Elbow Buttons

Mommy and I went back to the dentist this morning, the one down in Alpharetta that we have always gone to.  Just to show you how crazy this world is, here's a picture I took this morning inside the elevator of the building we go to.  They want you to press the buttons of the elevator with your elbow.  And not with your shoes.  I'm not entirely sure who wears shoes on their elbows, but that's besides the point.  Isn't this crazy?  We literally have to use hand sanitizer already when we're in the building, and a special mouthwash, and new goggles, and gloves, and a transparent poncho.  All the dental assistants look like cast members from that scene towards the end of "E.T." when they're invading the house.  

Here's a picture of where they do the basic dental work, along with a few employees.  And here below is a picture of the entrance to the the dentist's office and waiting room area:

Of course I'm exaggerating.  But it's not too far off, and incidentally, the antagonists in the story of "E.T."?  Yes, that's the government.  Not that I'm some kind of anti-government sort.  But a little balance would be great, particularly after six months of this.

ANYWAY, we went to Cracker Barrel after this, and lo!  There was a cougher there.  We had to wait for our socially distanced table, and that was okay.  We were glad to be back for the first time since March.  But there was this lady there that simply could not stop coughing.  She was not an employee, and other people at other tables were certainly noticing it, a few of them from different tables going to the server to see if she could do anything about it.  But the waitress could not approach this lady to state the obvious:  "Hey, you're coughing a lot.  Like, non-stop.  You think that might be affecting anyone else here, and perhaps making them uncomfortable?"  These sorts of questions are usually built-in with most of us, but this lady that was coughing so much must have had a defective part there.  Anyway, we went from extremes in making sure no one was spreading anything to a complete legal helplessness in doing anything about a person who might have had something and didn't care if they spread it or not.  What a crazy world we live in.

The chicken pot pie was delicious though.  Actually, the whole meal was good.  I don't blame Cracker Barrel.  We also had time to look around their shop, something Mommy always likes to do.  She likes looking through their fall decor and clothing, and being that we're here at the start of September, she was excited to see some of their merchandise.

Today we were grocery shopping while Madison was at her leadership class.  We got a lot of goodies, and Madison was waiting for us after class, playing corn hole with some friends from class outside afterwards.  She's been studying a lot this week, and working on her brochure as well.  We read tonight, and we watched a few episodes of "Suite Life of Zack and Cody," our new binging thing of late.  Season six of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." is not out on Blu-Ray or DVD yet, so we can't start up on that.  So onto the cruise ship we go, and it's been fun again.  

We read from our devotional, and read from "Allegiance" again tonight, which is wrapping up now.  It's been a good read, and we'll no doubt be opening up the sequel very soon.  That reminds me - I have to find that video with Stacy, Pink Five.  Madison will get a kick out of that.  She actually became "canon" in this next Star Wars book, "Choices of One," but then that all changed when a lot of these books became "Legends."  Which is funny because now Mara Jade is now "canon" too.  Anyway, before sounding too geeky (too late), let's just close here with our usual routine.  Madison hid, Madison threw stuff at me, and we prayed, and then got tucked in for a good night's rest.  Good night!

Revival Sunday

 

This was the big day!  After months of being apart and doing things online with services, ouch local church finally met together for a service at the Gainesville campus.  Simultaneously, our other campuses were doing something similar, and it was just so great to see everyone together again.  We saw so many familiar faces we hadn't seen in so long, as thousands made their way to the church, sitting in not only these chairs but others that they brought along to set up in the parking lot, lawns, and anywhere they could find to the left or right of the stage area.  

A few years ago, we had this amphitheater built for special events, with no idea that this was the sort of event that it would be used for some day.  You can see we've arrived earlier here in this photo.  Madison took a few shots with her phone as we arrived.  Mommy and I were helping with KidPak, setting up the areas where we would hand out those bags we've been making all week long.  We had stuffed them with the materials we made, and even new KidPak booklets too.  

On top of that, even Pastor Lance and Nerdo were on stage, greeting everyone before the service.  We had Nerdo with his floaties and swim goggles, and the kids were laughing at the intro before the service itself. And then came the service - you can see the message points here, again another picture that Madison had taken.  She was seated pretty much in the center with some friends from taekwondo, and enjoyed going back to service again.  

She filled out the notes, following along with Pastor Franklin.  The message was called "The Power of a Little Bit of Hope," and it was a great message that followed a psychologist's recommendation on how to get out of depression and get back into a better life.  This coincided with some strong Biblical points, and the hope that David found when things were at their lowest.

Madison did not take this picture here, but she is in it, although she is in the photo, a couple spots left of a guy wearing a cowboy hat.  Mommy and I were off to the side, to the left of this picture actually, closer to the actual church itself.  We watched and listened from up there, watching over the booth as we handed out bags filled with goodies and materials.

It was a good morning, and we were surprised after cleaning everything up and heading home that it was only eleven o'clock!  Normally leaving church, it's around 2pm, but there was just the one service today, and that's okay for a start.  Next week, we'll be back inside doing a run-through of a normal service.  It will be good to be back again, that's for certain.

The rest of the day was good.  We ate lunch, of course.  Mommy made this scrumptious fruit salad too.  Madison was working on her piano, and also doing that brochure for the Piedmont area.  We've been cleaning up the basement and garage, moving things into a "yard sale" pile, or at least a pile to go to Nana and Ye-Ye's in order to hopefully sell some things online.  We'll see how that goes.

Tonight we watched the latest "Phineas and Ferb" movie, which was a lot of fun, actually.  It was just great to see everyone again on the screen, all the familiar voices and faces.  I can't remember when the last new thing from Phineas and Ferb was released, but it's been quite some time, and this one was worth the wait.  Nostalgia was kicking in big time.  And it was doing the same thing for us with the Muppets show we were watching as well, new episodes that have been a lot of fun to watch.  

We read tonight, of course, and we prayed as well.  It's been a good day though, the highlight being the church service we all went to together this morning, the start of something wonderful, a return to something beautiful.

Bloom and Booklets

Mommy pulled out all the KidPak booklets we've been accumulating in the basement, and it's largely me really putting things in boxes.  Anyway, the boxes are piling up, so we decided to reduce that quantity, and that's okay as we've got digital files of all or most of these, and the idea is to keep at least one or two of the originals of each, and then putting together packages of the rest so we can give them to other staff members or volunteers.  Currently, they're all lined up in the living room in individual stacks, and it's an impressive collection.  Some series will see three different covers, even though it's the same series.  Still, we put those in the same little individual pile, the end result being a huge collection of piles of books, including devotionals, sermon booklets, Summer Xtreme booklets, and fasting booklets as well.  Each one is at least twenty-eight pages of writing, some as much as fifty or sixty pages.  There are so many books in our living room now.  We've done over seventy series by now, and it's just amazing to see this collection all together like this.  It's not even all the books either - there are a few that we're missing at the moment.  Again, fortunately, there's digital.  Anyway, I'm looking at "my life's work" there, all these books I've written over time, and it's certainly added up over the years.  It's hard to believe there are that many.  I remember when we started in 2006 with the official series booklets.  I still have the first one, a devotional I thought I'd write entirely based on pirates.  I still have about five or six of these original booklets, the first actual books we've printed at KidPak.

Today, Madison was working on her brochure advertising for the Piedmont area of Georgia, a large expanse of geography between the North Georgia Mountains and the Southern Plains.  As this area features Atlanta and Athens (and us!), there's plenty to write about.  She was writing her notes and even drawing a few pictures as well for her brochure.  It makes me want to visit the Piedmont area some time.  of course, that's the joke:  we live there.

Tonight we wrapped up season five of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."  It ends with the episode entitled, "The End," which is somewhat appropriate - in a way.  We were remembering at the time that nobody knew if this show was going to continue even up to the day this finale aired on television.  I'm not sure even the cast knew, and then suddenly there were two more seasons approved, and "The End" wasn't really the end at all.  And that was good, because the series finale we just watched was a much happier ending for the characters.  

Madison did some piano practice today as well, but today was largely a day to stay home, although I was at the office for a bit, setting up for the big morning tomorrow.  We'll be having outdoor services in the morning at a few of our campuses, and it will be very nice being all together again.

We read tonight from "Allegiance," and from our devotional as well.  Right in the middle of this devotional I had a made-up character that Madison created, one called "Bloom."  She's got "plant powers," which were pretty similar to the ones we saw from Layla Williams in the movie "Sky High."  For a long time, on the way to school or elsewhere, Madison made me tell stories and adventures of this character amongst the other X-Men in the mansion, and it was fun.  We sort of made up the stories together as we went along.

It was a good day though a quiet and uneventful one.  We discovered a pretty big leak in the basement, something from the sink in the kitchen above that will have to be dealt with eventually.  It's going to be a challenge.  But we wouldn't have discovered it if not for the booklets being arranged and so forth.  We're cleaning out that basement gradually, and even giving some things to Ye-Ye and Nana for their online auctioning.  They sell a few things just for some extra cash, and we've got plenty of that sort of thing in the basement.  

We prayed for everyone tonight, and got to bed earlier than normal.  The reason, of course, is that we're going to church again tomorrow.  And we just can't wait!

Banana Pudding Party Two!

We were meeting today, and meeting online too.  But only those meeting physically at KidPak were the beneficiaries of Mommy's now famous Banana Pudding.  It's capitalized, because it's that important.  That entire banana pudding was gone very quickly, and it was super delicious. 

Of course, we were meeting today because we're planning out not only this Sunday's service activities at Free Chapel, but also the future of the KidPak ministries as we begin to open up once more.  With multiple campuses, and one new one even, there was much to discuss.  We had the Zoom feature open, and there was much to talk about.

Madison was doing well today - she got a 100 on her ELA test, and has done well with some grades for Spanish and Georgia studies as well.  She's enjoying her classes, some more than others of course.  But in all cases, she's doing well, and she's liking school, and that's great to see.

We watched a few more episodes of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D" this evening, but somewhere along the line, we heard something stunning from the Marvel world.

 

Today we lost an actor, and admittedly we haven't watched all of his performances, but we've seen four of them.  Chadwick Boseman was born in South Carolina forty three years ago, and for the last four years he's been battling the same exact thing that Mommy struggled with:  colon cancer.  The end result for Mr. Boseman was a sad one for the world, and of course for the superhero community.  He played the character "Black Panther," appearing in four different Marvel movies.  His performance was inspiring, and so heroic for so many.  But his private battle, we learned, was even more so.  Again, Mommy had stage three colon cancer as well, and there was risk of it moving to stage four for her, and I remember those x-rays and worries about it moving to her liver and beyond.  It took a while to catch this, and many misdiagnoses.  I'm not sure if they missed it early on with Mr. Boseman or not, and given that he would be only 39 years old, it's probably easier to misdiagnose.  It's a hideous thing, because of all the cancers, it can lurk and grow and fester inside for so long before it makes its presence known, and by then, it's so late in the game.  We wish his family peace during this time, and offer our prayers, but as a part of the Marvel family, we too are feeling a bit of that sadness.

Wakanda forever.

Sentimental Layers

We've been doing some digging in the basement, and they aren't sedimentary layers but instead sentimental layers we're going through, including all of these booklets that we've been collecting over the years.  Lots of stuff in the basement, and we're not there too often.  It needs a bit of excavation and archeology!  But there are large areas to walk around in and get digging.  We've got all of these jewel cases of CDs, which some day may become a relic of the past, but for now they take up a good bit of space.  Similar, the DVD and blu-ray movies take up a large amount of space.  We'll have to do some organizing there, and maybe sometime soon we'll start moving some of these as well.  There are all kinds of books and crafts and toys, and so much of it we haven't actually used in some time.  Lots of stuff to move around downstairs!  We're also going through the pictures we've found - so many memories.

Tonight we had our usual taekwondo times two.  Daddy was spending the entire time talking with other parents.  We've got a good sized small group here, parents of Free Chapel kids who happen to be training for taekwondo.  Meanwhile, Madison is training hard and working towards that belt.  She's got excellent form and her high kicks keep getting higher.  Occasionally you can feel a small whiff of air behind you, and sure enough, she's done this high kick in the air and her foot came a few inches from the back of your head.  She does this to me frequently because, and I quote, "you're my dad."  Apparently that's one of those things that you get to do as a daughter:  insane high kicks towards your dad.  Ah, the blessings of fatherhood.

Tonight we watched another episode of "Agents of "S.H.I.E.L.D." - just one though.  Two classes and dinner do not leave much time for anything else by the time we get home.  Besides, Mommy was wanting to watch the President speak tonight, the conclusion of the RNC.  There has been quite a difference in tone this week from the other convention last week.  But I suppose that's expected.  There were quite a few fireworks tonight too, huge ones all over Washington DC.  And... there were more riots.  Is that par for the course?  Are we supposed to just expect riots the rest of our lives?  I'm not entirely sure what the endgame is here, but the rioting does come with a lot of wear and tear.  It seems as if everyone but the rioters are sick of it.  There comes a point where the rioting is so every day that we sort of get used to it and it loses its effect.

Moving on, we were getting ready for Sunday's outdoor event, with lots of stuffing of bags.  We were making bags for KidPak kids, and though we're not having a service, we'll be there to greet the kids.  They've been seeing us all online from week to week, so it'll be great to see them in person.  We have booklets to give to them, ones that are specific to this one series we're doing.  We've also got plenty of other things too, and we were putting all that into one bag, and slapping a KidPak sticker on the front.  It'll be great.

We also cleaned up the office a good bit today, and it's starting to come back.  The Great Slump of 2020 is about to end, and we're about to enter a new season.  We prayed tonight, praying for healing, praying for a change in the atmosphere, and praying for the world to enter a new season of hope.

Pearls of Wisdom

 

Here's Madison at the end of the Zoom small group meeting tonight - because of the new school schedule, she's on that meeting with Camille and the other girls at 5:30, and then at 6:00 she's in the car with me - still on that Zoom meeting - all the way to Gainesville where she has her piano class.  It's a tight schedule, and thank goodness for technology so she can actually enjoy the Zoom small group with the others, even in the car.  By the way, we were parked at this point, and she doesn't actually sit like this in a moving car.  

Tonight's small group was pretty neat.  Camille was broadcasting from the Florida panhandle, and yes that's not far from Hurricane Laura.  She's okay where she is, and she was using some nautical illustrations to help out with the class tonight.  Her co-leaders had used illustrations about a starfish, and the other one about the sand dollar, both classic illustrations that you can find online.  The last illustration involved an oyster shell that had a pearl inside it.  I got that for Camille to use, and it was gross, but she opened up that oyster shell and sure enough there was a pearl inside it.  I know it's a terribly gimmicky product, but it was fun for the kids, as Camille went on to talk about the Pearl of Great Price from the Bible.  

These small group gatherings have been very nice.  Madison gets a lot out of them and doesn't miss them! And, of course, she doesn't miss piano either.  The small group ends literally in the parking lot of Funderful World of Music, when Madison gets out of the car and goes on in for her piano class.  She did well for that tonight, although this week she hasn't been practicing as much. We'll have to see about squeezing that into the schedule some.

This morning, Mommy and I went to the dentist, and it was quite a procedure down there in Fulton Country.  Oy!  First of all, there were two $30 surcharges for COVID.  So yeah, we paid $60 extra to go to the dentist.  Next, we had ponchos on, plus mouthwash, plus special one-time use plastic goggles.  The dental hygienists had on masks, plus face shields, plus ponchos.  There were temperature checks, plus places where we needed to use hand sanitizer.  The building literally had signs that told us to use the elevator buttons by pressing them with our elbows, instead of our fingers.  What a production!  The worst part is that we have to go back next week for a quick follow-up for Mommy.  Our teeth were fine, but good grief!

It was a good day today.  Madison was doing a bit of homework while Mommy and I were watching the new Muppets show on Disney Plus.  Which we love so far.  It's so much, much better than that last Muppets show that nearly destroyed the franchise.  But this seems to have the spirit of the Muppets once again, and it has some laugh-out-loud moments and so much more heart.  Yes, there it is, what I think was missing earlier:  heart.  The heart of the Muppets seem to be back, at least in the first two episodes, and we were all enjoying it.

Of course, Madison watched another episodes of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." once the ELA homework was over with.  We had time for about one episode, and then it was time for our night time reading from the devotional, and also from our book.  Tonight, Darth Vader shows up, and he's somewhat cranky as always.  Not that I'd say that to his face of course.

We said our prayers tonight, prayers for healing and prayers for those in the path of another potentially devastating hurricane named Laura.  It's a very difficult night for some people already struggling with the year 2020.  We're praying for supernatural protection for us all.

Guacamole Tuesday

Today was a rainy day!  It was the steady, wonderful kind that sounds like music in the trees, a favorite tune of mine.  It was all over, an inescapable dousing of water, and nothing torrential.  Just constant, a gentle watering that lasted throughout the day.  We've gotten plenty of rain thus far, and the week promises to give us some more, but I have no problem with this sort of rain, at least on days where I don't have anything extravagant planned outside.  

In fact, the only thing actually planned today was Taco Tuesday.  Mommy made some wonderful tacos, and a guacamole that was so good we simply had to finish it all up tonight.  Mommy and I relentlessly attacked it with our chips, but Madison wasn't as interested.  She had one taste of the guacamole and decided that it tasted odd, and shelved the idea of trying it again for a while.  Some day she'll come around to our side about guacamole.  Some day she'll come around to the right side!  

Tonight Madison was working with nunchucks again, and by her own admission she was going to "have some bruises later on."  She was doing quite a bit on her form, and then kicking from the ground at attackers, one of the self-defense focuses of this upcoming cycle.  It was a fairly full class in regards to activities, and full in regards to students too.  It's good to see!

I was working on letters for this weekend and handouts for this weekend as well.  Got both of them done.  Madison, meanwhile, was doing well on her algebra quiz.  She's been doing Georgia studies too, discussing the impact of transportation on the state.  I guess that means boats and trains early on.  In science, it was a discussion of neutrons and how to find out how many are in each element.  Poor Hydrogen. 

So far, she's doing well in school, although there aren't many grades in yet.  It's way early in things.  I believe she has all A's and one B.  Again, it's super early.  But she's enjoying school, and so far, she's not having too much of a hard time understanding anything.

We got home tonight and of course we went straight to "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." for a bit.  We're rapidly approaching the end of season five, which leaves us in a quandary, as they haven't released seasons six or seven yet.  Of course, we've seen these when they actually came on the television.  But we're binge watching the series again, so there might be a substantial pause between seasons five and six here.  

Ba-Ba was in the hospital today for a blood transfusion, one that was decided upon yesterday after they went ahead and did a procedure with him.  He still keeps his spirits up, but he's definitely battling.  Mommy has been talking with him a lot on the phone, and on the computer as well.

We prayed for Ba-Ba tonight, and all others who are battling sickness.  We prayed for our nation too, and we read from our devotional and from our book we've been reading each night.  It was a nice day, and it's good to be back into a steady rhythm with school and after school activities.  We fell asleep tonight rather easily, the sound of rain outside calming and relaxing our spirits as we drifted off to sleep.

Threshold for Preposterous

Phil Coulson used a phrase tonight that I thought was terribly appropriate, if one were to follow social media as of late.  He said he didn't have a hard time believing certain supernatural things going on in his life lately, simply because his "Threshold of Preposterous is way out of whack."

We're right there with you, Phil.  I think if one were to list the escalated preposterous threats we've faced this year, we're certainly at that threshold.  We started out the year with a pandemic no one expected whatsoever, except perhaps, some folks in China and maybe elsewhere.  We've got race riots too, although based on the fact that there are people literally destroying and burning down places owned by those of their own race, I'm not entirely sure what that's about.  Let's go ahead and call that preposterous too.  We had people worried about murder hornets.  We had mysterious packages of seeds from China that for some reason were unsettling to people.  We have two possible hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico at the same time. And now we're hearing about a possible asteroid strike the day before an election.

It's all been one story after another, each one with a focus on something that we should be fearful of, collectively.  It's a threshold of preposterous, and we're all somewhat acclimated to preposterous now.  Some grab hold of each story and embrace the fear within.  Others laugh at it and make memes about each new perceived threat.  

Fortunately, we're a little busy at the moment to have to worry about things like asteroids.  Ba-Ba had his procedure today, and is battling stage four cancer, and we're praying for a miracle.  In all of this, even at the threshold of preposterous, we're trusting in the Lord with all our hearts, and not leaning on our own understanding.  Because clearly, there's no much to understand lately!

We had leadership today, more staff work there at the studio.  Madison enjoyed that.  She enjoyed the Spanish quiz she had on the alphabet too, something she said she had no problem with.  Tonight, she was studying algebra when she got home, getting ready for a quiz tomorrow.  We're in the thick of things at school now, really getting going.  It's good to see school back, and so many other people willing to go.  You can't stay in the house and be afraid forever.  Eventually, you have to come out of the house, right?

Anyway, it was a nice day for us, although a standard "work" day with classes and office work and so on.  We said our prayers and read tonight, and we're looking forward to next Sunday when we can all meet together at church again, and add even more normalcy, and hopefully begin to push back that threshold of preposterous to where it once was.

Jumping Gigawatts!

Tonight we finished our viewing of the "Back to the Future" trilogy with part three, but there's a lot more to this set we got back in 2015.  I remember thinking it was my birthday, and why not ask for this amazing box set of the movies, plus a whole lot more.  One of the things inside here is the complete animated series, which is admittedly dated, but it does feature a lot of live action footage of Doc Brown doing some science experiments or talking about his adventures through time.  I sort of like that motif, actually, for a devotional, rather than an ongoing series.  I think I'll be assembling a collections of recollections, as if told by Doc Brown, but of course not calling him out by name, as he's writing it all in the first person.  That should be a nice angle on it, actually.  Anyway, I saw a few episodes already of the cartoon, and its' been fun, and clearly the kind of thing we'd see on Saturday morning.

Ah, Saturday morning.  If we could time travel back to that era, it was a place of wonder!  Kids would actually get up early on Saturday morning, just for the chance to see their favorite cartoons all lined up.  And the three big stations would be competing for your attention, and then there were four, and it all ended with some random dance shows that I never watched.  But in there we saw the Superfriends, and Spider-Man and his friends.  The Tick showed up eventually, as did the X-men later on when I was older.  That whole series is on Disney Plus, and by gum I need to see it again.  The Smurfs ruled for a few seasons, but there were the great race cartoons, and of course Scooby Doo was solving mysteries for a time, along with Blue Falcon and Dynomutt.  I remember Mighty Mouse making a comeback, and a whole lot of unusual stuff that networks were trying back then.  Believe it or not, I never saw the animated "Back to the Future" on television.  This might have come later on, like the amazing animated Batman series, or "Eek" the cat.

Here's one thing we did watch this morning.  You can see our fish talking puppet friends back for another appearance at KidPak.  We used these for our "Under the Sea" stage presentation a few years ago, and Josh and I actually created these, sculpting, gluing and painting foam and styrofoam.  The triggers actually move the mouths up and down.  We were so proud of these that they've been on display in my office ever since.

Anyway, you can see us holding them up in this screen capture from this morning's KidPak service.  It was one of my favorites that we've done, with some great classic videos included that we used not long ago, including the one with a visit from Quaker Oats Man.  One of my favorites!

We had a good day today, one made better with root beer floats.  We got the root beers about twenty days ago from Jaemor Farms, and were holding on to them as an incentive to get to the end of the fast.  At the end of this fast, we said, we'll have a root beer float!  So today, Madison and I sat down and made good on that promise!  We enjoyed some root beer floats just after we made a trip down the road a bit. 

Not far from us lives Pastor Skelton and his wife, and today was his ninety-first birthday.  Given the pandemic, today's celebration was a parade that we enjoyed, all of us lining up in our cars, behind two large fire trucks, including a hook and ladder that we were not far behind ourselves.  It was pretty nice though, although fairly brief.  Pastor Skleton is such an iconic person in the missions field, a warm-hearted man who has made such a huge impact on the world.

We had a nice day today, doing a bit of creating for the upcoming weekend at KidPak, and doing some writing.  Madison was studying some today, and took a bath later on, which of course is always a bit investment in time.  

We continued reading tonight, reading from our devotional and from the latest chapter of "Allegiance."  It was a quiet day, and a nice one together with family.  

The Sea Games

This morning we were off to do some socially distant filming at the church, shooting with several cameras the latest edition of "The Sea Games."

We had three families competing in front of the pool and fountains this morning, and already the sun was up and blazing.  But with a title like "The Sea Games," you know that things were bound to get a little wet!

Meanwhile, this morning Madison went off with Nana and Ye-Ye and did a lot of shopping!  They traveled over to Dawsonville Outlet Mall over there, which was sadly limiting customers and not that busy anyway, certainly considering it was a Saturday.  These crushing regulations.  This outlet mall was doing well too, this after watching it struggle early on to take off.

Madison got home and triumphantly was showing off all the new clothing that the grandparents got for her.  They had a nice time shopping, and Madison was rather happy with all the selections she made.  It was very generous of the grandparents.  Madison also got a pocket watch with Totoro on it, which is actually something pretty cool!

With the time travel theme upcoming, perhaps, we dug into our "Back to the Future" series with a viewing of the second movie of the trilogy.  You notice little things each time you see these.  This time I noticed that the henchman 3D is actually wearing 3D red and blue sunglasses in the Biff 1985.  And the "9" in the sky when Doc Brown disappears in the Delorean looks just like the "9" on the neon advertisement near the clock tower, which also reads "WESTERN AUTO," which makes sense, because Doc Brown just went to the Old West in his auto.  Anyway, it's a fun movie.  We'll catch the third one tomorrow.  

We saw a few episodes of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." tonight, and now they're back to the present time, or at least another present time, as the whole timeline got completely wonky.  It's so complicated, it's probably best not to overthink.  Just enjoy the ride, and don't worry about it.  Speaking of enjoying the ride, it's always good to see those Kree people go down.  They've underestimated the agents, and we all got to see how that didn't work out tonight.

Madison was doing algebra work today, partly as homework and partly in preparation for an upcoming quiz.   So there was a nice balance of going out to shop, doing some homework, and watching a few things with the parents.  We read tonight, both from the devotional and from the current adventures of Mara Jade.  This has been a good book - I've read it before, but completely forgotten the plot!  It's been fun though.

We said our prayers tonight for multiple people.  There's a lot going on.  I've had dreams about multiple tornadoes all around us, and that's always symbolic of trouble being stirred up, or major attacks here and there.  Simultaneously, and right after all this, I saw on the news that imagery of multiple tornadoes, or at least waterspouts, as many as ten of them off the coast of Louisiana.  And afterwards, we're seeing the forecast of two hurricanes simultaneously striking the Gulf of Mexico.  We're in some odd times right now, for sure.  We said our prayers for healing tonight, and for protection.

Whale Maze

I'm working on this handout to go with the devotional and giveaways when we have outdoor church next weekend, and the word search part was easy to make thanks to an online word search generator that's super easy to use.  One fun thing I like to do with all the word searches I make for KidPak or anything really is this:  put Madison's name in there somewhere.  It's never listed, but it's always in there, as it is above.  The other thing was this whale maze I made.  I saw a lot of mazes online, but I was somewhat concerned about copyrights and so on, so I just decided to go ahead and make a maze myself!  I drew the maze, scanned it, and then added a few enhancements and plopped it there into the sea with those fish that Josh created a few years ago.  I even drew the arrows in the original, although I probably should have just plugged those in later, as arrows are fairly common shape to use with graphics.  The maze turned out well anyway - we were watching "Back to the Future," and I was drawing this as we were watching.

One reason we're watching "Back to the Future" is the strong possibility that we'll be returning to that KidPak series soon enough.  It was called "Time Travelers," and it was super fun, but it was directly tied to the fact that we were there in October of 2015, and that's the year Doc Brown and Marty McFly traveled to the future.  As my birthday is there that month, I got the greatest birthday gift at the time, a box set of trilogy, one with a light-up hologram of the flux capacitor on the outside.  On the inside were a few booklets, the movies, and hours and hours of behind-the-scenes footage, plus the entire animated series as well, which I've never seen.  BUT there is a Christmas episode, so we may have to watch that one this year!

Anyway, we watched this one tonight, which inevitably will lead to the two sequels this weekend.  The reason we were watching this was to sort of get into that frame of mind again, and see about any thoughts for a devotional for KidPak.  We didn't do a devotional last time, so this would be a great opportunity this year to add that to the series.  

It was a work day today, one at the office.  I was prepping for new series, cleaning the office a bit, and also closing down the old series, "Northern Lights," at least getting everything printed and saved for posterity.  Meanwhile, Madison was at school, and having a good day.  This was the end of the first full week, and things seem to be settling down somewhat.  Despite all that's going on in the world, students at her middle school seem to be doing okay, largely, despite the new rules and structure.  They're making it work, and Madison is certainly grateful to be at school and not at home doing things online, as some others are.  

She's been reading her book "Lost Stars" again, for the third time in fact.  She's also picked up a copy of the book "Percy Jackson:  The Lightning Thief."  She may be reading that one as well, simultaneously.  She got that from the school library, her first visit of the year.  She wasn't quite sure what to pick up there initially, and then she remembered this book series.  We may be visiting that one, or Mommy has been interested in hearing the next book of the Artemis Fowl series.  We'll see!

It was a nice day today, although a wet one.  We've been getting a lot of rain today, the whole state drenched with steady all-day downpours.  We prayed tonight, and of course we read as well.  It was a good day, but we'll be up early tomorrow for a few things, so it's off to bed now.  Goodnight!

Taekwon-Dos

Thursday night is a longer night at taekwondo, with two classes back-to-back for the school year.  She starts out with her regular belt class, and then goes on to her leadership class immediately afterwards.  In leadership class, they're all still swinging those staffs around, learning different positions and maneuvers.  It was raining quite a bit today, and that seems to be the forecast for the next week or two, including a possible impact from some storms swooshing in from the Atlantic.  Two storms with a bit of a kick. Two classes.  We'll call that Taekwon-dos. 

Speaking of Spanish, Madison had some fun today with a Spanish game of "Family Feud," one that pitted one team against the other, seeing who knows the Spanish alphabet better.  It was a close match, and Madison was put on the spot, but she did well, and her team eventually came out on top.  If you listened carefully, you could just make out the sounds of celebration in Spanish, accompanied by gunshots in the air and a ranchero band singing their new song, "El Equipo Victorioso."  

No challenge has defeated them yet.

For each knows the Spanish alphabet!

Their team sent captina to fight

¡Caray!  Maddie got her answers right! 

Like most winning teams, but more so.

Quienes son ellos?  It's El Equipo Victorioso!

It's a catchy tune.  Gets stuck in your head.  Anyway, she helped her team win.  She's really enjoying Spanish.  She's not enjoying other classes as much.  For example, Science.  Presently, it's rather boring.  Not Boron.  Boring.  She's learning some vocabulary, and it's largely about atoms and the Periodic Table of Elements.  Speaking of which:

How often do they add new elements to that table?

Periodically.  

Yes, that was awful.  Anyway, today Madison also got the results of her pre-test for ELA.  This is the test that the students take that determines how much they know before they cover the material for the year.  I say that to set up the fact that the students traditionally aren't supposed to do that well on a pre-test, as it is stuff that they haven't covered yet.  She got a 78 on the test!  So yes, it might be a unique year for ELA!

She's been reading her book "Lost Stars" again, and yes, this is the third time.  She read forty pages or so, which she's quite proud of.  She's got some real momentum on this one, and that's amazing given that she's already read the thing twice before. But she really likes this book, and now suddenly I might need to read it myself.

I was working today, and returning some books to the library as well.  I have to get another book or two, as I've enjoyed reading on the back deck.  The weather has been comfortable at dawn and dusk, and even with the rain, it's been nice.  

Okay, so we're going back to KidPak again in person.  Yes, the planning is in place, and the idea is September 13th.  We're gearing up for that.  I was working on our "Trailblazers" series, and I believe we'll be doing "Time Travelers" after that.  I have to do a new devotional for that one.  But each of these is only a month long.  The reason for this is the nature of our return:  we're not going back to the large auditorium at first, but rather the individual classrooms.  It'll be somewhat of a small group environment.  No sense in bringing back a big set when the kids are going to be in the classrooms.  We'll get back to the auditorium again soon.  

August 30th is a day that we'll be doing a big outdoor service, and you'll see more on that here as we get there.  Despite there not being a children's service outdoors (the outdoor service is a family service), we'll still have a presence there, and giveaways.  I'm working on those now, along with the books.  Lots to do!

Tonight we prayed and read of course, this time from another Star Wars book that we've been doing, "Allegiance."  It's been a solid read, and the girls have enjoyed hearing about Mara Jade, and the other main characters of the Star Wars galaxy.  I'm hoping that some day Mara will be reintroduced into the Star Wars story, but until then, it's been great reading about her each night.

We said our prayers for Ba-Ba, of course.  And the world.  So much going on, and we're trusting in the Lord, despite all that seems to be going on.  Some day we'll look back on 2020 with a more balanced view, hopefully one that sees all the positive things that happened as well.  We'll be okay.

A Look Back at our Two-Year Old

You can see who showed up for the Zoom meeting today at top center.  I always have to do things a bit different.  Actually, I'm in the shot at top right - we're back in the office this week, and it's so great to be together, at least a little together.  We're working on our reopening, and an outdoor service upcoming, as well as the usual services too.  Got a lot done today!

Madison was having fun at school too, something she's getting used to.  A friend of hers from church, Beckham, is having to spend the next two weeks at home.  One of his classmates has the virus, so everyone has to stay at home, and is even being asked to get tested, regardless of if they have symptoms or not.  This is in Gwinnett County.  He's bummed about it, as Madison would be too.  She loves going to school.

She's learning the Spanish alphabet now, and learning how to pronounce it as well.  She was also working on her dinner invitation assignment today as well.  Tonight, she went to piano class once more where she is now learning a new song to play - we'll be hearing that more often around the house now as she practices.  Homework is a thing now, and she's been very prompt to get it done the best she can.

We had a lot of rainstorms today, some powerful ones further north and further south of us.  We frequently see that, where the might of these storms misses us, sometimes the rain completely missing us as it goes north or south of us at the last possible minute.  Tonight we did get a sufficient amount of rain, so that was nice.

We got home and Madison was in the mood to rejoin the binging of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," so we got back involved with that season five, hating the Kree people, at least the ones in this season.  Actually, I don't know too many Kree that are good guys.  I know that might not be politically correct there, but most of the Kree that I'm familiar with are complete jerks.

We watched our heroes deal with the Kree a bit, and there was a certain bit of satisfaction at one point when the good guys started to get the upper hand.  It's a bleak season, but things are starting to turn around for the heroes.  

Reading tonight continued, from our devotional and from "Allegiance."  But Madison read about forty pages of her favorite book, "Lost Stars" as well.  I finished up "Forever Red," a book about Black Widow that Madison may want to read some time.  It's got a sad ending to it, and despite the slow middle portion of the story, the book picked up momentum towards the end and was worth reading after all.

It was a good day for us. We said our prayers and were fast asleep not long after this.  Mommy was having some difficulty lately, and we're hoping we can get back to a rhythm of sorts where she doesn't have to get up so much.

Recently, we've been doing some straightening up of files on computers, and I came across something we called "Madison Year One," which is basically a slide show of our first year with Madison.  We had this playing in the background, looping, as a part of her first birthday party with us.  Anyway, I cut out the bits of this video that showed things that have already been shared here.  You can see the slide show of our trip to China to meet Madison right here.  And you can find the slide show of pictures of Madison in the orphanage before we met right here.  But we'll close this entry with this slide show of pictures below, a collection of pictures taken from August of 2008 to early June of 2009, pictures showing Madison at different points of the year when she was just two.  It was sweet to look back on this, and you might enjoy it as well.

Pepper Faces

This pepper is either very tired, or possibly very frightened of something.  I suspect it may be scared of the other pepper we found lurking in the kitchen, one that looks quite like a vampire pepper.

These peppers were some of the ones Mommy was cutting up today, all as a part of this wonderful salsa she made for dinner.  It had tomatoes from our garden, plus cilantro, peppers, onions, corn from Jaemor, beans, and even bits of pineapple as well.  We got the best chips we could, and thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful salsa at dinner time.  It was Taco Tuesday, so Mommy had tacos for Madison as well - we had quite a night at the table.

Madison had homework tonight, an ELA assignment that kept us away from the television.  Here we go with the school year, right?  She had to write about the five guests she would invite to a dinner party - any five guests - and write why she would invite them, and I think what they would be doing at the party as well.  I like the fact that she would invite Tom Holland to the dinner party.  

She had a good day at school, finishing up vocabulary for science, and I'm not entirely sure of the other events of the school day.  I was at work today, some place I haven't been to in a while - at the office.  We were there all day, and it was so great to be back again.  It feels like our starting up again is really going to happen this time, and that makes us all so glad.  I spent a good deal of time writing today, and getting things ready for a new series and everyone's return to KidPak.

Afterwards, we were at taekwondo again for regular classes.  These are the more populated classes, as everyone is continuing their journey towards their new ranking.  Madison's journey for the black belt is ongoing.  She''ll get a recommended belt in October, and then another testing happens in December.  Finally, her last test is in March.  But here we are already, moving forward to that new belt.  Gone will be the colors of the spectrum, as from this point on, it's nothing but degrees of black belt.  She's really enjoying it.

It was a good day today, but a busy one for me.  I'm back to work here, I think.  If I can stay awake... we said our prayers with Madison a bit ago, and she's trying to get to sleep early tonight, as she wants to get a shower in the morning.  She's setting the alarm a lot earlier in the morning.  Better her than me!  We said our goodnights, and threw plush animals at each other.  We also read tonight, of course, and said our prayers.  We'll all sleep well tonight!

Jahn Bong

Tonight, the new Jahn Bongs came in, another new Korean term we're learning.  It's a bō staff, basically, and she just started with it last week.  But tonight the new ones have come in, and Madison will have a full arsenal in her bag.

Of course actually using these is another matter!  The training was fun today, watching students twirl these about, or attempt to do so at least!  "Practice makes permanent" is a slogan used all the time at the studio, and that's why there is so much practice.

It's been fun to watch.  Mommy and I were doing just that today from our counter, watching Madison improve with the bō staff - or the Jahn Bong - over even the short time we were watching.  One maneuver had her rolling it over her shoulder, and you can imagine that one was taking a bit of time.  She'll be able to practice that one at home, just hopefully somewhere where there isn't delicate furniture!

We did some grocery shopping after this, and then got home in time for dinner, and then an episode of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." from space.  We're still binging from season one again, revisiting the claustrophobic space episodes with that blue-faced villain that everyone can't wait to get ride of.  

Today at school was fun.  Madison was having conversations in Spanish with her friends over the phone, and is actually pretty excited about Spanish.  She's enjoying this class the most so far.  Science has been dull so far, with definitions and so on.  It sounds like there will be chemistry coming up, as they've been looking up the definitions of words like "atoms" and "ions."  Her ELA class hasn't really gotten going yet, but we're just getting started.  In fact, today she just got her locker, and for the first time, it's a top locker, rather than one on the bottom row.  She predicted this back in 6th grade, that she'd have a top locker.  And that sort of thing makes sense.  However, given her height, we were wondering about the logistics of that, as she may have been some time ago.  But she can reach everything just fine, and the top locker is okay with her.  She doesn't plan on putting too many things in there - currently, that's a challenge with the schedule. 

Speaking of schedule, we were late this morning, but it's an excused absence.  We were at the dentist, and just like other places, we were stopped at the door, asked questions, then had our temperatures taken.  Obviously, we had the masks on, although those had to come off before doing any dental work.  Looking around, it looked like we were inadvertently continuing our "Under the Sea" theme at the dentist!  It's got this ocean theme all over, from murals to hanging pictures and decor.  It's fun.  The dental process may not be as much fun, but this morning wasn't so bad, as Madison's teeth were okay.  She had an x-ray, which was a great moment to talk about her that chemistry she's learning about this year, about that dense lead vest she wore, and about radioactive elements as well. 

It was a decent day, and in a way we're all back to normal.  We were reading tonight from the devotional, and from Mara Jade's exploits in space.  We prayed, and soon enough, it was time for bed.  We're working on getting to bed earlier.  That alarm sure goes off a lot earlier than it used to!

El Cazador

This is El Cazador, "the hunter."  We're not entirely sure why he looks so downcast.  I'm thinking perhaps it is because he actually ate at this restaurant, but I'm not entirely certain.  It was okay, as far as Mexican fare goes, but we were so far away at this point, it seemed quite odd to stop at a place such as this, versus a few of the other places we could have visited.  But the KidPak gang sort of followed along, and the next thing we knew, we were all sitting down eating taco salads.

To back up a moment, we're in Alabama in this picture, specifically Birmingham.  We met at the church this morning, got in a few cars, and drove the three or so hours south and west towards a church there, the Church of the Highlands.  They've actually opened up and are having services now, and we were wanting to see how they were doing things, just to observe how it all worked out.  We made it to church just in time - going to Central Time Zone helped with that one.  

We got some information there, and it's pretty much what I was seeing at Dollywood.  There are just different variations of people, some wearing and some not, and some upset that others aren't doing six feet away and wearing masks and others ambivalent, and some scared and some defiant and some unconcerned and some uninformed, and some apathetic too.  So, the bottom line, I think, is just do your best.  We'll be doing that, planning out our strategy for the children's services upcoming.

Alabama was about what I remember it, which is to say I don't remember much of it.  We saw the Talladega Speedway from the road there, and the Coosa River was nice.  There were some mountains there that looked nice as well - I remember going to the highest peak in Alabama at one point some time ago, and it isn't too far from where we were.  But that's about it for Alabama.  Not that I was with some folks that were in the mood to explore.  Everyone was pretty ready to get back home after church and that restaurant.  

We stopped at a few gas stations to and fro, but that was about it for Alabama.  That was the first time I've been there in over twenty years.  It was previously a gateway to the west, a place I may or may not get to go back to some day.  But for now, it was nice to get to see some place different, even if it was just Alabama.  No offense to you in Alabama.  It's just that there's not much to get excited about there, or at least I haven't heard as much. 

Anyway, while I was off in Alabama, Madison was at home practicing piano, talking with some friends, and going bowling.

Table bowling!  She got this table bowling set from Camille, this one a prize for winning a game during small groups.  It came yesterday, and so we had it set up at the table.  Madison and I had a game where we played about five or six frames, and the score was tied until the very end, when Madison won by just one point.  

We watched KidPak when I got home, as it was the first service of our new "Under the Sea" series.  We were celebrating Shark Week, and this week's video turned out really well.  One down, three to go.  These new monthly online series go by so fast!  But it was fun, and it took advantage of that shark theme really well.  

After that, we started season five of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." where most of the team is in outer space, and in the future.  And it's a pretty bleak future, of course, which is why they've been sent to this future in order to save it.  

When I was her age, I had the "A-Team," "Knight Rider," and "Simon & Simon."  Those were my television characters.  Madison has this entire S.H.I.E.L.D. team to cheer for.  We're just getting started, and there's all kinds of oppressiveness going on from the Kree.  These blue aliens are trying to inflict too much law and order.  Next thing you know they'll start making everyone wear masks!

Anyway, we said our prayers tonight, and then it was time for bed, after hide-and-seek, throwing plush animals, and all the other nightly traditions.  Sleep came easy tonight, as it was a super long day.  Came all the way from Birmingham this afternoon, and here I am.  See you tomorrow!

What the Heck?

This afternoon we had some fun with mini-golf over at The Oaks, a favorite spot of ours.  We had some free mini-golf tickets left from Madison's birthday, so we called up one of her friends and headed over to play the course again, after the rain.  It was supposed to rain all day, and be heavy rain too.  And that rain did in fact come, but it cleared out, seemingly just for us.  The owner of the place wasn't even expecting the rain to clear up, but sure enough, it was cool and dry by the time we went out to the course.  It was a fun time!  Madison was playing with her friend, and I was playing the course with Mom one hole behind.  In the end, Mommy had the best score, outdoing all of us.  But it was nice, and not at all crowded, and just a fun time getting out of the house to do some mini-golf.

Madison and Mommy then spent a good bit of time with the Ryans, some friends of ours that live nearby that golf course, and that was nice.  Madison and Jolina were listening to songs from "The Greatest Showman," which we actually watched later on:  we haven't seen that movie in quite some time, so we enjoyed watching, and singing along as well.  Madison had been singing the songs, and even playing them on the piano as well.  She had piano practice, and was playing a few of these songs.  We'll probably have these songs on the playlist in the car soon enough.

Mommy made some mushroom soup today that was so delicious.  We had that and salads, and some of those tomatoes from the garden too.  We're growing a lot of those, and in fact Mommy is planning on using some of them to make a salsa with.  The tomatoes have been great though, a plentiful harvest!

Today we learned that I have an uncle, possibly.  Which implies there's possibly cousins.  I've not really talked about the genealogy so much here on my mother's side, but we've sort of learned that her father, a Pan-Am pilot overseas, had somewhat of a secret family in England.  From what I understand, he might have even gotten married over there.  But he had children, who were reaching out to us recently.  Technology with DNA tests and ancestry searches have all gotten more advanced, and this morning's shock was the fact that yet another family member has presented himself.  This time it is from my mother's mother, who we believe now had a child at a very young age, and probably gave that child away for adoption.  So my mother has a brother, and didn't know it.  The DNA and the ancestry information and locations seem to support all this, but it's been somewhat of a shock.  We thought we had a family with two grandparents, three daughters, one of those being my mother.  That's all I ever knew through dinners, gatherings, and the various events of life together. But there appear to have been some secrets, and that's been quite the shock.  Our grandparents never told about these secrets, and we have relatives that are suddenly appearing from California (today's new uncle) to England (the ones from a family in England).  I don't know all the details, but we'll post them here eventually.  Yes, this is crazy.

If my grandparents were still alive, the questions I'd like to ask them have dramatically changed.  Actually,  they're all simplified to this one simple question:  "WHAT THE HECK?"

We said our prayers tonight, and we read again from our Superheroes devotional, and then from this book with Mara Jade.  It was a quiet day today.  The girls had fun talking for a few hours with friends, and there was mini-golf too.  It was a good day though, a simple one, a restful one, and a fun one.  

Goldfinch

We were working outside a bit today while Madison was in school.  Not much work, but out there enough to see our Black-eyed Susans had a special visitor.  This goldfinch has built a nest in the Bradford tree in our front yard, and we can hear the baby chicks calling out for something to munch on.  Down below, there's a buffet in the form of seeds from these flowers, somewhat like sunflower seeds.  The bird is so light it can perch itself upon one of these flowers, and collect what she needs, just like a trip to the convenience store!  I took this picture from inside, probably about six feet away, and she either didn't see me, or didn't care.  Either way, the photo came out nice with the flowers and the beautiful golden bird there.

Random fun fact:  the goldfinch is the state bird of New Jersey.  We posted this picture online, and some friends from Iowa called out that it is also the state bird of Iowa.  I looked it up and sure enough, it's also the state bird of Washington state.  Technically, the Washington goldfinch is a "willow goldfinch," while the Iowa and New Jersey state birds are "eastern goldfinches."  But the online source of knowledge here that knows all things and tells us what to think doesn't actually bother to show different pictures to show any difference in any of these goldfinches, so I guess that means they're really pretty much the same bird, just living in different areas.

STILL, something's got to give.  I say this because further research has uncovered that the cardinal is the state bird of seven different states.  They all have the same state bird.  And six states have the western meadowlark as their state bird.  

State congresspeople are paid money to think creatively.  Why the heck do we have seven states with the same state bird?  What's the point?

So, looking back in time here, I found out which state called the goldfinch as their state bird first.  That was Iowa.  So Iowa gets it.  But New Jersey congresspeople decided to copy Iowa and claim it as their state bird.  Why not pick something different?  There's plenty of birds out there.  The only bird I remember from New Jersey were seagulls.  They were everywhere inland to the shores, and just as Nigel says from "Finding Nemo," they are "rats with wings."  So, from a certain point of view, it's a fairly appropriate bird for New Jersey.  But being kinder, why not a downy woodpecker.  It took me five seconds to look up "birds" and "New Jersey," and then the list of state birds.  Woodpeckers are not on the list, so there's a pretty choice.  Or how about a cedar waxwing?  That's a nice looking bird that lives in New Jersey, and no one else has picked that.  Why not go with that one?  I think the New Jersey legislators were being lazy.

I mean, it shouldn't have been to hard to check to see if anyone else picked the goldfinch already.  But instead, New Jersey decides to copy Iowa and pick their bird.  And Washington's state legislature does the same thing, even though there are plenty of unique birds out there.

And don't get me started about everybody picking a cardinal.  Illinois called it first.  Then a line of states all the way to North Carolina copies Illinois to the point that it's ridiculous.  Why even have a state bird when you have six other states with the same exact bird?  This is what is wrong with government! 

I'm exaggerating, of course.  Some time ago, the US Postal Service issued stamps of the state birds, and yes, I have them all.  I have collector post cards of them too.  And seven of the states have cardinals on them.  I can imagine the artist, by the time he gets to state #7, trying to figure out a new and unique angle to draw a cardinal. 

CHANGING THE SUBJECT, here's something really nice that happened today. 

It was Nana's birthday!  We went over, and celebrated with my sister and her family, giving gifts, and yes, there's the cake there too.  

We sang "Happy Birthday" and handed her some of the gifts we got her.  Mommy made some fried green tomatoes, using green tomatoes from our garden.  And we got her some pottery from that place in Dollywood that we recently visited - also some jam that Mommy made using the peaches from Jaemor Farms.

One thing that Nana got was a violin that was picked up from a yard sale not long ago.  Nana doesn't play - yet - but that didn't stop her from trying it out.  And it didn't stop Madison from giving it a try as well.

She likes the violin, and might want to try that out.  It'll be like we live in 221b Baker Street for a while, the sounds of someone practicing the violin filling the house.  I'm not sure what that would be like, but she's interested in giving it a try, so we'll see!

We sat down to eat a little, and we sat down to talk a lot, reminiscing about a lot of things.  But one new item that the grandparents got was a ping-pong table, so we had to give that a try.

Everyone went to the garage to play a few games, and this lasted for quite some time, as we cycled through the whole family, each one of us giving it a go.

Even Madison was there to try it out, and though she may have been a little rusty to begin with, she certainly got the hang of it, as did all of us.  It was fun!

It was a very nice evening though, as it always is.  This picture is somewhat sad though.  You can see one of the last photos of Nana and Ye-Ye with Asaph, who has been with the family about as long as Madison had been.  It costs so much to keep him alive each month, so much that Ye-Ye is going out to get a job soon to pay off the debt.  This is to pay for the shots he's been getting.  But recent news of a tumor was just crushing.  Tonight we dropped by to say goodbye as well.

It was a nice evening, and Madison had a much better day at school.  She had her first Spanish class, and from this point on, she has a new Spanish name for class.  She got to pick from a list of Spanish names, and sure enough, there was the name Elena there.

So Madison is now Elena.  We must call her that now, from this point on, as it is the name she has chosen!  The reason for the picture above is the reason she chose the name Elena.  She wanted to give herself the same name as Elena Rodriguez, otherwise known as Yo-Yo.  This is her Spanish name from this point on, and another reminder of the influence of this show as of late.  We'll continue soon, watching old episodes from season five as we re-watch the entire series, so we'll see Yo-Yo again soon.

This is a picture of a garden in Ye-Ye's yard, taken just before tonight's gathering.  It was a nice day today, ended with another reading about the 501st from Star Wars, plus our devotional.  Then prayers, throwing plush animals, and tucking in.  It was a nice day today, and hopefully the beginning of a rhythm that we can all get back into with school and so forth.

First Day of Eighth Grade

Here we are at the first day of school again, and this time the break seemed to have started forever ago.  We knew this day would come, and there's been a lot of controversy about it from various factions.  Some say we shouldn't be out doing anything at all, and others are saying we should ignore any rules and just let this virus take its course.  Those are two extremes of course.  Madison wanted to go to school, rather than take the online classes as some of her friends are doing.  We weighed it all out, and actually took some time to come to a decision, but in the end, she's got her mask and she's at school today, her first day of eighth grade.

Here's the traditional picture we take each day before school, and suddenly we're back in this routine again, setting the alarm, getting breakfast, packing, brushing teeth, taking a picture and saying our prayers together on the couch.  Even the part where Madison pushes me back down after prayers.  Then, it's time to get into the car, wave to Mommy, and we're off down the road, passing the new high school still being built, and on the way to school.

There were cheerleaders out front - I'm not sure if they'll have any games to cheer at or how that's all going to work.  I haven't looked into sports yet. But as for the classes and school, it was quite a different experience.

You can see all the kids are spaced apart, walking down the halls on these little paths marked with tape and arrows, somewhat like the lines they have in the movie we just saw again, "Wall-E."

There are new systems in place, and Madison would do a much better job explaining all of it, but there are quite a few new rules in place to keep everyone separated.  The getting to and from classes sounds like it's a bit crazy:  if you pass by your classroom, you'll have to go around the whole circle again.  Mommy was telling us about an experience like this in her old school, and it sounded crazy back then.  The school didn't want too many kids congregating in the center of the hallway because they were afraid the floor would collapse.  Read that again.  Anyway, their answer was not a more sound structure, but instead, just let the kids in there, but make sure they do the exact same thing that Madison is doing now, walking the halls on these narrow pathways at the edge.

Locker visits will be figured out next week, but right now, they were going through the new routines of getting to and from, and sitting in class, and getting to the lunchroom and back.  They eat in classrooms now.  Half the class goes to the lunchroom to get food in order to bring back to the classroom.  Fortunately, Madison is able to go from class to class, rather than have all the teachers rotate or something wild like that.

Anyway, it's going to be a great year.  Madison was a little nervous about a few things, and how great that Edge ATA put up this advertisement on their social media sites today:

It's the word "CONFIDENCE," and Madison has a lot of that.  She'll do well this year, but as you can see from the very brief description of what this "new normal" is like, it will be quite an unusual year.  Nevertheless, we're all very glad to be starting again.

This is a picture of what I did later on today with a lot of other volunteers.  It's a food hand-out.  Calvin, Jovanna and I reunited a bit of KidPak there, dressing up as characters and handing out book bags and an insane amount of chicken.  Boxes and boxes of chicken.  We handed out so many meals today.  Hundreds of cars.  This line goes up to the church, and then to the right and around the back of the church, and then all the way down to the chapel, and then back again to the front of the church, and then back out again.  And it is two lanes of cars too!  This line was ginormous, and it took over three hours to cycle through everyone.  We had so much chicken that there were boxes leftover, and we were actually able to take some home with us.  We dropped by Nana and Ye-Ye's house to give them a few boxes, and then their neighbors too.  And we got ourselves a couple boxes as well.  We've got chicken for a good while now.

While I was doing this, Madison was able to make it to the new schedule of taekwondo, which you could see above.  That picture was taken earlier.  Mommy was with Madison for two back-to-back classes, which is the new thing for Thursday. We can't make the Friday time due to scheduling of school.  But there is a leadership class on Thursday, and of course the normal class as well.  

We didn't have much time for anything upon getting home.  It's a school night - remember those?  We prayed, and we read from our devotional as well.  We've been reading a superhero themed one that I've written.  But I was asking Madison if she could think of any devotional ideas for the characters of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., just throwing that out there if she wanted to try any ideas.  IMMEDIATELY, she had ideas about things to write for the characters.  I think you'll see those here soon enough.

Anyway, we prayed tonight for Ba-Ba, and for Daddy and our nation.  And there were the other routines, but yes, we were in bed earlier tonight.  Got to get up earlier!  It's going to be a great school year!