Roger had to work last Saturday (1/21) as there was a charter flight that needed to go to Bangor. The kids had been begging to go ice skating for a few days, and I told them that if Roger didn’t get back in time we would go in the afternoon. Roger called as I was getting the kids ready to go to the little pond down the road. He said that he was almost done, and he had seen a ice rink in town that looked like smooth ice. I was a little bit irritated as it was already three o’clock, and the little pond would be closer...but we would also probably have to shovel it off. I agreed to bring the kids to town and check out the ice rink. When we pulled up, the rink looked a little crowded and the boys weren’t sure that they wanted to try it out. They like lots of space and to play hockey. However, here we were and it was getting darker by the minute! As we walked over to the ice, we realized that we knew most of the people on the ice! A friend of ours was having a family birthday event on the ice...they have lots of extended family! So the boys jumped right into playing with their friends, I got to visit with Allison, and Roger played with the kids (he didn’t have his ice skates with him, so he was the goalie) I didn’t have skated as Garett is wearing them, but it was a fun afternoon after all! We finally left after it was good and dark, and the boys were skating to headlights on the truck. The boys told Roger what a good time they had, and he replied, “Sometimes you have to try something new before you decided you don’t like it.” Hmm...truth for me too!
Roger had to work again on Sunday. They are short a few pilots right now, and Roger is trying to snag a few extra days as he will be short on days when I’m in Haiti. I was asked to give a short talk about my upcoming missions trip to Haiti, and I really struggled with what to say...shocker, I know! I just knew that I only had about five minutes, and I really wanted to express my heart. I thought and prayed on it all Saturday evening and Sunday morning, and then I just asked God to give me wisdom. I did manage to keep it to about five minutes, and I think I did an okay job. After it’s over, I can always think of about 500 things I could’ve said, but I also know that I’m just a vessel and God uses me as He sees fit.
After lunch on Sunday the boys wanted to go ice skating again. I texted Allison to see if they were going skating that afternoon, and she said that they would meet us at the ice rink. The ice rink is actually not an ice rink. It’s a spot close to the ocean that is a bit of a low spot. As the water crashes over the rocks, it settles in that low spot. This year it froze well, and it’s a nice big spot for ice skating. Emma wasn’t crazy about going again, but she found a slight incline and spent some time sliding down that as the boys skated. No one was ready to leave, but it was time for the kids program at church. Actually, I was ready to go...and Emma!
On Monday, I taught music classes at the school. We are studying some of the composers, and I had a few pictures of Mozart, Hayden, and Beethoven. The first graders were convinced that one of them was a photo of George Washington, so we spent some time discussing that these people are music composers...not presidents. Oh those kids are so fun! Monday is always a full day for me with music classes, lunch duty, and the start of a new week.
We are entering our fifth week of back to school after Christmas break, and we have yet to have a complete week! This past week also held a snow day for us on Tuesday due to “inclement” weather. I have to admit this Wisconsin girl is a bit flabbergasted by these snow days! It seemed to be more rain than anything else, and since Roger had off on Tuesday we spent the day working on projects. We went to the dump, cleaned up the basement, made a grocery list, and had some LEGO boat races with the kids. It was a fun day and also productive!
On Wednesday the kids returned to school, and it was ice skating day! I took Travis over to the ice skating lesson after his speech lesson at school, and then stayed to help with kids on the ice. While I can think of about 500 other things that also needed doing, this was important to our kids. And I had a lot of fun! The kids coach told me that I should play with the women’s hockey league. Hmm...while I think that would be a lot of fun, I don’t think that my time allows for that right now! After Emma was done with school, we did the shopping for hot lunch, ran a few errands and picked up the boys from school. I actually thought that the roads were quite a bit more slippery on Wednesday than on Tuesday, but we made it safely to and from school.
Thursday was spent making memories with a friend. Everyone should have a least one good friend with whom they can have a good time no matter what the circumstances! Emma, Allison, and myself took a trip over to a consignment store in another town. Nothing around here is close, so it was about a forty minute drive. I have some clothes that Emma and the boys have outgrown, and I’d love to get at least a store credit to purchase clothes that they need. Allison agreed to come with me just because well, sometimes it’s nice to go someplace different! We browsed in the store for a bit, and then headed back. I’m not very familiar with this part of Maine, so as we headed back, I asked Allison about a different road. She didn’t know where it went, but I figured it appeared to be running parallel to the road we had come into town on. Well, after wandering around on the back road for about ten minutes, the low fuel Light came on in the truck...and where were we?! Allison tried to turn on her GPS on her phone, but we couldn’t get a signal. I figured we’d have to come out to a main road soon! Sure enough we came to a road I recognized...right across from where we had started! However we made it back to town, found a gas station, decided that was enough adventuring for the day, and headed home on a route we knew! It was a morning full of laughs, good conversations, and memories!
Friday was Chandler’s tenth birthday! Where oh where has time gone?! He doesn’t really care for cake, so he asked for ice cream to take for his treat to school. It was a busy day for me as we had chapel in the morning, a few errands to run, hot lunch to serve, lunch with a friend, and then a trip to Bangor as a family! Terri is keeping the kids for two of the days that Roger is working while I’m away, and I wanted to meet with her to answer any questions she might have. We had a good visit together, and I’m thankful for her willingness to watch the kids for us.
Roger was having ground school on Saturday in Bangor, so we decided to go up as a family on Friday night. I was able to find a good deal on an area hotel, and we took the kids out of school early. The hotel pool was an older one and it was nine feet deep! Our “fish” were delighted! They swam for a couple of hours, and then we met up with Hannah and Josh for supper together. Last year I missed Chandler’s birthday as I was in Haiti, and it was good to get away as a family for a day before I leave this year. We dropped Roger off at ground school on Saturday morning, and then we returned to the hotel. The kids did swimming again while I made a grocery list for Sam’s Club.
I spent Saturday with the kids running errands in the “big” city. We tackled Sam’s Club, Target, Toys r Us, The Dollar Tree, Walgreens, Walmart, and Mardens together! The boys were very excited about our trip to Sam’s Club as we bought more prepackaged snacks than they’ve seen in a long time! They will need easy lunches while I’m away, and they were excited about applesauce pouches, little bags of chips, etc. (It was fun!) I had a gift card to Toys r Us, and the boys have never been in that store. They were a little disappointed as nothing was in their budget! I did purchase a gift for a birthday down the road, as I wanted to use up that gift card! All the kids did great while shopping, but everyone was ready to go home!
Here’s a funny story: while at Sam’s Club, I fed the kids lunch. Emma had dragged her baby doll into the store, and then she had left it by the table leg as she was eating lunch. I was busy handing out food, giving directions to our troops, and supervising when an older lady rushed up to me! She grabbed the baby doll out from under the table, and said that she had about had a heart attack! She had thought the baby was real! Oh for crying out loud! I may have five kids, but I hope that I would have realized if I was missing a child under the table! She was practically in tears, and I did feel bad. But it also gave me a bit of a chuckle!
Roger came home from ground school a little before six, and since he was able to get a ride home with the other pilots, I was able to be home first. It was a busy twenty-four hours, but
it was a good time!
Also this week the kids received a box from my parents. Mail is so exciting, isn’t it? They were thrilled to open the box, and Emma is looking forward to trying out the ice skates that came for her! My mom loves me....I think....but she sent a loud whistle, a toy gun that makes noise, and a pretend snake! (The boys were delighted!)
Overall it was a good week! I’ve been busy with meal planning, coordinating schedules for Roger and the kids, trying to find a teacher for music class, and making sure that the bases will be covered. I know that evrything will be fine, but I want to do my part to make it as easy as possible on Roger! My pile of items to go to Haiti is quite enormous, and there are not yet any clothes in the pile! The needs there are so great, and I want to be able to help and be a blessing as much as possible. I appreciate your continued prayers as we embark on this journey in a few short days!
We talked about this in Sunday school last week:
Extraordinary in the ordinary....
It does require the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four hours in every day as a saint, to go through drudgery as a disciple, to live an ordinary unobserved, ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus. It is inbred in us that we have to do exceptional things for God, but we have not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things.~Oswald Chambers~
I enjoy reading Oswald Chambers book My Utmost for His Highest, and my desire to stay faithful, content, and hard at work with the ordinary things of life and allow God to do whatever He chooses with my life.
Our love,
Sarah
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