August 8 with Emma

Sunday:  Last night, after we dropped Kaity back home to Jesse, Emma and I came here and uploaded pictures, edited them, and just hung out together until about 10pm. We went to bed early, because we were anticipating serving children during second service at Calvary. Oh my word--there were TWENTY--yes--20 children in our room. Some faces were familiar from last week but there were a few new kiddos as well [Capri, Jonah, Brinleigh, etc.]. It was crazy busy. There were five adults for the 20 children. We thought we would be okay, but as the time went on, the kids just got wilder and wilder. One of the new faces was quite an aggressive little guy that was ... completely out of control! Yikes. We were pretty exhausted by the time class had ended. Emma and I came home here, ate some tacos, and then took a quick nap!

I had asked Dylan and Kelly if it was okay to stop by today to give Shane his birthday card/gift. We decided 2:00 would be a good time--so Emma and I drove over and stayed for about 40 minutes or so. The little kids were glad to see us. They are SO funny.

They had been building "houses" in their front room out of cardboard boxes. Erin was a little stressed that her roof was falling off, so she requested some tape and went to work at repairing it.

The roof never got satisfactorily repaired. Erin wanted to do it herself ...

The kids begged me to go to their basement to play for a few minutes, so I did. Here is Erin jumping off a coffee table (the glass top is gone) onto their mini-trampoline. I nearly had a heart attack.

The kids tell me they do this all of the time--no problem! I considered running it by Dylan and Kelly--but they looked so tired today! I'm sure they are aware of this anyway ... and it isn't like they don't CARE ... it's just that they have so much going on at the same time.

Emma fell asleep as we were driving back to my house, so when we arrived, she plopped down on the couch and slept for another hour. I grabbed a book and read for awhile and then edited some more pictures.

We did watch the final movie in the Harry Potter's series. I really like so many of the characters in these stories:  Scarry (Harry), Ron, Hermoine, Neville, many of the "professors" ... but I truly found the story line too dark. I don't know how the author was able to endure so much darkness in these seven novels. I had intended to read all seven books, but I've decided against it. I am hindered by the simple truth that God says He is against magic of all kinds. The verse that convicts me every time is this one from Revelation 22.14:  

"Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood." 

It's not that "magic arts" are more evil than the other things mentioned--but I've been aware what God thinks of those things for a very long time and have sought to obey Him about them. "Magic arts" is a different matter altogether. It frightens me. I'm glad that the author of the Harry Potter books made a really STRONG distinction between good and evil--but magic was used by both sides all throughout the stories. SO. I am glad we are finished watching the series. I don't regret watching them. It's good to know what they are about. Brendan loves Harry Potter too. And this is the first time I have ever heard Emma rave about any novel whatsoever. She read and/or listened to the entire seven books. I'm glad I have been introduced to the stories and characters that so grabbed her imagination and attention.

We had such a nice Sunday. It was too humid and hot to do anything but either SWIM or stay somewhere inside that was cooler than outside. We just stayed here and relaxed today. I think it was a good decision. I'm so thankful I have this little place where Emma can come to just get away, where I can "take care of" and love her.

PS  Please, Lord, will you find a place very soon that Emma can rent that is quiet and safe and pretty?