Random Sundayness

After much discussion, Sweet Man and I decided to try Houston First Baptist Church today, largely because I am a huge fan of Beth Moore and her Bible studies (see  http://www.lproof.org/ )and she is a member there. Just in case you're wondering, A Woman's Heart: God's Dwelling Place and Breaking Free are my favorites.  Anyway, SM agreed and the address was added to our GPS. We tried to make it to the 9:10 service but with a 39 min. drive between hotel and church, that was ambitious. By the time we closed the hotel room door, we would have been about 30 minutes late, with no wiggle room for traffic, getting lost, checking kids into preschool rooms, etc. We pulled away anyway and decided to go to breakfast close to the church - SM's idea - good thinkin', honey. 

Lovely meal was had by all at Denny's and we arrived in time for the 10:45 service. Kids were herded to their appropriate rooms, without so much as a look back at us. We chose a seat in the second tier of a big worship center as the music was starting. Within a verse, I was crying - which means it was good. Don't know why that's my barometer, but it is. During meet & greet, I noticed a slight woman in a cheetah print jacket with "biggish" strawberry blond hair, many rows ahead, but sort of right in front of us. "Maybe that's her, I thought. Nah, I only see her from the back, it's probably not." Hopefully, this isn't building too much suspense, because I didn't meet her or anything.  But at the end of the service she turned around and started speaking to someone and I saw it was definitely her. 

The service was great. A man named Dr. Tim McKenzie spoke a message called "And God Said: the Voice of Creation."  http://www.oneveryword.com/  Pretty amazing. Kids were happy except that they did not get to play outside on the very appealing playground we saw on the way into the building. When asked how Sunday school went, Sam replied, "This is not a playing church." 

We headed home for a rest and as soon as I opened the room door, I knew something was amiss. Now, living in an extended stay hotel is a bit different. Some days the sweet ladies come through and "refresh" the room, some days, they clean everything and change linens, and some days we don't even see them. And being here only a week, I'm not sure what happens on any given day. So, all week, before we leave the room for the day, I clean up: make bed, fold blankets, put toys in bin, empty sink, clear off surfaces, etc., just in case they come through. I don't want them to have to clean around our stuff. This morning in the rush, I assured myself that it was Sunday and they wouldn't be working and so I just left the shrapnel of our morning and closed the door. Of course, they came today, argh...and cleaned around us. And it was pretty bad. Is there any difference between embarrassed and humbled, really? 

After resting, we headed to Kemah Boardwalk, which is north of Galveston. We had heard there was a play area at the Joe's Crab shack there and we wanted to let the kids run. There wasn't, but we discovered a really fun place. It's like a mini Coney Island (from what I've heard, 'cause I've never been to Coney Island) - visitors can just walk around or go on rides, play games, etc. We had dinner, drove mini-monster trucks, rode a train around the whole place and walked a little. We are savvy travelers and steered clear of the Dippin' Dots cart - so overrated. Kemah, like Galveston, sustained much storm damage from Ike and is in the process of rebuilding. We'll definitely go back and bring anyone who wants to visit. Might be a good date destination, too - and we'll be having one of those Feb.14th - yea, baby. 

No Super Bowl for me - it's on, but I don't really care. I'm off to bed, y'all.

On the train in Kemah