September 14, 2014

Rainy Sunday Afternoon

September 14, 2014

The rains continue here in South Texas.  For the most part, they come in bands and there is time for the rain to drain away or soak into the ground between the rain bands.  The town is so beautiful - if you look at it from inside your car or home, and not outside where the mosquitoes are big and hungry!  Looking out my sewing room windows is so relaxing.  The bright green leaves, shiny with the rain, are so beautiful.

This morning was very comfortable and early afternoon was cool when I went out to feed the birds after we had our lunch.  It had rained during the night, but didn't rain while we were at church.  It was good to see our grandchildren.  Their dad was early to Sunday school with all the children - impressive for the son we always waited for when we were going anywhere!  I was able to to talk to Jeff for a bit.  He is an amazing dad.  He showed he was up to the challenge this morning as one of the kids had a meltdown. 
Our middle granddaughter is the most shy of the children and she was sad to see that her Sunday school class was being divided in half today.  She thought her world was being crushed, but after the class, I saw her full of smiles and asked how it was and she gave me her usual grin and a "thumbs up"!  She said it was great.  She knows the new teacher well and loves her; she just wasn't ready for a change. 

We had an excellent class and then a great worship service with a sermon that could apply to each of us.  Our pastor has been talking about suffering and today's sermon was about how we should respond to suffering in our lives.  At one time or another (or several times) we will all go through times of suffering.   The sufferings may be physical, emotional, or mental.  It can be physical pain, loss, changes in our lives, or a wide variety of other things. 

After church Ron and I went by my mom's to pick up some things and then by the shop to check to see if any water had gotten in.  It had not.  The placing of the sandbags was a good choice to prepare for a rainy weekend.  As we left the shop another downpour started.  We were planning to pick up some lunch and the rain stopped in time for us to do that and then started again.  There was another heavy rain during the afternoon.  Today we only got about 1/2 inch, but there is water standing all over town from days of rains.

My afternoon was mostly devoted to a nap.  As usual, I slept longer than intended and expect to have trouble getting to sleep tonight.  I hope to sew for a while.  I have three projects in progress and am trying to make myself focus on one for the time being.  I got a lot done on it yesterday, but none so far today.

Usually on Sundays, I think about how my deafness and Cochlear Implant impact my hearing of music at church.  I did notice last week when working with one of our grandsons at the piano, that my recognition of tones has improved slightly.  I had shared months ago that if I sat at the piano and started on one note and went up the keyboard playing both black and white keys, I would play 8 keys before I heard a difference in tones.  Now it is 5 keys.  I had thought there had been an improvement, but was pleased to see how much.  Of course I don't know which of those 5 is correct for the tone I hear.  In church there were 2 new songs I had not heard and could not begin to tell the melody or even the beat. 

For supper I made a big pot of broccoli soup and it was delicious.  I guess the rainy, cooler day called for soup.  Tomorrow I will be with the grandchildren.  The oldest one will take his school work to the office and work there in case Ron needs him. 

I must say that although I am making a lot of progress with the hearing, it is still isolating.  Knowing I can't hear people well in a large crowd, I avoid being in a situation where they will expect me to hear.  During the service this morning, a lady spoke to me as the service started.  I have no idea what she said.  She was behind me and on the opposite side from the one with my Cochlear Implant.  But on the other hand, as I left the worship center, a man from our Sunday school class stopped me to tell me how much he appreciated what I had shared in class and I was so glad I could hear what he said, and also I was very touched by what he said.

This afternoon a flock of Bronzed Cowbirds flew into the yard.  They seem to come on rainy days.  They are about 1/2 the size of the grackles but sure do take over when they arrive.