End of March

March is over, and April literally has come roaring in.  The winds came and today the temperature plunged back down once more, somewhat of a reprimand to all those pronouncements that winter was gone for good this year.  In fact, there was actually a significant amount of snow up there in North Carolina’s mountains.  The wind howled all night, and completely surprised a lot of us who were ready to move on to the next season, but winter was like, “Hold on a minute!”

 

Tonight Madison was spending a good bit of time studying math and social studies, as she has big tests in those classes tomorrow.  Friday’s test is science.  She got home and hit the books pretty hard the rest of the night.

 

We were watching a documentary on the Sherman Brothers while she was studying, those two legendary brothers who wrote so many epic songs for so long.  We actually learned even more songs they wrote, ones we had no idea they wrote. 

 

Earlier in the evening, Madison had her small group lesson – tonight’s woman of faith was Rebekah, who there was plenty to learn from.  In the car, she was listening as always, and I get to listen in from the driver’s seat as we head over to piano class.  

 

Madison is continuing her piano lessons, of course.  She’s doing well playing a few different pieces.  We’ll get busy again with practice once this week of tests is over with.  Tonight we prayed before bed, and read some more from Kingdom Keepers again, and got to that one part of the book where Maleficent shows up, walking just outside the teepee our heroes are hiding inside.  She knows they’re in there – she can feel them.  It was a pretty good intro to the villain of the story.  

 

We have a new rabbit tonight, a “Hip Hop” bunny that is super sensitive, and if even jostled a little will start rapping, “Here comes that bunny!”  It’s been the latest prank thing that keeps showing up underneath pillows, or inside her martial arts bag, or in front of a door… it’s been funny. 

Hip-Hop Bunny

Lots of testing this week, so Madison was spending a good deal of time studying.  She's got Spanish, then Social Studies and Math, and then Science.  She's got A averages in all her classes except Math, so hopefully this will be just enough of a bump for her in that math class - we'll see.  The grades get posted much, much later in that class.  And she's doing fine in the class, so we're not really worried.  She'll be fine!

There has been lots of planning for Easter too.  Someone donated all these Bibles, thousands of them, and every student that goes to church Sunday will get a really nice quality Bible.  It's going to be fantastic for the families.  

It's been tough this week at home with Nana.  She's just not happy most of the time, and that of course is a drain on us as a family.  We're trying to turn things around there, but it's been hardest on Mom.  We're trying to do what we can to help out.  Sometimes Madison will blurt out, "High Five!" She does this when Nana is having one of her episodes, and the intent is to be a distraction.  It would be, under normal circumstances, fairly annoying.  But the very thing that causes her to do it is annoying, so there's that.  We sort of roll our eyes and laugh, and the distraction works most of the time.  We're doing the best we can, but sometimes it's like talking to an automated phone system where you hit certain responses and the replies are automated, and you go in circles just desperately wishing you could press "zero" and talk to the operator.  Mom at one time this morning, in tears, said she thought this was harder to go through than the chemotherapy she went through.  That's saying a lot.

We read from Exodus tonight, reading about manna from heaven, and then talking about fish falling from the skies or other seemingly supernatural events.  I just wrote about this recently in a devotional entry for "Storm Chasers," and its pretty interesting to study now, because our understanding of waterspouts is that they don't actually suck up things like a vacuum cleaner, but instead sort of draw them in the spiraling winds, carrying them upwards and elsewhere.  The idea of fish and frogs and jellyfish being carried so far in the clouds and dropped miles away is pretty amazing.

Anyway, we're reading "Kingdom Keepers" too, and that's been fun to read together.  I have a feeling we'll be through with this book much quicker than the last one, as this book has really pulled us along.

It was a decent day, but more of a work day.  I was doing a lot with FC Youth, and then writing some for KidPak's Easter service.  Madison's character will have some lines, and an opportunity to preach some from the stage.  I'm excited about that - she may even do some martial arts on the stage too.  We'll see!

We said our prayers to close out the day.  But one more thing!  

Here comes the bunny, the cool, cool bunny!

Madison and I have been hiding the hip-hop bunny back and forth lately, a super sensitive plush bunny that suddenly starts rapping when he is jostled.  It's been the latest prank toy, usually hidden in unexpected places in the house designed to surprise (or annoy) someone else!  I usually find him underneath my pillow, or Madison will find him inside the martial arts bag on the way out the door.  Anyway, tonight he was under the covers in my bed tonight.  It's been a source of much-needed laughter just before bed.  We've had him a while, and maybe not as long as the Frog Prince, but he's been a welcome addition to the house.  You can hear him quite some distance away, and you know someone's been pranked!

Busy Week

It was a sunny day today, and the start of a busy week at school for Madison.  She's got big tests in all her classes, so that sort of paints out the texture of each night upcoming.  She's doing well in school, super good.  And she's enjoying it, so that's a great thing too.  She often has funny stories to tell when she gets home, and it's nice to hear the hilarious moments that crack her up during the day.  We'll sit there and listen as she tells of one thing after another.  Of course, as far as actual content to what she's learning, that's a little less hilarious!  I mean, there aren't too many jokes with quadratics.  She's done with that soon, by the way.  And she'll be really happy to be done with quadratics.  

While Madison was at school, we were doing a few little things today.  We put our new rug out in the piano room, and we moved the one formerly in there to the great room, and it looks really good in there!  We went to the library to drop off a book, and while out, we went to the garden center to pick up red mulch, and a few large red square stones, ones that we're using to put the hose on in the front area there.  Mom and Nana spent some time tonight putting all that out, and it looks great now.  They were doing that while I was taking Madison to taekwondo.  Mondays are the long day for taekwondo, and she was working hard in classes for sparring.  She's learning, and growing with experience.  Some things are "ouch moments" where she's learning the hard way, but at least she's learning!

We were getting mulch today and getting stones for the garden area.  We also put out our new rugs on the bottom floor, and it's all looking rather nice.  The records are all organized, and things are cleaning up nicely in the house.  The great room is looking... well, great!  

Tonight was study time for Madison, and meanwhile Nana was watching some streaming animal shows for a while.  We were all sort of doing our own thing - I was writing and proofing the new Storm Chasers booklets, and trying to keep up with all the stuff that needs to get done before Easter.  We have a lot of egg hunts coming up, some you'll see the end results of in a week or so.

We read from Exodus and read from "Kingdom Keepers" tonight before bed.  And soon we were asleep - earlier, because of the testing going on this week.  One interesting new thing was a prescription by my doctor - over the counter - of something called ashwagandha.  Firstly, let me just express how much fun it is to say "ashwagandha."  Secondly, doesn't this sound like something you'll find in Wakanda?  I'd like to think it is, in fact.  It's a special export from Wakanda, along with vibranium, of course.  Anyway, what is ashwagandha?  It's this supplement that helps with anxiety, helps with focus, and I think there are other benefits.  Ever the skeptic, I tried it anyway, and have been trying it lately.  And sure enough, I do feel a bit better lately, more focused, less anxiety.  We'll see how it works out as I continue to take it, but it seems like it's been pretty good lately.  That makes about four different pills I'm taking each day, a personal record!  I don't usually take medicine, but these four have been helpful at least, so we'll just keep rolling with it.

We said our prayers before bed, and we can't help but think back to a year ago, when things were so much different.  We're thankful for all we've made it through.  And we know we can make it through the situations we're in even now.  It will all be okay.

Epic Palm Sunday

Rebels lounging about before they take action!  I love this picture in between services, all our Hoth Rebels taking a rest together on these couches and chairs all lined up.  Today's service at KidPak was a bigger role for Madison and the other two younger actors she's keeping company with.  They knew their lines very well, and all of them did a great job on stage, super solid!  Also, with this service we feature a new actress, the one we were costuming for yesterday.  Here she is, looking ready as a bounty hunter, or whatever mysterious purpose she has here on the planet Hoth.

It was a super long day, but one of those days that is just so rewarding.  Firstly, our service this morning was special.  Obviously, Madison's part on stage was fun, but on top of that the message itself was fantastic, about there being a bounty on our heads, and how that bounty has been paid.  

It was also Palm Sunday today, so we handed out the palms as we always do at KidPak, along with those handouts that show kids how to fold a palm cross.  We've been doing this for quite a few years, and of course that tradition goes back a long, long time - I remember doing that as a kid growing up and going to services at St. Anthony's.  Palms for everyone on Palm Sunday.

We got home and had a delicious meat loaf, although Madison opted for pizza.  It was a great meal, and a quick stopover at the house, because very soon afterwards, we were in for some more excitement.  It was FC United Night, and this was a big deal.

The youth from all the East Coast campuses joined together at one location in Gainesville for a large group gathering that was reminiscent of the time we spent at Forward.  In fact, our Forward Conference itself was once in this very sanctuary, and of course we were there for that as well back then, so this really had all those kinds of vibes.  It was an exciting night.

There were games on stage, all the different campuses competing against each other, and there was worship, and after that a message from Pastor Franklin himself to all the kids.  Madison joined so many others at the altar tonight, concluding a very moving and powerful service.  

Afterwards, there was somewhat of a dance party, along with free burgers and hot dogs.  The teens hung around and talked and danced and laughed and just had a great time together.  We didn't get home until around 9pm tonight.  It was that great of a night.  Madison loved it.

Tonight we read some more when we got home, but that was about it.  We're pretty zonked from the long day.  We said our prayers, and went to bed with smiles on our face because of such an epic day.

Easter Cookies

Today was a nice day, a rather full day for us which of course started out with taekwondo and her “immersion” class, which is roughly two hours long.  It’s two hours of rather strenuous exercises, drills, and quite a bit of martial arts training.  She absolutely loves it.  

The weather was nice outside, and it was a pleasant drive home, and we just kept on driving really.  We just picked up Mom and Nana at the house, and the four of us went over to a thrift shop to find some material for costuming for a new Star Wars character that we’re introducing on stage tomorrow.  It’s a mysterious sort of character, so there was a lot of black involved.  And BMX gear too.  So first, to the thrift store to find some items.

You can see that Madison and I were a little off track at one point, finding random letters in one section and spelling out "LOKI."  It just came to us, which sort of says something about the two of us, really.  Anyway, we found what we were looking for, and coupling that with the gear that we ordered online that came in today, here’s the look we came up with for our new mysterious character:

Madison is sampling the suit here.  Our new actress tomorrow has a pair of boots that will work for this, and I’m sure we’ll share pictures then.

Here’s another thing we did today:

Mom and Nana and Madison put together Easter baskets for a few of our neighbors, and I got the Easter bunny suit on to go visiting a few houses across the street.  It was super sweet.  There were pictures taken and the younger boy especially was pretty happy to see a visitor come to the house, especially one with chocolate and jelly beans and all kinds of candy.  He was really happy!

Afterwards, we kept the whole Easter theme going, and why not?  We made ourselves Easter cookies.  Mom again was great enough to get us the shapes all made up, and she even went out recently to get us new sprinkles and designs.  Together, we sat there at the table decorating our cookies, all while watching “Peter Rabbit” on television, that movie where General Hux goes up against a more insidious opponent than even the Resistance.  Yes, it’s a rabbit that doesn’t wear pants.

I actually really like this movie, as do the rest of us.  It just seemed like something seasonal and fun to watch.  Here’s some of the cookies we designed, including the usual “evil face” one.  Madison came up with some really, really nice cookies for this series.  We sit there and focus on them as if they are individual pieces of art.  You can’t just drop sprinkles on them - no, not us!  Here are some pictures of some of the cookies we did...

Tonight we continued our reading from the book of Exodus, and on top of that we read from “Kingdom Keepers” as well.  We prayed, and were all in bed a little earlier.  It was a long day today, and a good one too.  Tomorrow is a pretty full one, so we were all in bed a little early again! 

Beautiful Day

The weather has been so beautiful lately, that perfect balance between summer and winter, a place where white petals flutter down like snowflakes and suddenly there’s the sense of hope again.  You realize it is back, and that it’s actually been gone for a bit, but sure enough, there it is, nearly tangible and yes, there it is:  spring is here and it feels great.  Of course, spring is also the time of violent and terrible weather too, which has visited the region multiple times this week.  We’ll go from perfection days to scary days where everyone pays a little more attention to the weather reports.

We were finishing up plans for the weekend at church, which is now no longer just KidPak, but also FC Youth, and it will be a bit weekend in both cases, or at least a huge Sunday.  It’s Palm Sunday, so there’s an extra texture there too, one with palms ordered for the kids, and a full day planned from morning services to a massive enterprise in the evening.

Madison had a good day today - she’s putting the finishing touches on her blobfish painting, which looks fantastic.  I’ll have to take pictures of these soon, because they’ve turned out great.  I’m referring to the earlier picture of the dock on the lake as well, which also looks really nice.  It’s exciting to see her enjoying art so much, and I think it’s been great because she’s been able to take her time a little more and learn a few new techniques and styles.  The end result is increased skill and vision, and it’s always great to see.  

She’s still reading “To Kill a Mockingbird” in school, which of course is a classic.  We might get the movie to watch, although she might even see that in school itself.  We’ll see, but I’ve heard the movie was good, and that Harper Lee really thought Gregory Peck did a fantastic job playing a role that I believe was based on the author’s own father.  I’ve never read this book, believe it or not, but may need to do that soon, as it has a reputation for being a really good and important novel.  

Tonight we got home, and yes there was taekwondo tonight - we gathered for black belt class, and Madison was happy to see some of her friends there.  She was sparring with a few and cutting up with a few others.  They have a great time, and that’s okay.  It’s a good balance of fun and learning, and discipline too of course.  

We saw “Falcon and Winter Soldier” tonight, and it’s been like watching one of the Marvel movies.  A completely different experience from “WandaVision,” which was also fantastic.  But this one is an action-packed spectacle, and we’re enjoying that quite a bit.  Also on the menu tonight was the next episode of “Secrets of Sulphur Springs,” and there’s a return of the Mighty Ducks!  Sort of.  I’m not going to spoil it, but the latest episode of a “Mighty Ducks” series, we’re already thoroughly hooked on this too.  Madison really enjoyed the return of Gordon Bombay, and all of us thought the first episode of this series has a lot of heart, and certainly sets up the underdog story.  We can’t wait to see how things progress!

“Kingdom Keepers” continued tonight, meeting up with Charlene.  We’ll catch up with Maybeck, Willa and Philby next, and then hopefully with Wayne again.  It’s been a long time since I’ve read this - I’ve got the original version with the original cover, and remember this book on the shelf at what was Downtown Disney.  It has some references to things that don’t exist anymore, but regardless, it’s still a good read.  I can’t wait for the part at “It’s a Small World.”  Madison should like that one.

We prayed tonight, and got to bed early again.  Although we get to sleep in a little bit tomorrow.  The weather has been so weird this week, nice and spring, and then the next moment fairly violent in places.  We’ve been spared where we live, but there’s enough going on in the region to make us all more alert to weather reports.  These storm fronts keep surging by, bringing lots of rain and wind and damage.  Poor Newnan, Georgia, was hit by a F4, and the images are heartbreaking.  It’s been a while since we’ve had a truly rough spring like this.

But today was nice, and we’ll focus on that.  We’ve got a busy weekend ahead, and though it sounds like we’ll get some rain tomorrow, at least it won’t be so frightening.  Just wet.  And anything that washes away the pollen is welcome.

Storm Chasers 2021

So we finally arrived at a graphic for our upcoming series, and sure enough, today turned out to be a pretty stormy day.  It got briefly very loud at our house, but beyond that terrifying sound, we were okay.  To our west, the state of Alabama seems to get the worst of it lately, these last two storefronts producing twisters and mayhem.  Some of the video footage is amazing.

Our series is moving forward, the new devotional now done.  I proofed that, and finished up the sermons as well, so we should have some great looking material for when things get started.   Our set should look great too, as we've been tossing around some ideas.  It's a return to a look we did the last time we did this series, and if it ain't broke...

The storms actually cut short Madison's taekwondo tonight, so we returned back to the house and simply waited for the storm front to come rolling overhead.  Until that time, we watched "Attack of the Clones," continuing our Star Wars viewing.  We're not obsessively watching, but we are watching these throughout the remainder of our series on stage.

Speaking of which, the new skit is done, and Madison has about five lines in it.  The younger cast members are speaking more, and next week, it will be more than that.  They're doing well, and I'm glad to have these young Rebels on stage!

It was a decent day today.  Rainy, of course.  All day.  And then scary storms tonight.  We read tonight, starting a new book, one that I have the entire series of:  "Kingdom Keepers."  Yes, we're going there.  I've never read this one to Madison, so it'll be fun going back to that first book.  It's the best of the series, really, and it should be fun rereading.  

We also read from Exodus, and then we said our prayers.  Tonight I've been doing some work late too - getting some things ready for Easter.  It's that season again!

Tree Blossoms

These blossoms look beautiful on our tree, and this might be the last time we see them this year, as there are some whopper storms coming up soon.  We took advantage of the nice day today - it's a day where you can literally sit there on the porch all day and just enjoy life, looking out at the flowers - and the hanging eggs too.  But it's so comfy out there.  Nana and Mom were sitting on the porch, and actually took a bit of a nap there outside!  They earned it, as they were doing yard work in the garden.  The gnome area will be back soon, and the other areas were cleared out.  Mom's been working hard - we'll get some mulch soon, and that garden will look wonderful.

Madison had her small group today, and it's been almost a year since that's started.  She was learning about Rachel and Leah in the book of Genesis tonight, this on the way to piano class as always.  It's light again outside at night while we wait.  I was in the car as usual, this time getting close to finishing my latest Discworld book, "Wintersmith."  By the time I get through all the Discworld books I got for Christmas, it'll be Christmas season again!

Madison is doing well at school, and there are just about eight weeks or so until the end of middle school. The high school is looking good, looking more like a high school than a big mess of places where people have dug big holes.  It's actually looking rather nice, and it'll be a wonderful moment to step foot in there.

We said our prayers tonight, and we read too.  It was a good day - a busy one, but a good one.

Easter Tree

I got home tonight, and the outside tree was decorated for Easter!  It looks very nice with all the blossoms, and now the colorful plastic eggs dangling from the lower branches.  Mom did a great job with that!

It was a decent day today, one where the weather was absolutely gorgeous.  We got a good bit done at church, and Madison was doing a good bit at school.  She didn't do as bad as she thought on her algebra test, and in art, she's been working on a new painting of a blob fish.  Her social studies work is looking at World War II and afterwards, but the big school news is that today she returned to the lunch room!  Yes, that's right, the virus is no longer as communicable in the lunch room.  This is based on CDC guidelines that explain in great detail how lunch ladies are immune, and actually produce a pheromone that instantly kills the virus within a thirty-foot radius.  Virologists believe this is due to large amounts of school food eaten, particularly meat loaf and sloppy joes.  With this recent discovery, a good number of lunch ladies have been hired to live within residences of important government officials, acting somewhat as a shield for any virus to come in.  The airline industry has hired many lunch ladies to greet passengers as they enter the plane, effectively stopping any spread and immediately sanitizing planes.  While some scientists debate the effectiveness of this strategy, most generally agree that this makes about as much sense as anything else that's been decided this past last year.

Madison did some math homework tonight, and there was piano practice too.  She's improving quite a bit with this song, "Married Life," and should be ready by the time the recital comes along.  Tonight Mom and she wanted to watch "The Phantom Menace," this probably because of the recent Star Wars themed series we're doing at KidPak.  So sure enough, we dove right into the Star Wars story again, and will probably be watching some of that the next few weeks.  

Speaking of which, we finally finished that "Galaxy's Edge" book tonight.  We also read from Exodus, about the Passover.  Coincidentally, Passover is coming up soon! 

We said our prayers tonight, and were off to sleep fairly quickly.  I've got a lot going on tomorrow, and we all needed a good rest!

Return to Hoppy Hollow

Okay, so this makes me happy.  Hoppy Hollow is back!  This spring time Easter rabbit village is a happy destination each year, a collection of houses, stores, schools, churches, and plenty of rabbits and shrubbery.  It's so much that it stretches out over one mantle, and the piano, and then the table over by the front door.  Rabbits and carrots and eggs everywhere!  Yes, the entire thing was purchased at the Dollar Tree or one of those type places.  But it doesn't matter to me, because for some reason, this village transcends tacky and is actually is kind of fun.  I set this up this morning, and did a bunch of other things today while Madison was at school.  

We were putting the record collection together, so you can imagine we were also listening to a lot of vinyl records throughout the day as well.  We've got a pretty hefty collection, actually.  Some are from our own past, but others are records picked up at thrift shops, and a few from Cracker Barrel.

Other Easter decorations were put out, and there are still more to be put out as well.  We got the plate ready, the one that holds all the completed Easter eggs to display.  We can't wait to decorate those eggs this year.  It's been a fun tradition going back quite some time here.

Tonight Madison had taekwondo, her longer session comprised of two classes, leadership and black belt.  She was sparring pretty hard tonight, and got a good kick to the head, but she's a fighter, and though it was a little sore immediately afterwards, she's going to go back in there and fight some more.  

Tonight she did algebra, and after that we watched "Agent Carter" some.  We've got a lot going on, so it was off to bed earlier this evening, after prayers and hide-and-seek.  It's been a good day.

Hoth Rebels

Here's my Rebel family, my fellow inhabitants of Echo Base lately.  We got the cast together for a group shot, and again, don't these costumes look great?  As a reminder, these came largely from Goodwill and other thrift shops, except for the hats and the badges that Daniel made for us.

We were out greeting, and it was pretty chilly outside.  Therefore it wasn't a bad thing to be all dressed up for a day on the ice planet Hoth.  And downstairs, it was time for the second part of our drama, Episode II if you will.

This went really well, including a segment that featured Madison, Skylar and Ezra, three of our younger actors who had a few lines each.  They've got somewhat of a secret, and we've got some things to figure out as this series progresses.

It was a solid morning, and a nice day.  We had lightsaber fights, a race between rebel pilots, and a great message themed on Gungans.  Hard to miss on a day like that!  One peculiar moment:  for some reason, Calvin's dad gave me this odd gift below, something you don't see every day.

That's an amazingly large pork rind.  And before you ask, no, I don't eat pork rinds.  Or, at least I've never tried one.  And really, I don't think they look that great to eat either.  I didn't bite into this one tonight, and in fact, it's back in the bag it came in.  What a monster pork rind!  I think we'll make an Easter basket out of this one!

We got our rug down in the piano room this afternoon, and it looks nice.  We also got a few other things back up on walls and did some cleaning.  But tonight we were back to the FC Youth for a night of small groups, which went really well.  Madison enjoyed it - we're in pretty good now.  Next week is a large group setting, and the week after that is Easter.  But we'll be back again with small groups, and we'll just keep moving forward - it's been great.

Tonight we watched a few things, and went to bed as always.  Madison was hiding under some blankets for hide-and-seek, and then there was some reading from that book at Galaxy's Edge.  Hopefully the actual theme park area is more fun than this book!  We said our prayers, and tonight we're heading to bed early.  It's been a long, full day!

Jedi Bunny

 

We had fun this afternoon with an early Easter egg hunt, one that was filmed for KidPak online.  Madison got to be involved with this one, part of a team with Jovanna against the boys team.  They all had the same clues, but in different orders, and the game was actually pretty close.  Lots of running around and complete and utter exhaustion!  It was pretty fun, and of course the Easter bunny showed up.  Since it is a Star Wars series, he was in a jedi robe this time too.  

Earlier in the day, Madison had her immersion class with taekwondo.  That's the two-hour class.  Madison was learning to do a backflip, and she's learning to do a lot of other things as well there too.  We weren't there to watch the whole time, as we were setting up some of the Easter things.  But she had a great time as always.

It was a full day today.  We got home, and were cleaning up the house some, and tonight we watched "The Ten Commandments."  Which is still a great movie.  Still!  Tonight, we prayed, and we read from Exodus, because it made sense to do that.  The Passover part is coming up soon, and it's always difficult to imagine sitting there inside the house, blood on the doorpost, and just listening to the sounds of death outside.  That's just one of the things done so well with the movie we watched tonight.  

Anyway, it was a good day today, but we're pretty zonked.  We're getting to bed early because tomorrow is a big day!

Beat it, Wintersmith

Madison took these pictures tonight of the tree in front of our house, along with some flowers that have just begun to bloom throughout the yard.  Spring is here, and there's nothing you can do about it now, Wintersmith.  Madison's favorite season is still fall though, this mainly because of the intense pollen count and allergies.  Driving over the lake, you see rivers of this yellow sludge, all the pollen that's collected on the surface of the water.  It's all in the air, and we're sniffling and snorting, and looking forward to those days it will rain.  The Bradford pears in the front yard are in their stink mode too, assaulting your nostrils the moment you step out of the house or car to go somewhere.

Still, the flowers are lovely, and the white petals fall like snow when a small breeze comes along.  There are so many and it's so constant that it really does look like snowfall, and that's never a bad thing.  The temperature is cool in the morning, but warms up to such a pleasant place in the afternoons.

Speaking of which, what a pleasant moment it is to sit on the front porch when weather is so ideal like this.  I was reading "Wintersmith" and just completely relaxing for a few moments, something we don't get to do that often lately.  I'm really enjoying these Terry Pratchett books again!

Anyway, Madison had black belt class tonight, which is a lot more intense than she's used to, but that's a good thing, and it's certainly challenging at times.  It's great for her.  The two of us went tonight, as Nana is feeling a bit under the weather lately.  She's sparring more challenging opponents, and she's still finding her way.  Additionally, she's working on more complicated forms and exercises.  She's ready for a tall drink of water or sweet tea or a soda when she gets out of class, which we often do on the way home, stopping at the gas station.

Tonight was the premiere of "Falcon and Winter Soldier," which was great.  We've been accustomed to sitting on the couch on Fridays, watching new episodes of things.  Madison also likes the show, "Secrets of Sulphur Springs," which has got us all hooked to find out what happens next.

It was a quiet day, but a good one.  We said our prayers tonight, and of course we've been reading from the Bible, and from "Galaxy's Edge," which is nearly over for us.  We set the alarm for tomorrow morning, but not for too early!

Leading Class

We got to class tonight early, actually about 45 minutes early.  The reason was so that we could attend Maddie's former class, the one for students on their way to a black belt.  She was there to serve as an assistant instructor, and as you can see above, she was leading the class all by herself up front, leading them in the warm-up exercises.  She spent the rest of the class encouraging students and helping out where she could - she really enjoyed it!  After this class was her regular leadership class, and she spent a good bit of time there working with her bo staff, as well as some other things.  

Mom made some absolutely delicious pineapple upside-down cake tonight, and that was just a real treat for all of us when we got home.  Maddie was studying for her science test that she has tomorrow, but we started to watch "Agent Carter" again, something we though all four of us could enjoy.  Just one episode was good - it was a later night due to the taekwondo classes.

Apparently, the government restrictions on distance between people is decreasing from six feet to three feet.  I am not making that up.  But things are relaxing now that the damage is done enough, and the end result is that Maddie can start having lunch in the cafeteria now.  

The storms last night were loud, but nothing of consequence for us locally.  They seemed to have quieted down greatly by the time they reached the Georgia border, as some of these storm fronts tend to do.  There were of course other factors that were more affecting then a state border, such as timing of the storm, heat energy, and other meteorological factors.  But instead of giving credit to those, we'll instead say that our governor pressed the shields button last night, and right then massive invisible shield went up over the state of Georgia, protecting it from the heaviest of storms, and proton torpedoes.  

I finished the skit, pretty much, the drama for Sunday. Madison is included in the cast, and it's neat sending out the scripts to the usual actors, and having her email right there amidst all that.  She and the two other newcomers will have a smaller part, but it should be fun.  

Speaking of Star Wars, we read tonight from our book again, and we're staggering towards the finish line on "Black Spire."  It's not our favorite, but we're so close to the end that we're going to finish it, by gum.  We said our prayers, grateful for the shield around our state last night, and we read from Exodus again.  We got an early night's rest, as I was up late last night due to the approaching storms.  It was a decent day today.

St. Patrick's Day 2021

 ...

So today was St. Patrick's Day, and you'd better believe we wore our green.  Madison had her socks with shamrocks on, but I wasn't messing around at all, wearing a stunning green ensemble that let everyone know without a doubt who the Irish person was in the room.  Yes, we started with Lucky Charms, and yes, we've been listening to all the Irish music we can, from the Chieftains to U2.  Tonight we even had some Irish cheeses that I picked up a week ago.  

We've got some looming weather, and in fact there have been tornadoes in Alabama and Mississippi today.  We're following online several different storm chasers, and there's been some remarkable footage.  One picture showed a metal fishing boat actually wrapped around a tree.  It's all heading this way.

Madison had piano today, and of course the small group lesson on the way to piano.  She sits in the car and listens, or sometimes she plays games.  It's a great small group - today's "Woman of the Bible" was Eve, and there was a pretty good Bible study about her.  At the end of the small group, the girls each take turns telling what they've learned, and it's great hearing their thoughts.

We went straight home, and there we saw Mom and Nana watching the recent "Murder on the Orient Express."  We told Madison that Angelica the pirate, the Green Goblin, Olaf the Snowman, and Rey Palpatine were all conspiring to kill Jack Sparrow.  Obviously, that's just other parts these actors play.  The movie is a good one though, better than what I heard.  We enjoyed it so much that I suspect that we may see more of these Agatha Christie movies or dramas upcoming on our screen, given that Nana enjoyed it so much.

It was a good St. Patrick's Day, at least for us.  The news out of Atlanta has been unsettling, and again, the approaching weather is dangerous.  But we'll be good.  We read tonight, and then we prayed.  And we thanked God for blessing us so much with a health and family.

St. Patrick's Day Party

The family got together tonight, meeting at Ye-Ye and Nana's house for our annual St. Patrick's Day meal, and as always, it was perfectly wonderful.  The place was decorated with flowers and different things that were acquired in Ireland or perhaps just things that were Irish that look nice.  Everyone wore their green too, and of course we all had our corn beef and cabbage and potatoes.  The Irish music was playing, and there was even a gluten-free cake with a shamrock on it.  It was nice to be together, all of us, reminiscing about a trip to Ireland, or just catching up with each other about all the things that have been going on lately.  It was a nice time over there.

Today was a cold and rainy day - the rain is supposed to get rough tomorrow.  We're in the zone for some severe weather.  

Madison's third quarter ended today, and just in time, as she finished with all A's.  We'll see how long that lasts, as she just took a really big math test that she didn't really prepare for.   But focusing on the good, let's celebrate all A's once more.  She's doing well over all!

I was working on the next youth small groups today, and got that all wrapped up.  It took a bit of time.  Tomorrow we'll time - again - as I head to the dentist with Nana and Mom.  I might get some teeth guards, as the stress the last few months is causing me to clench my jaws.  I am so sore now, as Maddie actually did something a few days ago that has caused me a good deal of pain when I rise or sit or lay myself down.  It hasn't been a banner week.

We read from our book tonight before praying, and yes, it once again started out with more torture.  I'm not making this up.  The book dedicated the first few pages of the next chapter to even more torturing.  And here is where I make up a joke about the book itself being somewhat of a torture.  It's an okay book.  We're going to finish it though!

We said our prayers tonight, and soon after that were ready for bed.

Muppets in Dublin

 

It's funny how we were watching "Muppets Most Wanted" again tonight - which is a fantastic movie, by the way - when right towards the end the characters all head to Dublin, Ireland.  Just in time for St. Patrick's Day!  The audience had leprechaun muppets in it, which you can see above.  Mom and I think this is the best Muppet movie of them all, hitting all the right notes with the music, the cameos, the one-liners and zany fun.  It also gives each Muppet a moment in the spotlight, including Rowlf, who is my favorite, easily.  

ANYWAY, we had taekwondo for an extended time tonight, and there was leadership class in there too.  Madison was sparring with an old friend for the first time since she got her black belt, and in the leadership class, they were working with their bo staffs, which again is Madison's favorite weapon.  

She had an online day today, although we had an interruption in that with a visit to the chiropractor, and another visit with Sir Henry the dog.  The chiropractic adjustment hurt pretty bad, given the bruising all over my back.  Earlier, I was at another doctor for a check on the blood pressure, and the news is good there.  The news is interesting with the lungs, as I'll be back on an inhaler for a time.  I took a test this morning that had me breathing through this thing that looked like a hookah.  I did about four minutes of that, and the following breathing test showed my lung capacity improved by 10%.  So we'll put whatever was in that nebulizer into an inhaler, and that should help me out.  

So, I went from Flowery Branch back to home and then to Cumming, and then later to Oakwood for taekwondo.  After that chiropractic appointment, we ate at Cracker Barrel.  First, the chicken pot pie there is pretty good.  Also, their "fruit stand tea" is great too.  We had a nice time there, with Nana getting some kid-sized portions, and that working out for us, as she doesn't eat as much lately.

Madison's online day at school was iffy, and we'll leave it at that.  It was an okay day today, and we closed it up with prayer, and reading from that Star Wars book, reading a wonderful chapter about torture and eyeballs.  This is the sort of thing that makes you want to not go down to visit Galaxy's Edge, a basic fear of getting kicked around by Stormtroopers who are mad because two of their companions were murdered last night, so they beat you, and then drag you to their superior, who tortures you with sharp objects on your eyeballs.  This was several pages of the book "Black Spires," a book that brings Disney's Galaxy Edge into the Star Wars canon.  You read it and read about the places within the book, and it all comes together when you visit the parks.  And thus far, it's been okay.  I'm not entirely sure if the eyeball chapter is attached to any attraction there though.  Maybe there's a First Order torture chamber there, just past the restrooms.  Kids and their families can experience super realistic torture devices on their eyeballs, or get repeatedly punched in the face until they lose consciousness - just like Vi Maradi!  Don't worry, the abuse won't break any bones or cause any external bleeding.  Just the internal kind where you cough up blood!

Anyway, it was a full day today.  At least it was for me.  We'll try again tomorrow...

Little Trooper

Tonight we had our second FC Youth class, and things went well there again, tonight starting out with small groups first.  You can see Madison there, along with Camille, who is hosting her small group.  She and Lauren were with the girls, and they were spending time discussing how much they are loved.

After that was the large group setting, and tonight we had a game that celebrated Pi Day in style.

Madison's friend Skylar got a pie in the face!  There were the usual games, and then worship and then a message as well.  Madison enjoys Sunday nights, as do many of the other kids who are coming now.  Parents like me are loving that there's something like this for their kids.

Speaking of which, the younger ones got to experience a fantastic morning service on the planet Hoth.  

You can see some of the Rebels we have on stage here, at least the ones that start out the story on stage.  We have nine total though, and each one looks fantastic.

Including Madison there.  See her in the middle with that sassy little pose?  She's got her Hoth Rebel gear on as well, and it looks great on her.  It looks great on everyone - Mom did a wonderful job piecing all this together.  We've been going to thrift shops for several weeks now, and we have a great look for everyone in our cast, and now we have a pretty good story too.

There's been a crash landing, and somewhat of a mystery as to why that happened.  We'll spend the next few weeks on Hoth here, trying to figure it out. 

In between services, some of the cast was upstairs and outside, greeting everyone that entered and advertising somewhat for KidPak.  That's right when a few kids showed up, and they were dressed up too!

We had one dressed up as a stormtrooper, and another wearing a Kylo Ren mask!  The kids have been really, really into this series, and we've been doing a lot of different Star Wars activities.  Today, we were talking about the "Sword of Light," which of course is the lightsaber - but for our message today, it was about God's Word.

Here's Josh and Nerdo getting into a duel of fates with pool noodles.

It looks like Josh got in a lucky shot!  We also had a game where kids were trying to use their lightsabers to knock balloons off of each other's helmets.

Chaos ensued!  This was super fun, and the message was a direct hit too.  We even gave the kids roll-up lightsabers that we made up, basically copying the idea from when we were down at Star Wars Days down in Disney.  I made worksheets up and other things too - it was a full service!

We read tonight, a little more because Madison doesn't have to get up for school tomorrow.  She's got strictly online classes tomorrow.  We read from Galaxy's Edge, and things are a little more tense right now with our main character being captured.  We'll see how things progress, but the stormtroopers are a bit vicious in this particular book.  But that's probably because our main character was pretty vicious.  Regardless, we'll have to check this book out again soon, as we're running out of time reading it.  This one took a little longer than normal.  

It was a good day today, although a pretty full one!  There was one thing that happened today, and that was an injury to myself - I fell straight backwards and landed on my tailbone, full-force onto this concrete floor.  Not fun.  I'll be feeling this one the next week!

We prayed tonight, for healing and for all that's going on in the world.  It's been a big day though, and we're ready for another one tomorrow!