Beginning of the last week

    When I woke up on Sunday morning, my heart sank somewhat as I realised today was the beginning of the second and last week together...

    Nevertheless, saying the Modah Ani, I rose to another day. It didn't take long for the joy of the LORD to settle into my heart again. Juan-Dre woke up late, giving me an opportunity to complete the week's lesson prep that I hadn't completed on Motzei Shabbat.

    Sunday began as another coldish day and my beloved grandson declared he just wanted to stay home today. He called his mom, who was unfortunately sick and couldn't come for a visit right then. The two of us just moseyed around the place, building puzzle after puzzle. In the week that he has been here we have rebuilt every puzzle in the cupboard as well as two that we loaned from a friend - twice! She laughed and said she would bring us another one - she hadn't brought it with the first two as it was "a bit girlie" - but I don't think Juan-Dre will mind. As long as he can build! We make a fine puzzle-building team. I sort out the side and middle pieces into two piles, while he just starts picking up random pieces and building different sections of the picture! He has such a keen eye!

    We've also read stories about Elijah, Elisha, Creation, Noah and Ruth. I asked him if he knew any of these people, and he said: "No, I don't know any of them. I don't go to Sunday School."

    Very well, we will learn about them here. I know I have more books in the cupboard somewhere, I will dig them out before bedtime tonight.

    When we read the story of Elijah, he noticed an anomaly in Elijah's tallit - there were two stripes on one side and three on the other. At first, he thought it was a mistake, but when we came across another picture with the same anomaly, he said: "The prayer shawl must look like that then."

    He also picked up a grammatical error in the writing, which he verbally corrected for me, just so I wouldn't be misled!

    He got a bit bored with the story of Ruth, but he allowed me to finish. He didn't want bedtime stories at all for the first few days, so I am grateful he is letting me read to him now.

    He allowed me to give my 6.30pm class without interruption. Thereafter, we put together a varied dinner - he insists on calling it supper - with leftovers from Shabbat: Homemade Margareita Pizza, Venison Boerewors Rolls, Chicken Roll, Noodles & a small desert. He said it was like having Macdonalds, only healthier!

    He awoke this morning while I was teaching my early morning class, but stayed in bed and waited for me to finish. I then gave him breakfast, we went for a walk to the shop and he left to spend the day with Connor. The doggies are loving having Juan-Dre home for a while. 

    I've just done some housework - cleaned up to prepare for the next lot of mess (I love it!) - and will now spend some time reading and studying Balak. I have a pressing question that I can't seem to find an answer to: Why did God communicate so clearly with a wicked person, Bil'am? I found a partial answer and then remembered that there was at least one other time God had done that - Abimelekh. The one who kidnapped Sarah. Let me meditate on that for the day.