I’ve hardly reported anything about us these last couple of weeks so it is time to catch up. May has been a month of extremes. We started with record breaking rains. Then it got cool enough we needed to turn the heat on at night. This week has been hot. I think we may have even set a record. It makes me wonder what this summer holds.
AGRICULTURAL ENDEAVORS. Last spring I planted strawberries in our garden spot. They did really well this year and would have lasted longer had we gotten a little less rain. Vicki and the kids really enjoyed them. My garden is now confined to eight large pots (tomotos and squash). Weeding it will be easy!
WINDING UP THE SCHOOL YEAR. It’s hard to believe the school year comes to a close this week. Ben is tickled there are no more spelling words! Many classes are getting field trips in now. Jenna got to go on a Jr. Beta trip to Holiday World last Friday. She said they got soaking wet on all the rides. The boys have had trips as well. The kids are enjoying Field Day at school this week.
ADVANCEMENT. The boys have been active in Cub Scouts this year. Nate was awarded his Tiger patch at last month’s pack meeting so he’s moving on to be a Wolf now. Ben earned his Bear patch at Monday night’s pack meeting so now he’s a Webelow. I think they’ve enjoyed Scouts this year. They’re signed up for a Cub Scout twilight camp in a couple of weeks and they’re looking forward to it.
RESIDENT ARTIST. A retired gentleman in our community, Gordon Killebrew, spent some free this past winter in his shop making birdhouses from scrap lumber. He made dozens of birdhouses. He stopped by Aunt Mar’s and put one up in her back yard. There are a pair of blue birds nesting there and Aunt Mar has enjoyed watching them from her den.
Mr. Killebrew took most of his birdhouses to school and gave them to all the third graders. The students were told to paint them and the best looking ones would be hung up at Kilgore Park. Ben painted his birdhouse all by himself (I showed him how to spray on the base coat of paint). One side has a flower in the sun. The other shows a bird singing from a tree branch. The front reads, “Home Tweet Home.” I think he did a great job with it in spite of the fact it wasn’t chosen for the park. That’s okay, we’ve got plenty of trees for it here.
YEARBOOKS. It’s that time of the school year when the school yearbook comes out. Of course, a big part of this is getting all your friends to sign your annual. Jenna’s friend, Mackenzie, has a crush on a boy at their school, but since she is a bit shy she asked Jenna to take her yearbook to the boy for him to sign for her. Jenna, being the good friend that she is, did this favor for Mackenzie.
A few moments later Mackenzie decided Jenna needed the boy’s signature and told her she needed to take her own yearbook to the boy for him to sign. Jenna, being the dutiful friend that she is, did this too. The funny thing was that the first time the boy simply assumed Jenna was Mackenzie so when Jenna returned he looked at the name on the cover of the book and inquired, “Who’s Jenna?” Without missing a beat Jenna gave a flick of her hand in Mackenzie’s general direction and replied, “Oh, she’s that girl over there.”
SHENANIGANS. Life is no fun if you don’t bring a little mischief to it every now and then. I will always remember the day Leslie Hancock came into our office (Jeff Crawford and I put him up to this) and began messing with Melinda by telling her he was from Alabama and had taken a cab to Springfield to pay a traffic ticket. Within twenty minutes he had cooked up this wild tale of who he was and what he was doing I was doubled over laughing. Melinda was about ready to call the police on the crazy man before we told her he is my cousin.
Aunt Helen (and Lynn) also got a last laugh on Bro. Bill. As I wrote a few weeks ago, Aunt Helen passed away on Thursday, April 29. Her funeral was that Monday, but we couldn’t bury her until the next Thursday (May 6) due to all the rain. The rest is best told by Bro. Bill himself (quoted from his blog at http://crossplainspeaking.blogspot.com/ -- keep in mind the funeral service was held at church).
It was probably predictable that even her funeral would have to negotiate some opposing circumstances. The excessive rains would make it nearly impossible to bury the remains on Monday. So the decision was to wait until later in the week. No doubt, Mrs. Helen would have gotten a chuckle out of it. She had a great sense of humor. We all loved that about her.
So on Sunday evening at the funeral home, Cindy and I stood with her family remembering the good times. Lynn, her son, greeted everyone with love and care. Without blinking an eye, he began to tell me what I already knew about his mother’s commitment to our church and her love for me—her pastor and friend.
“Bro. Bill, you know over the last ten years my mother hasn’t been able to be at church the way she wanted. She’s missed being in the new sanctuary and taking part in all that’s been going on. You know too how much she loved you.” I nodded with appropriate pastoral sensitivity and humility. Lynn continued, “We have decided that instead of transporting her body back to the funeral home, we will just wheel her into your office and leave her there until later in the week. We believe that’s what she would want.”
I stood there, in pastoral pose, calm and collected. After all, I am a seminary graduate and beyond that, I have been sharpening certain pastoral skills for quite a few years now. I even have the grey hair to prove it! All the while my mind was racing, “Are you kidding me?... I guess I can do that… Sure I can...I think I can manage that for a few days… Is that even legal?”
“Sure,” I responded. “That will be perfectly alright. I know how much Mrs. Helen loved Mt. Carmel. And I loved her.” No sooner than I had choked up these words, Lynn began to laugh. He got me! And Mrs. Helen, I’m sure, loved every bit of it!
I'm sure she did.
Joe
