Sunday, July 15, 2012

W'apow mu e,

This has been a day where I think I would have been better off to just have canceled the day all together!

It started off by an attempt to make biscuits for breakfast.  I was not trying to do anything fancy, just some plane old biscuits!  The gas bottle ran out while I was preheating the oven.  I did not think to check on that.  So, I put the pan in the oven not realizing it was not even lit.  I came back to check on the biscuits and they were just a raw as anything.  Well, that shot our morning into overdrive.  I thought that if I just went ahead and got the kids dressed for church then we could just eat breakfast and run out the door just in time to make it to church.  Fat chance!  Hot chocolate all over the church clothes!  (Soaked right through the towels I tied around their necks!)  

I was frustrated!  We got out the door to go to church ten minutes late and what do you know, the guard was not there!  I called him and he said, "I am on my way coming."  That phrase, I have learned from experience, is just a general term that people use.  It could mean that they are just down the road and they are really on their way, or it could mean that I woke them up with my phone call and they are going to get out of bed, brush their teeth, take a shower, go to a restaurant and eat breakfast and then try to find a taxi to bring them out here!  We got to church at 08:59 and church starts at 09:00!  

We had a good day at church with several visitors!  Even with the rain pouring down!  (Africans hate the rain and one little rainstorm can keep them inside all day!)  After the sermon this morning we had several people make decisions and every one had a good spirit.  I was thinking to myself that I sure was glad that church does not depend on how happy I am or how smooth my morning has gone or not gone.

I invited Dan to come eat lunch with us this afternoon.  He rode home with us and I had him type some things in Fante for me while I made lunch.  We were going to have chicken sandwiches and french fries.  Lo has this nice electric deep fat fryer and I was going to make everything in that.  As soon as I dropped the first batch of fries in the oil the power went off.  So I had to poor the hot oil, it was the only oil I had, into a pan so I could fry the stuff on the stove top.  I burnt my hand, not bad, but enough to make my bad attitude from before church come rushing right back.  

Dan left and I put the kids down for a nap.  I went to the living room and I was reading one of my favorite stories, "The Leopard of Rudraparyag" by Jim Corbett.  Bonnie came and told me that there was a swimming pool in the office.  I said, "WHAT?"  Sure enough a valve had broken in the bathroom and flooded the house.  I got the valve to shut off and stopped the leak!  While I was fixing the leak, I forgot that my phone was in my shirt pocket and it fell into the toilet!  I think that it is ruined, I hope not.  

The boys heard my laminating and came running.  Five hours and twenty-five buckets of water later, we had the mess mostly cleaned up.  Some games that were bottom of the closet in the office were soaked and five boxes of   Bibles that were in the office have some damage, but we got it all moved where they can dry.  The boys were a big help and Bonnie was upset that they were helping and she felt like she was getting ignored.  I had her clean her room, and the boys room and the living room.  The boys were using the mops and I was ringing them out and dumping the buckets.  

As soon as we were finished with the emergency Bonnie said, "Well dad, what's for supper?"  I told her that I was going to get right on that.

Well, one more day in the books!  Lo will be here one week from today and from where I sit in my formerly flooded office, this week can't go by quick enough.

Oh, and let me tell you, I have ended the day in fairly good spirits and I am thankful for my kids and how good they were today.  I am even more thankful that my wife is in  Idaho enjoying a good time with her brother and sisters.  I have not got to talk to her much today because the internet has not been working very well.  (I just hope it works good enough to send this e-mail.)  I don't want anyone to think that I am complaining, but this is a daily e-mail and I am just telling you what happened today.  I sure hope tomorrow is a better one!

Nantsew yie!

Joe, Lo (in absence) , Gil, DJ, and Boo