Tea and Shed Raising

I got Dad up and through his morning routine. I left him with a cup of coffee and a newspaper. The rest of the house wasn't stirring when I left for tea with Jenni. There are times when you invite someone to tea and wonder, "Will we find anything to talk about?" That was not a problem today. I had never been inside Jenni's home, so we opted to meet there. Her home is peaceful and darling. We talked...and when it seemed the visit was winding down, we got into deeper topics of being an MK, a TCK, and searching for community. We had no problem filling an hour and, in fact, it was 2 p.m. when I realized I had better head home and make sure everyone else eventually got up. LOL The picture below is not taken while sipping tea at Jenni's. Keep reading. 

Two generations of MK's (Missionary Kids)

I arrived home to find Allie and Stacia had received an invite to visit a friend near Houston and were out. Michael wasn't feeling great. After checking out the new paper, Dad opted for a nap. Dad's papers are mailed and are always a day behind with two on Mondays.

I was lazing around reading a book when the girls got home. Allie headed to work. Stacia and Jenni (see above photo) made plans to go to the church and work on Children's things. Stacia is serving a sort of internship with Jenni, our children's ministry team lead. 

KrUke showed up. I hadn't put two and two together....while she was in Guam the base changed some policies which left them trying to find a place for their storage shed. We agreed they could place it out here...and they had to get that moved today. But FIRST....on their recent trip to San Diego, while visiting gas stations to find cacahuate (peanuts) for me she was given the FIRST 2023 PENNY. She seems to win each year - the others are sure it's because she travels more. Michael exchanges the first penny for 5 silver dollars. From here on out each person who finds a 2023 penny CAN exchange it for a silver dollar from Michael. He's done this for years with the kids...and loves that they still find them...looking forward to grandkids finding pennies...and BTW he jingles when he walks because he carries silver dollars around in case someone finds a penny. LOL  

Cacahuates are a treat she first found in Mexico, and I love them. I can NEVER find them in our Walmarts or gas stations. They are peanuts with a crunchy shell. ANYWAY - she was looking in San Diego (thanks Luke and Kaelyn) and while on the search found the penny too. 

Krista has been flying through Tokyo on her trips to Guam. She came home this time with a variety of Japanese treats from Narita airport. They wrap everything so elegantly for gift-giving in Japan. It was fun to enjoy some old flavors...and for Stacia to try out her kanji reading. 

Krista and Luke dismantled their shed, rented a U-Haul truck and brought the shed and its contents to our home where we set about reconstructing it. Stacia and Jenni showed up and joined in - providing a chance for me to rectify the oversight of not grabbing a photo during tea and proving once again one can never be sure what project they will get involved in when they stop by our house. 

Their stuff doesn't fill up the shed and they've said we can move things into it as well. We are not sure how it will handle winter winds...but we shall see. It appears secure.  

I went in to check on GG and discovered it was 8:40 p.m.  YIKES. I made him a quick dinner of scrambled eggs and toast so he could get to bed. His bedtime is ROUTINELY at 8:30 p.m. Jenni headed home. Krista and Luke headed into town to return the truck and pick up some dinner.  Which is how we found ourselves around the table with KrUke at 10 p.m. LOL 

It was a fun day!