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! 

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

He bore my sin, I bear His love.

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. !!

March 31 A good day

Tuesday:  I had a wonderful time at lunch with my friend, Julie, today over at Russ's eating their fried chicken. YUM. I love the friendships the Lord has given me in the last few years and I am super thankful for them. Julie is Italian, and Victor (her husband) is Italian too (although he has a lot of Greek family too). I believe they are turning 80 this year--but you would never know it! Wonderful friends.

I arrived at "The Pahmans" a little after 1pm and started my cleaning routine. I listened to some beautiful music while I was working. I didn't do anything in the front room/dining area because it was in the same condition it was last week. They are okay with me not cleaning certain rooms if they are too overwhelming (!!). But I think the kitchen, 1/2 bath, and great room looked much improved.

I hardly took any pictures today. I hate it when that happens. I just completely forgot to take out my phone and do it. 

This is Erin with Aidan's giant Jenga blocks which he purchased over at Five Below with some of his birthday money. They painted "ends" glow in the dark! Erin and I played a game of Jenga with them, and we got our tower pretty high until ... crash! If you are wondering what on earth Erin has in her mouth, it is a big bite of her cinnamon toast.

Aidan and Cal ate their toast at their table that is now ROUND instead of oval. Kelly removed two of the leaves so that the table would better accommodate one of their new games (I can't remember the name of it). Do you see Cal's little face peaking under the plant?

Dylan and Kelly were home earlier than usual. Dylan's first "board" meeting of the organization he is founding is tonight, so he had to get ready for it. Erin thought it would be a great idea if she went along to this meeting as well, but her folks thought otherwise (!); so she voiced her disapproval of their decision and then got on with life. Kids. 

Brendan spent some time with me after he got home from school (he gets home earlier than the other kids) and talked to me at length about an Anime' book he is re-reading (actually the entire series). These Anime' books are actually read like they are written in Hebrew--you read them from back to front! Brendan loves Anime'.

I love these kiddos. Thank you, Lord, for giving them to me as grandchildren.

March 30 So blessed

Monday:  After such a lovely weekend, I just have to journal what's in my heart about all of it. 

Deuteronomy 30.6 NLT:  "The LORD your God will cleanse your heart and the hearts of all your descendants so that you will love Him with all your heart and soul, so that you may live."

God gave me this verse last Mother's Day (May 2025) and I have prayed this for my family almost every day since. 

I am seeing the Lord answer this prayer, and it gives me great hope that He will continue to work in my heart and those that I love. A CLEAN heart! Free from the chains of sin, doubt, shame, condemnation, self-righteousness, unbelief ... to truly love the Lord, and truly find the life that is TRULY life.

Chris and Ella stopped by Saturday night and ended up hanging out here for three hours. We didn't play any games, we just sat and talked. It was a very encouraging conversation--why? Because I see the Lord working in their lives! Some of our conversation was very sad and some of it was quite "dark" ... because of questions that they asked about my "history", but I am going to trust that the Lord will only have them remember what would be beneficial for them in the future. It was good to have an honest conversation and some "confession" on my part. I'm not proud of many of the decisions I made in my life, and I won't make excuses for those decisions. I'm just thankful that the Lord has taken all of our sins upon Himself, crucified them, and since He rose again from the dead, He can give us new life where we are CLEAN and WHOLE and of service in His great kingdom.

To add more to my joy from the weekend--starting with the nice overnight I had with Aidan Paul, guess who sat with me in church yesterday morning? Emma! There are no words for me to express how happy I was all throughout the worship service listening to her voice sing praise to our Lord, watching as she took careful notes throughout the sermon, and then visiting for an hour after the service with her. I love her so much. I am so thankful the Lord has given her a true hunger for Him and for the teaching of His Word. God is so wonderfully good, isn't He? Emma told me that she hopes to attend the Good Friday service with Dakota coming too--AND Easter Sunday morning. 

"Lord--please heal Dakota of the deep wounds in his heart from people's abuse, some too dark to even disclose (but not his fault). Only YOU can meet the deep needs of our hearts. Only YOU can take away the shame of abuse and give us new life. Please, by Your Spirit, give new and eternal life to Kota."

I also went to the PRAISE Palm Sunday service last night at Calvary. WOW. The rafters nearly blew off the church from the sincere praise that arose. What a wonderful way to close out a super-blessed weekend. Thank you so much, Lord.

March 27-28 Aidan's sleepover

Friday night/Saturday:  I picked Aidan up from his house after his school day this afternoon. He was already packed (almost) and ready to go! Since Aidan really enjoys shakes from "Culver's", I decided we would get one that he could take to my house and drink it leisurely throughout the evening. 

We pulled up to Culver's and were almost to the ordering microphone when I began to look for my purse so that I could have my money ready ... but ... I didn't have my purse with me! Oh no! What had happened was that I had arrived over at Aidan's about 30 minutes prior to his bus arriving and I had gone down in their basement to visit with Brendan for a little bit and left my purse down there. 

D-U-M-B. 

SO ... we got out of line at Culver's and drove back to Aidan's house where I retrieved my purse, and then we drove back to Culver's where we finally ordered and paid for Aidan's MINT shake. I'm weird about food and drinks being consumed in my car (I've always been this way--and I've never allowed it!). Aidan already knew this about his cranky old grandma and accepted the fact that he would not drink it until we got to my house.

We hung out for awhile at my little house and waited to eat our supper until it was after 6:00! Actually, it was closer to 7:00 by the time we were actually eating. I'm glad I pre-made the French toast and bacon for Aidan. He loves both of those items--it's sometimes difficult to find something that Aidan really enjoys eating! 

Aidan finds a lot to do at my house. He doesn't actually need me for anything. I do not "entertain" him because he does this all by himself. He knows where I keep everything around here, so he just helps himself. He really likes making things and keeps himself occupied very well. 

This is what Aidan ate for supper. I grilled myself a ham and cheese sandwich, which Aidan was very happy to not eat.

After we were finished eating, I popped some popcorn while Aidan was choosing which movie we would watch. He chose "Incredible Journey" !! It is a classic movie after all. I really loved watching it with Aidan, just like I enjoyed watching it with Brendan.

After the movie was over, I was cleaning up some stuff and looked around and didn't see Aidan. Guess where he was? He had tucked himself into bed for the night in the spare room, upper bunk! I was super surprised, but Aidan said he was really tired and seemed just fine to go to sleep, which is what he did.

We were awake a little before 7:00 this morning. We sat on my couch and read from "Snoopy Beagle Scout" for about a half hour and cracked up. Charles Schultz is an amazing author/illustrator. I snapped a picture of the other Snoopy titles these guys don't own yet, so that I can order some of them in the future.

We played a game of Battle Box, which I naturally lost. I haven't ever won a this game, not that I can remember. Aidan was a lot of fun to play this with. He seems so much happier this year than he was last year and I am so thankful for this. It just seems that he has settled way down, seems way less frustrated with himself and others, and is very nice to be with. Thank you, Lord. Growing up is tough sometimes, but Aidan sure has super nice parents who love their kiddos.

We also spent a lot of time making Origami boxes that Aidan was going to join together to make an Origami shape-thingy (I can't remember what he called it) ... oh ... an Infinity something-or-other. While we were folding all of the squares and boxes, I showed Aidan the video of Jacob Collier doing improvisation with an orchestra in San Francisco. Aidan really enjoyed watching and listening to it!

Look at all of our boxes!

Aidan has a very nice suitcase. I can't believe how much stuff he puts inside it and still is able to zip it! He brought his personal LION'S blanket (super soft) and about three or four of his "stuffies" too, along with a change of clothes and a few other items. This is when he was gathering his stuff from around my house as we were preparing to go out to lunch at Culver's.

I brought my magnet game with us to Culver's and I lost again! We only played one game because they brought our food out pretty quickly, so we just enjoyed eating and talking.

It sure was nice to have you overnight, Aidan. I am a very blessed grandma to have you for a grandson. Love you so much.

May 26 "In This World Together"

Thursday Evening:  The third graders (including our very own Aidan Paul Pahman) from Meadow Brook Elementary School gave a spring concert over at Northern High School last night. It was so delightful! The program was titled: "In This World Together!" and featured beautiful songs from all over the place--China, Nigeria, and others. 

Let me show you some pictures ...

Since Aidan needed to be at the high school 15 minutes prior to the performance, his mama and siblings secured front-row seats while we waited for everything to begin. PERFECT.

Here are Cal and Erin. Cal is sitting next to his mom, asking her questions about her phone (I think). Erin was "horsing around" with me, asking me to take funny pictures of her. She cracks me up.

Here is Brendan, who always loves music and a good concert ...

Here are the three siblings of our performer (Aidan) posing for cute pictures ...

Promptly at 6:30, the third graders from Meadow Brook filed in orderly and took their places on the risers. See Aidan in the front row, third from the right?

I thought he looked very nicely dressed in his blue Husky hoodie and blue tennis shoes.

The concert began with "In This World Together" with motions and all kinds of happiness.

These children also sang a few songs in other languages--such as Mandarin and a language from Nigeria. Very impressive.

These 3rd graders learned all of these beautiful songs and motions from their incredible music teacher, Jackie Schoon. She is one amazing woman. Very gifted and so inspirational. To actually accomplish what she did with eight and nine-year-olds was super impressive. The children followed her lead, did what she showed them to do, read from script at microphones, sang in smaller musical groups, played percussion and other cool instruments--she was BORN to be a teacher.

Look at the children on the right playing percussion. They did it so well!

Five of the children played GLOCKENSPIEL! Look at Aidan (below)!

Look how intense Aidan is!

It looks like he is really having a good time, doesn't it?!

I have the titles of all the songs right in front of me on the printed program, and I know the song they did with these candles was near the end--so perhaps it was the reprise of "In This World Together", but it was very nicely done and the candles were such a nice effect.

What beautiful children! What a blessing to be here tonight with Kelly (Dylan was speaking at a conference downtown and could not alter his plans) and the rest of the family. 

I only have ONE other comment to make, but I really feel strongly about it--and I am not blaming the music teacher, or Forest Hill Schools or anything like that--because it's a rather universal (mis)practice ... "The Golden Rule". Who originated it? Is anyone taught that JESUS is the One who spoke these words?

Matthew 7.12: "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." Luke states the same thing in his Gospel account. And then there's Christ's quote in Mark 12:31, which follows the greatest commandment to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength ..."The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" 

The reason I make this comment at all is that I think people assume this saying was made up by some very "good" people somewhere and that it is a GOOD saying and we ought to use it as an example for our lives. Except that this is GOD's Word and HIS ways that are always perfect and should be imitated. He says many places in Scripture that He will not give His glory to another, and I just feel that NOT attributing this awesome statement to the correct Author, is stealing from His glory. Enough said.

I had a wonderful time tonight. Love these kiddos so much.

March 24 Happiness

Tuesday:  I had lunch today with my friends from Bible study, Julie and Jenn. We eat lunch every Tuesday over at Russ' and order their yummy fried chicken. We had such a nice time together today. I am so thankful for good friends like these.

I arrived over at Dylan and Kelly's shortly after 1:00 and did some cleaning and picking up around the place. Their front room was a bit crowded from big boxes with shelving units inside, so I didn't do any cleaning in there. Soon, Brendan was home from school and we visited for a short while before the other kiddos came home.

A few weeks ago when Brendan had his overnight here, we were watching some short videos I had saved to show him. One of them was of five brothers who were using large plastic buckets and sticks as drums--they were super talented, and it looked like so much fun. Yesterday, while I was out and about, I picked up a Lowe's bucket and a set of dowels and tried it out. It worked! It doesn't sound like a real drum by any stretch of the imagination, but it's very fun to do percussion on it anyway. So I brought this over to the kid's house to see if they would like playing on it. They did! Especially Aidan. I'm keeping it at my house, though, because the kids would drive their parents crazy with how the noise would echo all over the house with no relief whatsoever.

We hung out together for a few hours--we played a few games, we ate snacks, we talked about their day, and we had a very nice time. Dylan came home from work and I left shortly thereafter because my back was aching terribly--I just needed to come here and lie down for a little while and then I felt better. It was super nice to be with these guys today. Aidan has a "concert" Thursday night over at the high school, so I will see them all then.

March 21 Home Again

Saturday:  My flight was ON TIME--we actually took off a few minutes early from St. Petersburg. What a totally packed plane it was too! I always reserve a window seat, so I enjoyed watching the sun rise while we took off ...

Can you see the little circle surrounded by light just below the wing of the plane? I think it is the plane's shadow being reflected against the clouds by the sun! The flight was completely unremarkable, and landed at GRR about 15 minutes early. Jesse was already waiting for me in the "cell lot" outside the airport. Thank you for being my chauffeur, Jesse!

For some reason, it's always good to get home. I love my little house. Look at the beautiful flowers Kelly had picked up for me the Tuesday before my trip. I wondered if they would still be pretty when I returned home, and they were. I removed a few dead flowers, freshened up the water, and had four more days to enjoy them before they died.

Now it was time to unpack my suitcase and my backpack (which is actually bigger than the suitcase) which I did right after I ate lunch. It always feels good to unpack, do laundry, and get back to "normal."

It was wonderful being with my brother for nine days. He has always been such a good gift to me. Even when we were really young and I had to "babysit" him, or mom would say: "Go play with your brother!" he was never a burden or a problem. He just has one of those fun personalities that is great to be around. I most likely will not see him again until he comes north over Labor Day weekend. If I do see him before then, it will mean someone has died--so I guess I need to just look forward to September, even though it seems far away. Love to you, David.