Conference, busy weekend, flooding, rain

Last week was a different week. I spent the first three days at a company conference. The first day was spent teaching a class of 29 participants followed by a reception with snacky foods and lots of alcohol. Not my typical environment, but I managed to find the non-drinkers in the large crowd and stayed for a couple hours chatting and snacking. Day two was a general gathering with panel discussions and a keynote speaker. For most of us the day started a 6 am helping vendors get set up and ended at 7 pm as we helped our clients find their way to the baseball stadium directly across from the hotel many of us stayed in for the conference. The game tickets had been purchased as part of the total conference package. I did not attend the game because of my schedule the next day. On day three I taught four short classes. Two were two hours long and two were only an hour long. Two hours of set up and prep, six hours of instruction, three hours of helping in other classes. Another eleven-hour day. As I inched my way home through Ft Worth traffic, I got a text from my supervisor letting me know that I could take the next two days off as comp time. That was a very nice gesture because with travel time included, many of us had put in more than forty hours in the three days of the conference.

Thursday and Friday were filled with lots of little chores around the farm and I was glad for that time off and the chance to rest up because Saturday was too busy to get much done at the farm. Saturday morning Mama and I attended a play put on by the drama department at the Alvord High School. One of the teenagers who rides our bus to church had invited Mama to the paly and it seemed very important to her to have Mama come. The play was short, it was cute, and it was well acted. Mama and I enjoyed ourselves but had to rush away when it was over to attend the BBTI graduation in Bowie. We made it to the graduation ceremony a few minutes before it started. That too was thoroughly enjoyable, but once again, we had to hurry away as soon as it was over to make another appointment.

Mama had agreed to take Aubrey to a birthday party in Rhome since neither of her parents would get away for long enough to make the party. It was scheduled from 2-5 pm. So, Mama dropped me off at the farm and headed out again. She did not stay for the entire time scheduled for the party but remarked that it was staged extremely well for the six-year-old little girl celebrating that birthday – the everything pink, Candyland theme was complete with the game having been painted on the lawn at the house. Mama got home just before 5 pm and we had a little time to relax before we needed to be at our church for another graduation. We had skipped the youth activity at the church that afternoon.

The one young lady graduating from our Christian School attends another church but she and Mama had become friends in Mama’s short time helping at the school several years ago and that young lady really wanted Mama to be there. So, we went. That graduation lasted until about 8:15 but it took Mama a few minutes to say her goodbyes to those she had not seen in some time. We got home a little after 9 pm. It was a long day for Mama, but we wanted to make the most of the relationships she has with these young ladies. In the busy, complicated, stressful times we share through this life, those are the moments that will count.

Cori contacted me and Mama Saturday afternoon and asked us to pray for the situation unfolding in Honduras. The country was being inundated with rain from a tropical depression and the heavy rainfall was finding its way under the doors at the church flooding the auditorium. Her family was there trying to remove the water, but it was a struggle and there was some concern that services would need to be cancelled due to the flooding. So, we began to pray and overnight the rain stopped. Early in the morning volunteers who lived near the church showed up to mop up the mess and get the chairs set up for the services. More cleanup needs to be done, but the service went off without a hitch. Praise the Lord! The busses, which fetch most of the members, were able to run the majority of their routes, so very few were not able to attend the service and those flooded in are safe.

We are expecting a lot of rain over the next two days – if the forecast holds true. We desperately need the rain, so we are praying that it does come. With the much cooler temperatures lately Mama and I have not been watering our garden, fruit trees and berry bushes every day for fear of overwatering, so we have had a couple shorter mornings in those duties. Plus, we knew the forecast for today and tomorrow was predicting heavy rainfall, so we were allowing the soil we typically water regularly to dry out a bit. Everywhere else around us is very dry and needs the rain badly.

All things considered, we had a great week and weekend. Now, to the week ahead!