April 17-18 Erin's Sleepover

Friday-Saturday:  It's finally Erin's weekend to have a sleepover here at the Beach House! YAY! I took a lot of pictures, combining many of them into collages that kind of tell the story of our time together.

This is Baby James, named after Grandpa Jim. Erin loves this little doll--doesn't he look nearly real? While Erin was having an ice cream snack, she felt it was appropriate for James to have some ice cream too ...

I got out the Lighthouse/Ice cream shop (LEGO) for Erin to play with, as well as the Treehouse set. Erin played and played and PLAYED with these LEGOs! I got out my little tiny ducks and turtles and Erin used them to help tell many adventure stories with the LEGO people. I'm so glad I have these sets and that they are STILL together after all of these years. I'm sure I must have the building instructions to each set somewhere ... but ... it would take me awhile to find them, I'm sure. Thankfully, Erin does not take these apart at all! She just enjoys playing with them.

We ate hot dogs for dinner, two each (one with a bun and one without), with cheesy chips and very tiny cucumbers! It was almost 8pm by the time we decided to watch our movie. I popped the popcorn, turned out lights, and got the house ready to watch "The Princess Bride." Erin and I cracked up while watching it.

It was nearly 10pm when we finished watching the movie and then I went into the kitchen to clean up our popcorn, which took a few minutes, and I looked for Erin and couldn't find her! She had gone into the spare room and tucked herself in! That's a FIRST for Erin here. Usually, she will very reluctantly consent to bedtime around 10:30 and then go in and out of bed for about an hour until she collapses!

Earlier in the evening, I got the children's LOOM out because Erin requested it a few weeks ago and I promised her she could make something with it on her next sleepover ... SO ... here she is. I want to tell you something about Erin--she is SUPER patient when she is making something. Actually, all four of these kids are! She does not give up if it gets difficult. She really enjoys working with her hands. She is careful and conscientious about her work and she takes real pride in it too. All of this is SO healthy and happy! She did not want my help in any way, shape or form; however, she did allow me to "check" her work after she had woven each row, just to make sure there was nothing amiss. Only a few times, did we have to take out a small section and re-do it--but since we did this row by row, it was not overwhelming.

Erin picked out rainbow colors to work with. I just sat at the table with her and we "chatted" away more than an hour, and then she finally grew weary and ready for movie time. Erin ended up finishing her weaving the next morning.

Also, Saturday morning we watched a few short "reels" of babies eating their first lemons. Their faces were SO funny, we decided to try it ourselves. Here is Erin taking quite a BIG bite of a lemon. I'm not posting the ones Erin took of me--they are too hideous, and I am too vain (not a good quality to still have at age 72.5, but I am praying that I will grow out of it!--I'm serious).

We played a few games of "Memory", the animal set that I have. Erin won both games ... by a HUGE amount! 

Erin continued to play with these LEGOs Saturday morning, off and on, between playing other games with me ... and finally it was time to gather Erin's things and head on over to Culver's for a delicious lunch!

Look at our beautiful Erin enjoying her Root Beer while we wait for our food at Culver's. Isn't she something?

Note to self: NEVER get the hamburger at Culver's again ... it's not that it was bad or anything ... but they advertised a double cheeseburger with extras on it and it looked SO good on the poster that I ordered it. But as soon as it was delivered to our table, I regretted not getting fish. I love fish! What was I thinking?!?!

It was wonderful to have Erin over this weekend. She is a kind and sweet almost 8-year-old, and I love her through and through.

April 14 Only THREE pictures

Tuesday:  I'm not sure why, but I almost completely forgot to snap any pictures of the kids today! There was nothing unusual about my time over at their house--perhaps my brain was just on empty or something. 

As the little kids got off their bus, I noticed right away that Cal and Aidan had been to the hair salon and had fresh hair cuts--super nice! I failed to get any pictures whatsoever of Cal today--but I told him his haircut looked super nice and asked him what he thought? "I hate it!" was his response and then he cracked up. Hmm. What a kid. I think he was just pulling my leg.

Aidan and I played a game of Chess, using their "Jurassic Park" Chess board--which always throws me off. I can't remember which dinosaur corresponds to the regular Chess pieces--so it messes with me! Aidan has no trouble whatsoever keeping the pieces straight.

We had a good game--pretty even, I think; but I did finally checkmate Aidan. He handled his loss just fine.

Erin was watching us and giving me advice as I played. She was also eating her Easter candy like it was going out of style. 

Erin is invited to have an overnight at my house on Friday! I am looking forward to having her here with me. She's a challenge to keep up with, but I will do my best. I'm still surprised every time these kids express joy at spending time over here with me. I do have a fair amount of toys to interest everyone, so I am thankful for that. 

See you Friday, Erin!

April 11 Matt's birthday celebration

Saturday:  Matt's 21st birthday was actually yesterday, but family celebrated it with him today over at my house at 3:00 in the afternoon. I wasn't sure what to make for dinner because ... it's difficult to find something that everyone enjoys eating. Anyway, I made a bunch of food, and everyone ate what they wanted. It worked out fine--everyone seemed to get enough to eat.

I walked around taking pics with my phone. It isn't often that all four of these siblings are at the same place together, and I NEEDED to take as many pictures as possible. I promise I was not obnoxious!

Look at Kaity! Last week, she watched a short video about cutting her hair and ... she cut it! Look how pretty it looks.

After dinner, we had Matt open his gifts. I made him a card and gave him cash. Christopher gave Matt a football card of Matthew Stafford! It's a card Chris has had for a very long time. I know ZERO about sports' cards, so I have no idea of its value--but Matt was super pleased to have it gifted to him. Emma brought Matt two loaves of Pepperidge Farm Cinnamon bread (without raisins!); plus, she baked chocolate banana chocolate chip cupcakes, as well as chocolate strawberry ones. They were very delicious. How kind of Emma to bake something so yummy for this party.

When I asked Matt what his favorite cake was, he responded that he really doesn't eat sweets anymore. I suggested a cheese cake, but Matt responded that it really didn't matter to him. Hmm. I ended up making one of those no-bake cheese cakes that are super soft and delicious. I liked it (but there was no possibility that I wouldn't) and ate way too much of it!

We sang "Happy Birthday" and then cut the "cake" and ate it. Matt did not take a piece. Shucks. I thought perhaps he might taste a little bite--but no. He remained true to his word on the whole cake thing.

After cake, we decided to play a few games. I was so happy when Dakota decided to stay for game time tonight, as well as Jesse!! All of us just enjoyed the fun of playing games. This game everyone is playing is called: "Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese, Pizza!" I was cleaning up in the kitchen, so I didn't play it; but I observed and cracked up watching everyone. It's a screaming, slapping kind of game and very fun.

Look how relaxed and happy Kota looks! 

It sure was fun to watch everyone laughing together. That's what families ought to do!

And some of the facial expressions ... !!!

We also played "Blank Slate", all eight of us. It's a good conversational kind of game. After we were finished with games, everyone decided it was time to go home. I packed up leftover food for everyone (mostly Chris !!) and then everyone was on their way.

It was good to have everyone here tonight. Families can be really difficult to navigate around. I hope we can find a way to continue to connect with each other as the years go by--so many changes will happen, and it's not always possible to stay close, even in location. Plus, there is a lot of hurt in this family and my heart is sad about that. Help us, Lord, to forgive each other where it is possible and to love each other as You desire us to.

April 10 Ted and Bev

Friday evening:  My next-door neighbor, Ted, is an almost 92-year-old gentleman whom I have enjoyed sharing a side yard with for three years now. He loves the Lord, and I love to fellowship with him as being a follower of Jesus. Ted was married 55+ years to his first wife. After she died, he met and married a nice woman but she died after only three years. After that, Ted met and became close friends with a woman from his home church. They decided to share a friendship, but not get married, due to their age and the complexity of all the family issues related to marriage. However, this close friend died of pneumonia just prior to Christmas (I think), and so Ted was alone once again. He started reaching out to me in ways that I could not reciprocate . . . but I had an idea, a rather match-making thought ... what about my 90-year-old friend, Bev! I had barely tried to formulate HOW I could introduce them to each other, when Ted asked for Bev's number! 

Who is Bev, you might ask? She is a dear lady from my adult Sunday school class over at Calvary. She turned 90 last fall, and I have oftened mentioned Ted to her as we chat as I am driving her to various appointments. I also spoke to Ted about Bev during one of the various neighborly conversations we have. A few weeks ago (just before I went to Florida), Ted asked if I would give him Bev's phone number. With her permission, I passed it on to Ted. They've been talking via the phone almost every day since! They are acquainted with a bunch of mutual people, but they never met each other until ... tonight!

Our Sunday school class at Calvary was having a potluck and guest speaker social on Friday night. Bev asked Ted if he wanted to join "us" for that occasion. Neither Bev or Ted drive anymore--actually just in the last six months both of them quit driving and no longer own a car. Bev's car needed repairs beyond its value, and the mechanic told her it was really too dangerous for her to continue driving it without those expensive repairs. She turned 90 in the fall and her kids were really relieved when she decided to just junk the car. Ted and his son, Scott, were in an accident last fall that totaled Ted's car and since he was 91 at the time of the accident, he decided it was time to quit driving. The accident was not his fault--Scott was actually driving at the time. 

A few months ago, I was asking the Lord how I could serve Him and in the next week or so, Bev contacted me with her transportation needs. I've been driving her to go grocery shopping and occasionally to various appointments. Bev is a super active person. She visits the "Y" twice per week to swim and exercise, she plays Bingo on Fridays over at the Salvation Army, and she is very involved at church. Another friend, Mary, also helps with Bev's transportation and she also utilizes a ride-share option.

Here they are at the potluck! Ted got introduced around, and the two of them seemed to enjoy themselves quite a bit. After dinner, we listened to Dr. Michael Rydelnik, a former professor of Jewish studies at Moody Bible Institute, lecture about some current world events. 

Afterward, Bev invited Ted and I to briefly visit her apartment, so we did that--she only lives about five minutes down the road from us. I am so thankful these two finally met each other!

April 7 A very FULL day

Tuesday:  It's Spring break here in W. Michigan, which means most, if not all, public schools are shut down until Monday the 14th. Since today is Tuesday, I had the four Pahman-O'Brien's at my house for most of the day. 

Since I do not do well with cooking with others in my small kitchen, I did the French toast up and put it in a crock pot yesterday to be re-heated today. I already had chicken/broccoli/fettuccini in the refrigerator from the other day--I know Brendan loves this pasta concoction. AND the other kids I knew would readily eat hotdogs (which are super quick), other than Aidan (who does not eat hotdogs)--and I grilled a cheese sandwich for him, which he kind of ate. I had cut up a cantaloupe the day before, put it in containers in the refrigerator and totally forgot to serve to the kids. Yikes. I'm not really a fan of cantaloupe, but I suppose I will have to force myself to eat it rather than waste it.

I picked these four kiddos up at 8:30 in the morning and didn't return them until almost 5:30. The majority of the time, we played at my house; but on the way back to their house, we stopped for an hour at Dwight Lydell Park. It was a good day!

Erin is just about the only "grand" who plays with my dolls anymore. Kaity ALWAYS enjoyed playing with dolls around here; but now they are hardly played with. Erin especially loves "baby James" as well as "baby Bonnie (not pictured). I love how she plays so sweetly with them.

I set up the foosball table the night before to be all ready to play a tournament with Gregory--I'm trying very hard to refer to him by this name now--but it's SO hard, since he has been more commonly called Cal  (Callaghan is his middle name). This child LOVES this game and he is an absolute riot when he plays. We played THREE games because we had each won ONE, so we had to have a "match" game. I forget who won! All of the games were very close!

We also made an attempt to learn how to play: "TAP A BELL'O" which would be a LOT easier to learn to play if I would just force myself to actually read through all of the rules--but since I haven't done that yet, it's always a rather haphazard affair to play the game. The kiddos just like ringing the bell--it does make a nice, clear sound.

As usual, all of the kids (except Cal) drew, colored, made "books", used stencils and stamp pads, etc. They are a very creative little crew.

I also introduced "Worst Case Scenario" to them (but I retained all of the gruesome scenario cards and didn't even show them to the kids) and we played about 4 rounds. Some examples of "bad" things to choose from were: "You are stuck in an elevator", "You can only eat one thing for the rest of your life", "You grow a tail that is permanent", "You jump from an airplane, pull your parachute, but it doesn't open (which would naturally result in your death--but at least the kids weren't grossed out about it), etc. All five of us played it together--I helped Cal because he is not a reader yet. I love that these kiddos enjoy playing games together. It's so interesting to observe each of their personalities as they play. Beautiful kiddos.

The spare room was strewn from wall to wall with toy cars, roads, dolls, LEGOs, etc.

Here is Aidan constructing a racetrack--notice how he is utilizing plastic cups to give some leverage to the track--he is a very creative builder with almost anything he is given to build with.

Brendan enjoys sketching very much--at least I hope that's why he was sitting here drawing for the longest time. He is 14 now and although he never NEVER ever complains, I sometimes wonder if wishes he were a million other places instead of here with his younger siblings.

Cal made an apartment complex with the MagnaTiles, requesting little lights for each room. He was very pleased with the result.

Here is Aidan, once again constructing ANOTHER racetrack, combined with MagnaTiles.

The Treehouse is still a favorite around here. This actually belongs to Kaity, but years ago when I got it for her birthday, we decided to leave it here so that the pieces would not get lost over at her house. These kids feel the same way--they realize the small parts would get "lost in the sauce" over at their place, but they are very happy to play with it at my house.

By about 3:30 or so, there were so many toys, games, cars, stuffed animals, puppets, paper airplanes, etc. OUT at the same time, it was quite ... crowded around here! I was starting to get claustrophobic (!!) so I loaded the kiddos up and we drove over to Dwight Lydell Park. We took our box of pre-made paper airplanes along to fly in the field there--but it was just too windy to really get good trial flights. But there was plenty to do on the playground and we actually played there for over an hour. It was a beautiful day for outside play other than being 42 degrees--these guys are almost NEVER cold, so they were just fine.

The reason Erin is in her PJ's, is because she wasn't feeling well this morning when I picked the kids up and she wanted to stay in something cuddly while at my house. She wasn't one bit hesitant about playing outside in her pajamas, so ... if it didn't bother her, it didn't bother me either.

I'm super glad about the nice day we had. I am also still exhausted 24 hours later! It took about an hour to put everything away at my house (because I am fussy about where things go!), and I had dishes to wash and dinner to make, but I went to bed at about 9pm and slept soundly all night. Thank you, Lord, for letting me be grandma to such interesting and loving grandchildren.

April 5 Resurrection Sunday

"CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED!!! 

Would you believe it was SNOWING (flurries only!) this morning?!? And the wind was gusting too! Thankfully, by the time I left for church, that nonsense had ended--at least the snow part. It surely was COLD though.

What a wonderful celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ this morning at Calvary Church. I saved seats for Emma and Kota--and they came and filled them! I was so glad to see them! We sang so many of the great Easter songs, exalting Jesus as very much ALIVE. I think I love Easter even more than Christmas, probably because the whole story is told at Easter and it is the best story ever.

Pastor Tom talked about the significance of Jesus being alive and how we can also walk "in newness of life." if we belong to Him. There were baptisms with such powerful testimonies too. Three young-ish men (late teens, early 20's) -- and one young woman -- separately told how God brought them to faith after a lot of struggle and personal conflict. I love to hear testimonies of people coming to faith, don't you? 

Later in the afternoon, I drove over to Jesse's place to visit with he and Kaity for awhile. Chris's ginger cat was there too. His name is "Sir-Purr", which is a very funny name for a cat! He's a nice plump cat, very pleasant personality. Sir-Purr stays at Jesse's place if Chris is home for the weekend from Olivet. It was nice to see Chris and Ella later on, too, when they came to pick up his cat and return to college. Chris only has three more weeks of school and then he is FINISHED! He sure has worked hard these four years, and everyone is super proud of him. 

Looking forward to this weekend when these guys all come over to my place to celebrate Matt turning 21. 

April 3 "LOVE" Friday

Friday evening:  I attended Calvary's Good-Friday service last night, accompanied by Emma and Dakota--it was such a blessing to have them there with me! The service was introduced as The "LOVE" Friday service, even though it was clearly stated that this was the GOOD Friday service--I kind of like the LOVE part, though, don't you? Was there ever a more loving Sacrifice given?

I have never been to a more worship-filled, God-honoring, Gospel proclaiming service in all of my 72.5 years. I wish it had been recorded, because I would listen over and over again. In every song we sang and each song that was sung to us, in the Scriptures read and then prayed over, Jesus was lifted high, the Father was praised, the Spirit was invoked. I could have stayed for hours and hours ...

This "modern" hymn was sung--I love it so much (see lyrics below). We sang it in church Sunday morning too. I love the lyrics because they so clearly spell out what Christ accomplished for us on the cross, leaving nothing undone. How amazing that He would do that for a sinful person like me.

COMPLETELY KNOWN, COMPLETELY LOVED

Matt Boswell and Matt Papa

Completely known, completely loved

My heart is seen by God above

Should I now run?

Dare hide my face?

When in His eyes are only grace

Completely free, the shame is gone

The highest Judge took all my wrongs

And set them on His only Son

He bore my sin, I bear His love.

Chorus

Completely known, completely loved

I’m covered by my Savior’s blood

I’m robed in white and God is pleased

To see His Son when He looks on me.

Completely His, how can it be?

That God would set His heart on me?

Loved not for works that I have done

but long before time had begun.

Chorus

Completely saved, the work is done

The curse, the grave is overcome

For with that dawn there arose a King

Now heaven’s smile shines down on me

Chorus x 2 

After the service, we walked out to our cars together and said we would see each other on Sunday. I love our resurrection services! I pray the Lord will speak to many people and that they will surrender their hearts to Him. I am so thankful Jesus bore my sin so that I could be forgiven. The Lord knows me completely--yet He loves me. !!