Off and Running

I teach second grade. That means that I have charge of 10 7- and -8-year-olds for about four and a half hours each day that I teach.

One of the wonderful things about our school is that we take a lot of field trips. Recently, I and two chaperones took my brood to the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse as we were wrapping up our study of U.S. sites and symbols.

In their enthusiasm to see everything, the kids wanted to run on ahead and get to the next place first, ahead of everyone else. Problem was, they didn’t know where they were going. Many, many times during our time there, I had to call out and say, “Wait a minute! Come back here! We’re not going that way! Wait for me!” Or something to that effect.

How much easier would it have been if they had just stayed with me and seen all that I wanted them to see? Considering I was fighting a virus and had very little voice that day, it sure would have been easier on me.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust int he Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

Aren’t we just like second graders, wanting to run ahead in our enthusiasm to see what there is to see? But in the process, we can miss what God is wanting to show us. We’d accomplish a lot more if we’d take His hand and walk by His side.

Thankful today for:

145. Rosie

146. Lessons in the little things

147. TheCity (our youth ministry. See TheCityStudents.com)

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I spent my day taking 10 second graders to Ponce Inlet Lighthouse, about an hour and a half drive from Orlando. I’m not a big Valentine’s Day person, but I did buy them little heart cookies to have with their lunches at the lighthouse.

But for the last 20 years or so, there has been a group of us that has gone to dinner right around Valentine’s Day. This group has seen the birth of 9 children and the marriage of one. We’ve talked by cell phone from the restaurant of choice to one couple who moved to Thailand for two years. I was in labor with our second child one year. Had him the next day. We’ve never missed a year.

Jim and Carol have the oldest kids–the one who got married is theirs. David and I had our first “date” babysitting their kids. Carol convinced me to not give up on David when he was being a bozo.

Joel and Marjorie are like family to us. I’ve know Joel since my college days, and he and David used to live together. He was in our wedding and both of us were in theirs. Our kids call them Aunty Marjorie and Uncle Joel.

Greg and Jill have been our good friends for a long, long time. Greg used to be David’s boss. Now he’s one of our pastors. Jill is one of my best friends. She was Morgan’s teacher in first grade. Greg helped David tile our house. David helped Greg reroof his. Can’t get any more friendly than that!

David and Karen are the newest to our group. They filled the gap when Joel and Marjorie were in Thailand. They are friends we can always count on and enjoy spending time with.

This is our group minus David and Karen--before Joel and Marjorie went to Thailand.

It is a joy to have such good friends. Many people have only a couple of people they can count as close as family. We are blessed with these four couples–and many others who have come along into our lives after we started our dinner tradition.

We don’t have a date yet for this year, because the other David has been traveling overseas. He returns tomorrow. I expect we’ll be able to set a date for next week. The day doesn’t really matter. It’s whom you’re with.

I love these guys!
Happy Valentine’s Day!

More to be thankful for:

22. Take-out Chinese food for dinner

23. Wifi service at the Centra Care clinic

24. Modern medicine