May 9 Day ELEVEN

 Thursday

May 8 Day TEN

Wednesday 

May 7 Day NINE

Tuesday

May 6 Day EIGHT

Monday 

May 5 Day SEVEN

Sunday

May 4 Day SIX

Saturday

May 3 Day FIVE

Friday 

May 2 Day FOUR

 Thursday

May 1. Day THREE

Wednesday 

April 30 Day TWO

Tuesday 

April 28 ANTICIPATION

Sunday:  What a beautiful worship service Calvary had this morning! From beginning to end--wonderful worship of our God. The music, the readings, the prayers, Jim's teaching ... wow. I am so, so thankful to have a place like Calvary to join in community worship and service. I will miss it next Sunday ... but I will not be lamenting ... no, no, no! I will be in Florida with my brother and Carol!

I am leaving VERY early tomorrow morning and flying into St. Petersburg by 9:30 a.m.! Carol is picking me up from the airport and then David says she has a whole day planned out for me and her--Monday's are David's only full day of work--so Carol and I are going to hang out together. How fun is that? I'm not sure that the two of us have EVER hung out together! 

Wednesday, David and I are taking their camper to Camp DeSoto and we are "glamping" until Saturday morning! Beach walks, kayaking, exploring, sunsets, etc.!!! And some time during my time there, we are going to JET SKI, using Andrew and Alison's very own! I'm also going to spend next Monday (all day) with my roommate, Robbie. We have been friends now for 53 years. I am so excited to see her again this year.

SO ... I'd best finish up my packing for the trip--always challenging to pack stuff for 10 days and be able to cram it all into a small carry-on bag--but it is POSSIBLE to do because I have done it before!

April 27 Kaity and Kenzie!

Saturday:  Kaity asked me earlier today if she could invite Kenzie over to play. YES! So I had TWO lovely girls come and visit me today. They mostly hung out together, just playing and talking and watching videos on Kaity's phone. But it was very nice to have them here with me.

They acted out an entire drama using Kaity's treehouse and horse set--naming the people, and having all kinds of adventures with the visiting animals, etc. It was fun to listen to them as they made up their story.

We also set up the game of LIFE and the 3 of us played an entire game--which takes about an hour to complete. At one point, Kaity rolled herself up in my little play-mat because she refused to do whatever was asked of her on an Action Card--but Kenzie unrolled her and our game continued ...

These two. Best friends now for a very long time. I think they will be life-long friends!

It sure was nice to have you over today, Kenzie and Kaity!

April 25 with KT

Thursday:  Kaity and I spent our usual few hours together today, and it was SO GOOD to see and be with her. I love her so much. We didn't do anything special exactly. We worked on our "new" puzzle for awhile, and Kaity was able to put together quite a few difficult parts of it. We ate a nice chicken and rice meal, watched a few funny videos, and then drove over to Altitude so that Kaity could jump for awhile. We were hoping a few of her friends would be there. The place was almost empty! None of Kaity's friends were there; so she texted to see if Harper could come and play for awhile--which she ended up doing. I took just a few pictures of Kaity before Harper arrived.

Kaity looks so much older than almost 12 in these pictures! She could easily be mistaken for FOURTEEN!

Harper came a little bit later and they played for a half hour, just jumping around and chasing each other. Kaity is SO social--usually Altitude is full of kids and Kaity has a nice habit of making new friends; but today, we practically had the entire place to ourselves! Elijah wasn't there! Ayden wasn't there! Alex and Allen were not there! We were so relieved when Harper finally showed up. Kaity's knee is healing up--not completely--but better than it was. I'm glad we could spend time together tonight, Kaity!

April 24 Dylan's Gifts

Wednesday:  I drove over to Holy Trinity with the kiddos to meet Dylan and Kelly this evening. It is their Orthodox Lenten season, so they have many extra gatherings and opportunities for worship and service at this time. They invited me to eat with them tonight and listen to Dylan speak about: "Teaching the Faith: Traditional catechism with a Socratic twist."  I haven't availed myself of many opportunities to hear Dylan teach--mostly because he teaches at Acton (where he works), and the events just haven't worked out for me to attend. But there was absolutely NO reason for me not to enjoy hearing Dylan tonight. I snapped a few pictures with my phone ...

I took these first few pictures before the actual meal and "talk". The littles were running around the foyer being as cute as they can be.

This is Father Joshua introducing the topic Dylan would be teaching. There was no need to introduce Dylan himself since he is well-known and very well-loved at the church.

And here he is TEACHING. God has gifted Dylan with the ability to teach (like his dad before him), and he is happy and excellent in his element. Dylan is a forever learner ... me too ... I love to study (so did Jim) and grasp meanings of words, especially instruction that will lead me closer to understanding and obeying the Lord.

I had to look up the word "Socratic" because it was a word I have never used. I am vaguely familiar with Socrates, but since I am about as far from a philosopher as is humanly possible, I have not read any of his writings. Dylan explained, however, the teaching method of the value of QUESTIONS. Currently, Dylan teaches the 5th and 6th grade Sunday school at his church. He has found that the kids have really enjoyed the class time and discussion together.

Dylan began his talk with the history of catechisms and then showed everyone how he has been teaching the "Our Father", the Lord's Prayer, to his class. Each word of the text is examined and questions are asked. For example: "Our Father" ... why OUR Father and not MY Father? Dylan's teaching time tonight was limited, so he only got as far as "Thy kingdom come" but was able to get his point across about asking questions regarding word meanings and application. He got the audience to interact and it was fun to watch and listen to them. 

I love this way of teaching too! I don't use this BLOG for much of anything except journaling family stuff; but I do have a few entries where I shared what I was learning from Scripture using this very method (see February 13, 2008--"The Ultimate Valentine"; as well as April 30, 2017 on Ephesians 4.2; and then January 28, 2021 on Psalm 91.1). It's a great way to slow down and really READ the words with the intention of understanding them and applying them.

It was wonderful to be where I could listen to and enjoy Dylan in his element. I often wish that my boys could have seen their dad in the prime of his teaching years--which were few, but his teaching was so dynamic, so heartfelt, so life-changing. Jim would be so blessed to know God has gifted Dylan in this same way. 

I am happy for you, Dylan. I am glad you are working in a field where you can continue to learn and grow and share with others this gift God has given you. Proud of you, dear son.

April 24 Love these little ones

Wednesday:  I arrived at Cal's school at noon today only to find out that they were not expecting me! Cal was all signed up for "Lunch Bunch" with his little friends. I was a little bit confused, but only temporarily. I asked Cal what he would like to do: "Do you want to stay here with your friends and eat lunch--OR--do you want to eat at grandma's house? If you stay here for lunch, I will pick you up afterwards and THEN we can go to my house." Cal told me he would like to stay for Lunch Bunch, so I drove on over to his house and did a few things to stall for time until I went back to pick him up. When I talked to Kelly later, she said my vacation dates got put on their calendar incorrectly--this was the reason for the mix-up. No worries. I still have a few days before I head out to Florida.

Cal fell asleep on the way over to my house--so I let him sleep for about 20 minutes in the car while I quickly ate a few bites of lunch. Since we only had a little over an hour here to play, our time really zoomed on by!

While I was "setting up" for Cal this morning, I stumbled on a bin full of little stuffed PIGS (part of Paco's family). I'm wasn't sure if Cal had ever seen any of these little critters, so I set them out on the couch for us to play with. Cal LOVED them. It was difficult for me to remember what we had named all of these pigs; but Kaity was able to jolt my memory about just who was who in the pig family the other night.

He was especially "taken" with HAMMY, the least cutest of the bunch--except when you squeeze Hammy, he makes the funniest little snorting sound. Cal liked that a LOT.

He went all over the house snorting at every thing and then cracking up.

Isn't he just the cutest little boy?

We always spend a little time watching the birds outside my side window. Today, there were two doves on the ground feeding the dumped seeds. Cal wanted Sonny to see the birds, so I got him out for Cal to play with.

Cal really gets into puppets. I'm so glad! I do too! He puts Sonny on like a puppet pro ...

He even has little conversations with him! I love this!

I showed Cal how Charlie and Sonny now share the same bin together and how happy they are.

Time to drive over to Cal's house! We did our "usual" after school stuff today. Everyone was surprised to see me! They all thought I had already gone to Florida! Their smiles were so beautiful to see when they saw me. We folded airplanes, watched a little bit of TV, took "selfies", ate healthy snacks ...

Look at this very cool two-page, two-colored airplane Brendan invented! It didn't take him long to fold this up and fly it around. I love it when kids do this! 

Look how tired little Erin looks in this picture (below) ... Aidan too!

Erin loves my phone. Isn't she a scream? She is such a cuddly little one. I always feel warm right down to my toes when she comes to snuggle up. So thankful for the love of these grandchildren.

 

April 23 S P R I N G !

Tuesday:  I walked about two miles today and enjoyed the beauty all around me. I even ducked into the woods to the west of Leisure Village just to see if there were any flowers blossoming! The second picture was taken prior to entering the woods ...

 

This is one of my favorite times of the year. After many dreary and rather colorless months ... voila! God causes NEW LIFE to grow. I am very thankful He does this miracle every single year.

April 20 with dear KT

Saturday: Diana asked me if it was possible to meet she and KT over at the Gardens mid-afternoon today--so that's the arrangement we made, which worked out just fine. I snapped only a very few pictures while in the butterfly conservatory ... because I already have 100's ... plus since it was a Saturday, it was super crowded and not worth trying to get a good photo.

I was able to finally find Kaity and her mom inside the conservatory and then Kaity and I took off on our own. We stopped by the gift shop to see if there was anything interesting (toys) to look at; but they've cut way back on their toy selection!

Earlier in the day, Kaity had asked if her good friend, Kenzie, could come over with her this afternoon. I love having Kenzie over with Kaity! But it turned out that Kenzie had forgotten all about a soccer game she needed to attend. She is on the team, but is unable to play because of her recently fractured tibia (!!); but she was there to support her team anyway. So it was just Kaity and I!

We worked on our new puzzle (I forget to take pictures) for awhile, which is always fun. Kaity's pretty territorial when it comes to puzzles, though. You have to be careful NOT to TOUCH a piece she has her eye on! I'll take pictures as we make further progress. Right now we don't even have the border completed.

Kaity requested we watch a Woody Woodpecker movie, so we did that. It was okay. I am not a "fan" of movies like this; but I can certainly sit with Kaity as she enjoys them, can't I? I like a GOOD story plot with well-developed characters. I like history and intrigue! I like love stories. But ... Kaity isn't there yet, so that's okay. I have an abundance of movies to show her when she is ready for them. At this age (almost 12), Emma wasn't into my kind of movies either--she did, however, grow over the years and we ended up having very similar movie "likes" and "dislikes". 

These "silly" pictures are Kaity goofing around. It looks like my coffee table ran her over ...

... isn't she funny? I love her laugh.

Well ... that's it. Her tongue is hanging out. She is dead.

I love you, Kaity-girl.

 

April 19 A Charlie Crisis

Friday:  On my short list today was repairing our marionette bird puppet--CHARLIE. I had gotten him out of his closet hiding place and played with him with Cal on Wednesday. I never actually let Cal run around with Charlie--because his strings get tangled up so easily--but somehow, he managed to get more tangled than I had ever seen him before. Poor Charlie!

To no avail I tried to untangle the four strings, but the more I tried, the worse Charlie got! It was hopeless! When Kaity was here last night, we looked at the problem together. Kaity's usually pretty adept at untangling Charlie for me; and actually, when Kaity plays with Charlie, he does not get tangled! She worked with his strings for awhile, but this time she was unable to straighten him out.

I told Kaity that I thought the only way to fix Charlie was to cut his strings and re-string him--she agreed; so that's what I did today. I cut his four strings and then hot-glued them, one-by-one, back to their cross-sticks. Then I made a little cardboard square piece, wrote CHARLIE on it, and hot-glued that to his sticks. I'm hoping this little "square" prevents, or at least discourages, the strings from crossing over and getting so ridiculously tangled.

I also decided to store Charlie in a bin on the top shelf in the playroom--that way, he doesn't have to hang on a hanger, stressing his strings out. The top shelf is out of reach for the little kids, and he fits perfectly in the bin!

April 18 My KT-Girl

Thursday:  I was already in the driveway when Kaity's bus pulled up this afternoon. It's been a week since I've seen her and I missed her! Apparently, she had been sick and missed a day of school this week; so she presented me with a few homework assignments that she needed to complete.

We worked on Kaity's homework right away. I used to love school ... well, except Math. Wouldn't you know it? Kaity had a Math assignment on parallelograms and trapezoids, etc. Not exactly my cup of tea--but I learned a lot from helping Kaity with her assignment. It's not like I didn't know this stuff; but it's been so long ago that I studied it, that I quite forgot it! Kaity also had a history lesson that covered colonial life in the late 1700's--the Boston Tea Party and the Continental Congress, etc. I love that stuff.

Kaity used my nice mechanical pencils to write out her answers. I decided to donate one for her to use since she enjoyed it so much. It took awhile for us to work through these assignments--but it was so nice to interact with Kaity and "pick her brain" a little bit. She is a wonderful girl, Kaity is. She has some reading challenges--which naturally affects every subject in school--so it takes extra time and patience for Kaity to do her assignments. She's not terribly fond of school work, but this does not mean she does not have a very capable brain. She just lacks motivation I think ... and definitely lacks interest in certain subjects (don't we all?). Plus, in our age of technology--patience isn't needed as much as it used to be--information is everywhere on the internet, right at your fingertips.

Doesn't Kaity have a beautiful face? I think so ... and I love her dearly ... not for her beautiful face, but for her heart.

We ended up over at our trampoline place mid-evening. It was surprisingly NOT crowded tonight. Our friend, Ayden, was there; so he and Kaity hung out a bit. They used to be much closer--but things have shifted a bit with their friendship. We also received word that Kaity's dear friend, Kenzie, has a fractured tibia! Yikes. If that is the truth, Kenzie will be a few weeks or even months, away from jumping at Altitude. I hope her leg heals quickly.

April 17 with Cal

Wednesday:  I'm never quite sure what mood young Cal will be in while playing at my house. Yesterday, he was not as wild and crazy about CARS and trucks as he was about the puppets! I got out Charlie from the closet and cracked Cal up for awhile with him. His strings are so messed up right now, I'm not sure I will ever be able to straighten them out again!

Cal was very amused by both Charlie and Sunny today and kept going back to play with them.

We did spend a bit of time back in the playroom and had our very own gravel pit to play in for awhile.

Mr. Cal was very intense and precise about which trucks were capable of which tasks ... and correctly named each truck!

Cal did a good job keeping our "beans" and sparkly stones inside the container. He understood my instructions about not throwing them all over the room, and played for 20 minutes very nicely. Good job, Cal.

I was a tiny bit surprised that Cal derived so much pleasure moving beans around from bulldozer to dump truck, etc. I do have some "buried treasure" under the beans that we were able to find, and that was fun.

Our three hours here went by quickly. We read quite a few books while Cal was on the potty. Every single book that was in the bathroom book bin was read from cover to cover!

Cal fell asleep immediately on the ride back to his house. Once there, I let him sleep another 20 minutes while I got the kids off their bus; and then we all had a nice cantaloupe and cucumber snack. We also played horse rides (I was the horse) in the basement while watching a Aidan and Brendan play a video game on the big screen. 

It was a very nice few hours with these beautiful and precious grandchildren. So thankful for them.