The nails I used ...

Good Friday, March 30, 2018:  I met my friend, Robin, for an early dinner over at a little Chinese place off of the Beltline and then we went together to the service at Calvary. I have never been to a more powerful Good Friday service in all of my life. We were asked to pick up a NAIL out of the baskets as we entered ... so each of us held this rather large, dull-pointed nail in our hands throughout the service.

The Scriptures that were read were all from Mark's Gospel (we've been studying this Gospel as a church since September--in small groups, in Monday Night Bible Study, and our pastors have been teaching through it as well) and the narration was all from Peter's perspective on the events that night. Poor Peter! He had been so sure he would NEVER walk away from Jesus ... he would FIGHT ... he would DIE with Jesus if he must! 

But Jesus knew Peter (and all of us) better than that. And so just a few hours later, Peter fulfills everything that Jesus had predicted would happen. The rooster crowed the second time, Peter claimed he had never met Jesus--swore he didn't know that man!--Jesus looked at Peter, and Peter was crushed with grief, shame, disappointment, regret. Was it arrogance that led to Peter's undoing? Was it disobedience? Was it because he fell asleep in the garden and did not pray?

We were all asked to think about "the nails" we used to crucify Jesus . . . 

FEAR 

UNBELIEF

CARELESSNESS

REBELLION

SELF-FOCUSED GRIEF

DISCONTENTMENT

Those are just a few of mine. And it is sobering to think how quickly I can turn on Jesus. But it is TRUE. Thankfully, His mercy was greater than Peter's failure, and His grace is greater than all my sin. We sang beautiful redemption hymns. At the end of the service, we were asked to come and bring our nails to the foot of the cross ... lay them down ... and give HIM GLORY. Thank you, Lord, for Your great mercy, forgiveness, redemption, and LOVE.

White blood cells

The video uploaded, but ... it will not play! Pooh!

Brendan is SO expressive as he explains to me

ALL he learned about

white blood cells at school this week.

"They EAT germs ... gobble them up (w/a gulping sound effect)."

"White blood cells have poisonous backs! They

POISON the germs."

"They FIGHT the germs."

"White blood cells are ... ALL OVER YOUR ... B L O O D !!"

Well ... sigh ... I wish we could hear this little guy!

I tried! :(

These little grand-boys ...

Thursday, March 28:  I went out to the swim place again this week to play with Aidan while Brendan had his lesson. We walked all over the place together. Usually, Aidan wants to crawl everywhere and wiggles out of my arms to do so ...

 But this afternoon, he was a little sleepy and extra cuddly (so nice) ... so we stuck together like glue.

 We took these selfies just for the fun of it ...

 Isn't Aidan the sweetest little thing?

 Ah! He slays me!

After his swim lesson, Brendan and I drove the scenic route (down Petits) to the Beach House. We animated Sarah (my sheep) all the way home and had great conversations with her about Brendan's day and life in general ...

 Brendan likes window stickers a LOT. He combined a bunch of eggs on my window so that a baby chickie could be inside ...

 ... and slowly hatch out.

 I love watching this little person play.

 He is so creative and expressive.

 We also did the WHOLE Easter story using my story eggs. Brendan was fascinated (sorry, no pictures). I'm pretty sure we spent 20 solid minutes talking about the last week of Jesus' life. Brendan loves a good story ... and THIS one is about as GOOD as stories get!

 Chocolate ice cream is Brendan's favorite ... so we did that too.

I look forward to this time together every week, dear grandson.  

You bless my heart. You are a treasure.

My Monday morning sweetie ...

Monday, March 26:  I was asked to come and play with Aidan Paul for a few hours this morning. !! Yes, yes, YES!

We played for the first half hour and then this baby expressed the need for food ... so into his high chair he went. While Aidan ate his yummy gluten-free cereal, granola bar and cookie, I did a little bit of kitchen cleaning. Once his tummy was full, we went back to playing.

 This is the cute train table that used to be in their basement, but is now up in the living room. These tracks have been randomly placed--please do not think this is my idea of a layout (!) ... usually when I lay a track down, Aidan picks it up and chews on it for awhile--but he does seem to enjoy the concept of trains going around, much like his big brother did at this age.

Aidan is taking steps now, sometimes a half dozen in a row--then he will look around and quickly sit or kneel and then crawl to where he wants to go. But in just one week, he is doing much more walking than last week. He is SO short, though--it's so cute to see his short little body taking steps. 

 Aidan likes this little toy walker a lot. His folks picked it up for his birthday.

The expressions on this child's face! 

 I love you, baby Aidan. You are such a sweetheart.

 We did a lot of ... nothing much! Just talking and playing and looking at cool toys together.

 Aidan was beginning to look sleepy at about 11:00, so we cuddled up together in the rocking chair and I read some of his favorite books. He absolutely loves "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by E.E. Cummings. We read that one two times. And we read his Peedie book and the one about Flossie and her friend. He seemed to become quite animated during the reading, and I wondered if I had been mistaken about him being sleepy ...

 ... but then, as he was kneeling on my lap, he just laid his head on my neck and passed out! He was completely OUT for more than an hour, and I just got to enjoy his little sounds and breathing. I massaged his little head and neck, his ears and cheeks--it was wonderful. And THEN, Kelly came home and this little guy came alive in a hurry!

Baby Aidan is completely content with his mama. She is wonderful with him. How blessed they are to have each other.

Blessings abounding ...

Saturday, March 24:  Last week we decided that THIS week we would celebrate an EARLY birthday for Matthew. He had picked out his gifts on-line from LEGO.com (naturally), so he knew every little thing he was going to receive, PLUS he knew they had arrived at my house the prior week! It was too much to take--so we simply celebrated early.

 This is Kaity-Jane decorating my windows ... isn't she darling?

 What Matthew did not realize, however, was that I got him a few "extra" gifts. I had been wanting to get him something that said something about WHO HE IS, something that he could ENJOY on his own and be CREATIVE with. So the top box is that extra thing (or two) that I added and then completely neglected to take any pictures of it once it was opened. I'll explain later.

 We added a few ribbons to Kaity's hair ... 

 Kaity was completely enthused about the balloons. She and I played BAT THE BALLOON for at least an hour while LEGO building was going on. Matthew invited Chris to build one of the models (which was very kind of him) and then he would build the others.

This gave Kaity and I a lot of play time together.

 These are Ninjago Legos. I'm not crazy about them. Simply because ... they just look MEAN!

 Good building guys!

Matthew requested a chocolate ice-cream cake. So that is exactly what he received! 

We also gathered around the table and I told the kiddos the story of Palm Sunday, some of the events that led up to it, and some things that followed after. The children colored while I was teaching. It is the only (and I mean ONLY) way to actually get through a story with this tribe ... they simply must be doing something at the same time ...  

 You can kind of see the "extra" gift(s) I picked out for Matt to the left of him at the table. Friday, as I was driving to Meijer's to do my grocery shopping, I just asked the Lord ... "What else can I get Matthew? What would show him how much I love him?" AND about one second later (thanks, Lord) I was reminded how much Matthew enjoys drawing, painting, folding paper, making "books" while at my house. So I got him a BUNCH of art supplies and put them all in a nice plastic container for him. 

 I'm trying to remember what was included: Markers, a charcoal pencil set (with blenders), special erasers, scissors, Scotch tape, drawing pencils, a water-color set, water-color paper, several punches, pencil sharpeners, colored pencils (ones that will blend), and an entire rheam of paper ($3.47) all for himself! 

 Emma came over too. She ate dinner with us and then chose to spend the rest of the time in my room. She fell asleep, quite deeply, and must have needed it. I love you, Emma. I remember being almost 16 myself. I wouldn't want to repeat it for all the money in the world. Tough years. 

Pictures of Kaity and I just messing around on Photo Booth. I surely am one blessed grandma.