Ah, the final hours of a long weekend

I'm at the tail end of an exhausting week. A friend of mine arrived for a visit earlier this week and after a run to the airport at 2:30 a.m., I finally was able to get to bed at 4:30 only to be up at 7:30 a.m. for Mass. I've had more of my share of duties this week as my priest-colleague is out of town at a conference. It is a perfect storm of a weekend.

I was exhausted after mass yesterday because of so many demands on my time. I trained a Eucharistic minister, heard the first confessions of children who will receive first communion in a few weeks, trained two altar servers who were too busy fidgeting in the sanctuary, give the hairy eyeballs to their friends who tried hard to distract them, get the choir on track with pre-mass rehearsals, arrange for readers and offertory people, work with a cantor who was doing some new pieces for the first time, greet people, and imploring impatient people to wait their turn. I don't know that I prayed at mass, but we got through it. Because some people don't have the proper boundaries or social skills, it is difficult to let them know social expectations so I can address them in due course. I feel like I was just band-aiding things together. Besides being alone, entertaining a guest, our secular chorus is in its final stages of rehearsal for the concert in two weeks. I was exhausted after that mass.

Today was much easier, but I had to wake up early to bring my friend to the bus station. We called to ask where the Abdali bus collects people and the answer was at Seventh Circle about eight miles away. If I had been on the phone, I would have asked why the Abdali bus doesn't leave from Abdali, but when I got to the station this morning, they told me I could have picked it up in Abdali. Nothing is ever easy in Jordan. I think even if I spoke Arabic fluently, they still wouldn't know how to answer in a helpful way. Well, that is done!

Masses were fine today. To relax, I did five loads of laundry and I baked a cake for our chorus rehearsal tomorrow night. I have to find a better recipe for butter cream frosting. It tastes good, but something within it is not the consistency I want. I am really a man of texture for my foods.

To see photos of our trip, click on the link below:

1. Pics of the Springtime Gardens
2. Pics of What Shall I call These?

3. Pics of Animals near Nebo
4. Pics of Mount Nebo in the Spring