I'm home for the weekend. A long weekend. No school today for the kiddos and we get Monday off for Veteran's Day. I had all day to work on catching up on my grades and enjoyed a free lunch at the Olive Garden with some of my co-workers. Free because the guy screwed up our tickets and charged us all wrong. To make a long story short, the manager finally said, "Just go. It's on me." I was cool with that. We all know that the Olive Garden charges an exorbitant amount for 85 cent pasta anyway (although the salad and breadsticks are delightful there) so they can afford to give some teachers a free lunch now and then.
Speaking of Vets, we had 5 come into our class on Wednesday to talk about their military experiences. We study American patriotic holidays in 2nd grade and it just so happened that on the day we learned about Veteran's Day, the school celebrates red, white & blue day. So, I rounded up some of our fine past and current military men and they wowed the crowd (it doesn't take much) with their military paraphernalia. We had helmets and goggles, boots and binoculars, pictures of ships and old navy uniforms. It was quite cool. Did you know that the reason Naval uniforms have that flap on the back goes back to the days of the pirates? Pirates had long, greasy hair. They'd have that flap on the back of their shirts to keep the grease off their clothes. The Navy kinda carried that tradition. Gotta love those little trivia tidbits!!!
One dad is currently a captain in the Army and brought in a video of his recent tour of duty in Iraq. Then we had to have red, white and blue snacks of course (anything to have a party). So we had blue corn chips and homemade salsa (can't get anymore all-American than that), apple pie, red jello, sugar cookies with blue sprinkles, and patriotic plates, cups and napkins. We finished off the day making an Uncle Sam art project and singing God Bless America.
Some of you lucky folks will get a hand-made Christmas card this year. I ordered a kit from one of my scrapbook websites and it finally came today. Actually, it came yesterday, but we weren't home, so the Fed Ex guy left it at the office. It was like Christmas to open it up and check out the contents. It's inspiring me to get all crafty. Yet here I sit, writing a new blog. Wait til you see the envelopes. They are SOOOOO cool. Here's the conversation we had about those envelopes.
Me: "People are going to get these in the mail and be like, 'Wow. . .Phil and Wendy have the coolest Christmas card envelopes ever.' "
Dr. Phil: "Yeah, right."
Me: "No, seriously. . .these are really cool!"
Dr. Phil: "Um-hmm."
Did I tell you that my nephew Darick (who's in – oh my gosh - 3rd grade this year) had to write a memoir? He decided to write about his trip to Oregon this past summer. I'm getting all sentimental thinking about it. They had to choose to write about something extra special they did or that had happened to them, and he chose to write about his trip. So far I know that he writes about going to his favorite beach with the big hill (Cape Kiwanda) and he ends it at our apartment. I am on pins and needles waiting to get a copy of this thing. I miss him. He's getting some serious spoilage at Christmas.
Tomorrow I have the daunting task of making a big bowl of mashed potatoes for the Joy group at church (aka: senior saints to you Bethel-ites out there). Now I hardly know any of them, but they all smile at me and tell me how nicely I've played the piano. It's so weird. Having grown up in the same church my whole life – I knew ALL the old people and they all knew me. Now I hardly know any of them. I'm still adjusting to life out here. Fortunately I know how to make mashed potatoes, so it should turn out to be ok.
Today the rain arrived. It's probably going to stick around for the next 4 or 5 months or so, give or take 2 or 3 weeks. That sounded dumb, I know, but it made me laugh. It rains so differently out here than in Ohio. It's hard to explain. It's more mist than big raindrops. People don't use umbrellas. They just walk around in their Columbia Sportswear thermal insulated waterproof down jackets and call it good. Dr. Phil always says that you can tell who the tourists are because they're the ones with umbrellas. A true Oregonian walks like a duck and just lets the water just roll off his back. Sometimes I still use my umbrella.
My Bible study is going good, although I need to work on it tonight. My favorite verses from this past week were in Exodus 33, toward the end of the chapter. It describes Moses begging God to send someone with him. God tells Moses that He will go along, but Moses isn't satisfied with that. So he pleads again, and God says that He'll send Aaron. Well, we all know what a fiasco that turned out to be with that golden calf and all. Anyway, God finally tells Moses that He's going to pass through him with his glory. Moses won't be able to see God's face, but when He has passed, he'll be able to see His back. God will tuck Moses into the little cleft in the rock and cover him with His hand. Now I've always loved that hymn "He Hideth My Soul" but this passage puts it all into perspective. When we are at our darkest times and we feel like no one is there, no one cares, that God has abandoned us, etc. it's really that we are tucked into that rock like Moses and God is covering us up with His hand. Pretty soon, when He has passed over, we'll be able to see all that God did while we were in His shelter. And it's always amazing, isn't it? To look back and see what God has done while you were feeling so sad and alone. I know I've been there and I'm pretty sure you all have too.
In honor of my days as a Baptist girl, where we used to sing all four verses of every hymn each Sunday (thank you, Ron and Donna Merrill), here are the words to my two favorite verses of "He Hideth My Soul."
A wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord
A wonderful Savior to me
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock
Where rivers of pleasure I see
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock
That shadows a dry, thirsty land
He hideth my life in the cleft of his love
And covers me there with His hand
And covers me there with His hand.
A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord
He taketh the burden away
He holdeth me up and I shall not be moved
He giveth me strength as my day
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