So on my way to church last night I stopped by the library to pick up my books on hold. I always enjoy picking up new books, its exciting. It isn’t till near my due date and Ive only read one of them (I usually get three) that I start to panic over the dirty late fee. I still have to finish my last book, The Red Tent . I’m less than a handful of chapters away. You’d think with me being sick this past week Id have read this book more than once, but my cottonball of a head wouldn’t let me. I could barely focus on Ed let alone making words form a sentence to make sense of what was going on. Its the end of the book, I can just skim it! So I have laid out a reading plan that forces me to read at least a chapter a day so I can move on to my other books. Though, I have already started The Know-It-All and enjoying this mans humor greatly. I also cracked open The Birth Order Book to see what they have to say about first borns.

On my drive last night I was talking to Jason, asking him where I should have dinner. I knew I wanted protein (read: meat) but didn’t know from where. Being I was a little press for time because I had one other stop to make before going to church it need to be quick. Jason couldn’t recall the name, but said it was the first place I had taken him when he arrived in California in October. In-N-Out! Brilliant idea he had! Also being it is right on the way to church, it was perfect. He’s very helpful most of the time and I need to make sure to use this talent of his more often than I have. I get in line in the drive through to order my cheeseburger with no onions, fries and a Diet Coke. I was telling Jason while in line I was hoping they were a carrier of Coke because I couldn’t remember. I was thrilled to find out they proudly do serve Coke. If you haven’t had the pleasure of In-N-Out, you do not know of its low prices and freshness. And also, the people are always nice (at starting wage of 10 bucks an hour you’d hope so) and at the bottom of every cup there is a bible verse address. I always look at the bottom of my cup for the verse and smile at my confirmation that its still there every time I visit In-N-Out.

I show up to church with my feast and two of the kids who play on the worship team wonder what I brought them. I realize my mistake of not eating it in my car but I took the chance so I didn’t have to eat alone. Anne, our drummer, asked for a bite. I told her I had a cold, so no. Good reason I thought to get this girlie away from my meat. She said she would just eat from the end I hadn’t eaten from yet. I gave her some fries to distract her from my cheeseburger. Then Simon, our guitar player, wanted some of the fresh fries too. I told Anne to share as I quickly ate my dinner. They were trying to find all the songs we had played at camp the past weekend for the nights service. Anne confirmed with me if we had sang a certain song or not. Then Simon asked how I even know if I wasn’t at camp. My eyes got big. I told him I was at camp, with a little bit of an authority in my voice (froggy but authoritive). He said there were so many girls it was hard to remember who was there. He was right, there were 23 students and 3 female leaders. Sure, I got lost in the crowd, fine. He asked who the other two girl leaders where. I almost couldn’t believe this kid. I told him their names and he couldn’t place the one girl. I described her and he said Oh yeah, she does the games on Wednesday nights. Mark, the leader of Saturday nights, over hearing our conversation laughs and he said to Simon, Alisa does the games on Wednesday nights. I shake my head in disbelief at this kids and head downstairs to finish my last errand of the night before Jr. High starts.

We have a small bookstore at my church where the two older ladies who work there know me by name. I had come to spend my birthday coupon they send out if your on their mailing list. I didn’t really have a book in mind and it actually broke my New Years goal of not buying anymore books till the ones on my shelf where read. But I had a coupon! So, I bought the newest printed Elisabeth Elliot book, but also, a book on mentoring teenage girls for 60% off. Which turns out is forwarded by Elisabeth Elliot and the author lives in Birmingham, AL. I think it was fate (since I believe in fate and all). I ran into a mother/daughter team that I had baby sat for a little for some extra money before moving to Alabama last year. Reminded me again how big our church is that I can being going there for six months and never see people I know. I headed back upstairs to the Jr. High room and came to discover that I was not the only one who had a cold during the past week. The guy leaders who went to camp also felt pretty congestive during the week but they seemed fine last night. I on the other hand had my box of tissue by my side all night. Even though the night worn me out, I was glad I ventured out into the world for an evening.