As if on Cue

With summer officially over last week it’s as if the weather was on cue to get that cool, crisp, fall feeling in the air. We’d had a big weather system camp out over the area and dump rain on us for the last few days, but everything cleared off Sunday and we’ve had beautiful days ever since.

COBWEBS. I wish I knew what kind of spider it is that comes out this time of year and builds these big webs around the yard. The spider is brown and about the size of my thumb. The webs are usually stretched from a lower tree branch to the ground and are about 2-3 feet in diameter. They are really fascinating to look at until you run through one while mowing.

About three weeks ago the kids and I were coming in from church and noticed a web in the backyard by the swing set. This web just happened to be under construction. This was the first time I had seen a spider spin a web in person. Truly fascinating! What was even more amazing was the speed with which the spider worked. We took pictures and filmed it.

I was really looking forward to seeing the finished product the next morning so you can imagine my surprise when I went out and it wasn’t there. I looked around and found only one anchor line the only evidence that a web had even been there at all. The ground showed our tracks where we had been out the night before, but no tracks going through the web. I can only assume an owl or something flew through the web during the night. All that hard work gone.

TO DO LIST. Ben was invited to Wil’s Saturday night for a birthday party sleepover. He had been looking forward to this all week, and when he woke up Saturday morning he knew he still had several hours to wait. He could hardly stand it. To solve this problem and help pass the time Ben wrote out a to do list of all the things he wanted to get done before the party. This was all his idea, and he took it very seriously, even crossing things off when he had done them. Here’s his list (well, he wrote one word for each thing to do):

• Play with Legos
• Make my bed
• Play with my car
• Eat
• Watch TV
• Get dressed
• Play the Wii
• Read a book with Dad
• Clean my room
• Wrap my present for Wil

By the time Ben was due to go to Wil’s house at 3:00 he had completed everything he had set out to do for the day. Oh, to have a to do list half that fun. Oh, to be able to complete my to do list each day. Such is life.

Ben had a great time with Wil, his family, and friends Saturday night. They all went out to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and have pizza for supper. Then they came back home and played together until everyone wore out -- well, almost everyone -- Lori said one boy didn’t go to sleep until 5:30 am!

While Ben was doing all this Saturday night Vicki, Jenna, and I were helping with the Cross Plains Heritage Commission’s Barbecue Supper, and Nate was staying with Pauline.

R/C TRUCK. Ben has always wanted a radio controlled car so he’s been saving his money to get one. When we were shopping at Wal-Mart for Wil’s present Ben found a little Hummer he liked and bought it. I think he’s already gotten his money out of it. Sunday the boys and I walked about two miles on the Greenway in White House and Ben drove the little car almost the whole way. It was starting to get weak by the time we got back to the van, but I was impressed with how far three AA batteries will go.

PAPER FLIGHT. While Ben likes his R/C Hummer Nate likes paper airplanes. He is still learning how to fold one, but once he has one he flies it until it’s no longer airworthy. When I was a kid Mr. Lind sent me a book on paper airplanes. I ran across it some time ago and showed it to Nate. He was thrilled! It has some really fancy planes in it. We’re still folding basic planes for now though.

PAULINE’S BIRTHDAY. Today is Pauline’s birthday, but we had a dinner for her Monday night as she had a chemo treatment yesterday. I know meatloaf gets a bad rap sometimes, but Vicki found a recipe and made an outstanding meal. That recipe is a keeper as far as I’m concerned. Pauline also enjoyed all the handmade cards from the kids.

Joe

Ahh, Fall!

It seems to me like farmers are later getting their tobacco in this year. Since I last wrote Bill Chatman has finished cutting the tobacco on Mom’s farm and has been housing in the barn next to our house. I am also meeting a lot of combines on the road as farmers are picking corn.

GOOD ATTITUDE. I want to brag on Ben a bit here. He has always made good grades, but he’s the kind of kid who puts a lot of sweat into every point he earns. Spelling words are his biggest challenge. Jenna and Nate seem to be able to look over their spelling words a time or two and know how to spell them, but not Ben. Math is Ben’s forte.

We were really worried about school this year because doing homework with Ben last year was not a pleasant experience. He was miserable with the chore and many times did all he could to make us miserable as well. We also know that in many ways the party is over after Second Grade.

Well, Ben has pleasantly surprised us this year. His attitude is great! He’s a completely different kid. I think his attitude goes a long way toward helping him do his homework successfully. This is not to say that spelling words are his favorite thing to do though. On Sunday Jenna asked how many weeks until Fall Break. When I answered Ben said, “Oh no, three more spelling tests!”

MORNING ROUTINE. All three of our kids have been really good about getting ready for school on their own this year. I don’t think we’ve been rushing out the door to get to the bus but one time. A lot of mornings the boys are ready 10-15 minutes before it’s time to leave. This morning was no different and they were upstairs playing while I was getting ready. Hearing this Vicki decided to go down the checklist to see if they truly were ready to go.

She yelled up from downstairs, “Boys, have you eaten breakfast?”

“Yes,” in unison.

“Are you dressed?”

“Yes,” again in unison.

“Have you brushed your teeth?”

“Yes!”

“Are your backpacks ready to go?”

“YES!”

“Have you made up your beds?”

“YES!” Then Nate quickly changes his answer to “no.”

“Is your room clean?”

“Ye..,” Ben answers alone but then stops after the first syllable.

We can only assume it wasn’t.

MEN’S RETREAT. I’ve been to Coldstream Camp two weekends in a row now. Last weekend we had a men’s retreat there from our church. I had a really good time. There were fourteen of us who went. Most of us stayed at the camp, but a few commuted. We enjoyed fishing, playing cornhole and washers, and eating together. We also had some really good discussions about various aspects of manhood and what God calls us to be as men. I hope this will give our Men’s ministry at church a boost.

FUN PLAY TIME. I haven’t written about Ethan in quite a while. If you live in our community then Ethan is probably never far from your mind, but for those of you who don’t have a Cross Plains connection aside from our family I will simply remind you that Ethan is Ben’s good friend who was diagnosed with a brain tumor earlier this year. Ethan went to the hospital today for another dose of chemo so he’ll be feeling pretty rough for a few weeks, but the last two weeks have been really good for him. Tuesday afternoon Ethan called and asked if Ben could come over to play. This was the first time the boys have been able to get together in a long time and I think they both had a blast. They enjoyed two hours of playing the Wii, admiring each other’s Bakugan collection, and just being boys. Please continue to pray for Ethan and his battle with cancer.

CONFESSIONS OF A PEN THIEF. Last November I complained about my “kleptoPENiac” wife and how there is never a pen to write with at the computer desk. I will admit to being a bit anal about this. My cousin Judy even took pity on me and gave me a box of my favorite pens, the Pilot Precise V5, last Christmas. I almost always have one of these pens in my back pocket.

My wife’s habits have not changed in the last eleven months. Just a few weeks ago I caught myself complaining that I was still having to dig out a brand new pen every time I needed one at the computer desk.

Well, we got a good laugh last week. Vicki cleaned out her purse. She pulled out 22 different pens, pencils, and markers. Seven of these were my pens! Her purse is noticeably lighter now. For the time being I can sit at the desk and grab a pen any time I need one. And if I can’t find any I know all I have to do is find Vicki’s purse. Of course, she never puts her purse down in the same place twice. I think there’s a conspiracy going on here.

Joe

Good-Bye Summer

It’s always nice to survive to the first holiday of the school year. It doesn’t seem like we should be cruising into fall so soon. But then this summer has me all messed up. I just noticed cicadas singing the other day. We usually hear them all through August. I guess it hasn’t been hot enough for them to come out.

AWANA UPDATE. Now that our AWANA Club is under way I wanted to give an update. We had our first club meeting Wednesday before last (September 2) with over 50 kids there! What’s more important than the numbers, though, is the excitement! I have not seen kids this excited about what’s going on at church as they are with this, and we’ve always done some pretty fun things for kids at church. One thing that makes this so evident are the comments kids are making. One little girl came up to Vicki last Sunday and proudly recited the Bible verses to “Mrs. Vicki” that she already had memorized for Wednesday night. Someone else ran up on two boys drilling each other on their memory verses while waiting in the lunch line at school. And at our house Nate was really enjoying the Bible stories Vicki was reviewing with him when he asked if these stories were in the Bible he got from his Sunday school teacher. He was really impressed when he found out they were there.

This is even spilling over to the adults. One friend of mine, Buzz Graves, volunteered to help with AWANA. This past Wednesday I walked by Buzz and he had the biggest smile on his face. When I asked him about it he explained that he never expected to see the kids retain what they had studied from the previous week and be so eager to tackle the new material. We’ve also had another fellow become a Christian for the first time. He was baptized today. I know God has been working in his life, still I can’t help but think that his involvement with helping in AWANA, young as our club here is, had something to do with that decision.

God is definitely working in a lot of ways at our church.

RELAPSE. On the other end of the spectrum here I must report that Pauline’s lymphoma has returned. She went for a scheduled checkup a couple of weeks ago and they found a spot about three inches across in her right lung. She began chemo Tuesday. I think this round of treatment will be over by Thanksgiving. So far she’s still feeling pretty well.

RA MEN/BOYS CAMPOUT. Friday after school/work the boys and I headed to Coldstream Camp in Adams for the annual RA campout. It was a one night event.

Nate was too young to go last year so he was really excited. We found a brochure on the campground I had picked up last year and he just poured over all the pictures in it, and I think the camp lived up to his expectations. The beauty of this event, since it’s only one night, is there isn’t much organized activity. It simply provides a time for men and boys to be together and meet new friends from across Robertson County. Everyone can pretty much run free and do what they want. The boys and I enjoyed trying to fish at the lake. Ben rode the zip line once. Nate and I walked part of the nature trail. There was football, corn hole, washers, an obstacle course, s’mores--just anything a kid would want to do. Jeff Garst even brought the stuff for making ice cream in zip top bags.

We got home about lunch time yesterday. I made the boys shower. When they were done I went to see what they wanted for lunch and both were fast asleep in the living room. It doesn’t get better than that!

COMPLIMENT. Nate and I were sitting together in church today (the rest of the family were a bit under the weather) when, in the middle of Bro. Bill’s sermon, he looked up at me and asked, “Daddy, did you shave today?” When I told him I had shaved he smiled real big and said, “You look good!” We’ll be taking him to the eye doctor as soon as possible.

Joe