The saga continues...

Bob has talked for a long time about building a base of operations for his program, and he is hoping to buy some land from the local Masonic Lodge, which is located on an oversized lot in Brookside. The Lodge hosted a fundraiser breakfast today, and Bob had several of his kids and volunteers come out to show that they were an active part of the neighborhood (oddly, though, no one in the Lodge seemed to be from Brookside). It was a good breakfast, though.

The two kids I chaperoned last week at the airshow (pictured below) were at the breakfast, and they wanted to talk aviation, which suited me just fine. "Can you fly an airplane?" they asked, even though they already knew the answer.

"Yes, I can, and here's how it's done..." I gave them a demonstration with gestures and sound effects.

"Can you fly a space ship?" they asked.

"Well, no, they only let the best pilots fly those." I should have lied.

Bob has a red Chrysler Sebring convertible, which is wildly popular with the kids, and he asked me to drive them home in it (all of three blocks). I had two girls in the passenger seat, one on my lap, and about five in the back seat. Two little ladies "helped" me drive. That was fun.

After the kids went home, Bob and Carolyn had a long talk with John and his wife. John is one of the two lay preachers in my church who preach on alternate Sundays. It was helpful to get an insider's perspective of the organization and catch a glimpse of the challenges the leaders face. Bob, for example, desperately wants a school bus and a driver for his after-school program, since he has to move 140 kids each day with only two vans.

I've had my eye on one house about a mile and a half from Brookside, which seems to be priced right and is nice enough to have guests over frequently. I talked to Bob about it this morning, and we went to look at it together. A very nice Mexican couple is living there now, and since the wife was home, we got to go inside. Bob told her all about the program and who I was and what I was doing, and he seemed to be impressed with the house itself. "If you get this house," he said, "it would be much easier for you to be involved in our program. I'd probably be over here three or four times a week, and the good kids [names withheld] could come over here too." It means a great deal to me that Bob is enthusiastic about the house and optimistic about the opportunities it will provide. I am still negotiating the price, but if all goes as planned, I'll be moving there in about a month.