Tim fell in the sewer!

Last night I went to the back door of our church and walked up the stairs. Our 4 children, ages 10 - 17 were playing wild games and having fun. My friend and her husband were on the couch looking really tired.

Because their son's team had lost his basketball game, they were now in the "losers circle". That means that if they do not win their game toady, they are out and my friends will be packing up and going home. I am hoping they win!

Angie and I were reminiscing about how our families' met in Mexico. I remember when they arrived, I was in the back of the house washing cloth diapers in a bucket, using a plunger to agitate them. Later we got a washer, but for a few weeks I did all of our laundry by hand.

I couldn't remember all the details, so I asked Angie a lot of questions. She had 7 children at that time, 2 were adopted from Liberia. They sang us a song, "Lord I lift your name on high." I still like the Spanish version better, because I learned it first in Spanish!

Their 21 year old son walked in the room at the church, so I had a few questions to ask him. I will call their son "Tim". Here's a story that happened to him at "Campo Cristiano" in Mexico at the time our families both stayed there:

"Tim" and my son, "Bob", ages 9 and 7 were playing outside. They noticed a little dip in the earth and so they investigated. When they walked on it, it moved a little. So, after running on the dip over and over, they started putting big rocks over it. After that, when Tim ran on it the earth shook, and he thought that was really cool.

He jumped on it, then it gave way and he fell in .... a sewer! He pulled himself up on the beam, but fell back down, so Bob pulled him out. He could have drowned, as it was over his head! After that they both needed showers!

I had heard this story before, but not the details. Since Bob is visiting, I'm going to ask him his "take" on the story tonight. I hope our friends stay so Tim and Bob can see each other and reminisce...

Out of town friends visiting

I only have a minute to write. I just got off work. I cleaned 2 businesses. One is an internet/computer place with 3 rooms. The other is the doctors' offices. My days were cut back from 4 to 1 at the docs'. I wondered how dirty it would be now that I will only be going in once a week. Everything was pretty clean, except the floors. They were not noticeably dirtier, but they took longer to clean and I had to change the mop water half way through.

The internet business is in the same building on the 3rd floor. It took me longer there too, as their nice wooden mats to protect the wooden floors were quite dirty. One of the employees asked if I could get them clean. I told him I would try some special furniture polish. It ended up working well and they look a lot better.

Some very good friends are in town this weekend. Some of their children are in a basketball tournament here. I just talked to Angie, and she said they lost their first game. :( Our girls are staying overnight with their family, who are all staying at the church.

We met this family over 10 years ago on our very first trip to Mexico. We were at a Christian retreat center, helping out, when they showed up. They knew the directors of the camp well and just came to visit for a while. At that time they had several of their own children and had recently adopted children from Liberia. Now they have 10 children, 4 from Liberia.

Well, I'd better go, as I am going to try to see my friend before she goes to bed.

A country drive and the GPS

The first time I used my new GPS was when I drove to the "Valley" to see my son and daughter-in-law in January. I also would be taking my oldest daughter to the airport. I had no problems with the GPS. It really helped me, as I am quite "directionally challenged." It is possible that it lead me around a different way, sometimes, but I felt secure knowing I wouldn't get lost any more. My daughter, who had had her doubts about my purchase, even commented, "You should have had one of these years ago."

Yesterday I got up after Greg left for work. He left me a note of "things to do". Among them was, "Can you please bring us lunch, I would like re-fried beans and chips or chicken tacos." I did start the beans, but they did not get done in time, so ended up buying him and Levi a subway sandwich.

He called me around 8 to see if I had gotten up yet. I asked him where he was working and how to get there. He said, "You can just put the address in the GPS and find it."

When I was finally able to leave, I drove out of town and followed the instructions that the GPS gave me. I took a left several miles out of town. Then I took another left, just like the GPS said. Then the voice said, "In 200 yards you will reach your destination" ... then "You have reached your destination" The problem was that there was no house there. I drove about 4 miles ahead and finally turned around. Because I couldn't find where they were working I came home.

Gideon knew where they were working, and took me out there. The GPS had tried to take me a long way around on the road and was way off. It actually was only a few miles out of town. Greg and Levi got their lunch at 4 pm. I'm was glad he had taken a lot of snacks with him.

I still plan on using my GPS on out of town trips, but for the country drives , I probably should get directions from someone who has been there.

Question: What is your experience with a GPS? Do you own one or do you trust your sense of direction?