This afternoon an elderly woman at the grocery store (H.E.B.! Tortillas made in the store!) stopped to admire the boys, commenting on their superior cuteness (surely she said that - I can't quite remember), then left us with,
"I hope you have them in Sunday School, Dear."
"Oh yes, m'am. Thank you."
"Well, I'll be over at Hyde Park Baptist, and you are welcome at any time."
"Thank you very much. We're members at Redeemer Presbyterian."
"Well, it doesn't matter the name of the building, just that we all love Jesus."
Driving home I was reminded that although we're back in Texas, we are in Austin, Texas, when I spied the bumper sticker, Cheney, Satan '08.
Other scenes from our first week back:
- Sunday night greeted by friend Kevin who helped unload the minivan after a great trip down (highlight - stopped in Waco & had homemade ice cream with Simone, David & little David)
- Heather, the college daughter of the family we're housesitting for, was here until today. Jackson kept calling her "Mr. Feathers".
- Tuesday night Laurel brought dinner & delivered a cowboy hat/sheriff badge/handcuffs from Aunt Bethany. He loves it all, Bethany!
- Wednesday re-met up with our old playgroup buddies.
- Jackson looks like he has chickenpox, he has so many mosquito bites on his body (in the car today every time we stopped at a red light he wanted me to scratch the spots he couldn't get to)
- Harry is working really hard on crawling. Not too close, but he's giving it a go.
- Tonight Jackson had wet feet from playing in the sprinklers and kept slipping on the tile floor. Though this visibly hurt, he kept asking, "Is that funny?" with a strained laugh. Oh, if it could just be funny maybe it wouldn't hurt, seemed to be his look, although he did genuinely seemed to think it was funny; we explained to him that this is called "slapstick".
Tomorrow night friends are coming for dinner and Saturday night Redeemer friends are having a Welcome Back potluck for us. Even with all that's going on, I'm feeling the loneliness of a "new" place and anxious to feel more settled. Matthew is working like crazy on summer Latin class, but we're hoping it'll slow down as the building blocks are laid. Welcome back to us!
Come on! You're kidding about that first conversation at the grocery store, right?
ReplyDeleteCrazy... I cannot imagine that conversation ever occurring anywhere I've lived (L. A., no way... Minneapolis? hardly...).
Wow, regional differences are really amazing.
I'm not kidding, and the funny thing is. . . it only seemed odd to me after being away from the south for awhile. That is certainly not the first of those type conversations I've had.
ReplyDeleteBenjamin really misses Jackson, Ruthie. He keeps asking us, "Where Jackson go?" For the first half hour he seemed to enjoy playing without competition, but I think being the gleeful owner of all Big Bill and Essie's toys has lost it's shine.
ReplyDeleteCrawling?!?! Wow! I can't tell you how many times the boys have asked if we are going to Jackson's house in just the last week alone. You guys are sorely missed and that plan for Italy next summer is sounding more and more appealing.
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