August 11, 2014

Nice Surprises!

August 11, 2014

There are things we can take for granted until we don't have them or until we think we may have to do without them.  In South Texas, we rarely take rain for granted, especially in the unbearable heat of August.  We have really been needing rain.  There have been scattered showers lately, but all had missed our house.  The day at the office was slow and Ron was going to be there for a while so I asked him if I could leave to do some birthday shopping for a couple of people.

A few blocks from the office.

As I pulled out from my covered parking space (that I don't take for granted) I looked north across the football field at the high school stadium behind our office and the sky was a very dark gray.  I went down the street a ways and pulled off on a side street where I could get a clearer view for a photo.  Already the gray was lessening and I knew the clouds were moving away from my area.  (It never did rain at the office.)  I decided to head on to the shopping area north of the mall.  About half way there, the clouds opened and the rain began to pour!  What a nice surprise!  What a blessing!  Our dry and thirsty area needed it.

I loved the sound of the rain.  I loved hearing the car tires as they went through the water that began standing on the street.  I loved the sound of the windshield wipers rapidly brushing the rain away.  I loved that I could hear it and that we were getting the refreshing rain.  I went on to my first stop and sat in the car a minute before deciding to go on in and do my shopping.  My Cochlear Sound Processor should be fine to get wet briefly, but given a choice, I try to protect it.  Also you may recall my one experience where the magnet on the sound processor attached to the ribs of my umbrella, so I took it off and put it in my purse and with my umbrella up, I hurried into the store.

Clouds after the rain.

The rain had almost stopped when I was ready to leave so I kept the sound processor on and held the umbrella a little higher - away from my ear.  I continued my shopping at the next stop and after that picked up some lunch.  The air was so clean after the rain and the clouds were spectacular.

During the day I had exchanged emails with my daughter-in-law as we made arrangements for me to keep the five youngest children for the evening while my husband took the oldest two boys to their Boy Scout meeting in a nearby town.  That was a nice surprise.  Then she made it nicer by offering to bring supper for all of us from her mom's Mexican food restaurant.  We all enjoyed supper together except the two youngest boys who decided Legos beat tortillas with beans and eggs!  It was about an hour and a half before they were ready to take a break from the Legos to eat.

They had brought a book with them of Lego designs and put it to good use with our large collection of Legos.  I didn't hear a sound from them as they worked away with their designs.  Occasionally I would hear the sounds of Legos being moved around as they sought just the right pieces they needed.

The two older girls spent the evening taking turns on the sewing machine.  The older one completed one quilt square for her quilt in progress while the younger got two squares done for hers.  They both then moved on to designs of their own choices and made little doll blankets and had the Woody doll from Toy Story bedded down under a lovely quilt by the time the evening ended.

The sound of the sewing machine working throughout the evening was a joy to hear.  I was glad I could hear when I heard some little beeps and saw that one of them was changing the settings on the computerized machine and I had to tell her not to do that because she would break a machine needle if she selected a program that didn't match up with the foot that was on the machine.  Hearing is helpful!

The youngest of the children was having a fun evening playing alone and was content to have the playroom to herself.  Her yellow skirt is a new addition and currently her favorite clothing item and is worn over whatever else she has on for the day.  Lately she has been very "clingy" with her mom following a couple of out of town trips her mom has made to check on her own father who is ill.  She has not been happy to be left, but she happily waved to her mom saying, "Bye, bye."  

The reason we had the children for the evening is that their mom had a Bible study class and their dad had a meeting in McAllen and could not get the boys to scouts.  When our son got back to town, he came to get the kids but the big boys were not back yet.  He was exhausted so I think his middle child read him to sleep while he waited.

When the big boys arrived they helped clean up all the Legos before they woke Dad to take them all home.  It was a wonderful evening.  I love this family!