It’s been raining nearly all day, off and on, complete with occasional wind and not even a peek of the sun. In fact, I believe it rained half the night, too, as it seemed I was awake much of that time.
Part of the reason for my unsound sleep was from my cough and the other part was likely because I had set my alarm on the phone, a sure thing for losing sleep. After I got home from lunch with Judy C. yesterday and sat at my desk, a cramp of some sort shot through my upper leg. Immediately I leapt back to my feet, thinking I sat wrong or something, but periodically the jolt would return. During the night it signaled me more than once, not as severe as the first one and as of now, seems to have subsided. That was a bit scary!
Janet arrived on schedule this a.m. and I led her to Victory, driving most of the time in the rain. At times it was very heavy downpours and we were quite glad to arrive there safely. She hopped into my car to wait for a break in the storm, and then Cary, my Trivia partner, came out with the umbrella to walk us in. We felt badly for those LWMS participants coming from long distances in that wretched weather.
It was great to see many familiar faces, and the Ladies of Victory did a fabulous job preparing for the Rally. Our speaker was the pastor’s wife from Tallahassee, who had served with Kingdom Workers in Taiwan after graduating from Wisconsin Lutheran College. After the business meeting, we had a genuine ‘first’ for an LWMS Rally---we were able to Skype with the missionaries serving now in Taiwan! It was a full 12 hours later there than here so they stayed up late to talk with us.
Our lunch was nice but I had to chuckle about it---Gretchen and I got in line together, dished up our salad, a roll, and she took fruit, and then went to the dessert table. Where’s the beef? I was not aware what was on the menu since it didn’t matter really, so only took a small taste of the salad. Later, Anne H. sought me out to see if I had enough to eat, saying, “I know you are a bit of a picky eater…” I showed her where the chicken salad had been on the plate and the ladies sitting with me confirmed that I had some chicken salad. Thanks, Anne, for looking out for me!
The ladies served us on plastic plates which looked just like your mom’s fine china (lower case ‘c’ there…) and the eating tools were also plastic. Sure fooled me! The plates were being kept but the artillery was being disposed of. I had read a few months ago how Stephanie had taken the plates home with her after a function, washed them all, and then brought them back to church for the next event. One could sure see why she did that, they are so nice!
After lunch we had a hymn sing where we could pick a favorite, and Anne asked me to request “In Christ Alone”, stanza 4, if we had to pick. She said I was her plant in the audience! We did that hymn, then “Beautiful Savior”. Judy C. requested “Go, My Children” which took me out. Having no tissues, I walked across the aisle where I saw a clean napkin on the table to mop up with. It was very nice and I am thankful Rachel can play on the fly like she does.
Before the event actually got underway, though, I had some tears. Bonnie, from Palm Coast, came up to me and said she had something for me in her car. It was a small box of books. Evidently, after the memorial service last week, some of the family had brought in a couple boxes of books to donate to the church. Marian’s confirmation hymnal with the name inscribed on the cover, a catechism from MLHS days, and her Bible. Bonnie knew that I would like to have those items, if no one else did, and I was blown away getting these mementos. How I would have loved getting the Small Catechism, the little brown one from my school days, but am pleased to have the Large Catechism from Marian’s school days! Thanks, Bonnie!
After the Rally, a lady came up to me and asked, “Are you the lady who had the leak?” I remembered sitting near her a year ago at the Rally and we had compared notes on condo floods. She reported having had her neighbor’s toilet overflow (fresh water) not long ago. I told her about hearing my neighbor’s toilet running last week one day and having to wait until the baby woke up for feeding before they made it stop. I told her I am sensitive to the sound of water dripping and she admitted being the same way. It can happen in a private home too, having a leak, but for some reason, it’s worse in a multi-family building. Or that might be why it’s worse, it affects more than one family!
On the way home from Victory, I stopped at my friend, Chrissie’s house. She is recovering from her surgeries and, with me having this stupid cold, we did not hug and such. We waved across the room, basically. I gave her the bracelet and earring set I had made at craft night at Victory last year to commemorate breast cancer awareness. She loved it, and showed me the book about jewelry making on her side table. Chrissie is all about the hand-crafted items and her hubby helped her get the bracelet on before I left. Her friends and church family are bringing them prepared meals regularly and someone was coming after I left with dinner for the family. What a great gift that is for her family, under the circumstances. Thank the Lord for good friends and for excellent surgeons, taking care of Chrissie this way!
