One Week Down!!!

PHEWWW!!!

Man, i'm feeling wasted. I've had a tough week. It's about as bad as i thought it would be. This week has been stressful and not the best. The beginning was worse and by the end it was much better. We got one boxcar unloaded and most of the second is done. A semi truck came in which was loaded with some sketchy pallets and then more stuff was hand loaded on top. What a mess. All this cargo is taking up tons of room in our warehouses and yard. I wish i had a digital camera so i could show you what it looks like. The warehouse guys have taken about a month to make room and get things looking nice. In this week, i've been able to set them back to where things are worse than before. It is awesome that God is bringing in tons of good stuff, but it makes it a little hectic when trying to find a place for it all.

It was Tuesday evening, just at the close of the work day that i sorta took some stuff out on Dess. Well, i guess i didn't really do anything, i more just closed off altogether. I turned in on myself. It was after 5pm when Dess came by. She was happy to see me and wanted to be near me. I was in a purposeful frame of mind. I still more stuff to do and wanted to get it done as soon as possible. Being so focused on my work, i wasn't giving Dess the attention she deserved. So she bailed and went and got cleaned up with me. We were going out for dinner that night. On the drive we had a few 'words' with one another. Then it got real silent. Dess finally started laughing to break the ice. That got me looking out again and we were able to have a pleasant evening.

The dinner we had was at the house of an older couple from church. We had planned on having a big dinner on Thursday which was to be held at their house, but which Dess and i were going to be cooking. 16 people were supposed to show up. So we were invited to dinner a few days early to check out their house and where we'd be cooking. We were sorta getting an idea of what to expect. This couple is great. The husband, Lohren, is 87 years old. His wife Nancy (who's age i won't disclose because i'm not sure exactly what her age is) has been widowed twice after 20 years of marriage both times. Lohren is her 3rd husband. They are an amazing couple who are pretty good opposites to each other. Nancy is loud and boisterous. She speaks her mind (without thinking first) and is funny. She teases me about the necklace that my sister Allison gave me. She's a real fireball. Lohren is quiet and meek. He's pensive and very serious. He's got a good sense of humor but it's way more dry than Nancy's. He was a physician for all his life and is a meticulous man. The two of them together make quite a pair. Nancy's personality has a tendancy to dwarf Lohren's. So the four of us got together to plan our meal.

Dess had decided to make manicotti as the main dish. Salad was to be the side with bread. Ice tea was to be the drink of the meal, while Martinelli's Sparkling Cider was be served beforehand while we were conversing. A 'dump' cake was Dess' choice for dessert. Right after work on Thursday evening Dess and i got cleaned up and raced to Nancy and Lohren's house. Nancy had already boiled the noodles, so I began preparing the stuffing for the noodles. Cottage cheese and mozzerella cheese were mixed together. Dess forgot the Miracle Whip, so we added mayonaise instead. Dess worked on the dessert. A #10 can of pineapple was upended and then 2 cake mixes were sprinkled on top. Dump cake is ready in no time flat. Nancy prepared the salad while we were doing all this. From there the stuffing commenced. It is a hands on affair with Dess. She gets her hands in the white cheesy stuffing and crams it into those shells like there's no tomorrow. I started browning some ground beef for the tomato sauce. After the noodles were crammed they were covered with Ragu's chunky spaghetti sauce. The two huge pans of manicotti were placed in the oven, then we waited.

It was an interesting evening because for some reason, as the guests appeared they split up by gender. Males in one room, females in the other. So while we waited for the manicotti to bake we sat in our gender exclusive groups and talked about whatever came to mind. The men spoke of such things as socialized health care, possums as pets, deer that run into the sides of cars, computers and technology and other manly topics. Who knows what the women talked about. It seemed like they mostly cackled. Their laughing came in torrents.

The meal itself was a huge success. Dess had outdone herself again. We only ate one pan of manicotti and we still had enough ingredients left over to make another one. But it was great because people were able to take home leftovers. It made for a late night, but it was good to be able to see these people in a setting outside of church. We are interested in deepening relationships and getting closer to people. It's just hard to do at times when everyone has busy schedules and we're pretty busy too. It just helped make the end of the week that much better.

Saturday afternoon we enjoyed some tennis and saw some friends who used to volunteer with us. What a pleasant day!

Life is going well. We're still tired, but i hope that next week won't be so bad on me. Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement.