debily

I know the song says Brother Noah did, but after the past two days of hard rain we’ve had, I’m tempted to.

When we moved to Dallas from Miami, there were certain things I was excited to leave behind.  For example, I was glad to leave behind the days of super-high humidity and move to a more arid climate.  I looked forward to having hair days where my hair wouldn’t frizz unless I wanted it to.  I was excited to leave behind hurricane season and all the trouble of boarding up the house and taking down the awnings and securing all the equipment only to endure countless hours spent cooped up indoors, unable to see outside, playing board games and listening to the sound of rain pelt our metal window covers.

After living here for a couple decades, I’ve only got this to say:  so much for that idea.

This week, we’ve been blessed by the visiting Tropical Storm Hermine.  She’s blessed us with enough rain to fill our entire year’s quota in the 48 hours she’s been upon us.  Okay, so I exaggerate.  A little.  But not much.

Here’s the proof:  We’ve lived here for coming up on 6 years now.  And never in all that time have we seen this:

Yeah, that’s the pond across the street from our house.  This is what it looked like from our garage door:

Overflowing the banks, covering the sidewalk, flooding the street.  The spillway across the main road through our neighborhood was up over the road - a good 8 feet or more up from creek level.  And shortly after I returned home from teaching my homeschoolers, the entrance to our subdivision was blocked off by police for high water.

The question remains if the rain will stop in time for the kids to get home from school this afternoon.  Guess I better get hammering.  I’ve got an ark to build.

Howdy, Folks!  And welcome to the great State Fair of Texas!

Okay, so the State Fair doesn’t start for another 3 weeks but that doesn’t mean my taste buds aren’t already a-waterin’ with a hankerin’ for some good ol’ down-home Southern-fried treats.  And the best place to enjoy those artery-cloggin’ deep fried goodies is - you guessed it - at the State Fair.

If this transplanted Yankee has learned nothing else in the years I’ve called myself “Texan”, I can claim to fully understand this: Southerners can fry ANYTHING.  And I do mean ANYTHING.  If it grows, sows, or blows, they can fry it.  If it breathes, bleeds, or has teeths, they can fry it.  If it hops, drops, or flops, they can fry it.

Oh, and they can pickle anything, too.  But that’s a different blog post.

See, Northerners don’t FRY stuff.  They BOIL it.  They STEW it.  They ROAST it.  Have you ever heard of New England FRIED dinner?  How about a traditional New England Open-Faced FRIED Beef Sandwich?  Or better yet, how about New England Lobster FRY?  Those sound like someting on the menu at Hardee’s that should come with a large sweet tea and hash browns and pickled fried okra on the side.

But even in the South, we have our own chicken-fried heaven.  A beacon of bacon grease shining forth it’s golden light for all to see: the State Fair of Texas.  THE place to go for anything fried.

Don’t believe me?  Just check out this year’s winner of this year’s Big Tex Choice Awards: for best taste we have FRIED Frito Pie (because Frito’s are apparently not fried enough), and for most creative we have FRIED Beer.  Yes, you heard me right:  fried BEER.

Just in case you still need further proof, you can check out this post from a couple years ago, listing all the fried delicacies that were available in Big Tex’s backyard.

Many people shy away from the number 13.  It’s unlucky.  Some people are even afraid of it.

But there are times when the number 13 just shines.  Take a baker’s dozen, for instance.  Getting an extra donut in your box isn’t such a bad thing, is it?

And on this day, the number 13 sparkled for another reason.  Today we celebrated the 13th recipient of the “David L. Edwards Servant-Leader Award for Faculty Excellence in Spirit and Service.”  This year’s honoree was Dr. Kenneth Hanna, president of the Houston Extension campus.

Most of the time, we know the honoree.  But with Dr. Hanna being in Houston, we had never had the opportunity to meet him or his wife, so it was a special privilege to be able to spend time with them after chapel and at the celebratory lunch at Maggiano’s.  Because of Matt’s unemployment he was also able to join us, which made this day extra-special for me.

The chapel speaker was Dr. Don Campbell, former DTS president and professor.  Though he is quite elderly and struggles with the debilitating effects of Parkinson’s disease, his mind and wit are as sharp as ever.  He brought a powerful message from 1 Corinthians about keeping the correct perspective as we endure this challenge called “life.”  It is such an honor to sit in these chapel services, hearing God speak through these faithful men who have devoted their lives to training future pastors, missionaries, and Christian leaders.

Following chapel, we took our requisite pictures with the plaque.

Dr. Hanna with his lovely wife, Mary

Dr. Grassmick, who presents the award each year, tries very hard to keep the recipient a surprise until the moment the name is announced in chapel.  It’s always a challenge to get the recipient’s wife and/or family members into the chapel and keep them somewhat “hidden” until that moment.  We saw Dr. Hanna enter with his wife and proceed to sit onstage.  Come to find out, all it took was Dr. Grassmick saying, “We’d like to have you and your wife at chapel next Wednesday.”  and Dr. Hanna said, “Okay.”  And that was that.

Dr. & Mrs. Hanna in front of the plaque that hangs in the Academic Dean’s office,

just across from where Dad’s office used to be.

Last year, we used the last available space on the plaque.  So this year, we were treated to a surprise ourselves…a new plaque, with 12 new spaces!  We look forward to honoring more good and faithful servants in the years to come.

The first day of school is always exciting.

You get to use your brand-new backpack and lunch box for the very first time.

You get to wear your brand-new clothes that Mom has said “no” to every day since you bought them.

You get to color with those brand-new crayons that have NEVER BEEN USED.  They’re not broken or dull, and they even have the little paper wrappers still on them.

You get to see your friends again and have a new classroom and a new teacher and a new routine.

And, if you’re lucky, you lose a tooth moments after you arrive home.

Or at least that’s how Crisana rolls.

As she got ready for bed last night, we had to make preparing for the Tooth Fairy part of the routine.  She brought out all the stops: her tooth treasure box, a candle to light the way, and - in case the Tooth Fairy was confused - an explanatory note.

And of course, the Tooth itself, tucked carefully away in the Tooth Treasure Box, awaiting the arrival of the blessed Tooth Fairy.

And in the morning, she discovered a crisp new $1 bill, which she promptly announced she was giving - along with her “2 quarters” (really a dime and a penny) - to church for the children at the Yellow House in Monterrey, Mexico.

Exciting times.  In fact, so exciting, she decided to do it all over again…losing another tooth moments before our neighbor arrived to pick her up for school.

And that’s the tooth, the whole tooth, and nothing but the tooth.

It’s a day of first…and lasts.  It’s the first day of school, and that means Trey’s LAST FIRST day of elementary.  I”m still wondering when I ended up with a fifth grader.  I’m pretty sure I was changing that boy’s diapers last week.

But the calendar begs to differ, so it’s off to school we go.

New outfits, new backpacks, new lunchboxes, new glasses for Trey, new haircuts.  It’s all part of the “new” year routine.  Except Crisana didn’t want to wear her new outfit for the first day.  She wanted to wear a dress.  She’ll wear her new outfit as her “second day of school clothes.”

The difference between boys and girls isn’t so much pink and blue as it is camo and plaid.

School starts earlier this year - 8:00 for elementary rather than 8:45 - so we had to get an earlier start.  The bus shows up at our house at 6:42, so yes, for the first time ever I’m driving the kids to school every day.  Because Trey is in fifth grade, he gets to be part of the morning news team broadcasting live each morning at the start of the day.  He was anxious to get to school so he could rehearse, so the picture at the marquee had to wait.  The picture with Mr. McGowen, greeting the children as they arrived, did not.

Trey rushed off to the library the moment we were through the doors.  No first day picture for him.  *sigh*  But I was able to get a picture of Crisana as she prepared for her very first day of second grade.

And with that “Hurry-up-and-take-the-picture, you’re-embarrassing-me, Mom” look I headed to the library for the Tears and Cheers PTA reception.  No tears for me this time - I’m an old pro - unless you count the few I held back as I proudly watched my boy - no, better make that my young man - give the weather report on the KMES Morning News.  He may be a big fifth grader, but I still get to tuck him in and give him 10 kisses and 10 hugs each night.

With that, I was off…and so were my kids.  Off to another adventure of learning and growth.  Off to another year of building character and developing as future leaders.

Off to continue becoming the people God created them to be.

I arrived home from Africa just a little over 24 hours ago, and already reality is hitting me full in the face.  That, and the fact that I’ve been awake since 2:30 A.M. trying to readjust to the Central Time Zone, and WHAM!  My mission trip is O-V-E-R.

Tonight was Meet the Teacher Night at McGowen.  This is always a highlight of back to school for our family.  Getting to see those friends we haven’t seen in awhile, catching up on each others’ summers, seeing the new combinations of faces we will become so familiar with over the next 10 months…it’s all very exciting and fun.

This year was no exception.  Since I was in the gym with Trey, doubling as super-duper Cub Scout recruiters, Matt was able to take Crisana to her classroom and do the whole drop-off-supplies, see-where-the-desk-is, check-out-the-class-list, take-pictures-and-sign-all-the-forms thing.

She found her desk with no problem.  She’s surrounded by boys.  I’m sure she will love that.

She was very excited to get Ms. Ellison as her teacher!

Thankfully, my reinforcements showed up in time for me to take Trey to his class and at least say hello to his teacher.  I learned quickly that things are very different in 5th grade.

For one thing, there are no desks…just tables.  And for another,

Trey actually enjoyed organizing his supplies into the binder.  I wonder if it’s too much to hope that that excitement will actually spill over into organizing his desk at home…

This is also his first year to have a male teacher.  He is very excited about being in Mr. Nash’s homeroom!  I’m still adjusting to the fact that he’s nearly as tall as his teacher…such a far cry from Kindergarten when his head barely reached his teacher’s waist.

The meet and greet is over…now it’s time to get this school year started!

DATELINE:  Near Byali, Uganda.  10:43 P.M Village time.  That’s 2:43 P.M. CST for those of you keeping score at home.

I’M IN DE-NILE!

This morning our team had a wonderful and unique opportunity.  Because Cindy leaves tomorrow, she needed some time alone with the children to explain to them about what is happening over the next few weeks.  Mike suggested that this might be a great time for us to go exploring on the Nile…and who were we to argue with that logic?!?

So off we went…in the tipper once again. Read the rest of this entry »

DATELINE:  Village of Hope, near Biyali, Uganda.  7:09 P.M. Village time.  That’s 11:09 A.M. CST for those of you keeping score at home.

THE MISSION BEGINS!

This was our first full day at the Village. We enjoyed a breakfast of french toast - which may simply be fried sweet bread - but it was REALLY good!  After breakfast, we spent some time in prayer, specifically for the Village of Hope.  There was an outside chance that an important decision could be made today, and we felt a great need to pray on behalf of those involved in the decision-making process, and for the outcome to be favorable.

There had been an issue with getting the examinations printed for the children, so Careenna and Connor spent some time in the “office” typing up the mathematics exams for the children to take tomorrow.  While they worked on that, several others of us went down to the school office to organize the supplies we had brought, as well as the clothes and ESL and craft materials.

It took much longer for Connor and Careenna to finish the exam, but once they were done we were able to have our team devotionals.  Dave had asked me if I’d be willing to share devotions today and of course, I was happy to oblige. Read the rest of this entry »

DATELINE:  August 10, 2010.  7:52 A.M. Village of Hope time.  That’s 11:52 P.M. CST on August 9 for those of you keeping score at home.

THE VILLAGE OF HOPE!

There wasn’t an opportunity to write yesterday so I will try to capture the experience from the perspective of a new day. Read the rest of this entry »

DATELINE:  Gulu, Uganda.  10:15 P.M. Gulu time.  That’s 2:15 P.M. for those of you keeping score at home.

WORSHIP

What a day!  What an amazing, incredible, glorious day!  A day filled with the joy of the Lord and His incredible presence here with us! Read the rest of this entry »