Pardon Our Dust We Are Open

That was on the sign at the McDonald's I drove by on my way to work today, and I presume that refers to the construction going on inside and not what's getting on the food! Tee hee hee. Ok, let me work my way forward from last Thursday, the first night last week that Sarah and Jeffrey spent the night over at my in-laws Robert and Sharon's house. Sarah had packed for three nights and Jeffrey for two because Sarah waned to help with preparations for their cousin/our niece Breanna's baby shower on Sunday!


The kids had to stay over because Martha and I signed up as delegates to the Western North Dakota for the third year running. This year's meeting was in Bismarck at the Ramkota Hotel and I would say the memorable thing about it was neither the assembly so much -- parts of it dragged (drug?) -- nor the patting of each other's backs over how much the ELCA raised to alleviate world hunger this past year (figure given after all was collected $95,482) nor even the food (good and plenty of it) was our room.


Our door was right in front of the main vent, so the AC was blasting!


And of course we approved an operating budget for the coming year, a revised compensation for adjusted (rostered, I mean rostered) leaders, and even fit several Bible studies in between the strangling of the cats. OK DAVID STOP NOW, YOU'RE GETTING NASTY. Please, while I understand we want to have a good time as well as accomplish the business of our synod (synod is from a Greek word meaning "coming together") and edify one another and build each other up ... it was just hard to see a lot of edifying of [Christian] believers when I was there.


But that is my opinion.


I'll keep my mouth shut on how this ended. I will admit having the presiding bishop softly rebuke us because we were not willing to vote yes on amending parliamentary procedure rules to admit a statute that repudiates the "Doctrine of Discovery" (please look it up) which we had no hand in making -- so how can we repudiate what isn't ours? -- was a bitter pill to try to swallow, but overall it was a fun weekend for Martha and I. An extended date for us, if you will.


I just ask if you've got a complaint about someone else's driving, complain to them and not me!


Sunday we had church, Sunday I read the lesson -- and yes, the irony that our Old Testament lesson was about King DAVID and Nathan's confronting him about having Bathsheba's husband Uriah killed to cover his own sin was not lost on me -- Sunday Martha, Jeffrey (we'd picked him up after we got back into Minot Saturday afternoon), and I got out to my in-laws' house and settled down with the family to enjoy the eats at Breanna's baby shower and also see her due next month opening the various gifts all there --and some who couldn't be there -- had gotten for her and little Avery.


Of course there were clothes, many Many MANY clothes. At the garage sale we went to the previous weekend we got Breanna three bags of baby clothes and we also bought an assembled changing table. You know, a changing table, to lay Avery on when she needs to be changed. Which from what I recall of Sarah and Jeffrey and I had the lion's share of that duty ... actually wasn't excessive. Though I will admit I DON'T miss emptying one of those Diaper Genies with twenty to thirty diapers per garbage bag! Yuck!


Monday, wake up, breakfast, work, lunch, work, dinner, and home with the younglings. Martha came later as it was her Burger King work night. This morning was -- and still is, as I finish this post, about 1340 hours CST -- also our day to vote on local elections and party primaries and Martha picked me and the kids up so we could go vote at Christ Lutheran right across from Longfellow. And the kids got a math challenge as I deposited ballot 84 into one of the tabulating machines, how many votes total had been cast so far? Jeffrey didn't take long to total it up.


I just want the kids when it matters to speak up -- I can't do all their ordering for them.


David