Monday Again

Dad and I went to New City again yesterday. We picked up Andrew enroute and got there in enough time to sit comfortably in the main auditorium...Not easy in this particular church! We had arranged to meet Alicia, as well, as she was due to come back with us for lunch...I was perched on the edge of one pew when a Mr. De Moss (name tag was on) came and asked me how much of the row I could spare for his family. I said, oh, do you have many children, and he said, yes, ten! As they began to file in I could see most of them were adopted - beautiful little black children of all ages. What an admirable church! When it was time to greet one another, the couple behind us - about our age - were the Van der Woudes, originally from Grand Rapids. He is in urban missions, I believe; she works with Young Life - another interesting pair....Then the woman in front of me turned out to be Jewish-Croatian, married to a black guy. She is trying to get a job with the McLellan foundation...Has the requisite few brilliant children,(one of whom she began to try and interest Alicia in!)and a NYC personality she thought might disqualify her from the foundation's work. Interesting people, all. Very encouraging to meet so many who have great natural appeal to me.

As we lingered at church, Grace and Justin were here ahead of us. We had locked up so I told Justin to push the bathroom window open and crawl in - not at all difficult! I was slow getting lunch ready, thus did things the Dutch way - dessert first - cinnamon buns - but not homemade as Bonnie used to serve...I prepared, Andrew did wash, and we all just chatted around things. Very pleasant...Dad managed to complete his application for the Covenant job and Alicia took it off to hand deliver, as she works at Covenant and knows all the people in that department...Do keep it in prayer.

Today I loafed around a good bit of the morning, finally got myself dressed and out early afternoon. First stop was the local elementary school, where I booked an observation day so can then be on their list of substitute teachers. From there, I went into Calhoun and posted ads for our vacant trailer at several of the Hispanic shops in town. Dad and I have decided we will give that a shot before trying locals again. Miguel and Ashley left the place filthy and cockroach-infested, but they paid!...Then off to chat with my local coin dealer. As you may or may not know, physical silver and gold are disappearing. It is difficult to get your hands on them now - something our two most-trusted websites have been prognosticating for years. I like to go and ask our dealer how things are going in his business. He is a Christian fellow, very personable and fun to talk with. He told me a story of a woman who recently took ten very rare gold coins to the mint as she wanted to have them authenticated. The mint seized them, with no intention of returning them, so she is in the middle of a lawsuit right now...Terrible!...He said he is buying silver at this point as distressed holders come to sell it, but not seeking buyers in turn as the price is so artificially low. As people all over the world are seeking to buy precious metals, and are having difficulty finding any,the price is falling! Against all the laws of supply and demand, evidence of suppression...

Tomorrow, Jeannette will bring the children here for the day. I will supervise their studies and,perhaps, give them a first French lesson - something we have decided would be challenging for them. Wednesday, I am off to Anna's school for Grandparents' Day - fun!

And so life goes on...