Movie at the Park

Almost every week, Greensboro's LeBauer Park shows a movie on a big outdoor screen. We saw that they were showing Hidden Figures, which is about the black women mathematicians in the 1950s and 60s who overcame all manner of racial prejudice to help develop the math needed to launch the US space program. It was absolutely amazing and highly recommend everyone see it. 

They gave away free popcorn and we brought our dinner down to sit and eat while watching the movie. 

 We had a really fun time and can't wait to do it again!

Van Troubles

So... Irene had her first driving lesson and it did not go very well...

Let me start by saying that nobody got hurt, not even a scratch, thank God.

I was in the kitchen cooking dinner while the kids were outside playing. I could hear them hooting and hollering as they rode their bikes and scooters in the driveway. Next thing I hear is Emma come into the house and say, "Irene drove the car down to the street." She said it in such a nonchalant way that it took me a minute to process. "What?!" I asked. Emma just said it again. I went to the door and sure enough, the van wasn't where I'd left it.  I patted my pockets and my keys were there, so I knew it wasn't that I'd left them in it or something like that. Panic set in and I bolted out the door. No van in the driveway. No van down at the street. I freaked out and started running. I had the presence of mind to count the kids on my way down and they were all there... except for Irene.

Apparently what happened is that while they were playing in the driveway, Irene had climbed into the van on her own and leaned hard enough on the gear shift to knock it out of Park. From there, it rolled backward down our driveway and shot across the street into the park and down into the cedar trees. Irene was completely fine, except for being scared out of her mind. I can only imagine the image of the van flying down the driveway, bouncing across the street and then cruising its way through the park backwards with Irene at the wheel. 

It could have been so much worse. On the way down, the van squashed our two tricycles that were in the driveway behind it. Thank God everyone was out of the way and unhurt.

 The van, however...

 was not in such good shape.

 Like, really bad shape.

As in... Totaled. It's toast. We no longer have a van.

It turns out that there was a recall about 4 years ago on our van for exactly this problem. According to Toyota, they have a record of sending a notice to our address, but we never got it. Fortunately, our insurance is fantastic. We have GEICO (yes, it's supposed to be all caps. It's an acronym. I'm not shouting it) and they said they needed to work up a valuation on it so they could figure out how much to pay us for it. I was determined not to get raked over the coals and did my own research. I determined that it was worth around $7100-7200. After waiting a week, they finally got back to me and offered us... $6950. I have to say, I was surprised. I wasn't going to quibble over such a small difference between our values. It was impressive not to get jerked around.

Our plan now is to use the Suburban for our family car and look into replacing Rebecca's aging Mazda in the near future with something that's not falling apart and has working air conditioning!

Breakfast with Nana and Pop-pop

With the Fall coming on, Nana and Pop-pop ended their extended stay up North and headed their way back to Florida. We got to meet them for breakfast on their way through town. In the past, we've gone to places like Smith's and the Oakcrest  Family Restaurant, which are both excellent, but the kids were delighted when Nana suggested Chick Fil A instead. 

It was great to spend an hour or so with them and can't wait until we can spend more time, maybe in Florida!

Rebecca's Big Night!

It's official! Rebecca is one of The Great 100 Nurses of North Carolina! 

The Great 100 is a one-time award given to the top 100 nurses throughout North Carolina who exemplify the profession. Nurses are nominated by their peers and are chosen through a blind review process. The selection committee is made up of previous Great 100 winners and they only see each candidate's achievements and community service. 

 Not surprisingly, they read through Rebecca's and thought she deserved the award!

I don't think anyone can say that she isn't dedicated to her patients, coworkers and community and the Great 100 award serves as recognition for all her hard work and care.

 Not only that, but the banquet is a great excuse to get all dressed up! :)

And just to show that sometimes unexpected things can happen at big gala events...

We got evacuated in the middle of the keynote address! Fortunately, the building wasn't on fire, but you can bet that if it had been a medical emergency, folks would have been well cared for with a whole hall full of nurses! :)

Sukkot 2017

For the second year running, Valley of Blessing had their congregational Sukkot up at Higher Ground Christian Center in Virginia. 

 We decided to bring our camper up with us to stay in rather than pitching a tent for the ten days.

 If there's one thing we can count on at HG, it's beautiful sunrises.

 We did get a couple days of rain, but the weather was pretty nice, overall. 

We didn't plan nearly as many events as we did last year, so there was a lot of free time for just hanging out. That gave  Pastor Donna from spending a little time with the littles playing games. 

 We took a little side trip to Mabry Mill and walked around the old buildings and exhibits there. 

 The last night of Sukkot, we celebrated Simchat Torah, which is when we roll the whole Torah scroll back to Genesis 1:1. It's always so cool to see the Word of Adonai rolled out. 

This passage is the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy. It's divided to commemorate the dividing of the Red Sea during the Exodus.

While doing Sukkot at Higher Ground was good for two years, I think we've decided to go back to our previous tradition of camping on our own from now on. It's a lot less hassle and stress.