another interesting couple of days ...

yesterday, Edith and family (pedro/mario, jose gaspar, luis & magdalena and a couple of as-yet unidentified housemates) moved in across the street. this is a good thing. hopefully it will get them out of the 'corridor' where the rougher crowd runs -- the ones who dedicate saturdays and sundays to BEING drunk ... and get them sobered up and ... well ... clean. this afternoon we had a memorial service for vivian (the woman who owned and shared her house with them). there were about 8 or 9 people there, including edith and luis (her son) ... the rest were co-workers and neighbors and friends. it was small, but relaxed and ...

Holy.

i robed, and Leslie brought her (only) stole in and draped it over my shoulders ... don't think the color goes with the season, but that's okay ... we're not that strictly following the church year anyway ... well, we're FOLLOWING it, but not to that degree ... colors come into play for the decorations in the sanctuary and things like that ... usually, if i wear the robe, it 's JUS T the robe.

after the memorial service, i ran up to montross to meet one of the women of the association with her son-in-law and a refrigerator in the back of their pickup and unloaded it at the trailer of a couple of couples who were in need of one, and will soon be in need of a couple of full size beds and a couple of twin sized beds ... i've got the twin sized bed lined up for pickup tomorrow afternoon... it should fit in the van without too much trouble.

this evening, we hosted a game night for the 'college and career' aged class -- Leslie and Jay teach it together. we played balderdash. had a LOT of fun. then, about 9 pm i got a call from jose and patricia ... they'd been broken into again ... (had their baby boy on the 3rd of december, and about two weeks later these boys tried to break in, but jose managed to scare them off ... this time they were a little more intentional. brought a shotgun and a gun ... they initially scared them off, but when they (the robbers) realized that jose and his brother in law didn't have anything to fire back at them with, they came back -- jose peeked out his window, and they saw each other at the same time ... he just managed to tuck his head back inside before the shotgun shot took out the window he had stuck his head through ...

long story short, we have 6 guests sleeping downstairs. 5 adults and an almost two-month old precious baby boy. When the call came in, Kelly and Steve and Anne and Jay were still here. they offered to help do whatever needed doing, and helped us get the downstairs straightened up and cleaned up so that they could come in and not have to climb over toys and stuff to get to their beds and the bathroom.

interesting the way things work out. this afternoon i got a call from another couple who were looking for a house to rent, and whom i'd put in contact with a man from northern virginia who had a couple of properties to look at ... they ended up renting a house in montross -- newly renovated -- and from the look of it, almost historic -- small (two bedroom) -- but quaint looking ... will be looking around for some living room furniture for them. that same couple had first called me about an ad they'd seen about an apartment for rent for $500/month. it turned out to be too far down THIS way for them to really be interested in it ... originally they were going to meet the landlord this morning at 9, but decided yesterday that they were just going to concentrate on what they could find in westmoreland.

with this being the second break-in attempt for jose and patricia and company, they are ready to be out of the house TOMORROW. so i called the other man, the one with the apartment, and have set up a meeting with him and them at the apartment at 2:30 tomorrow afternoon. the catch is this. i have already told a woman who has a twin bed for the two couples and the two single men (where we dropped off the refridgerator this afternoon) that i would be by HER house between 2 & 3. I may give her a call to see if i can swing by there earlier -- around 1, as soon as i can get away from church, to pick up the bed, then do the meet at the apartment, THEN deliver the bed, THEN ...

oh yes ... leslie is going to be teaching an ESL class tomorrow afternoon at 4. the kids and i are going to irvington church to share supper with them ... and to sit in for a few minutes on their business meeting ... i have NO idea why john (the pastor) wants me there ... but i figure, if he wanted me to bring the whole family it wouldn't be for a raking over the coals for something ... right? :-)

did i mention Leslie starts back to classes at BTSR this coming wednesday, and will be driving into richmond on wednesdays and fridays ... and I'M going to be taking two intensives at Leland as well -- 4 weekends spread out from the end of february to the end of march ... (24-25th, then 10-11th, 17-18th, then 31-1st (march-april) that means i go up on a thursday evening, attend class all day friday and all day saturday, do anticipatory reading and papers as needed both before, between and after ... then return ... in this case a month later for the first intensive (preaching) and the next week (for the christianity and culture class in the middle of march) ...

oh ... did i mention we will be presenting the RBA model at the 21-c conference at the beginning of february -- in fact --- NEXT SATURDAY OMG!!!! so i need to get the power point queen to working on that ... :-) or i guess i could ... but i'll be driving into richmond on thursday evening to be there for the conference to start on Friday morning --- bright and early.

that friday is also the court date for marie ... the young woman who landed her car in the front yard of the church last saturday ... hmmmm ... that makes two fairly exciting saturdays in a row!

life in the country ... so ... idyllic ...

yeah RIGHT!

:-)

one final note ... i don't have to prepare a message for tomorrow -- it's men's day at jerusalem!!! i DO, however, have to get up at O'dark thirty and get over to the fellowship hall to start the coffee percolating ... we're having a men's breakfast at 7:30 ... eek.

not that there's anything WRONG with that ... :-)

grace & peace