Palm Sunday 2026

Happy Palm Sunday!  This was easily the most rewarding service for me in many years, the most fun I had watching kids learn and watching volunteers teach.  I had created this really great game with singing rocks, and we used the illustration about the Luray Caverns Organ and how the rocks play music - we were playing "Amazing Grace," as performed on that organ.  The kids had their palms and the instructions on how to fold them, although by day's end, all of the volunteers became experts at folding a palm cross for many, many children.  The first service was a little quieter, and that's where Maddie was taking pictures, which you can see below.  The second service had many more kids, and I was just so elated to see so many children that into our message of the day.  There were many highlights, like one boy answering the question what Jesus told the disciples to say to anyone when they were taking the donkey.  The boy confidently blurted out, "The Lord needs it!"  It was a tight game going back and forth with who would win, and it had a lot of fun variations throughout, challenges, trivia, and moments where an entire team sang the "Hallelujah" chorus, so the rocks wouldn't need to shout out praise.  It was a really wonderful, unforgettable morning.  One of my favorites ever!  Again, these images are from the first service, which was a little lower with our numbers, but still fun!

 We dropped Maddie off at Nate's place, and then got home for lunch, and the Braves game today.  They lost to the Royals, but at least won the series.  The National League East teams are going to be battling this year, that much is certain.  We even tuned in for a tiny bit of the Stripers game too, just because we can.

I'm almost done with my walking in Dublin, virtually of course.  I got a bit of that done, with a little less than four miles to go there.  The finish line here is opening up all kinds of new videos and places to see, and it's been a fun journey.  Mom and I took a nap today while watching the game, but I still got those steps in.

I had a bad day with the blood pressure.  Hard to say why, but it was pretty high.  My biggest theory is poor eating choices for the last few days. Sorry, but it was opening day for the Braves and I wanted a hot dog from Race Trac.  That and a few other items - I think - did me in.  Blood pressure soared, and it made for a challenging evening tonight.  Mom was taking care of me with therapeutic items that helped me rest and indeed, the pressure started to descend.  I just left the cardiologist, and after tests and so forth, everything was fine - so I'm not 100% sure of the issue.  I do think it's food choices, so I'll be much, much better in the coming weeks.

Moving on, tonight's movie was "August Rush," which we kind of forgot about, and that made seeing it again really enjoyable.  Mom and I saw that before bedtime, and Maddie arrived about that time so that we could read together, say our prayers and then I could get some much-needed rest.