Possumblog

Sunday

Oh, yeah. Supposed to have the kickoff of Bible Bowl for the year. Forgot all about that. And we were the ones supposed to host it. And none of our (“our” as in mine and Reba’s, as well as anyone else's) kids had studied anything. Supposed to cover the first seven chapters of Genesis.

After morning worship, it was decided that the kids who were going to participate would stick around, eat pizza, and study. So, the question of which of the Oglesby brood were going to participate. First, Boy said no. Then Cat said no. Oldest said maybe. Middle Girl said no. Then Cat said yes. Then Middle Girl said maybe. Then Boy said maybe. Then Cat said no. Then Oldest said yes. Then Boy said no. Then Cat said yes, but next year. Then Middle Girl said yes. Then Boy said yes. Then Cat said yes. Believe it or not, they all agreed to participate.

So, they ordered pizza, while I ran to Wal-Mart. Again. See, we had not prepared to bring any snacks for the kids who would be visiting, because we had been led to believe none of our four kids wanted to do anything. But we needed to pitch in since they had decided to stay, hence my trip to the store. Again. Not only that, yesterday was also the evening when the teenagers would have their usual monthly get-together, so there were snacks to be brought there, too.

Chips, cookies, some soft drinks, back to the building, eat, and then figure out that the room isn’t set up for a big crowd to eat. We have folding tables and chairs, and they weren’t set up right, and one end of the room was full of chairs for the ladies class. And there was no one else around to help. Meaning, it was on me. So after lunch, for the next hour and a half I moved tables and chairs and set up the food tables and garbage cans and covered the tables with paper and generally broke a sweat that would continue the rest of the afternoon. Then the youth minister asked me in the middle of this if I would like to be one of the referees. No. Absolutely not. Moderate the competition? Surely you jest. I finally agreed to be a test grader, which was more than I really wanted to do.

Anyway, by the time 2:00 rolled around, I had the fellowship hall set up and ready, and had helped set up the tables on the stage for the competitors, and had sat down for about five minutes. First step is the written test, which determines the tourney brackets for the oral round, so the kids came back and sat at my freshly taped down paper tablecloths and went to work. I stood around for a while and then got to work grading. We had to wait a bit so someone could find the answer key. Then they went back out, and the buzzer round started. It’s a bit like the old College Bowl thing--a set of buzzer lights and buttons, whoever answers first gets the floor. No discussions, and wrong answers count as a minus point.

The senior teams started off--we had two, and did pretty doggone good for having so little prep time. I think our kids came in 2nd and 3rd. Then the junior teams. We just had one team of four kids, two of them being Cat and Jonathan. He’d done this in the past a couple of years ago, but he never would buzz in then.

Well, something changed, that’s for sure. They got up there and he was answering questions as rapidly as they were asked. He was quite the buzzer hog! They wound up in 2nd place, however, after coming very close to winning. He was tickled with himself, and I was, too, considering he hadn’t wanted to do it only three hours before.

Then refreshments, where I did not get to sample anything, because someone needed to keep the trash cans emptied, and then someone needed to clean up afterwards. I did have some help in that part of it, thank goodness. But I was still very tired. And we couldn’t leave. There was a meeting scheduled for the kids at 5:00, and it was after 4:00, meaning we pretty much had to stay put. No time to go home. Boy, I sure wish I had my newspaper.

Instead, I spent the time in the nursery with Catherine, who brought in her DVD of Two Brothers. Hard to beat baby tigers as a light diversion. Even if there did seem to be an awful lot of mauling and blood. I dozed and nodded off, then figured I needed to see if I still remembered what I was supposed to sing for the evening. Yep, my turn for leading singing, as well for all the other stuff. And I was still clogged up with dust and grass clippings.

Actually didn’t do so bad--only a few coughs, and nothing off-key or out of tempo, for once. It sounded almost human. Then, on to home, after giving Oldest her snacks to take with her to the after-service devo. You know, I think that was probably one that she could have missed. If only for the reason that I had to go back and get her after it was over.

So, all in all, it has been a very tiring, expensive, frustrating, interesting several days.

And this afternoon I have to leave early so Ashley can get her spacers installed for her braces.

It’s only money, you know.

Posted by Terry Oglesby at September 12, 2005 12:59 PM