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 This morning we were back at church with a pretty fun service up high in the mountains.  The scripts have been easier to write this time, and I'm definitely glad to have Nerdo on board here.  You can see him goofing around at center stage, as the other climbers are preparing for a big ascent up the mountains.

Watching mountain climbing themed things generally helps.  Research for whatever series we do usually involves watching a lot of material related to the theme, or reading about it too.  This morning's service was a great moment too, as we were talking about Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.

We had all the kids learning the Lord's Prayer, something I thought would be appropriate for this season, and of course it's a foundational building block of the faith, a rather important passage in the Bible.

Anyway, we had a good morning.  Madison was volunteering on the side, standing beside Lauren, who she sees each Wednesday.  In the first service, she was upstairs listening to the service up there.  Just like nearly every Sunday thus far, Nana and Mom were at the KidPak service, first, and then upstairs in the main grown-up service for the second.  They and Madison sort of switch places!

Afterwards, I did do my walk, this time through Dollywood.  Virtually on the treadmill, of course.  Mom had a delicious meal for us at home, one including a new cauliflower recipe that was actually really good.  I never, ever ask for seconds on cauliflower, but nevertheless, we were doing just that today!

Madison did some piano this afternoon, and our neighbor came over to help patch some holes in beneath our sink, after the plumber came by.  We got a lot of the Christmas stuff brought downstairs, but I am stubbornly keeping the Christmas tree in the great room up.  We had a nice fire going in there, as the temperature has been pretty chilly outside.  

Tonight's double feature was "Some Like it Hot," followed by "Isle of Dogs."  We got that first movie from the library, a great source of old classic movies.  The second was something that popped up on our livestream service, and I was wanting to check it out.  We enjoyed both movies, both quite different from each other of course.  Although Madison was on the dinner table there for most of it, working on a drawing of a character in a book she's writing, one with a nice dress that she designed and drew out herself.  

The Frog Prince did another fun cameo today, under her pillow, and that was pretty fun.  We read tonight, finishing up Esther, and setting up Purim for when that happens soon.  We may celebrate that day a little bit more so this year, adding the pastries and maybe even finding a livestream of a Messianic Jewish service related to that.  We went to one of those in person many years ago, before Madison, and it was fun.

Anyway, after that we read from "Scoundrels," and said our prayers.  It's been a melancholy season here, and it is so much work trying to keep Nana happy or distracted sometimes.  We're still praying, praying that her default mode is no longer one of tears and muttering to herself, but instead comfort and peace and no more torment.