And that’s a wrap on the 2023-2024 school year!! It’s hard to believe, but now we have a senior, a junior, a freshman, an 8th grader, and a fourth grader! (And I think I’m getting old!) We are excited for summer break to begin, and we need to think about some summer plans before the summer flies by! Garett will start his job with the gutter company on Tuesday. Chandler is still looking for a job, so please pray that he will be able to find one. Chandler went to talk to the neighbor, whom they’ve worked for before, but our neighbor didn’t have work as he didn’t plant vegetables to sell at the roadside stand this year. Chandler and Wyatt are both planning on attending basketball camp at Bob Jones University in Greenville, SC in the middle of June. Wyatt would also like to find a little work this summer, so that’s also a matter of prayer. I am also trying to find some work this summer, but it’s hard when you need the work to be flexible so that everyone can get where they need to go, grocery shopping still gets done, Travis and Emma are supervised, and the other little details that need attention. But, ya know, God knows what we need, so just pray that all our needs will be meet, and we will continue to pray and work hard at the next right thing.
We had the sports banquet last week, and I forgot to take any pictures! However, the boys did come away with some plaques and certificates for their endeavors in sports this year. Travis won the award for “most-improved” in middle school basketball. Wyatt was awarded the “Christian Character” award for the golf team. Chandler won “Most Valuable” player for the golf team, and Garett received “Christian Character” for the baseball team. It was a bit of a long day as Roger and I had a meeting after school, then the coaches meal (which was delicious) and then the awards. Thankfully, Jen had taken Emma home so that Emma didn’t have to spend a long evening at the school.
Last Friday was my birthday (each birthday grows more exciting! JK!). I was thankful for all the birthday wishes, and for the gift of coffee from my friends, Tamela and Laura. (Apparently they know that I like coffee!) Travis had a soccer game in the evening, so the day was a full day, but I’m thankful for another year to serve Jesus.
This past weekend we went to Virginia to visit our friends. The boys and Roger played golf, so that was fun for them. Laura and I spent time just visiting together, and catching up on conversations that we’ve started over the past several weeks. Laura had a special cake for my birthday, and everyone sang the worst rendition of “happy birthday” that you can imagine! Travis enjoys singing loudly off-key, and it was definitely funny to hear 10 people sing at their worst- pretty bad!
On the way home from Virginia, my Aunt Lisa called to say that my Aunt Janice had passed away. Aunt Lisa asked if we would be able to come for the funeral, but I wasn’t sure if we would be able to with all the school events of this week. Originally the funeral was to be on Thursday, but Garett and Chandler were singing in the choir for graduation. Then the funeral was moved to Wednesday, and since the kids had a half day (except Emma), we were able to go to the funeral. I spoke with the boys teachers and they were all happy to accommodate the kids exams. We left school around 10:00 am on Wednesday morning, but we had decided that not all of us would go to the funeral as it was four hours there and then back in the same day. Garett and Roger were asked to be pall bearers, and Emma was singing with us, so we decided to take the oldest and the youngest and leave the middle three at home to watch Sam. We made good time out towards Hickory, and arrived in time to even practice our song for a minute. Garett, Emma, Jen and I sang “Jesus, strong and kind” for the service. This was the same funeral home where Papaw’s visitation had been held almost eleven years ago. That funeral place is like stepping in a time capsule as everything is exactly as it was 11 years ago! The carpet is still the same, the decorations are the same, it still smells a little funny, it all looked exactly the same (and I’m pretty sure that they didn’t tune the piano in the last eleven years either!) Garett was a little nervous about singing, but he and Emma did great. I played the piano and along with Jen, Garett and Emma. Jen and I haven’t probably sung together in over 10 years, but I don’t remember how young we were when we sang at our first funeral…pretty young. Emma had lots of questions about the funeral, as this is one of the first ones that she’s attended and remembered. She asked about the makeup on the body, if people in caskets have on underwear, what happens to the blood in people’s bodies and a whole slew of other questions! After the funeral, we all traveled to the cemetery for the burial. I suggested to Jen that she might want to park in front of the church in case we needed to leave earlier, but Emma shrieked out, “I really want to go through the drive-thru”. Jen and I were both momentarily confused, but then realized that she meant that she wanted to follow the funeral procession into the cemetery! It was a funny moment!
After the burial service, the church had some sandwiches and light snacks for us. We ate a quick bite before getting back on the road to drive back across the state the other way! We left about 6:30pm, and the gps was showing that we would probably be home around 10:30pm, so not too bad for a long day. However, God had other plans, and He puts us exactly where He wants us to be.
MISSING PERSON?! God wrote a page in the story of our lives on Wednesday night, and I’m sure that none of us will ever forget it. On our way home from the funeral, we stopped in Greensboro (about two hours from home). We stopped at Sheetz (one of our favorite gas stations) for a snack and to put gas in the car. As we were checking out, I overheard the cashiers talking to an older gentleman. The gentleman was adamant that he needed to get back to Goldsboro, and the cashiers couldn’t understand why he didn’t have a phone with a GPS (the cashiers were in the generation that wouldn’t remember that we used to drive everywhere without using our phones for location services). Roger went over to see if he could help the gentleman with directions, as there seemed to be a little confusion. Roger offered to let “Grandpa” (as we affectionately named him) follow us back towards Goldsboro as we were headed in that direction. Grandpa was very appreciative, and then promptly walked off and left his drivers license on the cashiers counter. Roger reminded him to pick it up, and then we walked out to the parking lot. Grandpa poked his head in a vehicle and muttered, “oh yes, this is mine.” And we were off on our way back to Goldsboro. Roger and Garett were first in line with the little four door honda car, then Grandpa in his Kia, and then Jen, Emma and I. As we waited for the light to turn green to merge onto the interstate, Grandpa nearly rear ended Garett and Roger! Once on the interstate, I called Roger to ask if his life insurance policy was up to date! Grandpa was tail-gating Roger so closely that Garett said that he couldn’t even see the headlights of Grandpas car! Jen and I eventually passed Roger and Garett and Grandpa as we could see it was going to be a long ride back to Goldsboro at fifty miles per hour! As Jen and I were driving down interstate 40, we passed under one of those highway banners that was flashing something about a “Silver alert”. Jen looked over at me and said, “Do you think that might be Grandpa?” I was like, “Um, I don’t think so. Grandpa said that he was driving back from Delaware,” However, I tried to look it up online without any success. And then Roger called me and asked, “Do you think Grandpa is the silver alert?” Originally, Roger had planned to get Grandpa to the right exit for Goldsboro, and then leave him on his own. Roger said that Jen and I should head home, and he and Garett would figure out how to help Grandpa. None of us caught the full license plate number on the silver alert, and I wasn’t able to pull anything up online. Roger pulled off at the exit for Goldsboro, and he instructed Garett to take a picture of Grandpa’s license plate while Roger talked to Grandpa. Grandpa was so thankful for Roger’s help, but still seemed to be confused about how to get back to Goldsboro. Roger said that he was pretty sure that Grandpa was going to follow him home if he left him on his own, and Roger planned to call 911 to see about the silver alert after he talked with Grandpa. Once Roger and Garett were back in the car and headed towards Goldsboro with Grandpa still behind him, Roger called 911. When he spoke to the operator, he was patched through to the sheriffs department. The Sheriff’s department asked a bunch a questions and asked for the license plate number. Sure enough- Grandpa was the missing Silver alert!!! Roger told the sheriff’s department that he was headed towards Goldsboro, and because he was going through several counties at one point in time Roger was on the phone with three different sheriff’s departments. The police department pulled Grandpas car over inside the city limits of Goldsboro. We had no idea that God would use Roger and Garett in a special way that night, but God had a plan! We didn’t know who the man was, but we hoped that his family was relieved and happy that he was back. I figured that was the end of the story, but it’s not. While at the graduation last night, I was talking to my friend, and she said, “I think that’s the man whose family posted on Facebook that he was missing and asking for help.” Laura said that the family had posted late on Wednesday night that Grandpa was home again. I was happy to hear that Grandpa’s family was happy that he was home again. God is good.
Today was awards day! Chandler, Wyatt and Travis decided to stay home, and we decided to let them. Typically the awards ceremony can be a bit long, but today it moved along. Emma got a reading trophy award, and she was excited about that. Garett got “most -improved” in his class, and the program was wrapped up by ten o’clock. I helped with some preparations for summer camp, but we were all home by 1:30pm. It’s hard to believe that the year is wrapped up, but welcome to summer!!!!
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