The focus of this week has been Vacation Bible School, getting caught up with yard work and getting some chores done around the house. It has been a full and satisfying week.
KINGDOM OF THE SON was the title of our VBS. It focused on "The Lord's Prayer" (Matthew 6:9-13). I think our highest attendance was 225. Vicki taught first grade this year in response to Jenna's request at the end of last year's VBS. Vicki really enjoyed Jenna as a student because Jenna treated Vicki as she would any other teacher, not trying to take advantage of her mother.
For the last three years I have filmed every night at VBS while someone else has taken pictures. Then I went home with 15-20 minutes of video footage and 80-100 pictures and made a music video for the kids to watch the next night in the opening worship rally. This year I had help! Elizabeth Budd did all the filming (we needed a camera operator with fresh ideas) and edited three of the six videos. I was really glad to have her help.
I think I have said this before but VBS is one of my favorite times of year in our church's life. It's a lot of fun and I enjoy the spirit of unity and cooperation. Vicki and I are both tired but it's a good kind of tired. All three kids really enjoyed the week. Ben even said, "I like church." I think we'll be hearing the songs and seeing the dances for a few weeks.
Vicki and I were both comparing the current VBS curriculum with our memories of VBS. Things have changed drastically. I never really enjoyed VBS as a boy (3 hours of Sunday school--yuck!). And because we have it at night there are several men involved, which is a good thing. We are so glad our kids see that Christian life is exciting and fun.
MORE KNEE PROBLEMS. Mom already had an appointment with her orthopedic surgeon (Dr. Cutright--no I'm not kidding) on Tuesday afternoon but late that morning her knee was bothering her again. When she got to the doctor's office he drew off 100 cc of blood. This time he sent the blood off to be tested but we haven't heard any results yet.
By Tuesday night mom's knee was hurting again. She had to use the walker to get around. I spent the night with her and Aunt Mar just in case she decided she needed to go to the hospital. By 10:00 her pain medication had kicked in and she was asking for ice cream.
Mom is walking around without the assistance of a walker or cane now but she does limp and her knee is still swollen. We hope the results of her blood work will come back tomorrow and the doctor can give her some direction on what to do next.
SPEAKING OF MEDICAL PROBLEMS Vicki's brother, Will, suffered from a detached retina this week and had surgery on Thursday to fix it. The surgery went well so we are praying that everything heals as it is supposed to.
COPY CAT. Nate is our little copy cat. You can tell him to say simple phrases and he will repeat them. The other night we saw a hint of his coming up with sentences of his own when I told him to say "I love you Mommy" before he went to bed. After he said that he looked me deep in the eyes and said, "Love you Daddy." I'll treasure that for a long time.
FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY. The other day at lunch Jenna was looking at a sales flyer that came in the paper. Some pool towels with cartoon characters on it caught her eye and she asked Vicki about buying some. Vicki told her we have plenty of pool towels and Jenna began her sales pitch. That's when Vicki broke in with the question, "Is that a need or a want?" When Jenna answered (and she really didn't mean any disrespect) she looked up and said, "Mom, it's a towel." We laughed.
AUCTION. You will remember that my Aunt Ruth passed away back in January. I must give Lynn Keith a lot of credit here for all he has done to settle Aunt Ruth's estate. The sale of all her household items was held yesterday. Aunt Ruth was a person that kept EVERYTHING. The sale started at 10:00 and wasn't over until 5:30. Vicki spent almost the whole day there. It was so sad for me that I could not make myself go.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY. Vicki and I celebrated our 11th anniversary yesterday by going out to eat at Outback Steakhouse and then walking around Green Hills Mall. After VBS and the sale we really didn't want to do much more than that which is okay because we had a lot of fun just being together.
HAPPY FATHER’S DAY. We kept our Father's Day activities pretty simple as well. Vicki cooked supper and we all (Mom and Aunt Mar included) ate on Pauline's deck.
Joe
