Jesse to the Rescue

There is a line in Oliver North's autobiography where he says something like, "I can get a whole ship full of Marines ready and off on time, but I can't get my family to church on time. I know how he feels. Well, maybe not about the Marines, but Sunday mornings can be tough. A friend of mine once said, "Isn't it funny how Satan comes and lays on around on your couch on Sunday mornings and just laughs at you." Arguments break out over the bathroom, socks go missing, something is spilled on your clothes, etc. Murphy's Law seems to really kick in on Sundays - at least around my house. When you are all dressed up and heading out the door, something will go wrong. It could be that a can of spray paint falls and explodes in your living room, the dog throws up on the carpet, or the cows are in the road. Most of the time, it is just the little things that cause tension and unrest, but by the time you get off to church, everyone is in a rotten mood and really needing a good Bible lesson. Maybe that is why our little church does so much singing before the lesson - to calm everyone and put them in the right spirit.

We had GBN1 Saturday night and Sunday morning. Usually, Jes, Toby, and I have Sunday mornings down pretty well and we stay out of each other's way and get to church on time. But yesterday was not so smooth. GBN1 woke up moving and talking. She was ready to play with the barn cats and maybe take a swim in the new kiddie pool - none of which did we have time for. She was just a busy girl all morning long. One of us had to be watching her every minute or else she was out the door and gone. It probably was not really so bad, but it had been a while since I got myself and a three year old ready for church. Busy Lizzie is a handful sometimes.

As we were loading up the car (amazing what all has to go to church with us when a baby is involved), I mentioned to Toby that the "clip" on the car-seat was missing. It was needed to secure the child seat to the car seat. He went out to look for it, but could not find it. He came back in to quiz me on what it looked liked exactly. I described it again. He said, "Oh, a buckle" as if "clip" was the wrong word. I said, "Whatever." Then we both went to look for it, but did not find it. Keep in mind that it was about 90 degrees with 100% humidity, and we were trying to get GBN1 in her seat, the car loaded, and off to church on time. We did it, but tension in the car was palpable. It is a good thing we had eight miles to "get over it". Then as if he was just stuck on finding the car-seat buckle, Toby said, "So, this buckle is silver?" In my most testy voice I answered, "I don't remember; it could be gold, but it was metal." All was quite for a minute. Then from the back seat Jesse says, "Could it have been brass?" I started laughing right after I said, "Hey, I'm coming over this seat and I'm going to deal with you now!" We were all okay after that. I took this picture in the parking lot to prove that we were alive and smiling at church.

Jesse and Cara went skydiving yesterday. Jes took this picture of Cara. Cara is one of my art students. She is tall and slim and is a darn good country music singer - just a talented young lady. The jump-guide, or whatever they call the guy, took the picture of Jesse. He took another picture, but he fell over backwards in the plane. He barely caught Jesse in that picture. Her eyes are really big and she is laughing. Both girls jumped and did well. Jesse landed on her feet again, but the chute picked her up and dropped her on her backside before she could gather it up. Sounds like a perfect landing to me.