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| Coop, Curtis, and A Photobombing Friend in Boston |
It was a very late night for a Monday, but it was worth it. Robert had to be in Boston for a North American Mission Board (NAMB) event, an it was one I didn’t want the kids to miss. Truthfully, I didn’t want to miss it either, and I almost never pass up an opportunity to go into Boston. We picked up our friend, Kama, and headed east around 3pm yesterday after a stop at Dunkin Donuts to get drinks for the road. I even got a very long shoulder massage as we drove. Ahhhhh….it was wonderful. Thank you, Kama.
We parked, walked through the Common, and along the Freedom Trail a bit until we got to Chipotle for a quick dinner. The event was at the Tremont Temple, which we had to pass on the way to dinner, so it was an easy walk back. A very long line awaited us, but it moved quickly and was full of friends from near and far. The whole event was like a mini-reunion which made it all the more fun.
(A passing Bostonite asked me what the long line was about, but upon hearing that we were waiting to hear a pastor speak at a worship service, he moved on pretty quickly.)
The event was part of a tour for Send North America (SNA) ~ a NAMB effort to exhort believers to share the gospel in their individual lives and vocations, and plant churches in their various cities and towns. The Passion City Band led worship through music and David Platt led worship through a great teaching and encouragement time from the book of Acts ~ ordinary people doing extraordinary things because of an extraordinary God.
It was great. I’m so glad we didn’t miss it. I’m so glad my kids got to experience it. It was especially encouraging to see each of them, without prompting, give of their own money (well, one regretted forgetting theirs in the van, so we helped out) toward the mission.
And I got to see Rachel ~ a recent graduate from UMass who is now involved in a Boston church plant ~ along with many other dear friends. Such a wonderful surprise.
Going to Boston on a Monday night was also kinda crazy after the weekend we had. Robert accuses me of filling up all “free” time with activities, and that when I suddenly find myself without an obligation, I simply add a new one. Our weekend was packed, and any normal person would not have planned a trip to Boston on Monday (that they weren’t required to take), according to him. Maybe this is why my kids seem to be entertainment and adrenaline junkies. If a day or two day passes without anything fun or exciting happening (according to their standards for such), they sink into a sort of depression. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, they were lamenting that if someone were to make a movie about their lives, it would be oh so boring. I really don’t think they got this from me, and though my husband would probably balk at me saying this, I LONG for boring and uneventful days. They just never happen, but he seems to think that’s my own fault.
(But it’s David Platt…and the Passion Band…and Boston…and a gathering of Christians…many of whom we know and love…and when will the kids ever have this opportunity again…and it’s so good for them to be a part of in their teen years….and…and…and…)
(Hmmmmm…maybe it is all my fault.)
(We got in bed at 1:30am.)
Anyway, the weekend was crazy. Saturday, I went on a run, caught up on a bit of studying in the morning, had a phone date with a friend from Oklahoma midday, and then had to get ready for the wedding of this cute couple…
The wedding was at 5pm and it was an outdoor ceremony and potluck dinner, which meant preparations needed to start around 1:30pm. We finally made it out the door at 4pm in our wedding attire, carrying our Thai Chicken Skewers, and began the 45 minute drive. To make a very long story short, we got very lost, got caught in a severe thunderstorm, arrived at the wedding site at 5:45pm, sat in the truck for 20 minutes (50 yards from the ceremony) waiting for the thunder, lightning, and heavy rain to stop, almost decided to just drive home, finally decided to venture out, heard the minister say “I now pronounce you…” as we approached the tent, jumped out of our skin at the thunderclap that immediately followed, deposited our food on the buffet table, and found a seat under the tent held up by huge metal (lightning) rods. It’s a wonder anyone survived this treacherous evening.
Not only did we survive, but we had a great time seeing friends from all over Massachusetts (lots of worlds collided at this wedding), and thoroughly enjoyed seeing Tommy and Kaitlyn in their first moments together as a married couple. The best part of the whole thing was the groom’s speech (“rebuttal” to the toasts) in which he gave all honor to Christ, and shared the gospel with everyone there.
Once home, the thunderstorms had reached our own town. Robert still needed to practice/preach through his sermon, I had much more studying to do, and the next morning would be the Sunday which is always the “biggest” day of our year with the return of students to the area.
It was a great morning of meeting tons of new people, singing, and hearing the gospel proclaimed from the first chapter of Jonah ~ the new sermons series of the semester.
We had a houseful of people over afterward for lunch, which morphed into meetings for upcoming small groups, which morphed into the making of videos to promote the men’s and women’s small groups. Molly and I made our debut here as future reporters on all things discipleship. We were both horrified at the idea, but managed to pull this off in about 10 minutes. (We couldn’t be outdone by the men’s group.) Retakes were done when certain teenagers decided to run in a circle around behind us.
By the time the last person left the house on Sunday afternoon, we were already an hour and a half late to the next event ~ a birthday/memorial party for our friend, Josh, who would have turned 33 that day. We miss him and it was nice to see others that do, too.
Robert dropped me off at home and was back up at the church for a 7pm meeting/sermon debrief, and I finished cleaning up the leftover dishes from lunch. It was 9:30 before I finished all the tasks that needed to be taken care of at home, but I tried to read a bit more in preparation for my quiz which had to be taken before 12 noon yesterday. I had to get up very early to finish reading and studying, since we also needed to get an early start with homeschool work that morning in order to make the Boston trip.
It was Quiz #3. Quizzes #1 and #2 both had problems, so everyone was given a 90%. This one happened to be over general or natural revelation (God’s creation) versus specific revelation (God’s Word), and the various views on natural revelation throughout church history. It was really interesting, and the Lord helped me to make 100% on the quiz. I could hardly believe it. Nine more quizzes to go and they are 25% of my final grade.
And now I’m blogging instead of studying, and it’s Tuesday, and I’m tired, and the Monday at noon deadline is already coming too quickly, and I haven’t purchased any groceries for the week. I have had an near emotional breakdown this morning, however, over an outline of the U.S. Constitution, and proper bibliography form for research papers that were due today for one child.
Oh, and I also shattered the platter upon which I was inverting a recently baked (7am grocery store trip/8am in the oven) cake for one of Kayla’s friend’s birthday’s today, which also rendered the beautiful, chocolate, gluten free ($$) cake inedible, because we didn’t want to lacerate anyone’s throat with sharp ceramic chards. This meant another trip to the grocery store for a store-bought cake and all of the accompaniments.
So, I have accomplished some things today, just not in the direction of anything very productive. So, now I just want to sit in my room and cry. (I was kind of attached to that platter. Used it constantly.)
Maybe that 1:30am bedtime wasn’t such a good idea after all…
(It really was, but I’m going to need a day of recovery, I think. And maybe another massage.)
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So sorry about the platter! So happy about the 100% on the quiz. Love, K&J