A Full Heart after a Full Week

What a busy, great week. Last weekend was spent on report cards but we did have Beth's sister, niece and family over for supper on Saturday and it's always nice visiting with them (especially good this time as we celebrated the 3rd birthday of our great-niece/godchild Jenna). Monday I was off so finished up the reports and then took Beth to Toronto for her biannual post-thyroid cancer checkup. All was fine there, though we waited for almost an hour to see the doctor (who had an obvious Kiwi accent - at least obvious to me after having seen 'Flight of the Conchords'). That night we made it back just in time for a Colombia meeting, which went very well, even though Beth and I think we probably can't afford to go this year.
David and Rachel also got their new house on Monday so we went over there on Tuesday and helped them paint the bedroom (a cool limey green).
Wednesday was music practice as I'm playing guitar on Sunday (have officially joined the schedule) and it went way better than I thought it might. There's no drummer this week so ended up carrying the rhythm a bit more, but that's what I'm kind of used to so it felt good actually.
Thursday after school I attended a retirement party for a friend from my last school. It was so wonderful to visit with former colleagues - so many lovely, understanding people, it left me wanting to spend more time with so many of them. Got some good encouragement about the advantages of retirement and especially for me retiring before Beth and being her support system at home. Of course, we're still at least 3 years away from that decision so who knows what will actually happen (but it's nice to dream).
Friday was wash day (yeah, I'm practicing for the retired househusband role) and small group which is always fun, especially with some of the games we play with some very competitive people.
And today is David and Rachel's moving day, so yes it's been a full week.
Read through 'Where the Red Fern Grows' this week but was a bit disappointed in it. I was surprised by it's simple writing style and that may have been purposeful on the part of the author but I really am not sure about that. Also I found it difficult to identify with the boy hunting raccoons with his 2 dogs and that is the main thrust of the plot. A simple faith (with a number of miracles scattered throughout) was evident but I didn't appreciate him misquoting the Bible to say 'God helps those who help themselves.'
Musically I listened to Kerry Livgren's old "Seeds of Change", David Wilcox's "Open Hand", The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper" (this last in preparation for a concert in February). Then I read on Andy Osenga's blog that he thinks U2's 'Achtung Baby' is the best album ever so I listened through that and I must agree that it's a pretty fantastic release. I've always loved 'The Fly' but I never even realized that 'One' is on this (because I had kind of stopped listening to U2 when Achtung Baby was originally released and have never really given it a chance to be properly appreciated). I was originally going to label this post "The Greatest Band in the World" but I'll save that point for a slow week.