Good service, the twins, training – sort of

We had a great service at church last night. A missionary to Palau was there. He was one of those individuals that did not know quiet. He spoke loudly. He sang even more loudly. It was humorous during the song service how everyone kept looking over at him. Personally, I enjoyed the help. From where he was sitting, on the outside end of the front pew to my right, he drowned me out. Fortunately, he had a great voice; a well-trained voice. Would that everyone would sing as boldly as he did. What a song service we would have then.

He sermon was just as bold and powerful; filled with quips and pithy thoughts. It was difficult to write down even a portion of what was truly noteworthy. “God can’t steer a parked car.” Not original, but it has been a long time since I heard it. “When the timing could not seem worse, just trust God. Remember all those prayers He answered for you that you know took multiple circumstances to fall into place at just the right time to meet your need. How long was God working on that answer before you thought to pray?” It was a timely sermon for me and Mama – especially Mama as we wrestle with what He would have us do with the farm; with our lives. Having finally gotten to the place where we have always wanted to be, there is an inkling that more is required of us that to simply maintain what we have accrued. On the bright side, we are definitely not in PARK.

Brittany is struggling with one of her little one’s teething – and the diarrhea, fever and general malaise that accompany the process. Her sister will not be far behind, but it is a blessing that they are not both going through it at the same time. Both have a touch of some bug to boot, but they are recovering fairly well. She has introduced them to baby food and both of the twins are loving it. I cannot imagine having to juggle both hungry girls at the same time every feeding, but Mama and I have had a taste of it in spurts during her child care years. It had its own way of working out as far as the timing of getting both bellies filled through eager mouths but it was often best that the feeding stretched out over a longer period of time so their bellies could register being full. Oh, that we would remember that lesson for ourselves.

Tomorrow I will be delivering training. It is a mock training exercise. I will give the same eight-hour presentation that I have given many times – but to a group of my peers. It has been a long time since I have been in that sort of setting – where I was giving a presentation that was very familiar to the entire audience for the sole purpose of being critiqued by that audience. I realize the same critique happens in every training setting, but not with the same level of focus that will be applied tomorrow. It is not a pass/fail. It is merely an exercise in sharpening presentation skills and ensuring we each adequately cover the required material and use the appropriate number of hours required for the course. I have been guilty of abbreviating the course in the past to accommodate travel plans for one or two class members – as have other instructors – but going forward, we will be required to use the full eight hours for the presentation and test. On the bright side, I am reworking the course to eliminate a lot of irrelevant material as well as update and, hopefully, enhance the most relevant material.

Over the weekend, I hope to assemble the rollup doors and see if I can get the help to install them. That will make the shop really look like a shop.