Visit with the Outlaws

This last week my parents came to visit! It was so nice to be with them. I haven't seen them in six months! (Seth wants to know if that's a long time?)

My family is an evangelist family. They travel and literally sing for their supper. If they get sick they go hungry. :) So, Monday they're on their way to my house. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. About 10AM on monday morning my throat started to hurt. It hurt REALLY BAD and every inch of me was SORE. It felt like I'd done 6 hours of Tae-bo and I hadn't done any! It was really weird. By 3PM my parents were only 4 hours away and I was sick. Really, really sick. It hurt to move my EYES! I knew that if I let on that I was sick then Mom and Dad would be afraid of getting it. I decided to put up a brave front and wash my hands a lot.

Mom and Dad got here at 7PM. It was so so so so so nice to see them!!! We grilled burgers on my back porch and then we all went to the cabin where my family was gonna stay. We talked and laughed and we fell into bed late. When I laid down I thought I was dying. I'd not been this sick in years.

The next day, Tuesday, Mom and I hit all the resale shops. I love to shop and I never get to do it, especially with my Mom. It is probably one of my very favorite things to do. I was so sick all I could think was "how many resale shops ARE there in Petoskey??" Even in my death-bed illness I managed to get some good deals though. Not even death can stop me from a good deal. *grin

We got home Tuesday night and I was not about to cook. Mom and Dad scrounged up a pretty good meal. (I'm an awful hostess.) No one knew I was sick yet. I hadn't let on at all which is a big deal because I want everyone to feel bad for me when I'm sick!

Wednesday was a work day. I had to clean some houses and Mom came along. She's trying to make some extra money for a special project she's working on. We cleaned from 9AM until 5PM. We BOTH thought we were dying by this time. We decided pizza would be a good option for supper. On the way home from work my voice started acting funny. It sounded like a was a 13 year old boy going through puberty! By 9PM Wednesday night I had totally lost my voice. There was no hiding it now. Mom broke out the hazmat suits she keeps under the seats of the van and I had to admit I'd been hiding my sickness. It was hard to convince her that I didn't have any evil intentions on getting them sick. No Mom, I haven't been sneaking into your room at night and breathing on you or licking your toothbrushes.

The funny thing is, six months ago when I last saw Mom SHE had totally lost HER voice. She had to whisper the entire 2 weeks I was with her. It seems like Mom and I can't have a visit that one of us can carry on a normal conversation.

Seth was able to put all of this into perspective for us. He said, "God knows just how much a man can handle. He takes care of it for me."

Save Me from Seth!!!

It was a cold and rainy day all day yesterday. Days like that can be depressing so Seth was like a kid in the candy store when a college guy from our church, Josh, called and asked Seth if he could take him to a job interview in Traverse City. That's a town about an hour from where we live. Seth loves to drive and he needed to get out of the house!

Just so you can imagine this better, Josh is 6 ft and 8in tall. He is dark-skinned. His Mom's white and his dad's black. Josh has black curly hair and brown eyes. We live in North Michigan. There aren't a lot of people that AREN'T white up here so he REALLY stands out because of his height and because of his color.

Our sister church in TC is having revival services all week and since Josh and Seth were in town they decided to go to the services. Seth waited for Josh to get done with his interview (which took FOREVER) and they headed to the church about 7:10PM. When they walked into the lobby the church was already singing. Seth and Josh didn't want to interrupt the song so they were peeking through the crack in the wooden double doors. The doors have 18" square glass windows in each door but if you stay in the middle of the doors the pastor on the platform can't see you so Josh and Seth were standing in the center.

All the church was sitting down and they were singing the song "Coming Home" the chorus goes "Coming home, coming home, never more to roam..."

So as Seth was peeking through the crack in the door he can hear the music but that's about it. Suddenly, in the middle of the song the pastor of the church (who was leading the music) walked to the edge of the platform so he can see through the door's glass into the lobby. He was looking very intense. He bent down a little to see better and He mouthed the words "Come on. Come on." and motioned with grand motions for Seth and Josh to come on in.

Josh and Seth are clowns, especially when they feel awkward. It's always awkward to walk into a service late and it's very awkward to have the pastor motion for you to come in when they're in the middle of a song. So, Seth and Josh both decided to be a ham. They bust through the double doors like they were saloon doors in an old movie. Josh was waving like Miss America and Seth had a grin on that any mother would be suspicious of. Everyone in the church turned around and was staring and the pastor just stopped. You ever been watching a movie that all the music and acting just comes to a crashing halt? That's what happened to Josh and Seth. As the doors were swinging closed behind them they realized that the pastor had not been talking to them. He was using the words of the song to speak to his people. He was saying "Come Home! Come Home! (Grand beckoning motions) It's never too late to come home. You can come to the altar and get things right! You don't have to wait for the preaching. Come Home"

Josh and Seth just froze. They became statues glued to the back doors. They didn't even breathe. The piano started up again and the pastor started singing again. Conviction moment over, thanks guys. The church finished singing all 20 verses and as soon as they piano stopped (where it was supposed to this time) Seth and Josh slunk into the back pew.

When Seth came home and told me what happened I was SO THANKFUL I had stayed home so Donnie could go to bed on time. Church is a dangerous place...if you go with Seth :)