It hasn't seemed much like summer around here yet. Getting up at six and being off to the garden center by 8 makes my life far more routine than it ever was during the school year. But it is easy to get up at six when the birds are singing their hearts out and the sun in shining. Midsummer is only a day away. We haven't had much of a summer yet, though. At least I haven't FELT like it was summer weather-wise. We've had lots of rain and days far cooler than normal, at least until this week. Finally summer temps! The pool really hasn't gotten much use. We're still waiting for a 24 hour dry spell to get the deck painted, so the ladder hasn't even been attached yet! We did, however, put up a sort of awning from the garage over one corner of the deck. It comes out four feet, but it shades about 2 1/2! So I slide the lounge chair against the back of the garage if I want to stay in the shade! One afternoon I did have company and we sat facing each other to stay in the shade. That day was so hot I finally broke down and got in the water.

I have been in an E.M.Forster mood this week. A friend from church and I decided to read A Room with a View. I think I have read it before, but I've seen the movie a couple times. The book that I got from the library had three Forster novels in it, so I just finished that one and one called Where Angels Fear to Tread. They are both set in Italy and England. I would say the themes are freeing oneself of artificiality and stringent social expectations. They are set before the first World War, I think. The English have this pompous superiority (those English!) and they feel they need to help Italians become more "Christian", not in a true religious way! The second one was really sad, so I felt bad for awhile after I read it. I've always liked A Room with a View. The movie is an excellent rendition of the book, I thought.

Last Sunday we had Dr. Scott Clark preaching at our church. He is a professor at Westminster Seminary in California. He had an excellent sermon and then afterwards led the adult Sunday School class on Covenant theology. Wow! He tied the whole Bible together in one seamless whole, we were so amazed at God's almighty wisdom and sovereignty from beginning to end!! After his outline and lecture, he opened it up for questions. So he answered questions on why we baptize our children and about why Jesus will not reign in Jerusalem and re-establish sacrifices as some Dispensationalists believe. I'll have to add a link to his blog.

And one more thing, before this gets too long. And this should have been a whole post in itself LAST week. We have stayed in touch with many of our friends around the world. We are soo thankful for all of them. Last Thurday our friends, the Burtons who were in Italy with us, came to Omaha for a baseball tournament for their son. We had them over for a big Italian dinner and picked up right where we left off 10 years ago! Only the kids are WAY bigger!!

One final note. Most of my friends know this already, but in case you haven't heard, Andrew joined the Navy. He needs a change. He needs to see the ocean. He wants to try something new. So he's going to do the same kind of job that Dennis has done. He doesn't leave, though, until January 14th. Details later....if there are any!