Blessings

That's over.

This afternoon our prayernet sent out a list of prayer requests. Next to last was Carolyn's sister Nancy needs our prayers. WHAT? I'd just seen Janis an hour before and nothing was said about Nancy being sick or hurt. Saw Daddy yesterday. Nothing. Now I knew Nancy had been at youth camp all week, and she has always been an accident waiting to happen, so I wouldn't have been surprised at all if she'd broken her leg or something. But SURELY someone would have called.

So I called Nancy. "What's wrong with you?" "Nothing, what's wrong with YOU?" And I told her about the prayer request. Immediately we both said, "This smells of Penny." I said I'd call Sue, who heads up our prayernet, to find out what had happened.

Poor Sue. She's been trapped by Penny before and said she'd learned her lesson. This time, however, it was a little more complicated. Someone else, Ruth, had shared the prayer request during Sunday School. Another person even said something about Nancy being dead. Oh my! This was getting worse by the second. Anyway, the source of the information given to Ruth was ... you got it ... Penny.

And this wasn't an isolated incident ... in fact, it was the third in less than 2 weeks. Time to put on the brakes and bring this to a screeching halt before it snowballs out of control again. So I emailed both our pastor and minister of music and told them of the 3 incidents AND reminded them that her parents had agreed to baby-sit her at all times at church. Obviously they aren't holding up their end of the bargain. I KNOW they're not. I've seen Penny by herself too many times lately. In fact, last Sunday morning she was in the choir room without a parent and she was wound up tighter than Dick's hat band. She kept on and on and on to and about me until I was about ready to scream and/or leave the room. Actually, the thought of inflicting bodily harm actually crossed my mind momentarily. But instead I told her she needed to calm down. She just got worse and finally the organist also corrected her and told her to calm down. We wasted our breath.

I've said it a hundred times: The girl needs to be medicated and/or in a group home. She has no life and does her best to destroy mine. I've thought about an order of protection. It's that serious.

Another puzzling thing happened today. Last weekend we went to a birthday party. A few church folks there, but the honoree was the daughter of some close friends of ours and most of the attendees were much younger. Most of the guests were neighbors and childhood friends of the birthday girl. And several of the guests had brought along coolers of beer. Of course we didn't drink, and I wasn't crazy about the idea of the beer because of the young kids around. Not my house. Not my call.

But today at church, actually after the worship service when I was sitting around waiting for Ed (sometimes he think he has to close down the house), one young adult single father came up and sat down next to me. I would say he's more of an acquaintance than a friend, but he seems like a nice man. He's raising a teenaged daughter and young son by himself. We've been around him at a couple of home worship celebrations. Anyway, Neil said, "There's something I need for you to know. Last week at that party (he attended the birthday party too) I had a couple of drinks. I don't ordinarily do that, and I wanted you to know that. I don't want to disappoint you."

I was shocked. Did it really matter to Neil what I think? Or did he think I'm judgmental? I wasn't sure. Still not. Caught me so off guard that I wasn't sure how to respond. I told him I didn't think any less of him because he drank a beer ... that it is his business. However, if he'd been drunk, that would have been a different matter. Of course he wasn't drunk that night. No one was. But he seemed so relieved that I wasn't angry with him or wasn't going to rat him out. Puzzling to me.

OK, on to bigger and better things. We played handbells today in both services. Nearly perfect. I have it on a CD and wish I could figure out how to attach it here so you could listen if you wanted to. If anyone knows how, please bring me up to speed. The choir sang "Were It Not for Grace," one of my all-time favorite anthems. I can't get the song out of my head this afternoon. The chorus goes like this:

Were it not for grace, I don't know where I would be.

Wandering down some pointless road to nowhere,

With my salvation up to me.

I know how that would go

The battles I would face.

Forever running, but losing the race,

Were it not for grace.

Powerful stuff.

After church we came home, grabbed a BLT (marvelous) and went to the pool. Chris and Jay came with us. Ran into Janis and Roger (my sister) there too. We had a blast. All too soon it was time to go, and Jay was NOT happy. He cried and cried to come to Mawmaw's house. Broke my heart. Finally got him calmed down, but he was inconsolable for a good while. That boy loves his Mawmaw and Pap. Pray for him next week. He starts camp tomorrow ... a day camp for autistic children. Better pray for the counselors too.

Came home and washed my nasty car and pressure washed some outdoor furniture and cushions. Put some chicken on to marinate for supper. I fed Ed sandwiches for supper last night and lunch today. He might be looking for a new cook if I keep that up much longer.