A Sunny Sunday Afternoon

I went and did a crazy, wild, impetuous thing yesterday. I went to Omaha to see Sarah Palin. Lots of 'shoulda-woulda-coulda' involved in the day. Shoulda left earlier, wish I woulda got out of the car before we went to park, coulda gotten in the big room, but we didn't. Stood outside for 2 hours, went through secret service security, and were ushered into a giant hall with no chairs, and a screen on the wall. Yep, another hour plus went by until she arrived. We considered leaving, but then decided we were there so might as well ride it out. Had we been looking more closely we would have noticed a small platform with a microphone set up in the corner. Definitely could have made our way there early on. So, here we are, trying to be comfortable in our own little camp on the concrete floor, when a small shout erupts. There she was! Sarah Palin in the room with us. Fun to be there and hear her speak. Protester in the middle of the room started shouting and waving some sign I couldn't read. Her response, "My son and many other brave men and women are in Iraq right now defending your right to say what you want." Go Sarah!

Yep, my back hurts today from my lengthy association with concrete yesterday. Would I ignore my dirty house, my lack of groceries, and my need for a Sunday nap to do it again? In a heartbeat.

Circles

Circle of influence, circle of concern. The balance between these two concepts is heavy on my mind today.

Tonight she comes

Tonight is the first VP debate of this historic election. I was invited to an event for women. I'm looking forward to an enjoyable evening. What has me a bit concerned was the verbiage in the invitation. It said, "Do you love Sarah Palin?" Well, I'm not sure about that yet. "If you think she's energetic and entertaining..." What would those have to do with my determination if she's a viable candidate to be our second in command?

Yes, I'm excited that a woman has been selected as the nominee. I'm just not convinced yet that the shoe won't drop and the dream that so many seem to be clinging to won't shatter.

An invitation

In my mail was an invitation to a Pampered Chef party. Unfortunately for me, and for the hostess, there wasn't any information. No date, no time, no return address, not even who the demonstrator was supposed to be. I hope they had a grand time. Sad for me.

A month, really?

Wish I could back date entries so I wouldn't have to see just how big of a slacker I am. So much has happened in the last month. Where to begin?

We had Easton's "Happy to me!" on Labor Day weekend. We also enjoyed a visit from Kelsey and her boyfriend Brandon.

Miranda and her two darlings have moved in with us. She's in the process of ending her marriage so it looks like they'll be with us for a while. We're all getting settled and into a routine.

Jeff and I ran away from home. I spoke in O'Neill, Broken Bow, Burwell, and Springview NE. From there we continued our trip and spent 2 nights at McConaghy. Met my friend Kristen and her husband Todd at Gothenburg for a round of golf on the way back. Nebraska offers so much beauty. Just have to get off the interstate once in a while.

Today was a most interesting day. Actually it all came down to about an hour of interesting. Learned that Kelsey's relationship status on Facebook had changed and it looked like she and Brandon were no longer together. Meanwhile, I sent the neighbor girl to get the mail because Emory was sleeping in her car seat. As Logan was bringing the mail the elderly gentleman who lives on the corner came all the way to the end of the circle to see me. He said he had found a large grey cat under his bushes and had placed the cat in the trash and he wanted to know if that was okay since he was pretty sure the cat was mine. I told him I'd be down to identify the remains in a few minutes. Jeff called to say he was done at the golf course on the far side of town. That meant I had to load up the grandkids again and head out in the car. While I'm hurrying to change clothes, dreading the stop at the neighbors and whining to my friend on the phone about Kelsey and the dead cat, I notice that Oliver, the cat, is sound asleep in the living room. At the same time I get a text from Kelsey saying she and Brandon are fine, just took their status off facebook. Was very pleased to stop at the neighbors long enough to thank him for his thoughtfulness, but the cat is not mine.

Yep, that was my day.

The moments that make a lifetime

When our daughter Kelsey was 9 or 10 she insisted she wanted to be baptized. I wasn't convinced she fully understood the significance, so we kept putting her off. After the month-long mission trip to Asia she came home knowing she needed to follow the command of Christ to be baptized.

She and 59 other people, along with 1000 people from our church family, gathered on the east lawn of the church following the morning services for and hour of cheers and applause as people bowed in prayer and took the symbolic plunge into the water. I was touched at her devotion to Christ and her intense desire to be obedient.

I pray that she will never forget the day, I know I never will.

Olympic Gold!

A few Olympics ago I was under the misguided notion that the U.S.A. totally cleaned up. Every medal ceremony I saw featured the Star Spangled Banner and the red white and blue. Little did I know, through the magic of television we only get to see a tiny fraction of all the events and ceremonies that take place throughout the almost three weeks of competition. Silly, silly me.