Sunday August 24th

Today Louisa received her Young Womanhood Recognition Award!  Hooray!!!  Usually girls are racing to finish it before they turn eighteen, but Louisa is only thirteen-year-old, and she's done!  Woohoo!  My amazing kids are surely one of my greatest blessings.

For the last two days my back has been bothering me.  I wasn't sure what I had done to it.  Maybe it was all that butter I had to rinse that took forever?  I don't know.  But by the time the Captain and I made it home from the temple yesterday, I was in serious pain. I couldn't sit, couldn't stand, couldn't lay down.  It hurt a lot.  It was a little better this morning, but I still wasn't very excited about sitting through three hours of church.  I was pretty sure that was going to cause me more pain, and I was just not looking forward to it.  So it seemed like a blessing when Gretl developed a fever in the night.  I couldn't find anything wrong with her - she doesn't even have a runny nose - but she still had a fever this morning, so I was going to stay home with her (and lay on the floor most of the time), while everyone else went to church.

But....  then the Bishopric called, rushed Louisa up to the church for her interview, and announced that she would receive her Young Womanhood Recognition today.  What?!?

So I got Gretl dressed, through a skirt on, ran my fingers through my hair, and arrived at church so that I could be there for Louisa.  I figured we'd stay until Gretl couldn't handle it anymore, and she did amazingly well.  I decided to sit back and enjoy the meeting, since it looked like we were staying for a while.  Then Brigitta asked for a pen, and I was trying to give it to her even though there were several people between us.  Gretl was trying to steal it out of my hands, and Kurt was turned around backward so that he didn't know I was trying to pass him a pen for Brigitta.  So I kept leaning over more and more, with my arm stretched out, basically laying across the laps of Louisa and Kurt, to reach the pen to Brigitta, and I felt a dull click.  Brigitta finally took the pen, and I sat up again.  And do you know?  I think my back is fixed! 

Soon after that, Gretl came and climbed onto my lap.  I could feel that her fever was coming back.  She whimpered for about ten seconds, and then fell asleep.  I brought her home and put her in bed, and came to write about my back miracle, and found another miracle!

It rained most of the night a couple of days ago, and when I got up that morning, I saw that our desktop had turned off.  I figured the lightning had caused a brown-out, and the computer had just shut down. But when I turned it on, it didn't look good.  All our settings were gone.  The desktop looked just like we had just bought it again.  All our bookmarks, all our program settings, all our icons were gone.  I was a little irritated, to say the least.  All our files are backed up with Carbonite, so I wasn't worried about that, but all the little things that make a computer your own were gone. So I've just been using the laptop, because it still remembers my homepage and how to get my email. I've been meaning to sit down and set up the desktop computer again, but it was a big job that I wasn't excited about.

Today I brought Gretl home, put her in bed, and came to the computer.  And guess what?  It was back!  A familiar picture was on the desktop background, all my icons were where they were supposed to be, and my email program was all set up.  Woohoo!!!

I have no idea how that happened, but I am so very grateful.  God's hand has definitely been working in my life today.  Not only is my back fixed (I still have some sore muscles, but the sharp pain is gone), but my computer is also back.  I am truly blessed. 

Wednesday August 20th

I sent my kids off to school today.  I was excited and ready to have them back in school, but once they were all gone...  it was quiet.  Way too quiet.  I wasn't sure what to do with myself.  Finally Gretl woke up, and she did a good job of keeping me busy all day.

The thing she really really wanted to do the very most was swim in the hot tub.  Usually I can find one of the kids who is willing to go sit in the hot tub with Gretl, but today I was the only option.  I kept telling her we would go after I started the bread, after I loaded the dishwasher, after I started some laundry, but Gretl's wasn't the only voice urging me to go right now.  So I finally went and put on my swimming suit, and Gretl and I sat in the hot tub.

Later that day (probably about the time I would have gotten around
to sitting in the hot tub), it started to rain.  It kept raining all day, so there wouldn't have been another chance to go swimming.  While I wouldn't have felt bad about not being in a swimming suit, I would have felt bad that I put Gretl off until it was too late.  So I'm glad that I received an extra nudge from the Spirit to go spend time with my baby girl now, instead of later.

Also today, I came home from an errand to see the Captain's vegetable booth tipped over.  He came up with an idea to put a little stand in front of our house where people can leave their extra garden veggies, and anyone can take what produce they want.  He's calling it a Give and Take stand.  He's been working on it for a while, and finally got it up today.  It was my job to put a sign on it, but I hadn't gotten to it yet.  So when I came back from my errand and saw it tipped over, I went and lifted it back up and was surprised that it had fallen over.  The wind hadn't been blowing especially hard, and it's a pretty hefty chunk of wood.

As I turned to go inside after lifting the stand back into place, I felt pulled into the yard to look at my flower beds.  It's true I haven't taken the time to really enjoy them lately, so I took a little walk around the yard.  As I came back to the front yard, I saw that a van had pulled up in front of the Give and Take stand.  There weren't any vegetables on it yet, so as the guy got out and opened the back of his van, I was hoping that he was going to leave something from his garden.  Instead he took out a drill and started working on the stand.  Odd.

I wandered over to the two men standing there and said hello.  The one guy said, "You don't want this, right?" and I realized that the other man was using his drill to take the stand apart!  Often in our town, people leave things by the road that they don't want anymore, and people who do want them will stop and pick them up.  These guys thought that our stand was out by the road for anyone to take, and the reason it was laying down earlier was because they had tried to get it into the back of the van, but it wouldn't fit.  They had gone home for a drill to take it apart and come back to get it.  I assured them that we still wanted it, they apologized and put the screws back in, and went on their way.  I hurried in to make a sign for the stand and find a few vegetables to put on the shelf!

As I made the sign and put it up, it occurred to me that if I hadn't taken that little wander around the yard to see my flower beds, I would have never seen the men take our stand away.  It would have just disappeared, and we would never have known what happened.  I'm so glad that the Spirit stopped me from going in the front door today so that I could save the Give and Take stand.  Hopefully it will accomplish some good in the next few weeks.

Sunday August 17th

Liesl was supposed to sing in Sacrament Meeting today.  She was asked in the middle of the week, but as of 11:00 last night, she still didn't have a plan.  She didn't know what song she was going to sing, and she didn't have anyone to play the piano for her.  I could have stepped in at anytime during the last week, but I decided she's a big girl now, and she could take care of it, since she was the one who had been asked, and she was the one who had agreed to sing the song.

So this morning she got on the phone and found someone to play the piano for her, and got her "boy-friend-who's-not-her-boyfriend" (we'll call him Rolf) to sing with her.  They went to the church half an hour before church to run through it a couple of times, and they were ready to go.

The awesome part was when the youth speaker stood up to give her talk.  Her talk was on families, and she used the words from Love Is Spoken Here, which is the song that Liesl and Rolf were going to sing!  The girl read all the words and talked about the song and the importance of families. 

There was a couple of adult speakers, and then Liesl and Rolf got up to sing.  Liesl is on crutches because she fell and sprained her ankle at soccer practice, but she made it up the stairs without falling.  I was very glad.  They sang their song, and it sounded awesome!  They really did a good job for the amount of preparation that went into it.  Liesl made it back down the stairs again without any mishap, and safely back to her seat. 

If you would have asked me last night about Liesl's musical number for church today, I would have expressed my doubts about the whole thing.  But the Lord's hand was in it, not only in the performance, but in the selection of the song.  I'm sure he must have helped her with those stairs, too.

Friday August 15th

Today the Captain was going to another town for a meeting.  I asked if I could come with him, because I had
an errand I wanted to run in a town near his meeting.  The town is more than an hour away, which meant I would be gone half the day, but I went anyway.  I dropped off the Captain at his meeting, and ran my errand.  The errand was a total flop; it didn't work at all.  I still had lots of time to kill, so I went to the temple.  I didn't think I would have time for an endowment session, so I decided to do some initiatories.  I walked up to the desk, and there were about eight temple workers gathered around it.  They stepped aside so I could talk to the lady behind the desk, and I asked if I could do some initiatories today.  All the ladies around the desk gasped, and one clapped her hands together.  Then they all got great big smiles on their faces, and started talking about how it was a miracle.  I wasn't sure what the miracle was, but I told them I was happy to be their miracle. :) 

After I was dressed, the lady in charge told me that she had been praying for another patron to do initiatories today.  Pretty cool, huh?  I read once that the reasons we have for moving, such as jobs or schooling, are really just the Lord's tools for putting us where he wants us to be.  I'm thinking it was the same with my day today.  My errand I wanted to run didn't work out at all, but it put me where I was supposed to be today.  I had an awesome experience in the temple, and I'm glad I could be where the Lord wanted me to be so He could answer someone's prayer.

Thursday August 14th

Wow.  That was awesome.  We were reading scriptures with the kids before bedtime just a little bit ago, and my mind was wandering a little as everyone else was taking their turns reading.  Finally it was my turn, and the verses I read said exactly, exactly what I had been thinking while everyone else was reading.  How crazy is that? 

17 Nevertheless, notwithstanding the great goodness of the Lord, in showing me his great and marvelous works, my heart exclaimeth: O wretched man that I am! Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities.

18 I am encompassed about, because of the temptations and the sins which do so easily beset me. 
19 And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins; nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted. 
20 My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep. 
21 He hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh.

 Nephi goes on to talk about how angels have come down and ministered to him, and I can't say that I've had that experience, but all the rest of it is exactly how I was feeling tonight.  It's crazy to think that Nephi, who is definitely one of my heroes and someone I don't feel I can even touch as far as righteousness, was feeling exactly the same as I was tonight.  And yet he did so many amazing things!  Maybe there's hope for me yet, huh?

Wednesday August 13th

Today was a school shopping day.  We usually find a day and go north to some bigger towns with more stores, but this year we don't have a single day when everyone can go.  That means that we're finding what we can in our little town.  It has been awesome what we've been able to find!  Maybe I haven't given our little town enough credit, or maybe the Lord was just taking care of us.  Either way, we've been able to find everything that everyone needed or wanted without going more than a couple miles from home!

Liesl is very particular about her jeans, and we managed to find her two pair that she was happy about.  Friedrich is also very particular about his shorts.  He's not so fussy about the type, or the color, or the fit.  What he's worried about are the pockets.  He went all the way around a round clothes rack today, putting his hand in the pocket of each pair of shorts.  The shorts with the deepest pockets were put in the cart.  He tried them on at my insistence, but they fit fine, and he brought them home without ever mentioning their style or color.  Louisa is out of town, but told me to find her some plain T-shirts in several different colors, and that would be fine.  I managed to find exactly what she described, and they were 'buy two-get one free.'  Sweet! 

Kurt was worried that he wouldn't be able to find some good shoes without going to a bigger town, but we took a look, anyway, and he found some!  In the past he has been annoyed that every pair of tennis shoes in his size lights up somehow.  I guess he considers himself too big for light-up shoes.  There weren't many that didn't have lights, but he did find a pair, and they had bright orange laces, which he thought was super cool. 

Brigitta and Marta are going shopping tomorrow, and I hope they'll find some clothes that they like.  So far, though, the Lord has taken very good care of us in helping us find everything we needed without ever leaving town.

Tuesday August 12th

Remember this post, where I complained about going to bed so late every night?  Well, the Lord decided to help me out.  Usually after we get the kids to bed, the Captain and I will sit at our computers for a while.  I'll type a blog post or browse Facebook, and he will check email and watch funny videos with me.  It's one of the reasons we go to bed so late.  But for the last couple of weeks there has been a guy staying with us, and he has decided that we've got a pretty good idea, there.  So now he comes and sits on our computer after the kids are in bed.  The Captain can still get on his computer, but mine is taken.  I was a little annoyed, as you can imagine, but then I realized that this meant I would have to post earlier, and thus get to bed earlier!  I didn't post at all yesterday because I missed my chance and didn't have a computer, but I did get to bed earlier than usual!  Today I am only a little earlier, but I'm getting straight to my post without browsing Facebook for an hour first, so that I can get done before the guy comes and starts reading over my shoulder waiting for me to be done.  It's annoying, but it's really a blessing.  I needed to get to bed earlier, and here is the solution. Sometimes God's blessings aren't convenient, but like any good parent, He does what's best for us even if we don't like it.

Sunday August 10th

Today the Lord's hand in my life came at my request.  For the last week there has been a man staying with us.  He needed a place to stay, and we have an extra room, so the Captain invited him to stay with us for a couple of weeks while he looks for a place to live.  For the last couple of days, his three children have been staying here, as well.  Much to my shame, I have had a very bad attitude.  The kids were driving me crazy, and I just wanted them out of my house.  They were in need of my charity, but I couldn't seem to muster any for them.  I felt like they had been foisted on me, and I was somewhat resentful.  I knew that the Lord would want me to be kind to these kids and their father, and that their circumstances were beyond their control.  They hadn't chosen to stay at my house for the fun of it, they were here because they had no where else to go.  But they were still driving me crazy.

So I prayed for a change of heart.  I asked the Lord to lend me some of His love for these children and to be able to serve them without a grudge in my heart.  I really wanted this blessing, and I was pretty sure the Lord would grant it, since it was a righteous desire, but I wasn't sure how or when it would arrive. I woke up the next morning after my prayer ready to be a new person, but it just didn't happen.  Fifteen minutes with those kids running through my house, and I was as tense and irritated as ever.  I tried, I really tried, to think kindly of them and to be patient with them, but oh how I wanted my home back.

Today I went to church, glad to be away from home for a couple of hours.  Little did I know what was waiting for me there.  The full-time Elders were speaking, and the first one stood up and talked about how the less-actives were just as important as the non-members in our area.  This hit home, since the family that is staying with us are definitely less active.  The second Elder talked about how we need to be uncomfortable.  That definitely struck a chord, since I have been extremely uncomfortable.  He talked about how the inactive people they talk to say that they are comfortable with where they are at, and don't feel the need for any changes in their lives.  So that means that if we are comfortable in our lives right now, we need to do something to change that.  We need to do something outside of our comfort zone and get uncomfortable, because that is how we will grow.  Then the third speaker got up, who is a friend of ours who just returned from his mission.  In his talk, he said that the purpose of this life was to learn how to love.  The first commandment is to love the Lord thy God, and the second is to love thy neighbor.  All the prophets and scripture heroes served the Lord because of love, and our ability to keep the commandments comes from love. I needed to learn how to love.  I need to learn how to love even those who are difficult to like. I needed to learn how to love those children.

I cried all through Sacrament Meeting.  I knew that I had been given an opportunity to grow, and I needed to use it as a stepping stone, not a stumbling block.  I was humbled and ready to serve those kids with a full heart.

I didn't get to try, though.  As soon as we got home from church, the kids left.  Their dad is still here, but he wasn't really the one driving me crazy.  So I don't know if my change of heart would have endured a real-life trial or not.  Or maybe the Lord was just waiting for me to learn that lesson before he took the kids away.  I don't know how it would have turned out, but I am grateful for three different talks that all seemed to be directed straight to me today, and for the renewed testimony that the Lord hears and answers my prayers.

Saturday August 9th

The Captain was helping a lady move today.  She was moving out of an apartment, and moving most of her stuff into a storage unit.  The Captain had been working on stacking boxes for most of the morning.  The boxes were in rows about 20 feet deep, and 8 feet high along both sides.  As they were taking the last 5 or 6 boxes from the apartment to the storage unit, this lady realized that the formula for her premature infant had been packed, and she didn't know where it was.  She needed it immediately, and didn't have the ability to just go buy some more.  She asked The Captain and the other men with him if they could please look for the formula in the storage unit.  Oh boy.

Between the Lord and the Captain, that formula was found in a miraculous amount of time.  It was, of course, in the farthest corner of the storage unit, but the Captain was the one who had been stacking the boxes, so he had some idea of where it might be.  He climbed over all the stuff in the storage unit, to the back corner, and dug through boxes until he found it.  I'm sure that without his help, the lady would never have found the formula.  At least not before her infant was walking, anyway. 

I'm sure that the Lord was helping both that lady and the Captain today in quickly finding formula to feed that baby.

Thursday August 7th

Our internet has been having issues.  That's my excuse for not writing yesterday.  But it's a pretty good excuse because I had no internet access at all.  Yesterday afternoon the wireless went out, then the desktop didn't have any internet.  The laptop kept up the connection for a few more hours until I picked up the modem to see if there were any loose cords (there weren't).  That ended all internet in the house, so we were pretty sure the issue was with the modem.  By that time it was late at night, so we ended the day and figured tomorrow would come. 

And come it did!  This morning found me on the phone with a very sweet customer service representative for whom English was obviously a second language.  I told her that there was a problem with the modem, but I'm sure her job requires her to go through all the troubleshooting steps.  I spent at least an hour typing in codes, holding down buttons, and doing everything I was told to do.  Nothing helped, though, and finally she put in the order for a new modem which should arrive tomorrow.  (Or if not tomorrow, then Monday.) 

But then....    As soon as I hung up from talking with the customer service rep, Liesl said, "Hey, I have wireless!"  So I checked the laptop, and it had a connection!  I checked the desktop, and it was online as well!  Hooray! As soon as our internet came back on, I saw that I had a message from one of my old young women. (Old as in neither of us are in Young Women anymore, not old as in aged.)  She was asking me to go check on her mom, whom I visit teach.  She had sent the message just 35 minutes before the internet came back on.  I sent a message back saying that of course I would, and the day went from there.  Her mom isn't doing great, but I explained to her that anytime we try to make positive changes in our lives, Satan will do everything in his power to stop us.  She didn't want to talk about what was bothering her, but I assured her that God was on her side and had the power to help her through it.  She seemed to appreciate our talk, and I was able to send a message back to her daughter telling her that I thought her mom would be alright.

The internet is still working many hours later as I type this post, but I think we'll still replace the modem when the new one comes.  I'm pretty sure that our current modem is only working right now because the Lord needed me to receive that message today, and not tomorrow. 

Tuesday August 5th

Most evenings at five o'clock I start to work on dinner.  I really should start at four, but five o'clock is when I usually start.  Somehow, as soon as I begin, someone comes up with an emergency that I need to take care of.  This is why I should start at four, because even though I should be able to have dinner ready in an hour, it usually takes two hours to make dinner and take care of everyone's emergencies.  Tonight's emergency was Kurt's.  He needed to bring his bike to Scouts at six o'clock, but his bike has had a flat tire for weeks.  He's been shown how to do it, but there's always some reason why he's sure he can't do it - the patches are all gone (he says), he can't find the pump, the tire won't come off, etc.  Tonight, though, he had a deadline, and he needed to get it done.  So, of course, he picked five o'clock to do it.

Meanwhile, I really needed to get dinner done because not only was Kurt leaving at six, but the three oldest were all leaving at six thirty to attend their activities.  This meant that dinner couldn't be served at seven tonight if I wanted those four kids to eat before they left.

Poor Kurt came in the house crying at six fifteen because he couldn't get the tire off.  I helped him get the tire off, get the tube out, and find the hole, then went back in the house to continue dinner.  It only took a few minutes for him to be upset and come find me again because he had lost the hole and couldn't get the pump to attach to the tube so he could find it again.  Sigh.  He really just needed someone to come help him through the project.

The Captain was trying to service some vending machines around town.  He was trying to get to as many as possible before the businesses closed, and I knew that many of them closed at six o'clock.  I felt bad calling him, but I did anyway, and  I couldn't do both at the same time, so I called the Captain to see if he could come and help Kurt.

He is just the sweetest man, because he came right home to help.  I offered to let him fix dinner while I helped Kurt, but he decided he'd be better at fixing a bike.  :)  So I went back to fixing dinner, and the Captain had that bike fixed in under fifteen minutes.  Whew!  I managed to feed everyone dinner before they took off, and we all lived happily ever after (at least for the rest of the day.) I am just amazed at the wonderful man the Lord gave me.  Not only is he a sweet, patient dad, he's also an amazing fix-it man.  I am so glad the Lord sent him into our lives and for all that he does to help us every day.  Thanks, Sweetheart!

Monday August 4th

Today I worked on entering things in the fair.  I had two photos I wanted to get turned in, and it seriously took me all day to get it done.  I'm kind of a mat snob, because I used to work in a gallery and do all the matting and framing, so I know what a good job is supposed to look like.  It's hard, though, when you don't have the equipment to do the job right.  We did get it done, in the end, and with a lot of the Captain's help (and the Lord's, I'm sure), and they are officially entered.  Whew!

Tomorrow is the day to turn in baked goods, and I thought I would enter some of my bread.  Now, I make some awesome bread, but it is a bit temperamental.  I haven't quite decided what makes the difference, but sometimes it looks great, and sometimes it doesn't.  It almost always tastes great, but sometimes it comes out of the oven looking way worse than when I put it in.

So tonight I was making bread to the put in the fair, and I needed it to look good.  I wanted it to look great, but I would have settled for good.  So I was praying all through the process, asking Heavenly Father to please make my bread beautiful.

I was way excited when I pulled it out of the oven and it looked good!  I'll pick the prettiest one and take it to the fair tomorrow, and I'll win a sweepstakes ribbon and become a national bread-making celebrity!!!  And you can say that you knew me back when I was a lowly blogger.  Hooray! :)

Or, maybe I'll just make sure to thank the Lord tonight for taking the time to make my bread pretty, when I know he has much bigger concerns.  It is wonderful to me that he would take the time to help little ol' me when half the world is on the brink of war, and most of the rest is already in one. It makes the attractiveness of my bread seem fairly unimportant.  And yet the Lord still thought it was important enough to make sure it happened.  Amazing.

P.S.  I won a Reserve ribbon!  That's like a second-place Sweepstakes.  Woohoo!

Sunday August 3rd

Boy was I tired this morning.  It has been quite a weekend, and I am burnt out.  I was so tired that I almost felt sick.  I seriously considered claiming I was sick and staying home today.  It would be kind of nice to send everyone to church, and stay home in a silent house to take a nap.  BUT, I didn't.  I went.  Sigh.

I'm so glad I did!  I led the music in Sacrament Meeting, and then sat down to hear some awesome testimonies.  Some months testimony meeting is more about people wanting a chance to talk in the microphone than anything else, but this week was awesome!  People bore testimonies of Christ and His atonement and the Spirit was so strong.  I left feeling very uplifted and spiritually fed.  I think that's what I needed even more than a nap, and the Lord knew it.  He usually knows what I need better than I do, and loves me enough to deliver it, even when it's not what I want.

Saturday August 2nd

Saturday we woke up on the mountain, since we had spent the night for the Elders Quorum social.  The kids found an old abandoned raft on the lake and took it out a little ways. The water was shallow enough that they could just walk out to the raft, but since we had just finished reading Huckleberry Finn, the kids got a real kick out of it.  It might seem silly, but I think that was evidence of the Lord's hand in our lives.

We had been reading about Huck and Jim floating down the river, and kids had been so intrigued.  They wanted to know all kinds of details about the Mississippi River and how to steer a raft, and you could tell they were just itching to try it.  Unfortunately we live an extremely long way away from the Mississippi River, and the chances of them riding a raft anytime soon seemed extremely remote.  But then we go to a mountain lake and find an old falling apart raft that the kids could push out a little ways and feel just like Huckleberry Finn.  Our God truly does love us and pays attention to the smallest details. 

The other evidence of God's hand in our lives today is that Friedrich is home!  Hooray!!!  It feels like he has been gone forever.  After his week-long Scout camp he went up north with a friend to watch Wicked (I am so jealous), and then went to dinner and rollerskating.  I know that they were thinking about waiting to bring him home on Sunday because there was someone already going to make the trip on Sunday.  But I was texting like crazy, offering to meet them halfway, telling them how much I needed to see my son.

And it worked!  They brought him down, and I met them part-way, and got home way after midnight, but he's home!  I am so glad.  When he was a child, I was sure he would never survive past the age of five.  (Partly because I wanted to kill him most days.) But now he's a strapping 14-years-old, and he's just so fun to have around.  I told him he's not allowed to leave home anymore, but for now I'm just so glad that the Lord brought him home safe and sound.

Friday August 1st

It's amazing how easy it is to slack off.  Friday night we were at an Elders Quorum Social where we camped overnight, so I wasn't able to post.  Somehow that made it ok in my mind to not post on Saturday, either.  It's really not fair how easy it is to develop bad habits, and how very difficult it is to develop and keep good habits.  Really not fair.

So, anyway, the Captain has been the Elders Quorum President for a couple of years, and in that time has tried again and again to hold socials.  It sounds like a good idea, but they always end up being family outings for us because no one else shows up.  Really, it's sad how many times we've cooked ourselves hamburgers or eaten all the pizza because we're the only ones at the "social."  It's not his fault, it's just that everyone is so busy, and in the end sometimes a social just isn't the most important thing to do on any given day. 

The Captain is one of the most optimistic people I know, though, so he just keeps trying.  On Friday we headed up the mountain to the lake, and I was really really hoping that someone else would be there.  It's sad that I had thought up a backup plan for what to do when we were camping all alone.  But I didn't need it!  There were at least 50 people at dinner that night!  Whoa!  I was so impressed!  We had a way better turnout at a social held over thirty minutes from home than we've ever had in our own neighborhood.  Maybe that is the key, huh?  But I was so grateful to the Lord for sending all those people to the social.  The Captain was giddy with excitement at the great turnout. 

I got the idea today that Clark's wife may read my blog, so if she does, then a big shout out to you!  Clark and his wife bought all the food, prepared it all, and basically pulled off an awesome activity. Maybe they were the evidence of God's hand in our lives even more than the people attending.