Hallelujah! From concesssion to successful transition

Happy Veteran's Day!

Thanks to all of those who have gone before us in the defense of our country, thanks to all of you who are serving now, especially those forward-deployed on the pointy-end of the spear, and thanks to the families who keep the fires burning at home for their loved ones away from home.

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SUCCESS! Everything just seemed to fall into place this morning. We all got to bed at a reasonable time last night and got a good night's sleep. We all got up at a reasonable hour this morning - not so early as to make LW and I grumpy, but not so late as to make us rush to get ready for church. YS was not excited to get ready for church because he wanted to play Army men. I told him to get ready for church first and then he could play Army men until it was time to go. ES really impressed me by encouraging YS to get ready for church and leading him upstairs to pick out clothes. I don't know if this wonderful act of helpfulness was due to (a) he really wanted to play Army men with YS, or (b) he really wanted to go to church, but either way, I was pleased with the result.

Luckily, I was just in time when I said to myself, "Self, all their collared shirts are hanging up in their closet. They probably need help getting them down." As I arrived on scene in their bedroom, I found ES pulling with all his might, hanging from one of YS's shirts still on the hanger, still hanging in the closet. Not sure how much more of a strain that could have taken. I'm pretty sure another few seconds and either (a) the shirt would have ripped or (b) the hanger would have broken or (c) the rod holding up all the hanging clothes would have come crashing down. So I took the shirts down that they picked out and averted a minor crisis there.

The boys finished getting ready and had time to play Army men, so they were happy. We got to church in time and got there just as someone was leaving from pretty close-in, so we got a great parking spot. ES went right into his Sunday school class. YS went with us into his class. LW said she'd stay with him and that I should go up to the sanctuary.

I wasn't in the sanctuary for 5 minutes before she came back up with YS in tow. I figured, oh well, not this week - maybe he'll stay down there next week. We sat down for a few minutes, and YS said he wanted a snack. LW told him that there wasn't any food in church and he had to go back with his class if he wanted a snack. She asked him if he wanted to go back to class, and he said "yes." She took him downstairs. Low and behold, here she came back a few minutes later and she DIDN'T have YS with her!!!

He agreed to STAY in Sunday school with his class!

It's a truly momentous occasion for us in each new church we go to (hopefully we'll get better next week and he'll just stay down there from the very beginning).

It was a really nice service today, although I didn't get the memo that we were supposed to wear our uniform. There were quite a few guys there in uniform, too. The choir did an absolutely fantastic job singing Battle Hymn of the Republic. Pastor Dan had a great message about hate and holding grudges and forgiveness.

After church we had a nice Sunday brunch at Haleiwa Joe's and went to the NEX to pick up some stuff for the MSG party tonight. More to follow...