Sun., Sep. 16

Frustrating: The family that said they would come for class with their six children didn't come.

Pleasant: Dick Ulmer (Jeremy's adjective: "grandfatherly") taught the Early Elementary class anyway (Natasha, and sisters Alex & Angela), and enjoyed it enough to commit to teaching it again next week. Of course I'll still have to prepare the materials for it since it's here at our house.... He can't teach it the following week b/c he and Diane will be out of town; their travel schedule is the reason he didn't want to commit to teaching that class the entire quarter.

Awful: I had three little boys in my Bible class today. One was Justus. The other two, cousins ages 2 & 3, are so ill-behaved and un-trained that toward the end of class, if there hadn't been just four minutes left I would have escorted them to their mothers. As it is, if they return next week I will probably tell them to expect their boys to be sent out for disruptive behavior.... ?? (sigh)

Interesting: Dick and Diane Ulmer have two Malteses at their house, clipped short like Jabba!

Irritating: Our dog seems to enjoy urinating in his kennel no matter its size; he is retarded! What did the former owners do to him to completely devastate even his INSTINCT???

Humbling: This evening, Jeremy started his lesson with the announcement that he's planning to do a 'Year In Review'-type lesson two Sunday evenings from now, you know, what things we did well, what things we didn't do well, what to be praying about as we head into next year, etc. He started the announcement by saying, "As hard as it is to believe, today marks the one year anniversary of our family's first Sunday living in Tucson," there was APPLAUSE all around!! (gulp!) Mr. Negative didn't clap (lol!); Mrs. Negative and Mr. Ugly and his wife were absent this evening.

Wonderful: There were over 70 people in our assembly this morning. A number were back who had been absent a few weeks for whatever reasons. The singing continues to improve, it seems to us! Awesome!

Thanksgiving: My back feels better again today. I took ibuprofin again this morning to ward off any unnecessary aches, but I haven't had to take it again and my arm is aching at only about 2% of what it was on Thursday. I'm well!! :)

More thanksgiving: Ray Garrison agreed to cover Jeremy's speaking responsibilities on Sunday 10/7 when the Folding family plans to be at Camp Christian Echoes all weekend. (Yes, I'm definitely worried about the shower situation; it seems not to be, though, an insurmountable obstacle....)

Awe-inspiring: God sent us a rain storm this afternoon that must have dumped 2"-3" of rain on us in the time span of only one hour. Good grief!! Terribly loud thunder claps kept us all awake at the beginning of our naps, etc. Then, He did it again this evening!! WOW, the storms here are absolutely spectacular.