Thu., Jul. 31 - Tue., Aug. 5

Two other things that should be stated about VBS last week are, first, that a total of 58 children attended Grandview's VBS this year. (Of course not every child could attend every evening.) Second, Grandview's VBS is "for all ages", so there are classes for babies all the way up through the adults! This meant that adults *who would not have attended for any other reason* (bringing children, helping with skits or teaching or in the kitchen, etc.) attended in order to enjoy the lessons, brought by CIM students (Central Iowa Missions), which followed the same basic outline as the children's classes ... just on an adult level. It was really a blessing -- a super-edifying boost for me, personally -- to have so many 'uninvolved' adults attend an event that in every other congregation I've attended has been exclusively for children. AMEN!!!

The next day, Thursday, was a catch-up day. N made the cookies for the funeral meal. Since she was fighting the bug, I thought she wasn't going to want to do it, so J & I got it started, but she did take over! Annnnnd, *she* did all the "doubling" math of the dry ingredients. Jabba got a bath that day. Some laundry progress was made, including giving Justus sorting lessons (He is already better at it than N is. (light bulb moment!!) That must be his natural organization skills kicking in, eh?) We listened for the phone because we expected Bob & Leota to arrive that day. When they hadn't called by 6:30 p.m., we headed to the building to assist tear-down. We got home at 9:30, having stayed almost to the very end of the long, hot task.

On Friday I woke to the news that Bob & Leota would be arriving around 3 p.m. Too bad we had such a busy day planned; it meant that we couldn't be here when they arrived. Elaine let them in and showed them around, entertaining them for about an hour. We returned the Ogles' lovely 5-speed Honda that we'd borrowed the two weeks they were at camp, and while on that side of town we took care of some errands over there, including a big grocery stop. Some of the most entertaining business about that first day the Ryens were with us was getting their toy poodle, Jeffery, and our dogs used to one another! Aye-yie-yie!

Leota and Bob kept N & J at the house Saturday morning so they didn't have to attend yet another funeral of someone they knew not. Leota boned a chicken for me, and baked the basic cake, both the first steps of the dishes I was preparing for Sunday's potluck lunch. She also Crock-Potted our supper, a recipe I will share later. That afternoon, I continued taming the laundry beast and finished prepping for potluck. While Jeremy & Justus napped, Bob took N on a bike ride around the neighborhood. She was having lots of biking fun!!



Here's Jeffery in his 'doggles'!! They just strap his little kennel on the rack right behind Leota's seat, and down the road they go!



Sunday morning we took more pictures, since Bob & Leota were heading out after lunch. Isn't my hair funny in this picture?! lol Oh, my.... Pretty dress, tho', eh? Another treasured hand-me-down.







I came home from the potluck lunch with a headache that turned into a migraine after I tried to sleep for a couple hours. THANKFULLY, I was able, again, to fend it off with ONLY Aromatherapy! Well, in addition to darkness, massage, quiet, and rest. Tim came over in the afternoon, to play the Lego Star Wars video game with Jeremy. Then, for no reason we yet know of, eight minutes into the Sunday evening service the power went out in that section of Des Moines! argh! And it STAYED out for hours! We all fanned our way through the rest of the service; thankfully "the preacher" shortened his lesson a little! The sound guys were very interested and proud about the power back-up systems that have been in place for years but have never had a chance to be tested for that long a time! We didn't have lights or fans or A/C, but at least the amps' back-ups worked so everyone could still hear! I just pretended I was in Kenya on a mission trip. (sigh) What wimps we Americans are.... (sigh) Ssssssso, we 'rescued' the rest of Tim's family, who live around the corner from the building; since they didn't have A/C either, we invited them out along with the Morts that night. We'd been sent home with tons of leftover potluck food, so we could feed a CROWD ... and we did! Here are pictures without name details, since this IS the Internet, after all.

Jo, Mitch, and Dan (Tim's dad)


Donna (Dan's wife) and Betty (Dan's mom, who lives 7 houses down from them.)


Dan took this pic of Jeremy and me with Wes, Jo & Mitch's oldest son, age 19.


J and Jenna (Jo & Mitch's youngest - and adopted - daughter, age 11)


Jenna and Amy (Dan & Donna's 16yo daughter) are both piano players; Amy is N & J's teacher.


This pic includes Katie, Jo & Mitch's 14yo daughter, and Amy again.



Katie and her brother, Wes, doing their corny smiles.


I then realized I hadn't yet taken a picture of Mitch & Jo's 12yo son, Kieran!


When I was walking Dan & Donna out, I thought a BAT had flown at us in the porch light! It was a MOTH!! Donna said it was a cecropia moth. Its body was as big as my pinky finger, and hairy. -blech- I was getting the heeby-jeebies; I don't do bugs very well (another reason I wouldn't last long on an African mission trip...). At any rate, Dan helped me catch it so I could show the children. I guess cecropia moths don't eat at all as an adult, like the Io moth. They live just a few weeks during this life stage. eeeeeuch



Favorite songs sung Sunday:

A.M. - Jesus is Calling (Which one?? "Jesus is calling for you today/Jesus the light of the world ... (basses) Walk in the light/ (ladies) He is the light/Come and His will obey.")
P.M. - My Task (!!!!) Mm!

Yesterday I did some laundry, Grocery Game shopped, and wrote Elaine's profile for the church (A wonderful thing they do here, but she didn't want to write hers so I told her I would.) Jeremy relaxed in the afternoon playing video games. We had a surprise visit from a recently-moved-back, long-time church member who lives about five blocks from us; she brought me a humongous philodendron which I will divide and see if I can make into a couple house plants.... (NOT very high on the priority list >> good thing it's a philodendron!! lol) The children seemed to relish all the time they had (ya think??) to play the piano, computer, legos, and read. This was the hottest day of the year so I didn't make them go outside. (wimps, all.) They did their household service, it was really a remarkably normal day!! After 10 p.m. Jeremy and I enjoyed a short-n-sweet, 'checking in'-type phone call from Tucson: Donna. :))

And then today more weirdness: the electrician was here to fix the damage the tree did to the electrical intake on the roof. Problem was, it was so old it wasn't up to code anymore, so it took him from 7:30am - 3:30 p.m. with our power off. We made ourselves scarce by spending most of the day at the building. Justus and I ran 4-5 errands while N crafted to her heart's content. :) Once we got home Jeremy & Justus napped, N computerized and Chewie-sat, I fixed another Crock-Pot supper (recipe needs tweaking before I can share it) and then ffffffffinally got to shower. argh After supper we played Scrabble & Boggle, and the doorbell rang about 8:30. It was Tim, who had brought over a friend of his, Jacob, to meet ... and compare Star Wars notes with Jeremy. Evidently Jacob, Tim's friend from Des Moines Christian, is a huge Star Wars fan, too. Since Jeremy's Lego Star Wars collection is in his office, we just invited the guys in to join us in our games! They sat right down and played with us, so it was really fun. Additionally, there are some plans made for Jacob to join in with us on some church-friends Star Wars events a few weeks from now, even tho' Tim will be off to Harding. (sigh) Good news: Chewie is getting better all the time at meeting new people; this is just one HUGE blessing of having lots of people in the house lately!!!