dinner and I offered to take Gretchen home so Judy could just go inside to spend one on one time with her son. Oh, and with Michael!
Post script: Imagine my surprise in reading the Forward in Christ (Feb.2011) and see the Kingdom Workers featured, the same couple with whom I dined at lunch yesterday!
