Sunday, March 16, 2014

March 16, 2014

Happy Sunday Morning! 
Sunday, March 16, 2014

Sunday morning indeed did start out as a Happy Sunday Morning!  One of our grandsons turned seven years old today.  As is their family tradition, the birthday child (after a certain age) can select where the family will gather for breakfast.  IHOP was today's choice although sometimes it is a fast-food place and sometimes it is their own home.  We arrived at 7:30 (before the Sunday morning crowd) and had a nice long table together.  All seven children were bright and happy this morning (not always the case for the early morning events).

Everyone ordered and then the birthday boy got to open his gifts.  He got some summer outfits, a scooter (which was #1 on his wish list), a book, some road signs to go with their huge collection of Hot Wheels, and our gift to him, a castle and some Legos.  This is the gift Ron had been working on for him yesterday.
It is a wooden castle painted with textured paint on the outside to give it sort of a rocky feel.  The inside is painted with flat paint.  I told him he and I will get together soon and make flags and banners for it.  We also gave him a Lego set with a couple of knights and a horse and wagon, etc.  I think he will have fun.

Here is the inside of the castle.  The Lego people are a little small for it, but will work.
It folds into a compact size with carrying handle being the arched pieces at the top.
It can be hard for little brothers to sit back and watch all that gift opening and not be a part of it, but he did well.
Little sister was not too envious.  She had some toys of her own to keep her busy.

What a wonderful way to start the day.  After we left there, we went to church for our Sunday School class and the worship service.  The Sunday School class was packed.  Some of the Winter Texans who were there will be heading north before long.  We will hate to see them leave.

The worship service was great.  Our pastor was home from two weeks in Kenya working with missionaries who home school their children.  There were 65 home school families at the conference where our pastor, his wife and our church school superintendent and his wife were helping.  They also worked feeding some of the students at a school in the area.  The church service was fairly well filled.  The pastor, school superintendent, and three young men will be leaving in a few days to go to the Philippines to work in an area destroyed by the recent typhoon.  We had another team there recently and these will be there for two weeks.

Following the church service, Ron and I had been invited to join another Sunday School class for a covered dish lunch at the home of their teacher.  They wanted to have a lunch for the Winter Texans who attend their class before they headed north for the summer.  We enjoyed eating with and visiting with them.  One of the Winter Texans who could not be at the banquet was there and it was good to see him before he leaves.  Bert, I will miss you.  You always have such a quick smile!

From there, we came home and I spent a little time reading and some time working in the back yard.  It is very windy again.  Winds were about 40 mph, out of the north, although they aren't really cold.  It is to be in the mid-40s tonight.  It was too windy for the birds to visit the feeders and waterfalls, I guess, because there was very little bird activity today.

My brother-in-law, Jim came over for supper and a visit.  We had a good time chatting.  Just saying the words "chatting" and "visit" can seem so normal, but I don't know that I will ever again take them for granted.  When Jim was here last winter, I was deaf.  I think I lost the hearing right after he arrived last winter and he had already left when I had the Cochlear Implant.  Jim has been writing bird books and has spent the last several winters here working.  The next book is in another state, so I don't know if he will be here next winter.

I did talk on the phone this afternoon with my sister, Janet, for the first time since my implant.  I was able to hear her pretty well, but I never would have guessed who it was by the voice.  Her voice just doesn't sound the same to me.  For years I have needed for people to identify themselves on the phone.  I also talked to our youngest son and it was good to visit with him. 


One pot of the amaryllis is in full bloom.  Amaryllis?  Amaryllises?  Computer likes them both, so I guess it is amaryllises.

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