Extraordinary Faith for Everyday Life
OK, not really but tonight we met with our good friends Joni and Wayne and Dani and David at J&W’s new house. It’s GORGEOUS! We had a great time eating, talking and opening presents. Dani and realized we hadn’t seen each other since the New York Hot Blogger trip! Not too many details except to say next year, we’ll have more kids than adults and very glad to say they all played GREAT together tonight. We actually all sat down together at the same table to eat!
This month is going WAY too fast! We’re right in the middle of a really busy week.
And then…it’s Christmas week! I can’t believe it’s only one week away! And then….we leave Friday for Maryland and will be gone until the next Tuesday. I’m telling you, December is whizzing by!
This is Bob. He says you can spell his name backwards if you want. We met Bob last night when our youth group had the opportunity to go visit at an assisted living center in Charlotte. The students talked to them, sang with them and handed out hand painted ornaments and a little bit of candy.
But I’m betting the one thing they take away from that visit is something Bob shared with us. Bob had one of the workers go to his room and get the picture of him and his wife. He put it at his side, hiding it as much as he could until the worker announced Bob would share his story. I’m very sure Bob would be delighted that I’m retelling this as best I can remember.
They were married 62 and a half years and she passed away last February. She had Alzheimer’s and in her last weeks, they put her in a room across the hall from him so it was easy for him to go visit her. A few weeks before she died she got to the point she couldn’t talk but ten days before she passed she turned to him and spoke clearly. She told him what a wonderful and full life she had had with him and their three boys. For ten minutes she continued to talk to him about all their good memories. After that, she couldn’t speak again although she was able to squeeze his hand and did so when he prayed for her.
The Thursday before she died he was praying with her and said Lord, if it be your will, go ahead and take her if it would be best for her. He said the Lord spoke to him as clearly as he was speaking to us and said “It’s not her time, her day is Sunday”. Bob called the family and told them what the Lord had said and the family was gathered by 3pm on Sunday. He said he wasn’t even thinking about what the Lord had told him when his wife took a big gasp of air. He shushed the family in the room as everyone was lightly talking and they gathered in closely. She took one more gasp of air and that was her last. Bob finished his story by saying one day soon he’ll be with her. He raised his hands in victory and leaned his head back with his eyes closed and a closed smile. You could see the peace on his face.
That, my friends, is one of many reasons I believe in God and fully plan to see Bob and his wife whole, healed and reunited in Heaven one day. I can’t wait.
Since my girls aren’t avid P2P readers yet, I thought I’d share two cute etsy purchases I made for their Christmas.
First are crayon aprons. The first style is Lexi’s. The second is Emma’s. The link on the pictures links out to the etsy shop.
The second is a set of small wooden dolls. The brown for Lexi and the primary colors for Emma.
So cute right???
If you’ve found a great product, let me know!
I opened Emma’s folder today to find a yearbook order form. Her first yearbook. Kindergarten year. It made me feel REALLY old. And of course I thought of all my yearbooks sitting in a stack in my hall closet floor. Sometimes I think what’s the point. The only time I use it is to look up someone that I should remember on Facebook but don’t or to get a good laugh from some of the inscriptions. But without all her yearbooks, Emma won’t be able to do a fun little Photoshop project like this in 25 years. (Of course I can’t find 1st or 4th grade yearbooks) I feel like I should apologize in advance for all the permed hair and awful bangs.
And shoulder pads.
And collared shirts.
And crooked teeth.
And cheesy Senior year dedication.
And Kindergarten spelled wrong.
And Sophomore.
OMG, these prove I really did go to school.
Yowzas.
And by the way, does the long straight brown hair remind you of anyone??
Wow, today was busy. It went a little (ok, a lot) like this:
So once again, this has been another full day that has left my eyes sore and my body tired. But I don’t think I’d have it any other way. Feels good to be productive.
I’m cooking spaghetti right now. I preheated the oven to 425 and opened it to put the garlic bread in and found this.
It’s cupcakes left over from the other day. Now twice-baked. Scott isn’t here but I know they were in the oven because he couldn’t stand looking at the pan sitting on the counter. Also because I found the pumpkin pie in the microwave. What’s really funny is the whole time I’m browning the meat I keep thinking how sweet it smells!
Sent from my iPhone
Lexi has decided she hates school.
For the past two weeks, every day she goes she says she doesn’t want to go. So I quit taking her to early stay which starts at 8 and is very convenient since I drop Emma off at school at 7:45. I’ve been going back home and waiting until 9 to take her. However, the past two days Scott has taken her at 8 with little complaint in the morning. But, she’s still saying she doesn’t like school in the afternoons.
Her reasons vary. It started out when a boy tried to take her blankie from her and then another day a boy stepped on her foot or something. Lately, it’s “school is boring“. I question her about their activities and individually she says she likes them but then several times she has come up with the complaint that she doesn’t like the snacks.
I called the school about it to see if there was really something going on with another kid she wasn’t able to tell me about. The teacher said they’d noticed she had had a tough time the past week in the mornings but couldn’t pinpoint anything. I would attribute that to her not going to early stay first (she stays with different teachers that first hour) and coming in less alert at 9.
She does seem to have a few good friends and enjoys certain aspects of it so although my first reaction is to pull her out, I know in general she likes it. It doesn’t seem like she’s being terrorized by anyone continuously so that’s not the issue. The teacher says she loves the activities. I have half a mind to talk to the teacher about this “awful snack” they’ve been having since Lexi isn’t giving details but how awful is that going to make us look? It’s not as if I can or should dictate what the class has for snack and Lexi can’t go in with her own snack. How ungrateful would that look?
I’m not sure what to do at this point. Preschool isn’t a must but I also don’t want to pull her out simply because she hates the food and yet I don’t want to complain about it to the teacher. I still wonder if there’s something deeper than a horrible snack. I guess we ride it out for now and see if it’s just a phase.