"Life is the art of drawing without an eraser." - John W. Gardner

Never anger a woman who knows how to operate a back hoe.

Wrote this while I was eating dinner and then forgot to hit "publish."

Pam's United flight was scheduled to leave the Eugene airport at 5:20 this morning. She had a very short layover in Denver that was going to make her connection to Grand Rapids tricky. But so many people showed up late to the gate that the plane was delayed pulling away from the gate. Then they decided the wings needed to be de-iced because of temps right at the freezing point.
Ooops. The de-icing equipment is broken. "We'll either get it fixed shortly or the sun will come up and warm the wings sufficiently."
They gave people the option of getting off the plane and Pam said several did, only to be told to get back on because they had the de-icier fixed.
She got to Denver far too late to make that connection but United had already booked her on a later flight, a plane she's on as I type this. She'll get in about 5 hours later than planned but she got a meal voucher and a $50 certificate toward a future flight. That will get her from Eugene to Portland but it may get put toward a ticket to Seattle (my mom) or Phoenix (the kids).

According to tracking information the slingshot will arrive tomorrow or Thursday depending on which site - Amazon or UPS - I look at. Either way a solution to the aggressive dog problem is on the horizon.

The Sunday morning class I teach is attended by 40 or so people who are doing a read-through-the-Bible plan. The first 30 minutes is spent discussing what they read over the last seven days and the second half giving them background for the chapters they'll read during the next week.
I'm doing the reading, too, but am staying a week ahead so I can prepare an effective lesson.
No matter how many times I've read a chapter I always notice things that are new to me. It may be a head scratcher about something ("What was he thinking???") and others an angle I hadn't noticed before ("Imagine how that made her feel" ).
I told them at our first meeting that I'm not a huge fan of there plans that have you read the whole Bible in a year. (In this case the "year" started the first Sunday in October.) They play into the western mindset of "get it done," of task completion and checking off the to-do item, instead of a more deliberate pace that takes the time to focus on the content. But there's also something to be said for a 30,000' overflight that gives a big picture view of the book of the Bible.

Chip's parole hearing is tomorrow. I've been praying for him all day and will continue to do so throughout tomorrow. Feel free to join me.