Monday a.m.

Good morning! Are you ready for a new week? Ready or not... This is going to be a busy week for me. The last two weeks were really compressed, because both involved Friday ceremonies for Luke and Lester, followed by all day activities on Saturday. This week involves 2-3 extra events as well, although of a different nature.

The "extras" this week include a 5 hour training tomorrow about how to use a pre-marital counseling assessment. I have used it through other trained folks, but now I will receive the training to administer it myself. I am looking forward to it. Another extra is a big smoke for a friend's wedding reception. Today I need to go buy the meet and then I will take another day to smoke it, which, of course, I enjoy. The third extra is a 65 mile bike ride at Crane on Saturday. That will be challenging, since it is very hilly.

Kedra and I are still catching our breath from watching our two oldest sons graduate a week apart. It's a nice feeling, and I don't think it has really sunk in yet. Lester has to return to Butler today for a seminar on how to take the law portion of his licensure test. If I understand it correctly, now that he has his degree, he can take the 2 tests required to be a licensed pharmacist. He should be able to take these tests really soon. Of course he is already employed, but it's always about paper work. Right?

Luke called Kedra last night from Guatemala to wish her a happy mother's day. The bridge construction, as expected, has a had a few challenges, but they have been overcome so far. Luke told Kedra that he has been working really long hours and is getting run down. He's sleeping on site in a hammock. Some of the team members are battling sickness, and Luke is running a low fever. He does that when he gets really, really tired. He was going to try get a good, long night of sleep last night. I'm sure he would appreciate your prayers.

We had a fun day yesterday. I thought church was good, and then we had a nice meal at our house. I smoked brisket and chicken. All the woman went first, and following the meal, the men cleaned up. I didn't help much--let's just get that out there right now--but I spent 12 hours or more in meat prep! I was actually watching my daughter open her birthday presents. The other guys were not that interested in that, and no one wanted to interrupt their work.

Today I am going to resume running. I was going to do that in Indy on Saturday, but the place where we stayed had a pool. I decided to work on my swimming instead. I'm glad I did. So today, after 2+ weeks off, I will hope the last vestiges of my bike spill are gone and I can run. This evening I will head to the pool. My first open water swim is only 2 weeks away. I have lots of work to do before then.