Beef Jerky Shades

Living large this summer.  Still in the midst of a free slushies with Sodapalooza, we stopped by an Obierto tent in the parking lot to sample free beef jerky.  And there, we got some free shades as well, ones that say "Obierto" on the sides.  Because if there is one company you know makes good sunglasses, it has got to be Obierto.  As for the jerky, we got some apple bacon beef jerky.  It says it is healthy and good for you on the package, so it must be, right?

Today was largely a work day though, although Madison, Mommy and the grandparents did make their first circuit of the Tour de Goodwill.  Today featured their first visit to the new Dawsonville location, followed by a visit to the Cumming location.  Madison got a few nice toys for her dolls, and of course the usual batch of nice clothing that Mommy tends to find on these missions.

Meanwhile, Daddy is busy planning for tomorrow night's service, and the weekend's new series as well.  The message booklet is done, which means it is now time to start focusing elsewhere for the new service.  No problem at all there - it was a quiet day at the office.

The news in the world of course is bleak.  We can blame this on the Feast Moons - I think there's another one coming up.  Remember how bad tidings visit the earth when the blood moons coincide with Jewish feast days?  A refresher course:  that happens four times this year, which is pretty rare.  The first one came and went without much going on worldwide.  Cue the scoffing.  But here we are with some worldwide conflicts that have a lot of potential for bad.  The stuff in Iraq is horrifying, the war with Israel is bad news, and the Soviet Empire seems to be rearing it's iron-sickle head once more, with war in Ukraine, and a simply horrific accident involving a jet filled with passengers.  Here in America, we complain about our own malaise - we as a nation just don't have that unity and patriotism we once had, our economy has not seen significant improvement in years, and our leadership is locked down in divisive inefficiency.

So we all focus instead on Weird Al getting a number one release.  I feel great for the guy, don't you?  After all this time, he sells more CDs than any other musical artist out there.  This could be a sad commentary on the state of music today, or you could take it at face value:  a lot of folks genuinely like the guy.  Either way, it's a thrill seeing the payback to a guy Daddy grew up listening to.

Of course, this isn't going to make any bad world news go away.  The point is, we worry and pray.  And we count our blessings.  We say our prayers each night, grateful for what we do have, which is far more than most.  We are in fact remarkably blessed, and each night we pray for peace and for healing.