Have a Coke and a Smile!

Finally, the sun’s out and the windows are open, the cherry blossoms are blooming in the park outside. I'm too lazy to walk over to the park to take a picture so got it from our back window. All this past week has been rainy and early this morning another thunderstorm came through. This is normal “summer” weather here, not “winter” weather which is usually sunny and dry with advisories about low humidity. It’s been the rainiest July in almost seventy years.
This afternoon, we had a good time talking with Natali who is getting ready to come down to Brazil. She arrives on August 11 (our thirty-sixth wedding anniversary), but she’s already packing her suitcases.

Our pastoral home visits come to an end this week, with winter vacation ending and school starting again. We were in the homes of two-thirds of the church members during the month. Everyone visited commented on how they appreciated the time we had together. They all seem ready to talk and always offered something to eat. (Coke at seven-thirty and coffee at eleven at night make it kid of hard to sleep.) We had a list of questions to ask when we started, but found that in conversation people opened up and commented about many of the questions without our even asking.

A week ago was the first meeting of the ministries team at church. A lot of time and prayer went into organizing this and choosing the people to be involved. This was true, especially in finding who has a passion for what ministry and then getting that person involved in with area. For most of this first meeting, it was a positive, encouraging atmosphere. We hope that with guidance and training, these folks will be a great asset in leading the church, and lighten a little the workload of the missionaries.

Last Sunday afternoon, we went out to Blazers to celebrate Levi’s third birthday with friends (all of us older than the kid, and all of us in silly party hats).

Everything - decorations, cake and most of the presents - was about his favorite movie “Cars”. He watches it every morning (but was kind enough to once loan it to me.)

Now, loud noises scare him, and totally by “accident” a balloon hit a candle on his cake and blew up. It was one of the “older kids” that did it, but not me! That put a damper on the party for a while. I started lighting the candles again, and he said, “Not again, Uncle Bill, not again!”
But by church time that night, he was back to his normal “non-stop” self.

It’s another holiday weekend coming up. Also, it’s the start Family month at church, with special speakers and seminars and activities. Should be fun!