Year 2, Day 301 & 302: Musings

We had a relaxing Saturday with nowhere to go, and then a full Sunday, but we were prepared.  Let's see. Justin was picked up at 6:30am on Saturday by his best friend's Grandma who drove him down to Bloomington because his friend's family just moved back to Indiana!  It's the same friend who moved away in August, but unfortunately, things didn't work out down there, and now they are back.  The boys are thrilled!  It was a surprise for Bryce, Justin's best friend, to see him get out of Bryce's grandma's car!  Bloomington is something like a little over an hr south of us.  So, it's still a little far, but not as far as Atlanta!  The boy's went to Bryce's Grandma's house for most of the day, and then Bryce spent the night and day on Sunday with us.  I think the pull out couch in the fireside room has been well used in the past 3 months!  It's a perfect nook for one of the kids and their friend because one takes the twin pull out bed and one takes the other couch.  Then they can leave the light on for awhile and talk without disturbing the rest of the house.  And yet, I am usually still awake until they fall asleep.  It's so neat to be the house that everyone comes to.  I wanted this for my kids.  Woot! Woot!

So, Saturday was quiet with just Keturah and Abishai at home because Benaiah was at church doing tech as normal.  Then, I went to church for 5:30pm because the church had their "dessert nights" on Saturday, Sunday and Monday evenings.  Dessert Nights are basically a church informational meeting where the congregational can come and listen to updates from all areas of the church's ministries.  They can also ask questions afterwards.  It's NOT your typical church meeting where items on an agenda are discussed.  The staff and teams make all the decisions.  There are no votes either.  This is just a time where we can learn about how the succession plan is going, how planning for a new student center is going, a quick financial update on things like debt and other building maintenance and updates, and then some things from each of the children's areas, as well as adults, and finally, an update on the Shelby St. campus.  And this time around, the announcement was made as to whether or not, and how, Saturday and Sunday services will change.  I will not post details here or on social media until Monday night's meeting is over because I believe everyone should attend one of them.  Then we can all be ambassadors of information and stop the rumor mill from working so hard.  There were some dates shared for some of these things, too.   And these meetings happen twice a year I believe.  You also get dessert, but not if you are gluten, dairy, or sugar free, lol.  Oh well.

Because of the meeting at 5:30, there was no regular church service then.  So, instead, we went to church on Sunday at 11.  The Kidustrial Park kids and leaders were all invited to dress up because Halloween is two days away.  I hemmed and hawed over whether or not to let the kids where costumes that we had put together (cheaply) for a harvest party that didn't happen.  I'm a staunch opposer of everything Halloween.  But, I relented this time because they weren't actually trick or treating, and there were no extra Halloween decorations and no one had scary costumes on or were in full make up.  So, yes, I let them dress up.  And it didn't kill me.  Sigh.

Then we had lunch with Gary, Leah, and another friend, who had come the week before when the other guests were there as well.  He lives nearby, but his parents live part of the year in Liberia where they are from and have also had homes in Lincoln, IL and Rhode Island, where they planted a church.  We got to hear more of Edward's story, both of how he grew up in Liberia and then his life as an adult in the USA.  He's a few years older than us, but we can still relate well with him.  Speaking f foreigners, I was also introduced to a Ukranian on Saturday night, who had had Gary as a seminary teacher at Haus Edelweiss.  He's a chaplain for the Ukrainian army and said that men won't come to a church service or even meet for coffee, but get them on a battlefield and they will open to listen to preaching and talking about Christianity.  Both of these men have seen war first hand, and it's fascinating to me at least to hear about it.  And then I can relate those stories to the children as I teach them their history lessons about these places.  For example, all the wars that have been fought and continue to be fought in the Middle East, especially on Asia Minor/Turkey, Lebanon/Israel/Jordan/Canaan/Samaria, Assyria/Babylon, etc etc etc.  At least Egypt hasn't changed much, lol.  It's definitely a privilege to hear these men's stories.

This evening, we all headed back to church again, but to different corners of the building literally!  Justin was in Kidustrial Park for Nerf wars with the middle school (that's in the north wing).  Benaiah was in the East Hall/Chapel for a bonfire/flannel party with the high school, which had moved it from a house to the church because it's literally freezing outside!   Keturah had choir upstairs in the atrium.  I had a homeschool meeting and we met in one of the rooms in the South Wing.  And Jared and Abishai attended dessert night with Gary and Leah in the main auditorium.  It was a busy, busy evening for everyone!  I listened to a podcast recently where the mom described how Sundays were just not relaxing or restful for her because she had to get several little kids ready and get them to sit through church and then they would go back for Sunday evening service, and she would still need to feed everything that day, etc.  I feel like our Sundays are like that.  They are not our true Sabbath.  So the podcaster shifted her expectations of Sunday being a restful day to it being a day of fellowship, and then making another day, like Saturday, her Sabbath.  And not a Sabbath where she doesn't work, but the work she does is different than what she does Monday through Friday.  She's a homeschooler, too, so a lot of her work is focused on that, same as mine.  I don't mind work, but I need to do different work one the weekends so my brain can recharge and I can use other parts of my brain, too.  She had some very insightful advice and I love her podcasts!  She's also mom to a family of 10 kids I think, some with medical issues.  I admire her a lot because she's honest and who will put the blog and podcasts aside when a family issue comes up for months at a time instead of pushing through and performing on a schedule.  She's got a very soothing voice, too.

Ok, enough of all that.  Here's a few pictures:

There's a hawk on the back fence!  It's huge!

Finishing off and winterizing the front flower bed.

Abishai's turn with play dough!  He loved it!  I need to bring it on more often!

Yup, Elsa, from Frozen.  First of all, we both have n oclue how to put on a wig.  Second, I don't know how to braid a wig.  Third, it was a cheap big and the hair was not easy to braid.  Fourth, well, there is no fourth.

Keturah managed to keep the wig on the whole time at church.  Certainly not the most authentic Elsa costume, but it works for us!

Neco and Percy Jackson!  Book characters!  Percy has a pen that turns into a sword when he uncaps it.  And he's from "camp half blood" because he's a demi God.  It's a great book series, or rather sets of series, with lots of fun historical elements like the Greek and Roman gods.  There's even one that is set in Indianapolis!  The books are written by Rick Riordian.

Doll baby!  Ok, I think this sweater my mom made that was probably my brother's is really like a 12-18 month sweater but none of the kids wore it more than once.  It does need to be put away I think.  Sigh.  But at least Abishai looks like a little Russian doll or something.

Abishai avoiding his nap on Saturday by bringing all his cars and trucks in from on the top of his bed to our bed.  Daddy got him to sleep for maybe an hour, but the boys were too loud on the video games and woke them up.

Yes, it's that cold.  Hello, winter! And oh my goodness, yes, I could SMELL SNOW in the air!  Apparently, some saw some flakes today. 

There is a rough date for succession!  Go Monday night and here all about it!  Or ask me later!  And the new student center is going to be awesome!

They left some of the cards up from last week's Sunday evening service, as well as the banners in the main sanctuary.

I have spent the last few days really working on cleaning up the files on my phone.  I still have more to go, but at least I can now get a backup done!

Yeah!  I hadn't backed it up in 2 weeks!

It was 1 am when this picture was taken.  He's working on Bible homework for his Dad that he got way behind on.  But, he has managed to almost caught up by this weekend's end.  He did admit that he thought he could slack off a little because it is a self led independent study with Dad as his overseer, but self leadership is also his weak area (his words, not mine) and this is another test to see how he can step up to the plate and make it happen.  He has to read and discuss a book, report on what he is studying for Bible Bowl, write a weekly essay on current events, write messages for his school's chapel that he is presenting, and type up his devotions for his small group at school.  It's a lot, sure, but great preparation for ministry later.  I'm very proud of him.  And I understand the whole "work late at night thing because the house is never quiet enough" kind of thinking.  Why do you think the blog goes out past midnight most nights?  I expect him to pull all nighters at some point in college, he's that kind of kid. He's learning and that's all that counts.

Pretty view of our street heading north.  This is about how much color we are going to get for the season.  The trees don't all turn color at the same time here in Indiana.  At least I see a bit more reds and not just the yellows.

This is the dessert table for dessert night.  Yum!

Gary's secretary saved this big piece of cake for Gary.  I think it was prearranged, or it could be a joke, but either way, I immediately posted it on social media to entice church members to attend the meetings.  I had permission, of course.

Abishai was such a good boy patiently waiting for his turn for a dessert!  We were there early because the boys needed to be there at 6 and dessert night, choir, and homeschool meeting were at 6:30.  So, little guy had to run around the tables full of drinks and desserts for 30 minutes without touching anything.  And I had him eat a Larabar before dessert as well. He had to be woken up from his nap to come directly to church, so he had no supper.

Today was our niece's Nora's 8th birthday! Happy birthday, Nora! So we got a text first thing this morning from Uncle Aaron complaining about the cold.  I took this screenshot to show him it was still colder here.

Some of our favorite places and their high temps for the day.  Manchester is near my hometown.  Vancouver is where my favorite TV shows are filmed.  New Orleans is where the J4 are.  Cavendish is PEI.  And Toronto is a favorite spot for one of my vloggers and celebrities and friends that visit.  It's definitely time for the winter coats folks!  We were prepared, but it came on suddenly, too.

Benaiah has this massive collection of Nerf guns, so Justin and Bryce borrowed some for their nerf wars at middle school youth group.  Abishai, also, loves the guns and kept asking for bullets.  But it did seem odd that a 2 yr old was wielding a gun at church in a large crowd.  Thankfully, no one blinked an eye.

Tickle fights before bed!

And Daddy got the middle "big" one!  I tickled Keturah, too.

I screenshotted this from Instagram because Justin is ready!  Basically, everybody shots at everybody and no one wins.  And if you don't want to play, you can play board games in a anther room.  They also provide extra bullets.