Rich always gets a craving for Pinkberry on Sunday afternoons…..I am SO over it….but he mentions it, and since I can’t always say “no”, this past Sunday I said, “Okay, lets go but we are taking the children to see Santa Clause.” To this he had less enthusiasm but as he would do just about anything for that tasty frozen yogurt treat, he said, “You know the line is always super long for that.” and I understood it was a “yes” from my husband.
The line was a little long, but not too terribly bad. Our son David, who is now 14, absolutely refused to see Santa, because “it would ruin his dignity”, and went away to wander the mall while Rich and I took our three youngest through a process of getting a special badge, doing a few fun North Pole activities, and then finally visiting with Santa for the all important portrait. Seth was the most reluctant and shy, Sarah was the most excited. Caleb was in the middle (perfect).
There was one part of the event where the children were able to go into a little room of sorts to stand in a beautiful falling artificial snow. I, of course, right away thought to myself, “Perhaps we should avoid that part or they will get covered in it for their photo with Santa.” I thought it was very unwise of the elves to put the messy snow BEFORE Santa, why not AFTER? However, I am super proud to say, I put aside my own controlling tendencies and let them have all the fun they could possibly have. I pretended I didn’t care. Although we brushed it off them, you can see the snow in Sarah’s hair like dandruff and some flakes of it on the boys, too.
There was a dear mom behind us with her two PERFECTLY dressed girls in all their Christmas finery (velvet and hair bows, white tights and black patent leather) and they avoided the flakes of snow like it was the very plague. They stared in wonder at Sarah scooping it up and throwing it sky high, while I heard the mother whispering instructions to her prim and proper daughters to not get any of it on their dresses, and I could tell by their faces that they had no intentions of doing so. And I knew that could have been my mothering technique, as well. I understood perfectly how they all felt because I felt that way a little bit myself.
I don’t really have a point to this story except that it was a close call for Sarah, and a learning experience for me (again). Every day is a lesson on “control” for me….and slowly God is taking it gently from my hands so I can have a little fun, too.
You who are young, be happy while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Ecclesiastes 11:9
I dragged myself out of my cozy bed this morning to go wake up Seth for school, and wake him up I did, out of a sound sleep. We came upstairs together to find Caleb in the rocking chair, “There is a two hour delay, mom,” he says. Seriously, I could have stayed asleep. Ugh. But once up, I stay up and I made pancakes and bacon and hugged everyone. I heard a report from Caleb and Grace that “Sherlock was meowing all morning and wouldn’t stop. Jacob finally put him outside.” After the children all left for school I found the cat under the porch, in distress. “What is wrong with this cat?” I wondered, and then thought to myself, “He did bite Caleb not long ago, maybe he has rabies.” The more I thought about it the more I was convinced that he had rabies and since he bit Caleb, Caleb naturally had rabies as well. I called the vet and sure enough, his rabies vaccine had needed updating a year ago. I made an appointment to take the cat to the vet and also put in a call to the pediatrician to let them know Caleb was bitten by a cat that didn’t have his shots up to date and probably had rabies but I didn’t know because I was on my way to the vet with the cat. I had to leave a message and left to travel to the vets with my sad cat.
I was crying when I explained to the technician that I feared that my cat had rabies and that he had bitten my son. She quickly left the room to send in the vet, who came in saying, “Sherlock was vaccinated for rabies in the past and there is no way he can get rabies or pass rabies on to your son especially since it has been over two weeks since he bit your child.” She felt Sherlock all over and announced “Oh this is his problem, your cat cannot pass urine, he is blocked.” So I cried some more and tried calling my husband to ask him what to do and if we could spend 800 dollars to get Sherlock on the road to recovery. Rich grew up on a farm and values all living creatures, but only to a certain extent. ha ha. Providentially for the children and I, he did not answer his phone, so I called my son Jacob, who after all is a man now. After talking it through with Jacob we decided to go ahead and get treatment for our cat, as the only other option according to the vet would be to put him to sleep. All of us love Sherlock very much and since he had a sickness which could be treated, we decided that even though it would cost 800 dollars we felt responsible for his care and knew that in this instance it was the right decision to help our dear pet, after all he probably only bit Caleb because he was grumpy about his condition.
I drove home without Sherlock, who was being busily sedated and catheterized by the vet and her assistants to remove his blockage, which, as explained to me, was a multitude of crystals in his urine that had built up over time. In fact, the vet was a dear older lady who became a vet later in life after her own cat had the same condition. She told me that she was so impressed by her cat’s vet that she decided to become one as well. She was very nice, I liked her a lot. I’m wondering if now I will become a vet, too. 😉
I came home and ran 2 miles on the treadmill while texting my brother Dave in order to settle myself down again.
I am now sitting cross legged on my bed attempting to blog about Grace at the Christmas house.
Grace is part of the Madrigals singing group at her school and they dress up in victorian clothing and sing Christmas carols a cappella in exquisite harmony at many different venues. They were scheduled to sing at a lovely decorated museum on Saturday so I went and took Sarah with me. Rich came a little later, as well.
I loved the wall paper.
There were decorations everywhere, and a little gift shop in which Sarah spent a few dollars on matching Menorah necklaces for herself and her sister so that Grace, “would never forget me.” She said this with such sad eyes that Grace quickly told her “I could never forget you, Sarah, you’re my sister.” and then I cried a little. It was one of those moments.
The acoustics in this room were divine.
When they were finished with their performance, I took a few photos of Grace who was dressed so beautifully.
She was the queen.
There was an older gentleman in the room watching us who invited Grace to sit on the couch (museum furniture is not typically to be sat upon) for a photo.
The music director’s daughter MADE this dress for herself when she was the queen in high school.
Grace with her friend, who was coming to get her for a group portrait outside in front of the house. I gave the camera to Rich and asked him to try to get a picture of them for me while I went to go help Sarah with something.
And this is what I recieved:
~Merry Christmas~
look now! for glad and golden hours come swiftly on the wing. O rest beside the weary road, and hear the angels sing!
I bought a book recently based on the recommendation of an author I thought I could trust. She raved about the book Commonwealth, by Ann Patchett, and consequentially, as soon as it came out, I bought it and read it. It was terrible. The best thing about it was the cover and that’s saying something.
This is just one example of what usually happens to me: I pick up a fiction book because it says “bestseller!!!” on it and then wonder why I can’t get into it. I thought maybe I wasn’t intelligent enough to understand the deep and hidden meanings/ideas that made a book a bestseller. (this still could be the case, I suppose)
When I read I want to get lost in the book. I want to get that feeling like “I cannot put this book down.”
If I get the sense that a book is trying too hard to be a book, I can’t read it.
The book has to be a book!!
My mistake was made when I subconsciously lumped *all of fiction* into one category…decided I wasn’t cut out for fiction….abandoned it….. and resorted to reading mainly memoirs. I have the best time with memoirs. I’ll always love memoirs. (For a while I thought I had a problem with fiction because it was “made up”….after all, memoirs are for the most part true, or based on, truth.)
I watched the movie “The Age of Innocence” and watching the movie provoked me to read the book (free with kindle). Ahhh, here was fiction to respect! The Hunger Games? Bah! Yawn! Sneeze! (actually, truth be told, I did like the first book, it was the 2nd and 3rd I couldn’t read.)
But why? Why did I enjoy The Age of Innocence and not Catching Fire? And how? How could I find these books, the fiction books, that I could read and respect? Certainly not by walking aimlessly around the fiction section at the library!
The answer came to me just the other day when I was in the depths of reading a most wonderful book which I had selected at random from a used bookstore. How on earth can I be enjoying this fiction story, I asked myself. It was written in 1942, perhaps that was the answer. Perhaps I have a problem with modern fiction. After all, I hated Commonwealth (for example) and that JUST came out. Perhaps the internet/online world destroyed the creativity and seriousness of the written word so that fiction works are no longer respectable? How very depressing!
Not at all. As I thought and thought about this problem, I finally realized and came to the conclusion that I was wandering around in the wrong type of fiction……
(I’m sure I should have realized this years ago, but whatever, I was too busy having babies.) I’m excited! what’s the point, you ask?
Look to the Mountain, as I researched it online, was a Pulitzer prize nominated book, and that was my light bulb moment. What could be more literary than a Pulitzer prize book? I quickly searched for the Pulitzer prize winners list and realized I had only read a few of them. Right then and there, in front of the fire place, I realized I had a lot of reading to look forward to.
The point is this; I am going to read all the Pulitzer prize fiction winners and not in any specific order because I’m going to search and find them all in second hand bookshops.
(insert squeals of joy here!)
I may even read all the runners up, as well!!
There is an awesome little used bookstore in Rutland, VT. My son Ethan’s college is nearby and when we drove him back on Sunday I went inside to look for my books. My Pulitzer books. I quickly found two: The Good Earth, by Pearl S Buck, and Ironweed, by William Kennedy.
But first I had to finish Look to the Mountain. Which I did, last night.
I just want to say….I highly recommend this book. It was the best book I’ve read in a long time, and it was reminiscent of another long time favorite, Hannah Fowler, by Janice Holt Giles. There is a special place in my heart for early American pioneer stories. Reading them makes me want to make stew over an open fire and put on a long full skirt. I often sighed to think, “I wish I could find another book like Hannah Fowler.” And I did! This one is even better!
410 pages of wonderful words…..woven together into a meaty, rich, beautiful book.
She stood at the top of the rise and she watched to the eastward….guessing between which two treetops would be the place where the sun would come. Then the sky grew too bright there to see the tree branches. The true gleam of the sun, it the first instant she saw it, was of the sun itself—and a long ways away from her. Then across all that distance it came into her eyes…and her eyes had to turn from it. She threw back her hood, and on her face was the morning. pg. 107
My brother Dave got some great pictures on Thanksgiving day. I thought I would post the ones he sent to me, along with the few that I was able to take on that day, as well. It’s funny as I look at them I feel peace…but in actuality the day was quite busy with lots and lots to do and think about (and I never did get the pumpkin pie out of the fridge to serve! totally forgot about it). I had lots of help from my Mom and everyone. It truly came together wonderfully.
Seth was determined to peel potatoes. I let Jacob help me peel when he was four years old and he peeled his finger so it’s always been an emphatic “no” from me to Seth. He took matters into his own hands and found a peeler in the drawer for himself. And yes, he did just fine, after all HE is almost eight. Thank you, Seth!
His look of intense concentration was just the dearest.
We turned all the heat off in the house but it was still too warm to start a fire in the fireplace. But I love this room….(we added it to the house a few years ago)
I played a few hymns for the potato peelers.
Rich, Jacob, and Ethan watching something on a phone….
I like how Dave took wide photos to get the details of the rooms.
my husband and his boys (plus Michael, Jacob’s best friend) watching TV
Sarah started eating the homemade rolls as soon as they were done. They are obviously her favorite thanksgiving food.
Grace and her Aunt Maria made the corn casserole.
Mom, sister Amanda, sisters in law Cassandra, Maria, and Melissa, daughter Grace, myself, and my niece Abigail (who turned 16 yesterday!) surrounded by lovely fiestware. 😉
Caleb and Dad having a chat.
kitchen help 🙂
Dad played football with his grandsons. Seriously, he’s the best.
quick family photo before we ate dinner
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!
My sister Amanda took these during Dad’s prayer of thanksgiving to God for all His numerous blessings to our family and the world……..
and then we served up our plates of food and ate all over the place….yes indeedy it was delicious
(I had no appetite which is the only downfall for being the hostess….I get so busy and distracted that I can’t enjoy my food! LOL) the leftovers have been delicious, though.
and then there was time for a few goofy sibling photos…….
so thankful…whenever we can all be together in the same house….there’s just nothing like that feeling. I never want to take it for granted.
The dryer is humming. An orange cat is at my feet, busily cleaning his fur. The bed is made and I’m sitting on top of the blankets with blue jeans, a flannel, and brown moccasins on.
I can hear Sarah’s movie from the other room, I can hear the cat licking itself, I can hear the dryer, but as I look around the room, everything is quiet and still. Motionless. The trees outside are like statues. If I wasn’t typing, I would be motionless as well. My eyes would stare; at the shiny doorknob of my bedroom door, at the curtains, the fan on the floor, the patterns of the wood grain of the dresser.
What a difference a day makes. Yesterday at this time the kitchen and dining room were swarming with family, everyone talking, gesturing, laughing, working, eating, cleaning up, taking photos.
Everyone has gone.
It’s almost a lonely feeling. To make so many plans and then have a holiday over.
Caleb is loudly whistling. Rich is at the school setting up for wrestling season. I can hear the boys digging through the lego bin. Seth is singing a silly song.
I’m tired. I’m wearing the day after thanksgiving like a cozy blanket.
Wow what a nice sunny day it is here in good ol’ *hometown* USA. As soon as I got the kids to school and took my shower I made my way to the grocery store for thanksgiving groceries trip #1. Trip #2 is tomorrow because my husband has the day off and he loves Costco. (We’re getting the turkey at Costco…….)
And lest you think I was going to bring all the groceries inside the house myself:
..and yes, he did get up and do it. 🙂
So, for preparations today, I am slowly getting organized to make sure I have all the things I need for the dishes I will be preparing on Thursday.
~Disposable turkey roaster because who wants to scrub out a turkey roaster?
~Bread for stuffing.
~Poultry seasoning, of which I have plenty because it’s one of those things that I never want to run out of so I end up getting more of it than I need.
~Turkey bags to roast the turkey in.
~wheat pilaf
~punch (sherbet in the freezer)….I will be putting the juice and soda on the porch to cool.
~pickles and olives (tray which used to belong to Rich’s grandmother)
~chips and dip
~I could make deviled eggs but haven’t committed yet.
~Orange jello salad (cool whip in freezer)
~crackers and cheese tray
~miscellaneous– more serving pieces
~corn casserole (sour cream and butter will be added, and eggs)
~more trays, plates, and dishes if needed
this along with the dishes that are in the kitchen (plates, bowls, and mugs)
These are the wonderful people attending our meal on Thursday, Lord willing:
Myself
Rich
Jacob-going to VT today to get Ethan, thank you J!
Ethan
David
Grace
Caleb
Seth
Sarah Joy
Michael
Mom-will be helping me in the kitchen
Dad
Dave
Maria-bringing pies, baklava, and wine
Amanda-bringing sweet potatoes, coleslaw, wine, and homemade cranberry sauce
Jason
Abigail
Naomi
Weston
Nate
Melissa-bringing a vegetable tray and a birthday cake
Makayla-birthday girl!
Gregory
Isaac
Cassandra-bringing salad
a guest invited by my sister
Now that I’m done with the groceries I am going to watch a movie, fold laundry and do some cleaning. Seth and Sarah will be home in an hour.
We are hosting thanksgiving dinner for our family on Thursday and this morning I began preparations.
I made the rolls…….
let in a kitty
kept making rolls….
including a round pan of cinnamon rolls to be baked on Thursday morning for breakfast.
(for you, E)
At this point, everything went into the freezer. On thursday morning I will take the rolls out and put them in pans to rise and then bake them so they are nice and fresh for our feast day.
On Tuesday I had to take Grace to the doctors because she was awake half the night in agony. Turns out she had a full blown ear infection. She stayed home from school for two days in a row because of it and is on antibiotics.
On Wednesday, Rich and I drove to Vermont to watch the very first wrestling event at Ethan’s college. We watched him wrestle in the exhibition matches before the main event. He lost to his opponent and then by the end of the night the varsity team ended up losing by a distant tie breaker. It was such a close competition. The gym was packed and I loved how the refs encouraged all the young kids in the stands to come down and sit right by the mat to watch. So, this was my favorite photo of the whole night, just because of this dear little boy who reminded me so much of Seth:
After the meet Ethan was about to faint from hunger (slight exaggeration) and all he could do was think about food, so we took him to the college cafe and ordered two pizzas. He wolfed down three pieces and then we got him a Ben and Jerry’s frozen yogurt to take back to his dorm room to eat in bed while watching Netflix. Rich and I drove back home and were in bed by 1:15 in the morning.
Moving on…..this post is actually about my son Caleb, who is rarely featured on my blog anymore because he is a little camera shy. My early posts were pretty much all about him because he was my baby at the time. Always a mama’s boy, always with a tender heart toward others. Of course he has his silly side, and has made a name for himself at school and at football as “the boy who can make realistic chicken sounds.” I’ll record it for you one of these days.
Each child was given a fabric bag filled with goodies to take home. Inside, there were two little bags of flour (so cute!) a flexible plastic scraper (I never knew how convenient they were!), yeast, and an instruction booklet written on a level for children to learn and understand (amusing!)
UNFORTUNATELY for Caleb, he was bit on Wednesday night on the hand. By Thursday it had become infected and was pink and somewhat swollen. He told me it was a scratch and as I am a “oh you’ll be fine” sort of mom, we set to work baking the bread together.
After he washed his hands with powerful soap over and over under my watchful eye.
“Mom, the dough is like pancake batter.”
We kept adding the flour.
One cup at a time. No mixer, just a bowl and a spoon.
He learned at school how to use the edge of the scraper to level off the cup.
The bag of flour was too small to fit a measuring cup inside of it so we dumped each bag into a mixing bowl.
“Mom the dough is like cake batter now.”
He was very observant. And you can tell he is experienced in all kinds of batter, too. Comes from years in the kitchen with Mom. 🙂
“Mom you stir it now, my hand hurts.”
Here is the entire free download of recipes if you would like to try Caleb’s bread:
Naturally, because of *infection-hand* I did the kneading as well. (Caleb didn’t touch the dough)
The finished dough ball.
Truth be told, as I spent time with my son, I realized that his hand was worse than my original diagnosis. So, I called the doctors and took him in to get it checked while the dough was rising in the fridge.
I was sort of apologetic at first that I didn’t wait to see if it would clear up on its own but the doctor said, “No. I am so glad you didn’t wait on this. Always trust your gut. I know you and you have a good gut.”
Thanks to the mother’s gut, it was antibiotics and an excuse note to miss Football practice for Mr. C.
For those of you who do not know yet (young moms) if you see a red streak (like what is on Caleb’s wrist) coming from the wound, you should take your child to the doctors sooner rather than later.
It was at the doctors that I learned that his “scratch” was truly a “bite”. He didn’t want to tell me that he was bitten.
Guess who bit him?
Therefore, hours later, after the doctors, after football practice (during which Caleb sat out), we finally baked the bread.
Second rise, right before popping it into the oven (after removing plastic wrap, of course).
Half the dough was used to make a loaf, the other half to make cinnamon rolls.
This loaf was taken to school today to be donated to someone in need.
While the rolls cooled, we naturally watched a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED show full of bready goodness for all ages: Wallis and Gromit’s of A Matter of Loaf and Death. (it’s on amazon prime I believe)
The cinnamon rolls were soooooooooo good! Oh it was a gift, to “snuggie” (that’s what I say, I say, “Seth come snuggie with me.”) on the couch with Caleb and Seth to watch a nice show and then eat cinnamon rolls together right before bed.
tired mama, but happy mama, & precious boy o’mine
By the way, I rubbed pressed garlic on his infection twice last night and by this morning it was looking much better. Of course it could have been from the one dose of antibiotics that he had after his appointment, too. He’ll be on it for 10 days.
“From first to last it was crowded with delights.” LM Montgomery
My go-get-’em daughter Grace is on the hunt for a college and she made the decision to go to a Christian one. Weeks ago, it came to my mind that perhaps she would enjoy a college that was very familiar to me as it was a popular option for church students in the area that I grew up. In fact, my father took a few classes there, and Rich’s aunt also attended.
I was especially excited about it because my dear friend Joanna (who is mentioned on this blog about a thousand times) lives not far from the school. So I thought, “Wouldn’t it be neat to visit the college with Grace and then get to see Joanna?”
We went on their website and chose a date to visit: November 11th. Conveniently, this was a vacation day for Grace from school. I emailed Joanna to see if she would be in town that day.
BUT WAIT, there’s more! Not only was she in town, but she was SPEAKING at a ladies conference and asked if Grace and I would like to go with her. Of course we would!
About a week later, as I was preparing our trip details, it came to my knowledge that…..
BUT WAIT, THERE’s more!My son Ethan (who is a Freshman at a college in Vermont) was going to be IN THE SAME AREA for a wrestling tournament!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What???? are the odds? The tournament was on the same day as the conference so I was conflicted. After thinking about how to solve this problem, I thought that perhaps Ethan’s girlfriend would like to come along with us. SHE could surprise Ethan by showing up at his meet and that way I wouldn’t feel bad for being at a Bible conference while my son was literally only 30 minutes away from me (my heart!).
So, eventually, I received a “yes”from Tessa, but she asked if maybe David could go along as well, so she wouldn’t have to hang around at the gym alone.
Our little trip now included two extra teenagers=the more the merrier! I made reservations at a hotel situated in between both events and had good reviews, and a reasonable price.
We headed out of town in the darkness of 4:30 a.m. on Friday morning.
Grace was blessed over and over by the people of this school, and during the tour she was shown many things to be excited about. She enjoyed every minute.
BUT WAIT, THERE’s more!
While we were sitting in the dorm listening to our tour guide explain dorm life, a familiar face walked by. I recognized this young lady as the daughter of an old friend of mine! It was a joy to see and speak with her, and for Grace as well, especially after realizing she was the cousin of her friend Kyle and a best friend of her cousins. “It’s a small world” & “church connections” are the best!
Our tour at the school was over at 3:30. Joyfully, Joanna was able to finish up her work and texted me to ask if we could go to her house for pizza dinner. This was another unexpected blessing: to be able to see her entire wonderful family, see the things she’s done in her home since the last time I was there, and also allow Grace and Dave to meet her husband and children.
Before we went to her house, we decided to head to our hotel to relax for an hour. We checked into our room and dove on the beds, each of us with our own electronic device.
But wait, there’s more! I checked our group text (between my husband, myself, and our three oldest) and saw that Rich had questioned Ethan about where the wrestling team was staying that night. We hadn’t asked him before because we didn’t want him to become suspicious about us going to his tournament.
GUESS WHAT???????? The team was driving to our VERY SAME HOTEL to spend the night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You can imagine the squeal of shock as I leapt out of bed in my joy. Tessa and I were beyond amazed and thrilled to learn that we would actually SEE ETHAN THAT VERY NIGHT!
You have to realize, we were in a very populated area in PA, there are probably one hundred hotel options, and God put us in the SAME EXACT ONE!
WITH MY FRIEND AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!! after two years!
love you, Josephina! 🙂
Steve and the kids were just the sweetest and nicest and we had delicious pizza together before heading back to the hotel.
Using the handy dandy “find my phone” feature on our iPhones Rich was able to let me know when Ethan’s bus was within 10 minutes of the hotel. Grace and I sat in the lobby, and I was still in denial that this whole thing was happening. I felt like “I’ll believe he is truly staying in this hotel when I see the bus pull up.”
AND IT DID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Grace ran off to get Tessa for Ethan’s surprise #2 and I wasn’t aware of it so I didn’t get that one on video. But he was thrilled to say the least. After the team settled into their rooms, Ethan was able to come back to us and we were able to see each other until almost 11pm.
The next morning, I drove Dave and Tessa to the college to watch the wrestling tournament. Grace and I continued on to Joanna’s house. We picked her up and had time to go through Dunkin’ drive thru for tea, and then to the church where Joanna was one of three women speakers.
Right off the bat, my soul was being soothed by the songs, the women, and the atmosphere. It was just what we needed to make this weekend away from home PERFECT.
And to see my daughter and my dearest friend together…..Bibles open…..learning, growing, singing praises, loving…..it was such a gift. God ministered to me and my children over and over in the most tangible ways. It was overwhelming, to say the least. I’m still feeling the adrenaline rush as I type.
Joanna’s talk was Christ centered and soulful, I was in tears. One of the stories she told was about the time she and her husband adopted their daughter from Ethiopia, and how moving it was to be able to take the orphanage clothes off her new baby, and, as her new mama, to dress her in a handmade, beautifully smocked dress (made just for her by dear Dawn). This continues to serve as a beautiful reminder to her of the very same way that God clothes us as His dearly beloved children, showing us that we belong to Him.
She even had the dress with her to hold up and show the women. Tears!
sisters in Christ, friends for over twenty years, soul sisters, always and forever
Joanna came with Grace and me to the remainder of the wrestling tournament. This was the first meet she had ever watched, and it was fun to share with her something that is a HUGE part of my life each winter. We had missed out on Ethan’s two matches but Tessa was kind enough to record them for us. He lost his first match by points, and won the second by a pin.
I was able to meet one of the other moms of the team, and two of the coaches as well. It was fun to watch the matches and it made me excited for the upcoming wrestling season for my younger boys.
The meet ended and we took a few photos before Ethan got on the bus for Vermont.
(David took a 2 hour nap in the hallway during the meet, LOL) And Grace (although you can’t tell) was in tears and starting to feel shaky and sick. The excitement was starting to catch up to her.
So Joanna and I dropped them off at the hotel and the two of us were able to go out to eat. She took me to a Greek place that she and Steve go to on their dates. (Thank you to Steve for the suggestion!)
You can just imagine all the talking we did.
I took her home and continued back to my hotel room, completely filled up with the goodness of the day.
The next morning we allowed ourselves to sleep in a little. We left by 9 and made a stop at Krispy Kreme donuts before entering the highway for the three and a half hour drive home.
This post doesn’t even begin to describe all the ways God blesses our lives. But it does give a taste of how what we think will be an ordinary life can become abundantly and richly touched by His hand. It was a *praise and thank you Jesus* sort of weekend! And it is a *praise and thank you Jesus sort of life* for all those who believe on His name.
“May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.” Numbers 6:24-25
But there are also many other things which Jesus did–so vast a number indeed that if they were all described in detail, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would have to be written. John 21:25
Good to be Home 