....

The Wilderness Tabernacle is moving along, or at least some of the furniture for it and the outer walls, and those poor sheep.  From time to time I've come back to put a little more and more on this, getting it all together as I read the various scriptures from Exodus as it all slowly comes together

The Chia pets are doing good - there are some sprouts growing out, some quicker than others, but there's definitely some growth there.  I think we'll see something big moving along by Memorial Day weekend.

Maddie did some driving lessons today with Mom, and there's a theme of parking this weekend - Maddie is starting to enter a parallel universe, which is to say she's going to be attempting some never-done-before parallel parking!  She was trying it today with another car nearby, but tomorrow we'll do the ol' "cones in the place of cars" training exercises at the church parking lot.  Couldn't do that today because of the three graduation ceremonies taking place and the huge congestion there.

Speaking of congestion, that's me.  Ever since I returned from the cruise.  The lungs.  The nose.  The sore throat.  Ugh.  NyQuil night for sure.

But first, taekwondo.  I dropped Maddie off there, and some of her friends were either graduating or watching other friends graduate - it's been a big year for that.  She enjoyed classes as always, and there's no class tomorrow because it's Memorial Day weekend.  We'll be celebrating like always at Nana and Ye-Ye's house that day, and there's some food prep we'll be doing here, including the creation of the patriotic jello!  Mom's done this before, made an American flag from jello and cool whip and blueberries and strawberries.  But Ye-Ye requested it specifically this year, and it's the semiquincentennial, so it's on!

That meant a lot of grocery shopping for me.  I was loading up the cart while Maddie was kicking people, and while we were both indoors, the deluge just slammed into us from above, a downpour so heavy and huge.  The rain has been enormous today, as if the entire state of Georgia just decided to do a bucket challenge, with torrential gushers just dumping down on all of us at the same time.  It was so loud on the roofs!  

Fortunately, we drove home after it passed, and as we were unpacking, the Braves game was in fact on - there was some thought that it might be either a rain delay or a washout, but the game went on, and it was a thriller of an ending.  We watched until the bottom of the eleventh inning, when good ol' Chadwick Tromp helped us get to bed by ending the game with a single right over the middle infielders that brought speedy Eli White home.  And there was much rejoicing.  Again.  This team just keeps on winning!

We did some reading tonight, closing out an ordinary sort of day.  Mom had hot dogs for us for dinner, some grass-fed meat that she orders for us, and that was a classic baseball meal there.  I was also walking earlier, finishing up "Rocketman" as I moved closer to the end of this current virtual walk.  In about a week I should be splashing down to earth again, and it's been fun watching all these themed movies and television shows as I march along.

In regards to the reading tonight, we're trying to figure out why someone would kill a goblin.  And of course who.  Vimes is engaged in another mystery, and the City Watch seems to be involved in something unusual as well.  We read for a bit tonight, but we were getting tired - eleven innings and NyQuil will do that to you.  It was time for prayers, and time for sleep!

Rain

Interesting little swarm of insects here.  We had to look these little guys up to measure their danger, and nope, no danger.  They look like a nymph of a leaf-footed bug, and of course there's plenty of these around.  A lot more, currently walking on our front porch wall there!

We finally got the rain today, a great heavy downpour that just made all creation sing, as we were all pretty thirsty.  I know that messes with people's Memorial Day plans, and in fact we have plans for something Monday with the family.  But we're also in a pretty heavy duty drought, so that's something to consider.  

Today we had a massive meeting for the college kids at Free Chapel, a planning session that went on for quite some time - hours and hours, in fact.  Unexpectedly long, but we did get a bit done, and there were coffee orders at the beginning and Chick-Fil-A at lunch time, so there's that.  All in all, the KidPak curriculum students should be good.

 

There were the big graduation commencements at the church today, with thousands and thousands of people there to celebrate the big day.  Good enough reason to go straight home and do some work there instead.  Also, get some things done at the house - I got some more walking in on the treadmill, trying to average about 2 miles a day.  Today's feature:  "Rocketman."  This is a gem of a movie, and it's not for everyone, but I just still laugh out loud at it.  I'm still doing that walk to the moon and back, virtually, and I think I've just reentered the earth's atmosphere, and we're not long from deploying the parachutes.  Almost time to pick a new virtual course!

Maddie drove us to the taekwondo tonight, and she had a good time there as an instructor's assistant, and then off to leadership class as well.  She drove us over to the grocery store, where she got her sourdough bread that she loves, but we picked up a few other necessities before she drove us home again.

We caught up with Mom again at home as we were watching the Braves defeat the Marlins yet again, this time 9-3.  Then it was time for a few more Mandalorian episodes, some reading from the Discworld, prayers... and some sleep!

Texture of Joy

 

Here we have a a little bit of Summer Xtreme planning - I was an at aquatic center this morning and then we were also planning some exciting games for KidPak.

We had such great news today with Mom's bone scan report.  That's been so heavy on my heart this week, and the release of that burden was so enormous, as God answered prayers.  Not only that, but Mom's other tests came back with great news, adding a texture of joy to the day.

And that being said, Camille now has a son, James Grigg, who was born this afternoon and brought their family a similar texture of joy.  We're really happy for all of them!

The rest of the day was somewhat similar to others lately.  Our chia pets are doing well, dormant, but yo can see the beginnings of some possible growth there.  We'll post pictures when it gets more interesting.  We had some other Summer Xtreme meetings today, working out some content and planning there.  But the high school graduations are starting in the main sanctuary, these massive events that come one at a time at the church for I think seven of the Hall County schools that apparently have no other place to be that's's big enough (or indoors enough).  So there's this huge security and traffic and all that, so we're sort of stuck downstairs riding it out a bit.  Tomorrow we'll probably be at the north campus, in fact.

To make things more interesting, there was a pretty big accident on Browns Bridge Road on the way home, so it took a while to get home.  But I was certainly glad to give Mom that extra hug, and it was awesome watching the Braves get eight more runs in a game against the Marlins in a fun game there.  The family has been pretty addicted to BravesVision lately, and what's not to love with all the great plays and fun of the broadcasts.  

Afterwards, we turned to the series "Boba Fett," to continue the story of "The Mandalorian," which has a new movie coming out very soon.  We'll get through all these episodes before watching the movie, but we're pretty hyped about it.

And that's about it for the day, but it's been a good day.  We did our reading tonight, and we said our prayers.  And we keep having the raccoon and possums up there on our back porch.  We'll hear the bird bath fall over, and our guess is that the raccoon is thirsty.  We haven't had rain in quite a bit here locally, although there's a lot of it in the forecast.  We'll see!  But for now, we're putting out a smaller bowl on ground level, one filled with water for our nocturnal friends.  Just so they'll stop knocking things over!

Primary Day

 

Still walking towards the moon - here's the latest post card from the moon.  It's been great watching all these dramatic reenactments and documentaries, and learning a lot via these various posts earned as I march along.  Eighty miles so far, and about twenty to go!

This morning we went off to vote, and we got our stickers - it is primary day in Georgia.  We usually vote early, but there were so many candidates that we had a lot of research to do.  In fact, when we got there this morning to the new polling location, we were ready for a huge amount of candidate votes and questions.  We took our cheat sheets with us, which is just fine.  I wore my new Buc-ee's 250 America shirt, and my "I secured my vote" sticker the rest of the day.

So this morning we did another new song for Summer Xtreme this year, working with Dawn and Emma to write up something and I think that opening number is going to be really great.  Maddie was there for a bit at the office, and then off to Nate's for the rest of the day.  I got a lot done today, including some trivia for this weekend, and more meetings about upcoming events... then it was time to get home.  

And then... it was time for some ice cream!  We got that BOGO card for Blizzards, and wow, we've been taking advantage of that one!

I'm not feeling great - brought something back with me from the cruise.  It's not too bad, but certainly annoying.  We sat and watched the Braves get some revenge on the Marlins for the previous night with a good win, 8-0.  And after that, a few episodes of Boba Fett, continuing our Mandalorian marathon leading up to the movie at the end of this month.  And after that, some reading from "Snuff," and then prayers... and a good night's rest (thanks to some medication!).

...One of those Days

 ...Professor Utonium, Braves lose 12-0, position player pitching, bad day, bus stops, good test results, chia dormant, Mt. St. Helen's... updates coming soon...

Building the Temple

Today we started on a project that Mom got me, a it's a big one - but a really fantastic one.  I loved reading through Exodus and all the specifications and processes for putting together the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, but only when seeing some sort of visual to understand what it was I was reading.  There are videos for that sort of thing, a step-by-step account with visual aids to go with those scriptures that show how it all came together.  Well, Mom got me this LEGO brick version of the Wilderness Temple, and it goes with the scriptures just the same, verse by verse, as you assemble that Wilderness Temple.  As you can see here, all I have thus far is the ground, and a high priest.  But he looks ready for that Temple to get into place.  This will be a fun thing to put together.  Mom got this for me earlier, and I've been waiting to make room at the table to get it all going.  Look what else we started today!

We were in a Chia pet frame of mind, and I think that's because we have a State of Liberty version of one that we'll do closer to July 4th, but in the meantime, we have Grogu and Shrek to do some test runs on.  We went through the set up tonight and got these guys going, all while catching up on "The Mandalorian," which of course is all setting up for the big movie coming out in a few weeks.

And there's good ol' Shrek!  Remember this guy from before?  We've put this one together a few times over the years, going way back to 2011!  These will be fun to keep an eye on in the coming days - don't worry, we'll post pictures!

The rest of the afternoon was pretty standard for a Sunday, eating together and watching the Braves whoop up on the Boston Red Sox again, 8-1.  The game was at Truist Park, and there was actually a sudden explosion of rain there that caused a small delay - it was actually hailing on the field, small bits of ice hitting the park.  But just as suddenly, the sun came out again - briefly, and long enough for the game to end with the Braves on top of things.

This morning, we had a great KidPak service as always.  Emma was speaking, and we did a memory verse exercise, and just had a lot of fun with the kids.  It was a good morning - I took this photo backstage before Emma went out there, but below that are just some of the excellent pictures Maddie takes of our services.

It was a fun day.  We had the "Rededicate 250" event live-streamed from Washington DC, and that was a really nice thing to see up there in our nation's capital.  Tonight we closed up our evening with reading from "Snuff," and after that prayers and a good night's rest.  I'm on some medication right now with a little cold, so I'm sleeping a little heavy tonight! 

More Mean Girls

This afternoon we were at the final City Springs Theater production, which was "Mean Girls."  I saw the high school version of it about two years ago, and it's okay.  Not my favorite, but we still enjoyed the performance, and it was nice to go down and see a bit play.  

Maddie was at the graduation party for Nate this afternoon, and earlier on, she and the rest of Team Edge were practicing together at the martial arts studio, where there were some important questions asked.  Like, "What kind of fruit or vegetable would you be?"  The answer for Maddie, or at least other people's answers for her:  a lemon.

She had a good day today, and then got home to join us for the Braves game against the Red Sox.  Mom actually got us some Cracker Jacks to enjoy while watching, and we destroyed that bag.  Those were delicious, of course.  The Red Sox got us this time, but tomorrow is another game and another chance to win the series with them.

Tonight we moved our story, reading "Snuff," and there's a mystery afoot to figure out.  No doubt Sam Vimes will be on top of this one.  We read for a bit, said our prayers, did some of our puzzles, and then yeah, it was time for some sleep!  We've got Kidpak tomorrow morning.