Catching up, Part 4

We got in at 2:00 last Wednesday. Sister Dudley was here, delivering a delicious chocolate cake for us. :-) The Powells showed us around and we just visited for a few minutes, then we unloaded a whole bunch of stuff from the Budget truck that we’ll either be using or storing here, then unpacked enough to find our dress clothes (interpretation: threw open and rummaged through every bag and suitcase we had, completely covering our bedroom with things we didn’t need in search of those we did) and get ready for our first night of Revival. A neighbor lady stopped by to meet us and bring us some brownies. Wow! I’ve never had a neighbor do that before. I always take baked goods to everybody and introduce myself when we move into a neighborhood… then never see them again! Ha! Judy is our nearest neighbor here and she seems very neighborly indeed. :-) We were rushing to make it to church that night, setting the standard for all of the following revival services. Ha! We’re going to HAVE to stop rushing into church just before starting time—I hate that!

Thursday we met Mom & Dad and the Powells (because, of course, they didn’t have anything better to do with their last couple of days before shipping out to Korea for a year! –Crazy people! Ha!) at the storage unit and unloaded the rest of our stuff from the truck before returning it. We enjoyed a nice lunch with Mom & Dad at a BBQ joint, then they followed us back to the Powell’s house. We showed them around, then Dad crashed on the couch for a nap while Mom and I talked. They headed out and I had about an hour to start hauling boxes from the living room to their proper rooms and unpacking just a bit before it was time to get ready for service. Dad preached a great hellfire and brimstone (or is it “hell, fire and brimstone”?) message. :-) It was about the judgment of God and the terror of the Lord. The Hopkins’ daughter Karla was there with the man she’s married to, Rick. She is home from the hospital and everyone is rejoicing in the miracles God has performed in sparing her life and her recovery thus far. The prayers now are all for her soul, that she’ll give her heart to God. We’re thankful that they came out to service—it was wonderful to have them there and we pray they’ll be back soon.

Friday I was able to STAY HOME and get some more work done on the house. I unpacked several things and got the living room completely cleaned out. I hauled all of the boxes to their proper rooms and found places to unload several of the boxes into their temporary proper places, so that feels good. Sam unloaded all of the boxes I’d hauled up to their room and got all of their clothes and toys and books all put away the way he wanted them. I love that kid. :-) Katie did the same thing in her room, working hard and trying several different arrangements until she found the one that was just right. She did a great job. Joe? He was out catching lizards and anoles all day long. Ha! They have caught dozens and dozens of those things, sometimes having eight or ten of them at a time.

The Powell’s daughter-in-law Shayla (sp?!) and her three daughters came by to meet us on Friday. I really, really like them all a lot! I usually have a hard time feeling comfortable with people right off the bat (I just take a while to relax and really get to know people), but I felt so at ease with that lady. :-) I would love to spend time with their family and hope we’re able to do just that once things settle down a little bit.

Brother Powell insisted on washing his truck before going to Korea, as well as building that boat for the boys. Can you imagine?! He’s insane, but there’s no stopping him! Ha! What an amazing guy. The kids were “helping” wash the truck, but before long Katie and her bloody nose were being escorted to the house by Sister Powell. Apparently she and Sam were both wanting to be in the same place at the same time (the tractor seat, to be specific) and neither were willing to share or compromise in any way. The scuffle turned into one swift punch in the nose by Sam and a dramatic presentation of the horror of it all by Katie. Right in front of the Powells. ~sigh~ Those poor people! Now they’ve got to go to Korea thinking, “What in the world have we done??? We’ve got a bunch of little hoodlums living in our house while we’re away!” Ha!

By the time all of the unexpected things had concluded for the day, we had much less time to get ready for church than we had anticipated. Still, we made it just in the nick of time. We had a good service and GREAT message on leprosy from Leviticus 13 and 14—about it being in the house, in the garment, or on the person. Such amazing analogies out of that! And sometimes we wonder why God put all of those “boring” details in the Old Testament. ;-) It really was a wonderful service and alter call.

We came home that night and got to bed as soon as possible (still close to or past midnight, I think) because we had to get up at 5:45 to get ready for District Convention. We drove to Alex City, had a nice little two-session Convention (who ever heard of such a thing?! Ha!), enjoyed “dinner on the grounds” between to two sessions, met some new people and saw some we’d met before. I picked up a program when we got there and saw that I was on for a Ladies’ Retreat boost. Surprise! I’m thankful there was a flier on the bulletin board for me to snatch otherwise I would have been in deep trouble. I couldn’t even remember what the tuition was. Even with the flier I forgot to announce the guest speaker. I also learned from the program that Tammy Washburn is my co-director! Wa-Hoo!!! Who knew?! It’s such a relief to know that. ;-) I guess they’ve always had two people direct the Retreats around here and since I was having all of the applications sent to her (because I didn’t have an address yet) they just assumed she’s my joint leader. Cool with me. And she’s so excited she can’t stand it. :-)

Convention ended at about 4:30 and we made it out close to 5:00, giving just enough time to grab a bite to go, drive the two hours to Bessemer and make it just in time for Revival. Dad preached on the two women of Revelation: the harlot and the Bride. Mostly the harlot. It was about the false church(es) and doctrines so prevalent in the world today and the deception they bring. Good stuff. He finished up with the Bride the next morning. I always like that subject better. :-)

Sam had come to me during the Convention earlier in the day and said, “Hey, Mom… you know how at the end of service last night Brother Hopkins said he felt like there was somebody out there saying, ‘No, God, not now. I’ll pray some other time’?” Then his eyes got all teary and he choked out, “It was me! I didn’t want to pray, I just went to the bathroom then came back and sat down and relaxed—I knew I should pray but I just sat there.” I talked to him for a minute and we prayed together at Convention, but he brought it up again at the end of church on Saturday night. He came and prayed with me, but he just couldn’t seem to stop talking about it—the guilt was still nagging at him. I finally asked if he thought he needed to tell Brother Hopkins about it. Tears filled his eyes and he said yes, but he asked if I’d do most of the talking for him. So after service I went with him and explained it all to Brother Hopkins and Sam stood there and cried and then told him he was sorry. Brother Hopkins hugged him and I saw a thousand pounds drop off of Sam’s shoulders and he bounced away with a deep breath and a smile. ~sigh~ There’s just nothing like a clear conscience. :-)

After service we went to Cracker Barrel with the Hopkins and the Ridlespurges and Mom & Dad. We had a nice time visiting and stayed until nearly 11:00, I think. Why not? I don’t know if we’d gotten back home before midnight a single time all week. Why break the pattern now?
We got home and I ran a load of laundry because James was all out of dress shirts. Stayed up long enough to throw them in the drier and then fell into bed.

Sunday morning I got up and headed straight to the van to unload boxes. The Hoffmans just recently moved and gave us a ton of moving boxes at Convention. I got all of those unloaded, and hauled to the porch, then James took them down to the garage to store there until time to take them back to New Mexico. I gathered trash from the van (it was sooooo gross after this crazy week), came in and ironed shirts for James and both boys and a dress for Katie, then hopped in the shower. We were rushed and running late—like we have been all week. As with every other service, we made it just in time. ~whew~ We’ve GOT to get started earlier!!!

Brother Pendley taught our Sunday School class, Sister Tammy Washburn taught Sam’s class and said he fit in perfectly with the group (which concerns me since there were only two other boys in that class and I saw them wrestling and punching one another on their way into the room! Ha!), and I never saw or thought to ask who taught Katie and Joe’s class. Dad preached a good message on the Church, the Bride, but was obviously cutting a lot out of it due to time.
After service we had a big meal in the back—a ton of fried chicken and all sorts of things I didn’t recognize, but felt compelled to try. ;-) The food is different out here and I’m sure there are lots of things we’ll have to develop a taste for, but I can honestly say I enjoyed everything I tried today. Sister Tammy, blue ribbon chef of Bessmer ;-) made a carrot soufflé that I dared to try—and really liked. I liked the butter beans (at least that’s what mom said they were) and some strange pineapple casserole—it was really, really good.

We all hung around and visited for quite a while, then Brother Hopkins announced we would be cancelling our evening service. Typically I would be sooooo sad about that… but I’m sooooo exhausted right now and I must confess that it sounded wonderful to be able to just come home and crash!

We told Mom and Dad goodbye (“See you next weekend!” –How cool to be able to say that!) and headed home. James pulled off at an exit in Hoover to take us all to a HUGE used book store. The kids were in heaven, especially when he offered to buy them each a book if they found one they liked for $2 or $3. They each picked out a Garfield book, I picked out a Dilbert book (can’t be left out, you know) then Joe bought himself another Garfield book.

Then we came home to just RELAX. It was the first day since we got here last Wednesday that we haven’t had a ton of things to do, time pressures on us to do it in, and an hour drive each way to church and back every single night. That after the three day trip to get here and the crazy week before with very little sleep trying to prepare for the trip. Well, and those few nights we weren’t preparing anything, we were just partying with the Hays. :-) We got “home” at about 3:15 Sunday afternoon and I was in my pj’s by 3:20. Ha! I haven’t been seeing my pj’s until about 1:00am here lately, so it felt GREAT. I was anxious to get some more things done here around the house, but I just couldn’t make myself do any of them that afternoon. Or evening. Or night. :-) In fact, James put a movie on for the kids, then they sat around with their new Garfield books. I took a very late nap from 4:00 to 5:00—that’s crazy!—but I didn’t seem to have any choice. It just sort of overtook me. :-)

Katie cracked her face on the floor that night. She was crawling on the wood floor, chasing the dog, and her hand slipped out from under her causing her face to crash into the floor. She was bleeding quite a bit from the mouth and freaking out a little more than usual (never good) saying that her front teeth bent backwards and now they were loose. That didn’t sound good at ALL, but when I got her cleaned up a bit her teeth really didn’t feel loose—maybe just the tiniest bit, but not bad. Maybe it just jarred her head so much she thought so. Or may God heard my prayers and answered them before I had a chance to feel her teeth! Either way, I’m thankful she’s okay—and not toothless. :-)

Hhmmm. This is already way long. I’ll close out and create a separate post to get up-to-date. I have a feeling my Mom is the only one who will actually make it all the way through all of these—and she already knows it all! Ha!