A Texas Tea Party, finding joy, Blake’s birthday, surgery

Sunday night after church our Pastor’s wife, Joyce, approached Mama to see if she would be opened to having a Tea Party for Aliza and Gracie. Aliza is with Granny (Joyce) as her parents are participating in the VBS in Nazlini. Joyce was telling Mama that she wanted to do something special for Aliza because she was a little displaced because as soon as her mom, dad and brother had gotten back from a three-day youth conference, they loaded up and took off for a weeklong trip to Nazlini. Aliza was feeling left out. So, Mama and Joyce put on a Tea Party along with a Nail Party for the girls. Mama got out her special Korean Tea set and laid aside some nails for the girls to pick from. Both Gracie and Aliza seek out Mama at every church service to see how she has done her nails. They love Color Street. (If only Mama could find such interest in some ladies who could join her group.)

Each of the girls got a special lunch followed by a mani and peti. Mani and peti; that’s how Mama refers to them to sound well versed in the world of nail appliques. I was teaching a class through the morning and working from the office through the afternoon, so I did not get any update on the little party until I got home, but Mama assured me that the girls were very pleased with the luncheon and nail treatments. As for Mama, she was worn out, but happy with how well things had gone. Putting on such an event is among her many gifts. Joyce was thrilled with the way things worked out. For her it was a very relaxing time spent with the girls. Just the interlude she had been looking for. All in all, it is something that all five of the participants will not soon forget.

Special events like yesterday’s Tea Party interrupting our daily routine are what give dimension to our lives and make the mundane daily grind worth the effort. Too many times we look for big events to revive the interest in life and spark the excitement that makes us look differently at how we spend our efforts in tolerating the ordinary. It does not take much to inspire joy when you take time to look at the very little things that emphasize that joy. It can be found in most all of the inconsequential, routine, uninteresting moments in our lives. For instance, as I was driving to work yesterday morning, the sun was coming up. The haze in the morning air gave enough filtering to what would normally be too bright to look at, to allow those of us who were up and out, to see the huge orange orb in the sky in a unique way. It was beautiful. Something that does not happen every day. Something that made my morning commute a little more enjoyable than normal. A tiny expression of joy in an otherwise monotonous routine.

Today is Blakes birthday. Another happy interruption to life. He is eleven as of today. The real celebration for the birthday will not happen today because of church and children’s related events that take precedence. They will celebrate the birthday tomorrow. The plan is to go to Chuck-E-Cheese in San Pedro Sula. Blake is excited. It is worth the wait. Also attending the festivities will be a couple children from the home in El Progresso. Blake mentioned them all by name but the one that stuck out to me was Tigre – pronounced tee-gray; emphasis in the first syllable. Blakes accent when pronouncing the name was exact for the area where he is learning to speak Spanish. That is exciting to hear. It makes me slightly jealous of his immersion in the culture there. Not just the way he will learn a language but the way his life will be affected by growing up on the Mission field. That immersion provides a sense of purpose, a unique focus for life that is not easily duplicated by those of us who do not serve in that way.

Maggie will be having carpal tunnel surgery tomorrow morning. The plan is to do one wrist, wait a couple weeks and then do the other wrist. Please pray for her to heal quickly and to have a manageable level of pain. I am intimately familiar with the process. I had the surgeries many years ago and got a great relief from the surgery. Mama and I were living in Kansas City at the time. This was prior to Victoria being born. I had my left wrist done first because I could not lay out from work, and I wanted to test the recovery time before I got the right wrist done. The day after I got the surgery the fuel pump went out on the Pontiac Bonneville Mama and I were driving at the time. So, Mama and I worked together to replace the fuel pump. My right hand. Her left hand. It was not efficient, but it worked.

I will be teaching a class tomorrow and as I talked with one of the leaders at our company yesterday, I had to admit that I like what I am doing for this company.