As I struggle to keep my eyes open here, I will sum up the day as quickly as possible. Even though I went to bed early enough last night, I had a terrible time going to sleep, being 'aware' of my houseguests still awake and movie watching in the family room. Something made me think they might need me or have a question or whatever, and I wanted to be available, or at least, alert. In so doing, it was around 2:00 am or after before I fell asleep. They were asleep in their rooms, it was me who had troubles! This made for a sleepy Kim in the morning.
The young people got themselves up and ready for church, the girls having a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast, in the river room. I am not sure what Denver ate, if anything, for breakfast, but he did empty the dishwasher. Michael had called me Saturday night to let me know they should bring their lunches and a change of clothes, as they would stay after church to ready things for VBS. Hastily they threw lunches together for themselves, one girl not even using mayo or mustard for her sandwich, which I think would be quite dry, and off we went to church.
As I pulled on to the church yard, there was only one car there, and I said, "Oh, no! Not again!" The kids confirmed that Michael had told them there was Bible study today and as I parked, three more cars came in behind mine. Whew! That was weird, thinking that I goofed again. Once the kids secured their belongings in the fellowship hall, we went back to the classroom building for Bible study. Part of the class is a narrated slide visit a professor made on his trip to the Holy Land and Darwin stood by the light switch to flip them on or off, as needed. We read from the book of Ruth about the kinsman-redeemer, discussing the lineage of Jesus.
When class was over we headed to church and the kids got situated with their teacher, Kari, while I got my attendance sheet ready. There was a better "house" today, which was helped by having our guests from CO, around 65 in church. Robbie played the organ for the service, having had the organ recently repaired so it is not being trashed as some thought would happen. We sang, "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty" for our opening hymn, one I know mostly from memory, but from the TLH. "Ponder anew, what the Almighty can do...." Love that hymn!
Following the service, Kari was asked to say a few words about Rocky Mountain High School and how they are attempting to grow, how they serve, and so on. From there, then, all were invited next door to the Fellowship Hall for an Outreach Social and the WELS Connection. I will look it up on-line as Judy C. and I left to have lunch. I was coming back to have dinner at church with the workers and Mike S., who made a Boston butt on his smoker for the meal. Yummy!
Judy and I shared the Chili's appetizer combo offering of chicken tenders, potato skins, and mini-sliders. Perfect sized for us for less than $20, especially since we would eat bigger for dinner. Since I was so weary, I decided to take a quick rest when I got home instead of heading straight to the pool. It was overcast so I expected it to rain any second. After a time I got up and put my suit on, and got to the pool area just as it began to thunder. I sat for a while with Gigi and saw this guy, Mark, coming up the path from The Club. He got into the pool anyway and declared it was cold, which I could have guessed from the night before's dip. Mark and I had discussed the future plans of NASA in the pool the night before. I had printed off a news item regarding the future of NASA and their new direction of Muslim outreach so gave it to him to read, which he was doing, shaking his head as he read. I came back upstairs to dress.
I headed over to church to meet the rest for dinner and found Judy busy in the kitchen, of course, tidying things up, but in the dark. Since the parking lot was nearly flooded, it occurred to me that the electricity might be out due to the storm, but she informed me they were watching a movie and that's why the darkness. A Harry Potter movie played with the teacher and two kids watching, and Nicole was practicing the music for VBS in the church. I took pictures of the decor for the backdrop of VBS and one of her at the piano. Our meal was absolutely amazing, the pulled pork, macaroni salad, baked beans, and garlic bread were fantastic. Kari supplied the ice cream and cookies for our dessert, loving Publix! Who doesn't???
The kids and I came home so they could get into the pool before it got too dark out. It was far too cold for my purposes but they didn't mind. Boy, can teenaged girls squeal and shriek, though. Did I ever do that??? One girl, Sydney, has a camera that works underwater and they took turns photographing each other under the water, trying to coordinate their photo shoots. Hence, the shrieking! I sat at a table off to the side, swatting mosquitos, while I read a paper Michael C. gave me, that I had asked for, regarding backdoor losses. I had heard him talking about it with Pastor when I was in the church office a while back and was glad to get a copy of it from him. Interesting reading, especially since I just sent out one of the newsletters I put together for the members away, shut-ins, and 'seldom seens' from the congregation. Can we do more, as a church, for the straying? The paper addresses this and I have more to read!
Since I was so tired from the night before, I bid the kids an early 'good night' and came in here for bed, while they watch "The Bucket List", at their request. I took the entire basket of DVDs to them to sort through and chose that one. Now, before I nod off, I bid all of you a good night as well!
