The Events of Sunday, February 27, 2011

                As is typical lately, I awoke way too early. It was around 4:00, so I wandered downstairs, to my old chair, by my old desk, in my old study, and had a lovely time of prayer and Bible study. During that time, I felt like God was prompting me to go to church and help with setup. Before departing on this trip, I volunteered every fourth Sunday, and I found it an excellent opportunity for both service and friendship. So, I drove in our teeny weeny Toyota (after eight months in the RV, it seems pretty small) to find that I recognized everyone on today’s setup team: Mark Shijo, Paul Marshall, and Ray Pietersen. It was fun to surprise them, share some stories, and help them finish their task in record time.

                I drove home and made breakfast for the family: bacon and waffles. What a joy to work at a stove that does not require me to bend over to flip the bacon! And a waffle iron—what a great invention!  Ah, the simple pleasures of life. Then we all got showered and dressed and drove the big RV to church. We thought that, by parking the RV in the church parking lot, we would alert friends that we were back in town. And it worked! We could not even leave the parking lot before Tom Henry and Wendy Van Vorhis and Betsy Chick and others came over to hug and welcome us home.

                Pastor Dave spoke about reconciliation, using the example of Jacob and Esau, the estranged twins, from Genesis 25 to 32. There were plenty of nodding heads in our row as we heard how family members sometimes get on each others’ nerves and that friction in the family seems to affect us more deeply than other relationships. Yes indeed, we have had many opportunities to experience conflict over these past eight months. And yes, reconciliation is a difficult but healing process.

                After church, we had fun conversations and even gave some of Abby’s friends a quick tour of the RV. Then we headed home and changed into our work clothes. Our first task was to finish emptying the RV. Lindsey was on the RV end, Pam and Caitlin were in the house, and Ben, Abby and I were couriers. We finished unloading about 12:30 and stopped for lunch. Newly nourished, we spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning the outside of the RV. While cleaning, we enjoyed spontaneous drop-in visits from Grandpa John and Grandma Joanne (Pam’s parents); from the Huuns (friends from swimming and school); and from the Nichols (neighbors diagonally across the street). Ben and I swabbed the top of the RV while the ladies cleaned the front, back, and sides. It was a beautiful, cool, clear day, which helped us keep a positive attitude. We spent the whole afternoon washing, removing spots, drying and waxing. When finished, the white RV sparkled like a jewel. I am proud of the hard work the kids invested in this job.

                As a reward for a job well done, we enjoyed dinner and a movie. Since Pam had received “South Pacific” on DVD for her birthday, that was our happy choice tonight. Wow, after a hard afternoon of work, a big meal, the comfortable sofa pillows and the dark room: no wonder I fell asleep!