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Miscellany

• For their winter break from school, the nephews, chauffeured by Keith's brother, came to Florida for a few days. It rained the first day they were here, which allowed Eric and me to get in a few games of Scrabble with minimal complaining. Since Keith is in the midst of building a home media center computer, Ben and Joey were able to learn some marketable skills (see photo). On Saturday, I had the good sense to stay home while they all went to play paintball. I did, however, have the joy of washing the paintball gore from all their clothes. And finally, and since Aunt Rita has no desire to play Risk ever again, perhaps Joey will continue not to learn a valuable lesson: "When Aunt Rita says she won't play Risk unless you eat the dinner she cooked for you, she's serious."
• One of the highlights of our week is our Saturday night time with our church small group. We've been attending Avalon for not quite a year now but have made some dear dear friends. Nearly every Saturday we get together with a group to have a Bible study, discuss a book, and/or enjoy social time together. At first I thought I'd resent losing the freedom of our Saturday evening, but now I look forward to this time with friends.
• Monty was sick for most of last week. We don't know what, how, or why--just that we took turns a couple of nights sleeping on the couch to more easily let him in and out of the house. A few days of nothing but rice and chicken stock seem to have fixed him up, though.
• The other night, Keith and I were reading the book of Esther. After the king's wife embarrasses him in front of his buds, his advisors bring in all the virgins of the land so that he can choose a new wife. While all these virgins are being readied for the king, they are pampered and spa-treated and made over to make them more appealing to the king. Last night I told Keith that my mom and I would be playing today and intended to get a pedicure. He said, "So you're getting a beauty treatment like Esther." Further proof that the Bible does apply to every-day life.