Embarrassed? Nah!

The ICC BU Young Group Parent Appreciation Dinner on Monday was very interesting indeed. Knowing that Dad was feeling a little out of sorts from just returning from the Romanian trip, I pleaded for him to try to refrain from behaving in an embarrassing way this evening. If I still had any fears of his eccentric behavior after that warning, he quickly put those to rest upon exiting the vehicle exclaiming in a loud voice, “What were you saying, Rebekah, about being embarrassing?” Everyone already there turned to see what the commotion was from….so much for a discreet entrance. Mom gave him a sound scolding.

Honestly, I was actually very proud to introduce my parents to this group and their parents and I was excited that they would finally be able to put faces to the stories I tell them. I know that Mom and Dad are very likeable people and they would get along fine. Nevertheless, the evening did not go without at least a couple more events that resemble the first. After eating, the kids were told to stand and introduce ourselves, school, and course of study. I stood and said, “My name is Rebekah Davidovics. My parents are Ruth and Fedi….” at this point Dad stands up and starts cheering. Of course everyone laughed. Now, it really wasn’t that bad that he did it and in my mind I could still say that I’m not embarrassed of his actions, but physiologically I reacted with a bright red blush and a tied tongue. I just couldn’t finish, I had to get the attention away from me and my family so I just sat down which brought on more laughter.

At one point, I needed a fork so I ventured to the area of the line where all the guys were just starting to get their food. Drew Martin stops me and says, “Rebekah, your Dad could probably kill everyone here with the change in his pocket.” I just had to laugh out loud at that comment and replied in the hearing of all the guys nearby, “If you talk to me too much, he just might.” Nervous chuckles could be heard all around….I don’t think I’ll have to worry about any proposals anytime soon, especially with such a scary and intimidating Dad .

Dad doesn’t like singing, and we had a singing after supper. I think he expressed his disinterest in the activity a bit too freely as the song leader later told me that he was not very appreciative of his comments. Tim didn’t mean this in a rude way (you have to know Tim to understand the way he worded it), however I must chalk that up with the embarrassing moments list.

Now, to be fair, I have to retell the praiseworthy points that my parents exhibited throughout the evening. For supper they sat with Mark and Cathy Kieser and the Schwinds (Dan and Denny are twins who married sisters Donna and Rita. Brian is Dan and Donna’s kid and Tim is Denny and Rita’s. It goes without saying that they are a very close family…interesting and entertaining too.) Emily and I noted that there was constant laughter coming from that area of the table so it seemed that they were all getting along just swimmingly (as I predicted they would ). In fact, they seemed to like Dad so much, that later in the week when I met up with some of the different couples who had talked to him they all retold stories of the evening and finished with compliments on my cool Dad.

So that was that evening. I guess I should mention that I have been so blessed to have my prayers answered  in finding a steady summer cleaning job. Beth Herman approached me on Sunday asking if I was free on Mondays to clean at Lake Norris. I remember her saying last year that she might want to hire someone for this year, I just never thought it could be me. I am soooooo excited about this job for a number of obvious reasons. I hope they are happy with my work because this is an opportunity that I do not want to miss out on. So that is what I did for seven or so hours during the day.

On Tuesday I cleaned my own house and went to play at the Herman’s barn with the college kids. Those were some great games!

Wednesday was another day of answered prayer as I was offered the job of cleaning Grandma’s basement for the Rienhard’s to live in over the summer.

Now, after I finished that I was planning on coming home and getting ready for church, but at the supper table Dad announced that due to the bad weather we would all be staying home tonight. Well, I’m ashamed to say that I did not handle that new restriction well. My actions were correct, I didn’t argue the issue and just started doing other things to fill the evening, but on the inside I was fuming. I’ve been so used to being completely free to do as I please, I forgot what it’s like to be told no. The storm did come like a wall of destruction as the wind and rain picked up so suddenly that huge branches just floated past our house like they were feathers. However, it calmed down after a little and was over just as quickly as it came. Then Dad decides that we can go to church now. Peoria was cancelled on account of their loss of power so I went with Emily to Roanoke and had only about ten minutes to get ready. I hustled over to pick her up and made it just in time to sing the last song. The power was out in their church too, but their fellowship hall was fine, so we all crowded in to sit a the chairs that were set up and found to our surprise, Mike Rieker would be giving the sermon! He spoke on Moses and the Passover, a subject that seems to be coming up a lot lately, but is always nice to learn from.

Last night (Friday) I was invited to go to Heather Leman’s for a bonfire, singing, and frisbee. It was a little hard to agree to go knowing that there was a Bible Study with the Peoria Young Group going on also, but I went to Roanoke to Heather’s anyway. The evening turned out to be super fun. We played Ultimate frisbee for hours till “we could barely walk”. Not to brag, but I feel my frisbee skills have been improving as I was able to get some good blocks and catches in throughout the game. Now if only I could throw the dumb thing….It was some great exercise.

After that we sang praise songs to Brian’s guitar playing. When we had finished singing and had a prayer, Emily told us all about a co-worker of hers who had been fighting breast cancer and just died leaving a thirteen year old daughter and asked that we pray for her. Well that lead to some more prayer requests: Walt Schwind battling cancer, Rich Herman’s family, and the like so we broke off into groups to spend some time lifting these people up in prayer. And that is what I love about the young group, there are some times when it is great to be silly and have fun, but when there is need for sobriety and prayer, they are the most supportive and ready group for it. The evening is truly a blessing.

Which brings us to today! (finally right? I know you are all thinking, “Rebekah, if only you could shorten your blog posts or find time during the week to talk about each day instead of the whole week in one post or just LEAVE OUT SOME DETAILS!!!” Well, sorry but nothing here is going to change )

Today Jessica, Anni, and I joined the campers to spend the day at Middle Grove. We started the day with an adventurous hike through the uncharted wilderness of an Illinois prairie (or the fenced in however many acres that they use to pasture horses, whichever way you look at it is fine) We dodged the poisonous ivy that grabbed at our ankles, climbed hills as steep as your living room walls, navigated through a raging creek, and stopped at the top of the world to admire a view of green valleys occupied by a herd of glorious horses.

After that we rode horses around that same terrain. I was put on Jewel, a green (very green) baby out of Grace and Raven. The trail was nice and Jewel was fine except for one point. We cantered up a hill and upon reaching the top she let out a jubilant buck which sent me straight into the air. I landed on my knees on the saddle and putting into action Mike’s famous advice, I “just bailed!” and being the vaulter that I am, I landed on my feet in the knee high grass. It didn’t take long to recapture my horse, remount and continue down the trail. Jewel was an angel the whole time after.

The rest of the day was pretty relaxing. I’m looking forward to a nice day of church tomorrow followed by some more good times with the family either at Middle Grove or Lake Norris