Puzzling

I hope you all had a wonderful Palm Sunday. Ours was pretty good. We had church and Sunday School in the morning and not much going on in the afternoon. I finished reading my book (excellent, with an unexpected ending). I set up the family Zoom, but not a single one of my kids was able to make it, so I got some knitting done while waiting for them to not show up.

Since the Zoom didn’t work out, I went ahead and did yet another run to Aldi, this time for eggs. I vastly underestimated how many eggs I’d need this week. I got some white ones for dyeing this weekend. But I didn’t get nearly enough of the brown ones I normally eat, and I eat a LOT of eggs. So, apart from that, it was a pretty quiet afternoon. Walter started working on his birthday puzzle:

It’s really big—two feet square—so it wouldn’t fit on either of our puzzle boards. And thankfully it is better quality than the one I gave him for Christmas—the only one he’s ever given up on.

However . . . there was big news on the Zambia front. We heard from Amano that our housing assignment has changed. We’ve been expecting to move into the old farmhouse, which is the oldest house on the campus. They had a building expert go through it and the conclusion was that it needs more repairs than they can afford to do at this time.

So to start with, we will be living in a different house—which happens to be the newest one on the campus. And better yet, it is fully furnished and we already know exactly what it looks like because that’s the house we stayed in when we visited last year. It’s not large, but it’s luxurious by Zambian standards. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a laundry room with a washer and dryer, a fully stocked kitchen including dishes, and a good-sized living room with fireplace! Also a front and back veranda, and enough solar panels to power the whole house.

We know this won’t be a long-term living situation, because the house was built and paid for by a couple from Texas who like to volunteer at the school from time to time. It’s their house and we wouldn’t dream of keeping them from it. But it will make our transition much easier, moving into a furnished house until something else can be sorted out.

This morning started as all Monday mornings do, with me portioning out all my supplements for the week. Then did my Bible reading while drinking my tea. Revelation is a troubling book. Really makes me hope all the pre-trib people are right!

My neighbor Kim came over to visit later, and I got a more detailed account of her medical malpractice situation. Unbelievable. When she had her lung cancer surgery in December, the surgeon removed the wrong part of her lung. Yikes. So she still has the tumor, and it has grown. She has a bunch of appointments coming up during which she’ll learn whether it’s better to risk a second surgery or go for some form of targeted radiation. Neither one of those sounds appealing at all.

While she was here, a lady came to pick up something she’d bought from me on Facebook Marketplace—my birthing stool! I have no idea what I was saving it for . . .

Walter had a lunch date today with a former coworker who wanted to hear more about our Zambia plans. And then this afternoon Jasper joined us and we drove to Marshall to see The Project Hail Mary movie. We got to use our senior discounts for the first time ever at a movie, and only had to pay $4 each! We all enjoyed the movie, including Jasper who was seeing it for the second time. The book had a lot more detail and I’m really glad I read it before seeing the movie.

When we walked out of the theater, it was to a landscape filled with smoke. I’m not sure where the fire was, but it must have been pretty big. Fortunately, as we drove home we drove away from it.

The guys had a late supper, but they didn’t seem to mind too much.

Joy Spark: Sunday—seeing the kids come into the church joyfully waving their palm branches. Today—getting to go to a movie with Walter and Jasper.

Parting Shot:

The almost-full moon from our front yard this evening.