Wow.  So, God gives strength when I’m weak.

1) I stayed in bed from Monday afternoon till Wednesday morning.  I think it helped. I’ll tell you what helped FOR SURE: Pay Per View!  I saw 4 blockbuster movies over those sick days, and for practically free.  It’s nice too because I could doze off and rewind or start the movie over or come back to it a few hours later. 

2) Jennene and I drove to Walnut Creek on Wednesday and attended the memorial service of Marilyn (our friends mom).  It was a GREAT service and her love and faithfulness to the LORD beamed out through ever facet of the service (from the kids talking, to the songs chosen, to the open mic).  It was super encouraging hearing about someone who really ran the race till the end! AND, it was a big reunion with people I had not seen in years and years and years.  Some of those people were former teachers of mine (grade school and high school).  I did alot of apologizing for my past bad behavior. Hey, I wasn’t saved back then.

3) Jennene and I drove to SCV on Friday afternoon.  About 2 hours into the trip, I hit a mental/physical wall.  I got exceptionally bored.  So, we played a game.  It was a graduated version of Taboo, requiring creativity on multiple levels (if you know me, you know I rarely play games by their original rules…we always modify them to make them more fun and conducive to the current environment).  Our minds were enaged and we laughed alot.  The time flew by and we were at home by 4:45pm!

4) Saturday morning 2 friends (Jennene and David)  and one aunt (Colleen) made our way out to Pomona to meet up with 2 more aunts and 3 more cousins to attend The Irish Festival.  It was not the same one as last year that Holly and I went to and this one was awesome!  My highlights were hanging out with family and friends, overpriced food that was mostly disgusting, music (!), sheepherding demonstrations, warfare education, daring David with $5 to drink a cup of Ranch and shockedly watching as he slammed it down, the incredibly complex and helpful book that I bought called ‘The New Penguin Atlas of Medieval History’ (I think I’m offiically old now), the bow n arrow face off that David and I had.  We each had 10 arrows and a coach…though i lost by 2 points,  it was pretty close and I was the only one who hit the bullseye (and 2x!). 

(photo: courtesy of JLM’s cell phone!)

All in all the festival was totally worth the drive, the money, the time.  On the way back, Colleen asked if we could make a stop and visit her former neighbor, Cathy, who is now 97 and in a home.  Colleen visits her every single day (when she’s out of town, her husband fills in for her).  It was cool to see Cathy again (I remember her from growing up).  And, it was really cool to see my aunt’s example of daily love! 
Another highlight was when I got home I had an email from an agent from a deal that died last week.  Their sellers changed their mind and will take my buyer’s offer!  We open escrow today! PTL!

5) Sunday: lost that hour for daylight savings, and my internal clock was so freaked out to miss my alarm and therefore miss our 7am call time for Worship Team, I woke up at 4:30am (thinking it was 5:30am).  I showered and got ready and realized it was only 5am.  So, I actually got about 2 hours sleep total. BLAST!

Additionally, it was also my first time really trying to sing.  Since I lost my voice in DC it’s been a gravel pit.  The update: still can’t sing anything that a female voice would sing (which is really great, as I sing almost all the female melody parts on WT…I bumped down an octave on almost every song on Sunday).  After church, a few of us hooked up with the Harveys, who were passing through town on their way home, for lunch at Stonefire.  After that, my plan was that I was going to get some work done for Monday and then have dinner with a friend and then collapse.  I think it’s funny how different God’s plans turned out to be.

We had lunch (which was fun), but the Harvs car was being naughty and they came back to my house while Ken got the car checked out.  Not many people are fixing transmissions on Sunday. 
So, the 1st plan was to stay at my house overnight and get the car fixed on Monday.  The 2nd plan was that I would go to dinner and then come home and drive Kristin and the kids home to Hanford and then come back while Ken spent the night at my house (to get the car fixed on Monday).  THAT is indeed what we did!  It was actually really fun (mostly due to Zach’s overtired existence) and Kristin and I got a LOT more alone time to ‘visit’.  The kids got to sleep in their own beds in Hanford and somehow the LORD allowed me to not crash on my drive home (I think I had some bizarre hallucinations-the lanes and lights and cars can really look like weird ghosts and such).  I slipped into my bed around 3am.  Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

So, it’s been a funny and adventurous week…and thankfully my car has been reliable (thanx, God)…since it’s the one that has clocked all the miles: WC, SCV, Pomona, SCV, Hanford, SCV! 
Looking back, I’m tired!