The neighborhood kids were relatively well behaved except for one little manipulative triplet who kept trying to talk Chase into letting him play with the awesome remote control car we gave Chase. He threatened not to be his friend anymore if Chase didn't hand it over. Argh. Where do kids learn to be so mean? Chase has a really giving, sweet spirit and would share if it wasn't the first three minutes of owning the thing on his own birthday!!! Brad promptly took the car away while Ralph whispered to Chase that they'll get it back out when the other kids are gone.
And speaking of the car, the thing is sweet. Brad got a great deal on it-- so good that he bought one for himself. And we got to play with it for a bit on Friday night before heading to the party. It has blue lights underneath, headlights and everything. You can make it go forward and backward and turn right and left. Brad worked out a few tricks with it to make it spin around, etc., so he taught me how to do that and we had more fun than it sounds like on paper.
Below is the reason we had to leave Jeff and Shelley's. They have a sweet dog, Lucy, who loves to get her fur in my eyes somehow. The other day I was wearing shorts and had to leave because my legs got welts from sitting on the couch. I am so dang allergic to pets it's ridiculous. And Shelley and Jeff keep the house superduper clean. I don't fault them in the least. If it's an allergen, it WILL find my eyes.
Saturday was work day over at Beth and Rico's new house!!! They finally got to close and move in!!! It was supposed to be finished in January, so actually getting to move in was cause for celebration. We spent Saturday installing SIX ceiling fans and three sets of blinds. We're pros at ceiling fans now and we really enjoy working together and have no conflict except when Brad refuses to turn off the electricity. He claims he's impervious to it, but when he says "That was a good one!" I know better and get scared. Men and their Superman ideas. :)
Before we went to the new house we stopped to pick up some breakfast for the gang. We wanted to go to Dunkin Donuts or something like that-- there's a new Dunkin opening near the Walmart, but it wasn't open yet. So we stopped at the only other bakery Google Local found for us-- a Cuban bakery next door to Papa John's that I'd been wanting to try out anyway. So we stopped in there and picked up a few pastries. It's a cute mom and pop place where seldom is heard an English word, but the workers are friendly all day. Our choices were puffed pastry with red guava jelly, puffed pastry with guave and cheese, puffed pastry with cheese, puffed pastry with coconut, or puffed pastry with "meat". We got a few of the first three (no meat for us) and a coconut one and then stopped by Publix grocery to get some standard glazed donuts for the less, ahem, adventurous among us. Turns out the glazed were a big hit as guava is just kind of weird. Pretty tasty, but still weird. It was fun to try a new place, though.
Saturday night we went to PF Changs down in Naples where we met up with Kubby and Karina. Kubby (Jacob) is the drummer in the band at church and he and Brad have hit it off (and have received numerous compliments about how good they sound together!). We had Kubby and Karina over to our house for dinner a few months back when they were dating, and now they're engaged! They're a great couple with God's fingerprints all over them, and we loved going out with them to celebrate their engagement. Afterward we went over and saw their new apartment which Kubby will live in until the wedding in October. It was fun to remember our first place and the exciting firsts surrounding it-- first shopping trip, first purchases, decorating decisions, etc.
Today we went to the early service as we knew our neighbors would be going as well. One really great thing about Summit is its outreach focus-- that's been a good nudge for us. Brad invited our neighbor a few weeks back and he said he was interested, that there are many names for the same god, and he's interested in pursuing it. We weren't sure if we'd see him and the family at church any time, but he came by yesterday to let us know he'd be there today! And there all five of them were! He and his wife have three very well-behaved and respectful kids-- 3rd grade, 4th grade, and 5th grade. They're really nice people and we're glad to get to know them. Anyhow, wouldn't you know, the first week they come to a new church, the sermon is on the wickedness of the heart. Oh dear, I thought. This is definitely NOT unchurched-person-friendly. But I was wrong! Not only did Jordan do an amazing job with the topic, God showed up and touched our neighbor's heart! Afterward we got to talk with them, and Andy said he was moved to tears during worship, that he really liked it and that they'd be back! And next Sunday is Porn Sunday, said Jordan, where we'll talk about the roots and fruit of a lustful heart. I'm thrilled they're talking about it, especially after the Dateline Child Pornography stings here in Fort Myers in the last few weeks. I'm glad that they're catching people who need to be accountable for their actions, but the shaming that goes on is just dreadful and counterproductive. We watched one week of Dateline and it was all I could handle! I kept thinking, these poor men need God's love and grace to heal their hearts, not the world's shame and guilt! Don't get me started on that one. Anyway, I'm just thrilled that God's working in the heart of our neighbors and that we get to be used in that work.
This afternoon we went back over to the new house to finish the blinds and then we came home and had leftovers (when making taco salad make sure you heat the taco meat all the way up past lukewarm before adding it to the lettuce, because there's no going back) that were eh and watched meaningful, er, stupid television about the most shocking celebrity breakups. Then we went outside to scrub down the metal table we sanded a few weeks back. While we were out there we saw a bit of lightning off in the distance. The clouds this morning looked like summer skies here-- the winter skies are clear and blue with scant clouds, but the summer skies have lots of clouds and are dramatic and just breathtaking all day long. We had a summer sky this morning, with one little raincloud off in the distance dropping a bunch of rain. Tonight the sky was still cloudy here and there, and the lightning began around 8:30 p.m. Brad and I pulled out our camp chairs and sat on the driveway watching the show for about two hours. It was beyond magnificent. The temperature was about 75 with not much breeze, and there was lightning going off about 3/4 of the way around us-- in front, on the east, on the south, and a little on the south west. About 15 minutes ago it started sprinkling so we came in. What an amazing time we had out there watching the power of the lightning bolts-- the calm of living in a slightly rural area with no light or sound pollution, perfect temperature-- it was the perfect ending to the weekend.
And we get a bonus day! Tomorrow we're going to Sears to use some gift cards Brad has stashed from birthday and Christmas. We also hope to paint that table and get it done so I can have a desk in the office.
Here's a picture of a sunset we took the other day from our driveway. The summer skies here are just unbeatable. Come see for yourself someday.
Hope your Memorial Day is restful and fun!
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