Last night we attended the open house for the school Arianna will be attending for Pre-K this year. It was great to meet with her teacher, and for Arianna to meet up with some of her classmates from last year, and also meet some new faces that will be in her class this year. I really believe that Crosspoint Baptist School has been a great choice for Arianna’s pre-pre-k and pre-k years. They seem very organized, and we know that she will be taught Christian values while she is there. Before we ended up leaving from the open house, Arianna was already wanting school to start. I only hope she will remain that excited about school for the next 13 years.

This last Saturday, our church decided to take on a community outreach mission to help an elderly lady whose house had burned down and she had no home owner’s insurance. Our goal was to help tear down the house and prepare the property so that it can be rebuilt. So on Saturday, about 25 men and women from our church up at the property to pitch in. I was very surprised to see that when I got there at 8am in the morning, the house had already been torn down and pretty much cleared away. All that was left was for us to clear any remnants on the slab and clean up the surrounding property. Needless to say, we were able to accomplish this in the first 3 hour shift that we had setup for working on this task.

I must say that it was a fulfilling experience for me. For a while now I’ve always felt like the only real family functions we have done in church was to get together to eat (either in the fellowship hall or out at the new land). I really enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with other members of our church to do something worthwhile to somebody who was dealt a very difficult situation. I think our efforts spoke volumes to the family that we helped about what God’s people are willing to do to help those in need. And, I definitely felt fuller from that service than anytime I’ve gotten together with the church body to eat.

I know that their are other things being lined up to be able to reach out to the community in the future, and I know that our church members are hungry for the opportunity to have an active role in serving those in need. This is a time when we get to put our beliefs into action and make an effort to reach out; rather than just speak our beliefs to one another. I hope that I can devote my time to do this work for God, and that our church body will be blessed through being able to put to action what God would like us to do.

Would the community miss us if our church were to just go away? That is the question that still rings in my head from Eddie’s sermon, and the questionaire that we answered about how we felt about our church.

Thursday was Arianna’s last dance class for the summer. All the parents were allowed to sit in and take pictures and video of the class. It was quite enjoyable. I can see that Arianna will have some work to do on the paying attention area. She was definitely preoccupied with her friends. We had a great time, and it was very enjoyable to watch how well she did. I’m sure that she is ready to continue the dance class again in the fall. Once again, money well spent.

    About a month and a half ago, we encountered a very difficult situation. Ayde’s Mom was staying with us, and Ayde’s Aunt (which happened to be a very close sister and friend to Ayde’s Mom) died from diabetes. When we were notified of this, we were told that the funeral was going to be the very next day at 4pm. This only gave approximately 24 hours to find a way to get to Mexico for the funeral. Now, I’m rushing to try to find a way to get them there because I know Ayde has always felt bad about not being able to get back to Mexico when her Dad died before we met so I wanted to make sure that that kind of thing never happened again.

     Since we only had a 24 hour time frame, driving there was practically out of the question because it would pretty much require us to drive non-stop, and I just don’t think I can do that anymore. So we started calling the airlines to look for options for getting there. As it turned out, Continental was the only airline that could get us a flight first thing in the morning that would arrive around noon. So I book 3 tickets for her Mom, Ayde, and Arianna that cost us over $1500.00.

     So, we get up at about 4 am the next day to get to the airport for a flight at 6:30. Once we get there and finally make our way to the front of the line, it turns out that they cannot get on the flight because none of them have passports. Arrrrgghhhh! I knew that the restrictions on entering the US were getting stricter, but I didn’t think that they would need the passports to leave the country. Besides, Ayde and Arianna were going to be reentering the country via Bus, and could still get back in the country with Ayde’s green card, and Arianna’s birth certificate. So now we are faced with not being able to make the funeral at all, and now we are out $1500.00. So after we get back to the house,  I contact Continental about the situation, and  the only thing they can offer me is a 3 credits that have to be used within a year, and we have to pay $150.00/ticket change flight fee (so another $450.00), and we cannot change the ticket in her Mom’s name to anybody else (ie. my name). Well that just is not acceptable! Ayde’s Mom will not be in a position to use her credit in the next year. So this has really blown up in our face! Nobody made it to funeral, and we just took a huge financial hit. That is not a good combination for the situation we were in.

     So, I wrote Continental’s headquarters explaining our circumstance and see if something can be worked out that could be a win-win for both of us. I already figured that getting a full refund would be out of the question and unfair to Continental because they sent off a flight to Mexico with 3 empty seats that they could have had filled. Well, after a few weeks, they contacted me by phone, and offered me 3 travel vouchers for $500.00 each that can be used to fly anywhere, and used by anybody, however, they still have a 1 year time frame on them. But, this also eliminated the $150.00/ticket change flight fee.

     In the end, we still spent $1500.00 in this effort, but at least we are not out the money. I am glad that Continental called me, and we were able to work out a situation that benefitted both of us. I guess we’ll be taking some trips on Continental in the near future.

   Yesterday, Arianna had her first day of dance class. We weren’t sure what to expect or how she would do. However, it turned out to be a great time. She never seemed to have a problem leaving us for an hour to try to make new friends and seemed to follow the instructor very well. When the class was finished, she came out and said that she had a lot of fun and was ready to go back again next time. Once again, money well spent. Also, it was very enjoyable to be able to watch her through the window they have outside the dance floor and just see these little 3 year olds just having a fun time.

   It seems like the truck has allowed my many opportunities to learn to replace various parts. It’s a good thing when I can learn something new and save me the cost of labor to a mechanic, but definitely a bad thing that several problems seem to be occurring on the truck. This time it happened to be the Power Steering Pressure Line. Usually on Fridays, I like to take the truck to work to keep it running on occasion. As I left for the morning, I heard a whirring sound coming from the engine when I turned the steering wheel. At first, I though it might be the serpentine belt coming loose. I pulled over and popped the hood. I couldn’t see anything so I reached in through the drivers window and turned the steering wheel. At that moment, I saw a pinhole sized geyser shoot out from the power steering.

    In looking at the line, it didn’t look like it should be that tough to change. I bought the part and the tools I would need for $30 from Auto Zone. This morning, I set out to replace the line, figuring it should take me 1 hour tops. In the end, it took just about that. The old line came off fairly easily (although I did slice my knuckles when one of the nuts gave way on the line).  As everything seemed to be going very well, I was very surprised at how tough it was to get the new line on. I connected the end to the power steering reservior very easily. The end that connected to the steering gear took forever, I was hard to reach, my hands were wet from power steering fluid and sweat (which made it difficult to thread the nut into the hole), and getting the line positioned at the right angle to get it threaded. Finally after about 30 minutes of messing with it and cursing it, I finally got it in.

    The final test was when I drove it to New Orleans today. Needless to say, everything went well, and I now know more about working with the power steering system of the truck.

    Today, Arianna attended the second birthday party of a classmate this year. It was held at the Louisiana Arts and Science Museum. For Ayde, Arianna, and I, it was the first time we had ever been there. I must say that the party was pretty fun, and there were plenty of things for the kids to do after the party was over. I know that Arianna really enjoyed herself. They started off by listening to the director read a story about colors. Then, they put ink on a rotating piece of paper to create some neat designs. Then it was off to put their hand prints on a craft to take home, and then each child put their handprint onto a t-shirt for Caroline. That was actually a pretty neat idea, and Caroline gets a gift of her friends handprints on a birthday t-shirt for her. Then they got to decorate a picture frame that they could take home, and finally, came the cookie cake and fruit punch, gift openings, and playtime.

    The experience was really good for us. I never would have imagined that the Arts and Sciences Museum could be entertaining to Arianna at this early age. We may now consider getting the family membership there, and let Arianna go there on a few different weekends to play and make crafts. Caroline, I’m sure you had a wonderful 4th birthday.

    Well, today was the last day of class for Arianna’s pre-pre-k school. I must admit that Crosspoint Baptist School has far exceeded my expectations for this year. For one, I know that I could have paid more than I did for her tuition, and all we would have gotten was a glorified baby-sitting service with no real education outside of socializing. This year I have seen Arianna learn so much, including most of the alphabet along with the phoenetic sounds of each letter. I have seen her blossom socially, and this has carried over to immediately making friends anytime we go to a playground.

    And today was the icing on the cake. Arianna has had two previous school programs (Thanksgiving and Easter) and she performed well at both of those, but I could not have expected the type of performance that she did today and how joyous she looked while performing the songs with her classmates. I must say that as I sat in the audience watching it, I realized how special this school has been to her. Seeing her huge smile as she sang and performed the hand motions just made me thing how great a time this is in our lives, and the true blessing the God has given us in raising a daughter.

    I realize that no matter what happens at work, or what goes on in the world around us, those things pale in comparison to having the time spent with Arianna. All I can say is that what I saw today was one of the most beautiful things I could have seen out of my 3 year old daughter, and I know in about 5 more months, she will no longer be 3 anymore, and never will be. I’m just so glad that God blessed me with today!

   Usually you would think that boys are the ones curious about things like worms, bugs, and frogs. However, today Arianna’s interest was grasped by a small tree frog we found while cleaning up outside. Of course, Daddy had to catch the frog first. I was sure though that once I caught it, Arianna would be too scared to even touch it. But, she was more that happy to have the frog in her hands, and have it climb on her arm. It was nice to see her curious about the things around her. I look forward to the next thing that may capture her curiosity.

   Today was “Fun Day” at Arianna’s school. Parents got to join their kids for a day of outdoor activities for about an hour and a half today. The weather was just perfect. It was a good chance to meet with Arianna’s teacher and meet the parents of some of her friends. I can hardly believe that Arianna’s first school year is almost over. She is definitely a different child since when she began. She has definitely blossomed socially, and the school has taught her a lot of things. I think she is off to a good head start. I only hope she gets to be in the same class with some of her friends again next year.