June 7

A welcome relief to have nothing planned today--except the weekly 9 a.m. team conference call that Patrick & Christy get from their "superiors" in Oregon. These calls are meant to be an encouragement & a way to stay in communication on a very regular basis. The Northwest Yearly Meeting is trying a new thing for their missionaries--an assigned team coach. Actually, Patrick & Christy's team coach & another couple who will stay on here in Elektrostal as members of their team, will be here the day Mad & I fly back home. They will stay for a week to see each other face & face, offer encouragement, & get some touristy things done.

Patrick was in charge of spaghetti for lunch--which we all needed having such a lazy morning to burn off energy, etc. It did feel good to have a free day to do nothing in again. And. . .I just heard form the big boss that tomorrow promises the same thing. Yay! I love all the sights, but I need the recuperation days in between, too. I am still in my jammies at 9:03 p.m.--don't tell my dad--he never woulda let me get away with that trick. Christy & I have been reading much of the day away--I'm reading "The Children of Hurin" by J.R.R. Tolkein. I'm enjoying it & will probably finish it in a few minutes. I played some Wii with Patrick, not doing so well, but having fun in the process. The kids set up "Megan's Kiosk" to try to sell us stuff all day--to no avail. They just didn't have for sale anything we were dying for. They also played a lot in their room behind closed doors being very creative & not even coming out for Wii 'til late afternoon. They played Scrabble, too. I spent a bit of time organizing & filing all our pictures so far so that they will be labeled & easy to go through once we get home.

That leads me to right now--9:06 p.m. with vigorous plans to continue doing nothing & enjoying it guilt-free. Tomorrow we will walk to the store for a few grocery items & will hope to meet Natasha to see the school that both Patrick & Christy taught English & Bible classes in this past year. I really like Natasha, so I am looking forward to that short outing in the evening. Enough of the preview for tomorrow & on to the rest of my super productive day. I need to finish it with the same amount of enthusiasm as I started it.