Surprise!

We got to the church this morning to clean the Sunday School building, as usual. We don't do it on Friday when we do the rest of the church, it would make it very difficult to get the kids to school on time if we did.

Nothing unusual when we first walked in, but about an hour after we got there, as we were finishing up, Little Girl noticed a box on a bench.

"Mom, this has your name on it!"

Glancing over, i said that since it was just a first name, there was no way to be sure it was for me, to simply leave it alone.

Miss Gail, the Sunday School Superintendent, was running in and out, and we just had a moment to discuss the lesson, and some editing she wanted to do to it. Then she left, i thought to go make copies of something. She came back in a moment later, with the wrapped box.

"Here, this is for you," she said.

The students started yelling, "Rip it open!" Instead i opened the card, and told them to wait a moment, that the card always comes first.

It was a note telling me how much she appreciated my work on the event for the girls from the week before, and signed by herself and her husband.

Opening the gift, it was a very nice, very big, crock pot! During the evening of the event, i had noted that i would have brought mine, had i known we needed it, though it was a very old model in sad shape. When the lady who was supposed to bring hers finally showed up, late, it was just the kind i have always wanted to save up for, but just haven't ever gotten there. In passing, i mentioned that it was a good one, and that it was so big you could cook a huge roast, something mine wasn't big enough for.

So Miss Gail, to show her appreciation, bought me a new crock pot, of just the kind i've been wanting for a long time. Even though i hadn't planned a roast or anything like that this week, i may pick one up just to give it a whirl.

From now on i will know, when i plan a crock pot supper for The Mouth and the whole family, i will be able to cook enough.

Thank you, Miss Gail, it was a wonderful surprise.



Today is:

Floral Design Day

Kalevala Day -- Finland (Finnish Culture Day)

National Chocolate Souffle' Day

National Science Day -- India

National Tooth Fairy Day - and/or August 22

Peace Memorial Day -- Taiwan

Public Sleeping Day

St. Romanus' Day (patron against drowning, insanity)

Teacher's Day -- many Arab nations


Birthdays Today (Also includes Feb. 29 Birthdays)

Robert Sean Leonard, 1969
Gilbert Gottfried, 1955
Bernadette, Peters, 1948
Brian Jones, 1942Mario Andretti, 1940
Tommy Tune, 1939
Gavin MacLeod, 1930
Charles Durning, 1923
Zero Mostel, 1915
Earl Scheib, 1907
Vincente Minnelli, 1903
Linus Pauling, 1901
Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, 1533


Antonio Sabato, Jr., 1972
Tony Robbins, 1960
Gretchen Christopher, 1940
Jack Lousma, 1936
Dinah Shore, 1916
Jimmy Dorsey, 1904
William Wellman, 1896
Herman Hollerith, 1860


Anniversaries Today:

University of Pittsburgh is chartered, 1787



Today in History:

Coronation ceremony of Liu Bang as Emperor Gaozu of Han takes place, initiating four centuries of the Han Dynasty's rule over China, BC202
The first edition of Henry Fieldings' "Tom Jones" is published, 1749
John Wesley charters the Methodist Church, 1784
The first commercial railroad in US, Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) is chartered, 1827
Robert Nelson, leader of the Patriotes, proclaims the independence of Lower Canada (today Québec), 1838
Regular steamboat service from the west to the east coast of the United States begins with the arrival of the SS California in San Francisco Bay, 4 months 22 days after leaving New York Harbor, 1849
The Bulgarian Exarchate is established by decree of Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz of the Ottoman Empire, 1870
The American Telephone and Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York State as the subsidiary of American Bell Telephone, 1885
The USS Indiana, the lead ship of her class and the first battleship in the United States Navy comparable to foreign battleships of the time, is launched, 1893
Queen Ranavalona III, the last monarch of Madagascar, is deposed by a French military force, 1897
Egypt regains independence from Britain, but British troops remain, 1922
DuPont scientist Wallace Carothers invents Nylon, 1935
Basketball is televised for the first time, 1940
In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with the loss of 30,000 civilian lives, 1947
James D. Watson and Francis Crick announce to friends that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA; the formal announcement takes place on April 25 following publication in April Nature (pub. April 2), 1953
The first-ever color television sets using the NTSC standard are offered for sale to the general public, 1954
The United States and People's Republic of China sign the Shanghai Communiqué, 1972
Andalusia approves its statute of autonomy through a referendum, 1980
GRB 970228, a highly luminous flash of gamma rays, strikes the Earth for 80 seconds, providing early evidence that gamma-ray bursts occur well beyond the Milky Way, 1997
First flight of RQ-4 Global Hawk, the first unmanned aerial vehicle certified to file its own flight plans and fly regularly in U.S. civilian airspace, 1998
Over 1 million Taiwanese participating in the 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally form a 500-kilometre (300-mile) long human chain to commemorate the 228 Incident in 1947, 2004
Jupiter flyby of the New Horizons Pluto-observer spacecraft, 2007