Happy Birthday Dalyce!

Her name's pronounced "Dallas". I just found out this morning and as her mom posted a photo of her in full makeup from the Hansel and Gretel skating show; I hope she does not object to my using it today. Besides that, I've learned there's a local couple subscribing to the Minot Daily News that Martha and I deliver celebrating their sixty-second wedding anniversary today! Means they've been married since 1952, and for Martha and I to reach that goal we're looking at July 12, 2065, a full half-century after a Bible analyst of my acquaintance is predicting the rapture to happen ... but I digress.

Anyway, Dallas ... correction, Dalyce has been so helpful to me in Parable Playhouse, the Sunday school class we teach (I say WE even though I write the script for the play and by and large arrange the puppets and ride crowd control on the kids -- ok, that needs improvement) that I believe it wouldn't work half as well without her there. As a Confirmation student at Bethany, you can pretty much choose where you'll help out during the church year in Sunday school subject to availability, and to not be anyone's last choice makes it worthwhile to me. I like appreciation too.

Dalyce has a great imagination, and I so relate to that. I remember one year when she was a student in class we'd just finished the puppet play about The Good Samaritan; we had some extra time and Dalyce suggested filling it with us re-acting the story with the animal puppets. All I remember of that is that the fox was the Samaritan and a chicken was the beaten one ... it was when Krista was still my helper with Parable Playhouse, so a couple of years ago at least. Considering how foxes and chickens view each other -- at least Jews didn't try to eat Samaritans, they just wouldn't eat WITH them!

Or pretty much associate with them in any way shape or form -- it went back to Samaritans being the descendants of Israelites crossbreeding with peoples from other parts of the Assyrian Empire, but again I digress. If it sounds like I'm just waxing poetic about how ... PROUD I am of a special young person I know, then yes, yes I am today. Once in a while, these posts don't have to be about me, though you could argue that most Fridays are not (those are the Ensigns, devotionals that I write and post that sometimes are what I need too).

David