Ladies and Gentlemen!

Another KidPak service this morning for Madison, but Mommy was in both services upstairs and down, and Daddy was primarily upstairs in the main sanctuary, doing this:

Yes, I was a ringmaster.  They were returning to "The Greatest Showman" as a movie message, and yes, we at KidPak already did the movie message some time ago.  Similarly, we at KidPak already did a message for the movie "Wonder," which they'll be doing upstairs in a few weeks as well.  We're just ahead of the curve down there at Kidpak!  Regardless, Daddy's little speech went well, and what do you know?  I took up the offering for the main sanctuary.  Just a few weeks ago, I was wondering why it is that I've never actually done that before, and then suddenly I've done it.  Next thing you know, I'll be delivering messages up there too.  For now, I'm more than happy to be behind the scenes downstairs with the children's ministry.  And today, it seems like a little bit of the children's ministry was upstairs for a bit, including Rosie, our elephant:

She's been around since the first year of the new church building, a prop built for Christmas play that year.  She's had a few dings here or there, but on the whole, she's fixed up rather well and has been rather loyal to us.  We've used her quite a bit on and off, and I'm glad we've kept her around!

Today went well.  Despite nervousness, Daddy was able to spout out all the lines, and the new ones that were suddenly added at the last minute.  There were microphone checks and all of this microscopic analysis of each syllable and phrase - you don't have to worry about that so much at KidPak, of course.  It's important what is said, and that part is taken seriously.  But you get super worried about stutters and monetary lapses or forgetful lines or inflection in the wrong direction or ... well, you get the idea.

Anyway, we got home afterwards, and it was time to pack.  We were in full "get ready to travel" mode today, so Madison was assembling the movies she wanted to watch on the way down.  Yes, "The Greatest Showman" was amongst them.  But so was the entire Gravity Falls series.  Daddy was packing a few things too, including board games and music.  We had a wonderful dinner, chicken cordon bleu, and a restful evening.  There are still things to do, but there are always things to do.  They can wait a little longer.

Tonight, we went back to Mars again.  We watched "John Carter," a seriously underrated movie.  Madison enjoyed it, as did we.  It's not in the top ten movies of all time, so don't get me wrong there.  It's just a good movie, with a lot of science fiction action.  We had our last popcorn for a while, munching and watching this Civil War soldier turned cowboy go off to Mars to help unite the planet.  I bet you had no idea all that was happening on Mars.

We read tonight, and we prayed, and we went to bed early again.  We're not striving to get up early tomorrow before leaving - we'll get up when we get up.  But a good night's rest is certainly a great idea for any extensive traveling.  that being said... g'night!