Practicing Hospitality, Still Recovering, Still Translating, Skip Day, Trip to Indiana, Bought Tickets!

Practicing Hospitality. I'm kind of a "enjoy being by myself kind of a person" married to a "enjoy being with other people" kind of a person. She has the gift of hospitality, I do not! We have practiced hospitality frequently in the far past, not so much in the recent past, and are finding a compromise. Over the past week and a half, however, we have done quite a bit.

Easter Sunday we had our extended family (Charissa & Steve), my Mom, my sister Jacque and her family, and Kristy and Dan. Kristy is kind of a surrogate daughter, and Dan is her fiance.

Tuesday night we had a celebration party (cookout) with Costa Rican seasoned steak with my Costa Rican Week of Evangelism team. The spouses of two of the members made it.

Thursday night we had a celebration cookout with our 40 Days of Purpose small group. Not all the members made it, but we enjoyed it just the same.

Sunday we had our own family with Rose's brother, Steve, sister-in-law Jean, nephew Scott, Scott's wife Lyndsey, and their baby, Jordan. Scott and Lyndsey live in Webb City, and Steve and Jean were visiting from the Phoenix area.

I may not be all for initiating events like that, and I may drag my feet a little, but when you get me out of my "I enjoy being by myself" mode, I do enjoy social interaction. So all of that has been good!

Still Recovering. I don't remember a time in recent history when I have been sickly for this long. I have not gone to the doctor, and feel much better (!!!) than I did, but I am not completely over this cold. I went to the gym to workout yesterday (first time since I get sick), and did all right there. I guess my odyssey in Costa Rica really depleted my defenses. You could pray for me. I would appreciate it.

Still Translating. I continue to work with Hispanics in the area. Last week I began (Wednesday afternoon--between two cookouts) a 10-session class with a man with two DWI offenses. Normally I haven't done anything that prolonged. I will dedicate at least two hours translation for him during 10 separate sessions over the next 5 weeks (normally on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon). We will skip the session tonight, because I started a 10 hour (on two successive nights) class with another gentleman last night. Because I was translating for him, I missed my Perspectives class (Chris DeWelt subbed for me).

Skip Day. Tomorrow is Skip Day! Glory Hallelujah! I don't have to teach tomorrow. There will be fun activities in the park near our campus. My classes can afford it. We kind of plan on one in the spring semester each year. The rumor has been floating around the campus for the past week and a half. It was announced at the end of our chapel service today. Rose will go to the park for the lunch, then go to work at 12:00. I'll eat with her, then take off for Ozark Center, to do an alcohol screening for still another hispanic who called me today. I'm not sure when that class will need to start.

Trip to Indiana. Because of our Skip Day, it just worked out that Friday will be a test day in all three of my classes. I will leave the tests to be proctored by others, as Rose and I will leave for Indiana. We will spend Friday night in Greenfield with her sister Patty. Saturday will be a family day there, and I think we'll have an extended family meal somewhere there on Saturday night (she has two brothers that also live in the Indianapolis area). I will speak at the Keystone Christian Church in Indianapolis on Sunday morning, before returning to Joplin. With the test day in all three of my classes, I think I can even take Kim out to breakfast before taking off for Indiana. Friday will be her 21st birthday!

Bought Tickets. Well, the Cubbies are 4 games above .500, which is probably not bad, since the Ace pitchers (Prior and Wood) are on the Disabled List, along with MVP candidate, Derrek Lee. The expected ace of the pitching staff would be Carlos Zambrano, who has pitched well, but who is winless so far this season. The bright spot in the rotation is 40-year old, future Hall of Famer, Greg Maddux, who is 4-0 in his first four starts for the first time in his career, with a baffling 0.99 ERA. I watched his masterful domination of the Cardinals on Sunday. Tony LaRussa and the Cardinal batters asked the umpire to check Maddux's balls numerous times for banned substances (always without finding any evidence of cheating). I watched as the radar gun topped out at about 85 mph for his fastball (not all that fast). Anyway, I will be attending a Perspectives Course Coordinator Workshop in Kansas City on June 2-3. Rose and I will make it a mini-getaway. Instead of staying in Kansas City on Saturday night, we'll rush across I-70 to St. Louis, because I got two excellent tickets to the Cubs/Cardinals game on June 4. I got a room near the St. Louis airport on Hotwire, so we'll probably attend Harvester Christian Church in St. Charles before heading down to the new Busch Stadium. Hopefully we'll watch the Cubbies dominate the Redbirds once again (last year we got to 4 Cubs/Cardinals game, and so the Cubs win each time [3 in St. Louis and 1 in Chicago--This is probably our only game for 2006--until the World Series]). One can dream, right?

That's enough randomnity for now. May the LORD bless and keep each one of you!

DGF