05-05-05!!!

Well, it has certainly been one of those days! It is not that anything really out of the ordinary happened....well, maybe a couple of things, but we will get to that in a minute.

I had to call my dear hubby on his way into work this morning and remind him that today was 05-05-05! He thought that was neato-peachy-keen! Of course, he had to call his Mom and Dad and tell them, because his dad has always had an interest in numbers and has tried to share that interest with Tim who has no memory for numbers of any kind whatsoever (further proof he is adopted!) (Just kidding...anyone who sees Tim with his dad could not doubt the paternity there, as they look so much alike.) Anyhow, we all thought it was neat that it is 5-5-05! Tim tells me that this only happens every thousand years or so. Dumb me, I figured it kind of happened again in 2105. But I guess that is not the same.

I told Tim that I wondered if anything weird would happen today. The number 5 has played a big part in significant things in my life thusfar. My parents had five children, and now I have had 5 kiddos, too! My birthday is 8/5, my dad's is 3/5, and my son's is 12/5. Brother Dan's b'day is the 15th, his wife and daughter are 5/25 and 3/25 respectively, and new sister-in-law Brooke has her birthday 8/25.

In my family, we always laugh about numbers. My mother's number is 2. She was born on the 22nd. First son was born on the 12th, and last 2 sons were born on the 24th. Her previous house number was 1121, and now it is 412. Her newlywed son and daughter-in-law just bought a house with the house number...you guessed it... 22!

I was pretty relieved when we got through most of the day and the world had not blown up or anything.

My "baby," who is off on his senior trip, called tonight. It seems that his chaperones have been up to some funny business. I guess they are a tad bored chaperoning a class of 3 seniors in Washington, D.C., so they decided to make up some entertainment. I think it was Tuesday or so that they noticed that the waitress at the Cracker Barrel was making eyes at my son. So they got the phone number of the Cracker Barrel off their receipt today, and they called up and found the waitress that had waited on them and asked her out to go bowling with the delegation from Tennessee on Friday night. Being a girl with at least some character, she made sure that there would be another female present, but she did consent to show up! The Baptists on the trip prefer for women to wear skirts at all times, so they asked her if she would mind wearing a skirt. She said she would. Of course, the other four on the trip are having a ball with this, because they have not ever seen this side of Daniel before!

Daniel decided a while back that he would put his dating life on hold, after he read a book that made a lot of sense to him. It said that young people do not need to go on "single dates" until they are old enough and ready to consider marriage. Otherwise, the theory says, they just set themselves up for heartache and failure in their quest to stay pure for that one special person who will hopefully come along one day. The book suggested that young people date in groups, where there is less temptation, especially in the sexual realm. Dan and I discussed the concept, and being the pretty level-headed kid he is, he decided that sounded pretty good to him.

But back to the story in Washington. The group was delighting in the fact they had set Daniel up on this date, but that was not all there was to it. From conversations they had in the restaurant, they had found out the girl is Jewish. The majority of them being Independent Baptists, they figured that they had better take the chance to try and tell her about Jesus. I don't know how far all of them are going to get in one bowling session, but time will tell.

To top it all off, the girl's name is Dara! (Sort of Dana/Sarah combination????) Every girl that Daniel has talked to in the recent past has been named Sarah for some reason! He has three good friends, besides the Sarah he grew up next door to, all named Sarah! He is finding it hard to communicate with me at times, because his sister and his grandmother are also named Sarah, so he has five of them, plus other friends we don't see as often named Sarah! Dara drives a PT Cruiser (apparently given to her by her father for a birthday present!) Daniel told her that sure beat his old Gremlin! Of course, he was kidding, as he does not even have his license yet! So, we will see what this meeting of Dara means....

Meanwhile, Daniel and friends are seeing all there is of Washington to see. They have visited all the memorials and the museums, and they have taken several tours. They tried to visit our Congressmen, but they were out of their offices, so they had no luck there.

He will be home on Saturday, and I will be happy to see him. I have missed his face around the house!

We are just about one month from graduation now. I cannot believe it. This semester has really flown. There are a lot of ????? in Daniel's future, but I tell him that is o.k., because he really has not had a conventional upbringing. We have had lots of "time-outs" in our lives where this family has had to step back and get its bearings and sail on. That's o.k. Not everyone's life is a picture perfect storybook. I tell him we will take the future as we have taken the past, one day at a time, with lots of prayer----did I say LOTS of PRAYER?!!!!! God will work it all out. And if our gracious Lord would have Daniel be the instrument through which another soul learns the precious truth of the gospel, then so be it! Praise God and his Providence on this day, 5-5-05!!!!!!