Year 3, May 26th-27th, 2018: Memorial Day Weekend 2018

The grandparents are gone and no other family is around, and we haven't been invited to any parties, nor do we want to host anything right now so....another holiday weekend partying on our own.  Oh wait, we don't party....

Meanwhile, we did attend a party on Saturday.  Ethan's oldest brother's open house was on Saturday at Southeastway Park, one of the parks we share a ton of memories at.  Actually, it was at the same shelter we had our wedding reception at 17 years ago!  Plus, we had dates in that park, and we had college group fun in that park, and MOPS playdates in that park...it's a huge, lovely park and I'm grateful we live much closer to it than we used to.  Anyway, the kids went off to play, and when I caught up with them, well, the pictures can do the talking.  Except I didn't get a picture of Abishai because he was so tired from yesterday that he slipped on a ladder and fell.  He's fine, but it was a little scary because we were at the top of the ladder and couldn't catch him.  He was only on the 2nd rung, but still, my worst fears were realized.  Thankfully the landing spot was well padded and I don't think he got a concussion.  But he pretty much was like a walking drunk person the rest of the day. He had a tiny, tiny limp, so I bet he bruised a muscle or two in his leg.  And his head hurt a tiny bit, too, but I couldn't see a bruise.  He was just so super tired, but then he wouldn't go to bed until normal time!  Punch drunk poor guy.  But we had a decent time hanging out with the Strunk bunch for a little bit.  Lisa is very low key, so the party was low key.  I enjoyed talking with a few friends I don't get to hang out with very often.  We talked kids, and Latin, and school, and girlfriends for the nearly 16 year olds, and memories, and...yup, kindred spirits we are.  That fills my heart.

Besides that, I tried to punch through a to do list, while Jared and Justin got most of the mowing done.  It did pour down rain on them for a few minutes.  We thought that was going to rain out the party since it was outside, but it stopped in plenty of time to set up the party Lisa said.  Yeah!  I had been watching the radar all day and in the span of a few minutes, it updated from 80% chance of rain all afternoon to no chance.  That's Indiana for you, and weather apps that don't have a clue.  Justin and Keturah spent the evening watching the original Iron Man, and they plan on rewatching (or even watching for the first time) all the Marvel movies before they go see Avengers: Infinity War.  We have all of Phase 1, but not all of Phase 2 and there's a couple of movies that we don't and won't own or let the kids see.  These new franchises have phases and last for years and years with all their characters and spin offs, just like their comic book counterparts.  Heroes and Villians never stay dead, let's put it that way.  There's always another story to tell.  Jared and Abishai walked over to water Gary and Leah's ferns and to bring in the mail while they are in New Orleans for the week on vacation.

Justin mowing in the rain!  He said it was refreshing! They only did it for a minute or two, but were soaked when they came in!

Hurry up and finish!

Yummy cupcake at the open house.

He only ate a few bites, but he loved it!

Shelter #6, the same one we used for our wedding reception 17 years ago!

This playground was added in recent years.  Justin and Keturah were on this merry go round.

Then I found the big kids way up high.  Benaiah, Ethan, and Ally, Ethan's girlfriend were just chatting away.

Abishai loves cornhole, which is a version of a beanbag toss where you toss it on to the board under the holes and slides up into the holes, I think.  Or you toss it directly into the holes, I don't remember.

Sunday: Made it to church.  Abishai didn't want to go to Sunday School so Jared stayed with him and rocked him for 20 minutes.  Had protein shakes for lunch because we are trying to stretch out the food until payday AND no one was drinking the huge bucket of protein powder until I made it for them (I can't drink it, I ate leftovers).  I took a 90 minute nap, kids did electronics.  Bryce is over and he and Justin watered trees.  Justin and Jared finished mowing.  I tried to breathe and not think about the achy feeling of infection I have and the outright pain in the sinuses near the bridge of my nose.  I also might have cried a little because I miss our annual tradition of watching THE RACE (Indy 500 for you non Hoosiers) with the Rutherfords.  Come to find out, they were talking about us, too.  Supper was leftovers.  Watched the highlights of the race through the eyes of those who use Instagram.  Also watching the taping of the KLove fan awards (Christian music) through the eyes of Instagrammers.  I could have down a million things today but my body said don't, tomorrow is another day.  I have some more resolve for the physical stuff cluttering our home after trying on 4 pairs of pants today and 3 types of shoes and finding nothing fits or I don't wear them.  But I'll physically do the clean out when I'm not infected in my sinuses.  I just...can't...even...do...the.. things...I....need...to...do.....like make food.  So, I won't. I type, I watch, I sleep.  That's my Memorial Day weekend.  We aren't party planning people.  Gotta go gear up for a busy two weeks ahead.  good night.

Yes, I'm fangirling.  My man Chris Hemsworth, aka Thor, my favorite Marvel Avenger character, was in town to wave the green flag at the beginning of the Indy 500 today!  I had been waiting all stinkin' day to see him do it, and he FINALLY posted a very funny video of trying to practice waving the flag and needing help and then finally doing it for real, etc.  It's not every day that this kind of high caliber actor comes to Indy.  And he's a nice guy to boot!

Man, I love it when the other preachers preach.  We have so much knowledge, wisdom, and talent on our staff!  Tom Harrigan, worship minister, brought the goods today.  My favorite quote of the sermon is this: Transformation takes both us repenting and God doing what he does through his mercy.  It takes both God and man.  So, I can't just sit back and expect God to change me or my circumstances.  I have to do some of the work.  And when my energies and emotions and will power gives out, then God can take over.  Actually, is more like working side by side at the same time.  Basically, we need to be in prayer, reading our Bible, doing the good things if we expect God to do his thing.  It's a both/and situation.  I don't have to rely solely on myself, but I have to work at what I want, too, which hopefully I've determined is God's thing, too.  As a blogger recently posted, "The secret to anything is just DO THE THING." whether it be eating well for weight loss, or using essential oils for emotions, or reading your Bible to draw closer to God.  Just do it.  And do it consistently.  Other quotes: "Worship is thanking God/acknowledging God for all He is, for all he's done, with all we are." - from a Bible study the whole staff did together.  And last one.  " Sometimes a living sacrifice wants to or does crawl off the altar." referring to Romans 12:1-2  We are living sacrifices.  We will fall off and have to get back up on the altar and give ourselves up for sacrifice over and over again.  The key is to acknoledge it, repent, and get back up on it quickly.  That quote is from D. Moody.  Tom also mentioned playdough and compared it to being conformed.  We are the play dough and we are to be squeezed into a certain pattern, either the world's or God's like the play dough that is squeezed through the standard toy thing.  Loads of great reminders and great illustrations!

Oooh, another new flower in the garden!

Sure these are weeds, but they are kind of pretty.  I want to clean up the flower beds, but I can't do it myself.  So, I'll enjoy the wildflowers instead for now.

After watching the original Iron Man movie (they are watching all the Marvel movies before we see Infinity War), Justin put together Tony Stark's home.  I need to let him handle the big camera or my phone more so he can make little videos telling you about his creations.  By the time I get to it, Justin has already moved on to a new creation.

Tony's workshop with Iron Man's suit behind a glass display case and the suit rotates!

These cars are like the ones in the movie, specifically the Porsche/Audi looking one.

Master bedroom with a bathroom, including the newspaper up on the wall so "you don't get poop on it."

The kitchen area with Alfred pushing the broom, a table with hidden storage, and a see through fridge!

The gate with a security camera and address on the eye recognition mailbox, including an electronic panel on the back.

More screen captures because this doesn't happen every day.

There he goes waving the flag!  I wonder how he got the job in the first place?  Does he like racing? Did a driver suggest him?  There's gotta be a connection someplace!

Spoilers! Here's the winner!  He's been racing for quite some time, so it's awesome that he got a win!  Several drivers had accidents today include Danika Patrick (not my fav and she usually wrecks.  She won't be back) and Helio Castroneves, 3 time Indy 500 champion.  Nobody was seriously injured in the wrecks and it looks like each wreck was a 1 or 2 car mishap.  The weather was a gorgeous 92 degrees and clear all day.

More Chris signing autographs.

Favorite picture here!

Meeting Miss America!

Last one!  Oh and I saw a video of the guy who sings "Back Home In Indiana" now that Jim Nabors stepped down 3 or so years ago (he sang it every year for like 50 years) and this new guy is incredible!  I think he held the last note for like 16 counts! Loads of tradition and special memories at this racing event.  I'm glad Mr. Hemsworth could be a part of it.

 Meanwhile, down in New Orleans...they know how to party for the race!

Shauna is a much better party planner than I.  I'm glad they have tried to carry on the tradition of watching and listening to the race.  They could watch it online because they were outside of the area.  If the race isn't sold out, then the TVs block out the signals so more people go to the race.  But we can sometimes find someone posting live videos on YouTube and Instagram.  We were just too busy and sick to do it this year.

Sweet!

Nice touch!

Enjoying their time in New Orleans, but we miss them!

It might seem like a tiny goal to some who like to get in 10,000 steps, but I need to start small.  My goal is simply to be more active.  I added up two weeks worth of step tracking and then divided to see what was my average.  It was around 3,500, so I brought my goal up to 4,000 steps on average.  Some days I can get 6,000 in if I'm on a field trip, or at a museum, or at church and I'm walking from one end of the building to the other.  Because I took a nap today, my step count was way low, so I tried to walk around our backyard to bring up my numbers this evening.  I didn't feel well enough to go around the block, and I even stopped earlier than I planned because I just feel so crappy.  I think 5 laps around the backyard was close to 1,000 steps.  I need the sunshine, too, and the heat because the air conditioning runs a ton and I get cold whereas everyone else is hot.  We set it at like 79 degrees and depending on where I'm sitting, my nose gets cold.  I welcomed being out in the 88 degree sunshine in the backyard this evening or in the very hot car on the way to and from church.    I'm not sure why I own skirts and dresses because a) there's no pockets for kleenix and phones and b) I'd freeze to death at church each week.  Oh well, hopefully I'll kick this sinus infection this week without resorting to go to the doctor for antibiotics.