(Started on 3/29)
Praise the Lord- spring break is finally here!!! It’s been a long time and coming, and I am looking forward to a bit of reprieve over the next few days. We are looking forward to celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ on Sunday. Our church is having a Good Friday service tomorrow night, a community outreach event on Saturday morning, and services on Sunday. We are looking forward to the opportunity to reflect on what Jesus has done as well as point others in our community to Jesus through our community event. Also on Saturday our oldest boys are coming home as well as my sister and my dad! Yay!!!!
My parents arrived in North Carolina last Monday evening, and while my dad has been in the Dominican Republic, my mom has helped with getting the boys where they need to be, reading with Emma, and enjoying time with her family in the western side of the state. Last Tuesday afternoon my parent came to watch Garett play in his baseball game. However, Garett had said on Monday that his arm was hurting him a bit. By Tuesday afternoon, he was in quite a bit of pain, and he was unable to play in the game. That was disappointing to him and my parents, but clearly he had strained something in his arm. Hopefully he will have some time to rest his arm over spring break, and be ready to return to baseball after break.
Last Wednesday my parents checked the younger three out of school a little early to take them to lunch. Whenever Papa is around, things happen! Jen and Travis have devised a plan to raise some chickens for eggs. Jen suggested to Travis that perhaps she would get some chickens after the missions trip. However, by the time Jen and I arrived home from school, the chicken coop was built and the chickens were in a tote with a heat lamp! The plan is for the chickens to live in Jen’s backyard, but currently, we are babysitting half a dozen chickens. Travis has done very well with taking care of them, watering them, cleaning out their pen, and even helping to find a different pen for them as they are growing quickly. The chicks cannot be outside yet, but thankfully, they’ve been moved to the shed at our house. Originally Travis had the chicks in the tote in our mudroom, but I told him the chickens were smelly. He replied, “It’s fine, Mom. They don’t smell that badly.” Um, son, the chicks are moving out!
The boys stayed overnight at Jen’s house on Thursday night since they were leaving at 2:15am on Friday morning. Chandler did not want to miss his last golf practice, so I told him I would finish his packing as long as he didn’t care what he was wearing. He replied, “Oh, I already packed most of my clothes. Mr. Hardison (our athletic director) gave us some old jerseys and shorts. I’m just going to wear those and then leave the clothes there. Then I have less to pack!” However, in every picture I’ve seen of him on Facebook, he’s wearing the same orange shirt and gray shorts! I finally sent my sister a message and asked if he’s changed clothes this week. She said that outfit was his painting and concrete work outfit as he doesn’t want to wreck his other clothes. But he has showered and changed clothes this week- thank the Lord! They’ve been busy with moving lots of dirt, mixing and pouring cement, helping with Vacation Bible School, and a lot of other things. I’m sure they’ll come home exhausted, but we are so very thankful that Garett and Chandler have had this opportunity. We are praying for them to be a blessing and get a blessing. Missions trips can change your life.
Emma has been praying about getting a dog for about a year now. She’s been praying specifically for a German Shepherd. Roger and I have been saying that God will provide a dog in His perfect timing. I couldn’t imagine adding a dog into our lives, but guess what? Here we are! A co-worker of Roger’s mentioned to him last week that she had a friend that was trying to get rid of some puppies. The puppies were pure-bred German shepherds, and they were selling them for $1,000 a piece! Um- no thank-you! However, the co-worker continued on to explain that this family had two (14 week) puppies that they just wanted to give away to good homes. I was pretty sure that I didn’t need a 14 week puppy in my life, but the pup would be free, and it was a German Shepherd- should we go look?! So on Friday, March 22, we went over to see the puppies or we tried! They had let the puppies out to run off some energy, and the puppies were no where to be found! The pups had run off with the two older 6 month dogs and there was one puppy left to see! The pup that was left at home had a hernia, and we knew we didn’t want to start off with vet visits. We decided that we would come back on Saturday to see the other puppies. Wyatt, Travis and Emma were thrilled with the thought of getting a dog, Roger thought it would be a good idea for our family, so I was the one holding out! We went back to see the pups on Saturday, and there was Sam. Sam was one of the 14 week old pups, and we could’ve chosen one of the six month old dogs, but at six month they’ve already learned a lot of bad habits. Sam was the one that we picked out, as he seemed calm and collected. Sam came home with us, and while the trip home was a bit rough as Sam got car sick, we made it home. Sam was very reserved the first few days, but he’s been a good change for our family. Roger has worked with Sam a lot, and Wyatt and Travis are very good with Sam. Emma loves Sam, and he puts up with her. God answered Emma’s prayer, and I hope that she never forgets that!
My mom came back from visiting her family on the western side of the state on Tuesday, and we surprised her with showing her Sam! It was nice that my mom was around this week as she could take the boys and Emma right home after school to check on the pup, and the boys and Emma were excited to get out of school a little early twice this week! Also, since my mom has been in town this week, I asked her to come to read to my library classes. She was willing to read, and my assistant (Jen) and I were happy to have her read! It’s always nice to have a guest reader in the library, and I’m thankful that my mom was willing to read.
(Continued 4/2) Friday was our first official day of Spring Break! It was a day of lots of activities as we prepared for guests in our home for Easter Dinner. The boys began their trip back to the U.S. on Friday, and arrived home on Saturday afternoon. Our church had sent out an email saying that there would be a baptismal service on Easter Sunday. Emma has been asking about baptism for a while, so we contacted Pastor. After the Good Friday service, Emma went to talk to Pastor Powell. Roger and I went with her, but she talked with Pastor Powell on her own. She cried a little as she talked about her salvation and how she knew that Jesus had died for her sins. After a short conversation, she asked about being baptized on Sunday. It was arranged that Emma would be one of the four to be baptized on Sunday. She was so excited (and nervous), but she wanted to surprise Papa, Nana and Aunt Jen. We tried to surprise her older brothers too, but Travis let the cat out of the bag on Sunday morning!
Saturday morning found Emma and I back at church for a community event for Easter. I had been asked to face paint (something, I’ve never done before!). I was completely nervous for most of the time while painting faces, and I passed on anything harder than flowers and hearts to my friend, Kaycee. Yes, I teach elementary art, but it’s different when I’m following along to written directions, have practiced the art project, and it’s not on a person’s skin! Whew! We made it! I’m thankful for my friend, Kaycee, who was willing to help with the face painting. There were quite a few of us that were face painting, and there were a lot of kids that wanted their faces painted!! Emma enjoyed the morning playing with her friends on the inflatables, participating in the egg hunt, and enjoying the beautiful day. God blessed us with a beautiful day for the event, and there were a lot of people that came out for it.
After the morning event, Emma and I went home to get Sam and Travis. Wyatt decided to stay home, but Sam needed to go to the walk-in clinic at Tractor Supply to get a rabies shot and a check-up. I wasn’t thrilled about the amount of time we spent waiting in line, and neither was Sam, but we made it! Sam now has the shots that he needed, and he probably won’t want to visit Tractor Supply again any time soon! On our way back from the clinic, we stopped at Jen’s to pick up Garett and Chandler. Yay! Both boys were completely surprised that we had gotten a pup while they were away, and it was a good surprise. Sam has been a good dog so far- he’s calm, gentle, and gets along with all the kids. I didn’t want a puppy, but Sam has fit in quite nicely.
Sunday was a full, tiring, but great day! We were going to be having about 40 people over for lunch, which dropped to about 35, but still a full house! We had been praying that God would give us beautiful weather so that everyone could be outside, and He did! Our friends, the Everetts, came down on Saturday evening, and Laura and I were up early to prep and cook. We surprised ourselves with everyone being ready for church super early. Emma and I needed to be at church by 9:15am as she was singing with the kids choir. She was a little nervous about the baptism, but also excited. Emma and I headed to church, and the rest stopped for coffee before church. It was a full service with lots of singing (I love that part), the baptism, and preaching. It was a great service!
Around 1:30pm, we had Easter dinner at our house. Our house was full, but so were our hearts. There was PLENTY of food, and it was all delicious! We had my parents, Jen, Everetts, Harrison’s, Tamela’s parents, Carrillos, and the Lee family over for lunch. The kids spent the entire afternoon outside with basetkball, golfing, and playing together. The adults fellowshipped together and kept track of little ones and puppies! The Everett’s had their dog, the Harrison’s had their pup, and we had Sam! The Hardison’s dog, Marley, and Sam wrestled and played together for hours and then would flop over for a nap. It was fun to watch them play, and the kids enjoyed holding the chicks, walking the dog and being outside. We are so thankful that God blessed us with a beautiful day, and I am thankful for Ressurrection Sunday. Food is good, fellowship is great, memories are wonderful, but the most precious and awesome part of it all is that Jesus Rose Again! What a day to celebrate! Death was defeated and Jesus conquered the grave! Praise the Lord!
We are looking forward to a few days off of school! These first few days are supposed to be warm and beautiful, but then it’s supposed to turn chilly again. We will also be working on a few school projects that need to be finished up before we return- such as a science project, animal notebook, and fine arts project- never a dull moment!
In closing, God is good, so good. I’m starting a devotional book on the names of God, and the first one in the book is God- Elohim, meaning the Strong Creator. How much we have to be thankful for in this life! Looking at the choices of those in leadership in our country and what’s happening around the world, would cause me to be depressed in a hurry! But we can rejoice that our confidence is in God and not in mankind!
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