November 29 Lovely Children

Friday:  The kiddos have the day off from school, due to Thanksgiving break, so I was able to have all four of them over for a few hours today. We had the nicest time together! 

Cal was a tiny bit "testy" at the outset, due to the fact that he is used to having my place and every toy in it to himself on his Friday's every other week--but today he had to share both toys and space! He wasn't very happy about it at all and made it verbally (and loudly) known. So he and I had a little chat. I told him it was very sad that he was being quite unpleasant and that I expected him to do better. I reminded him that the other kids hardly ever get to come over! He did much better afterwards and I told him many times throughout our day how proud I was of him.

I set the art table up with lots of paper, colored pencils, art books, stencils, etc. All of these kiddos enjoy drawing and coloring. They are amazing little artists. Cal hasn't quite gotten into this stuff yet--he's a fighting machine, so perhaps art hasn't much interest for him right now.

Brendan took down the Great Wolf Lodge puzzle and assembled it while all around him Cal and Aidan were cooking meals for the puppets and other stuffed animals. They were VERY into this.

I love to watch these kiddos play. They are so creative and interesting!

Brendan was walking around singing "Can't Help Falling in Love", so I grabbed my music and accompanied him for a bit. He has so much music inside of him! I told him this is a gift from God.

Aidan spent some time in the playroom constructing stuff. He is an excellent builder and designer. He is a good problem solver, too, when it comes to his projects. He is happier playing by himself--which I can understand--Cal struggled about this today, but he was able to find other things to do and leave his brother alone for the most part. It's not that Aidan didn't play with anyone else the whole time or anything; but now and then he would make his way back to the playroom and stay there long enough to build something to his satisfaction.

Erin got into the cooking scene too. She was cooking for Baby Bonnie and announced that it was Bonnie's birthday today! We sang her "Happy Birthday!"

Brendan brought over "The Princess Bride" which he has started reading. Dylan said they all watched the movie a few nights ago and that Brendan loved it so much. I had no idea there was a book! I'm wondering if the book is based on the movie, or the other way around?

Brendan is in the top bunk with Oscar (our otter puppet) while Erin is posing for these pictures. Oscar is a favorite of Brendan's.

Baby Bonnie got a lot of attention today. Erin was super serious about celebrating her #1 birthday, so we stretched that out for awhile.

Aidan brought out the roadway track and made a very nice layout. Cal asked if he could help, but Aidan refused; and since Aidan had already started on this, I told Cal he would have to wait his turn. So he sat down on the floor and watched his brother build and was SO agreeable, I felt like giving him a whole booklet of stars to decorate himself; but instead, I gave him a big hug and a "high five."

The kids enjoyed an Oreo cone mid-afternoon while looking through old LEGO catalogs, each one picking out their favorite sets.

I enjoyed being with these guys so much today. It was refreshing just to watch them, listen to them singing (I had music playing through my phone--mostly Christmas songs that they were familiar with), and just hanging out.

I drove them back to their house by about 4:00 in the afternoon. Our time together went by very quickly. We didn't watch any movies or programs; but I did take them to my Twitter page and show them all the funny animal videos (very short ones) that I had saved for them to see. We had so much fun looking at all of them together and we sure laughed a lot too. 

Very thankful for these lovely children . . .

November 28 Thanksgiving Day

Thursday:  I love the holiday of Thanksgiving, don't you? It's just good to BE THANKFUL! I am amazed by how much I have to be thankful for this year. God has provided every single need, both physically--and more importantly--spiritually, this year. I believe my faith has grown this year in so many ways--in spite of the fact that I am plagued by this never-ending "itch" in my body.

The skin testing I had done last week was interesting, but completely inconclusive. It turns out that I am allergic to almost every tree, shrub, moss, grass and weed that grows in Michigan--but since I don't have any ENT symptoms, the physician thought it highly unlikely my itching was due to environmental factors. I did take Prednisone all week, which helped to keep the itching somewhat in control. AND ... after showing Kelly some of the rash that is on my mid-chest area, she gave me some good advice about fungal infections, and I was able to get a good spray powder (non-talc) for that and already feel improved!

I showed up over at Dylan and Kelly's at about 11:30 Thanksgiving morning. Kelly had our dinner catered (a business friend of hers has a catering business)--so we had everything from ham, turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing ... and a host of other yummy food without having to cook it! I brought over a pumpkin and apple pie (with a large can of extra creamy whipped cream). 

I didn't realize until after our time together was completely over that I had not snapped a single picture the entire day--not ONE picture! So I've inserted a picture of their beautiful house (even though this picture was taken 2 years ago). We actually had SNOW this year that covered the grass and made a very lovely scene to enjoy.

There were a total of 10 people for dinner. Shane was there, as well as two friends (Doug and James) from Dylan and Kelly's church who had no family in town to share the holiday with. We timed our dinner during half time of the Lions vs Bears game. I love to watch the Lions play; and finally, after all of these years, they have had winning seasons (three in a row!) ... this year they are actually favored to WIN the Super Bowl, which would be huge since we've never played in the Super Bowl even once. After lunch was over and Kelly and I had sufficiently cleaned up the kitchen, I went back downstairs to watch the conclusion of the game--which was a lot closer than I had expected; and if it wasn't for the fact that the coach for the Bears was a little bit "off" in his decision-making (how is it possible for a professional football to be down by just THREE points in the last minute of the fourth quarter and actually have the time run out and still have ONE TIME OUT LEFT?!?!?!?). Anyway, Lions won 23-20!

After the game, Kelly, Brendan, Erin, Cal and I played one of their new games. I forget the name! I think it was called: "How Well do you really know your Family?" Cal is only 4, so he didn't quite follow all of the rules ... but he is so darn cute while being a stinker that it just made the game more fun. 

I finally drove away somewhere after 4pm. I went over to greet Jesse and Kaity and spend a little time with them. I ended up driving Kaity over to Di's by about 6:00 and then spent a little time with Ruthanne and Terry later in the evening. It was a busy, but blessed Thanksgiving Day!

November 23 Chef Jesse

Saturday Evening:  I had a rather full Saturday (a funeral of a friend of a friend at noon, a 2-hr high school musical in Forest Hills) and then I was invited to eat dinner tonight with Jesse and Kaitlynn. Jesse had purchased a new slower cooker (he thought he was buying an Insta-Pot but actually got a slower cooker made by the same company) which is bigger than the other one he has, he bought a very nice roast beef and added onions, carrots and red potatoes and cooked it all day long.

So when I arrived at nearly 5:30 pm, Jesse was just finishing up the yummy gravy and then dinner was ready! I was super pleased. I can't tell you the last time I had a roast beef dinner! It was very yummy.

While we ate, Jesse treated me to some Detroit Lions highlights on Youtube, as well as a short video on the curse of Bobby Layne--which I had kind of heard of, but had no idea what it was about. Interesting.

Kaitlynn wasn't very interested in a roast beef dinner, so she played on her computer while Jesse and I were eating. But later on, she did request that I take her over to Altitude to jump for an hour with her friend, Ayden.

Saturday Night at Altitude is WILD. I had to find another place to sit and watch because where I usually hang out was taken over by lots and lots of older teens being super rough. I didn't want to get injured, so I moved!

November 23 "The Lightning Thief"

Saturday:  Kelly invited me to the Forest Hills musical presentation of "The Lightning Thief" matinee on Saturday afternoon. This is a high school musical, but the Middle School choir was singing back-up numbers ... and Brendan is IN that choir. I certainly would not want to miss an opportunity to see Brendan in a performance!

I had zero pre-conceived ideas about what the storyline was in "The Lightning Thief." I had never heard of it before--well, Brendan had been singing a few numbers the other day when I saw him, but I didn't really grasp much of what the story was about.

They asked that cameras and phones NOT flash during the performance; so I just snuck these pictures with the flash off. They did not turn out very well, but at least I have something to remember it by.

I will say that this performance was really well done--the lighting, technical aspects, staging ... all were really amazing. And the performers themselves were SO talented. Their voices! Wow. For high school people to accomplish this very complicated music was very impressive.

I'm going to copy and paste a summary of the story:

"The Lightning Thief is a children's fantasy novel by Rick Riordan about a 12-year-old boy who discovers he is the son of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea. Percy Jackson must retrieve Zeus's stolen lightning bolt and return it to Olympus to prevent a war between the gods."

I was never a person that enjoyed Greek mythology ... not even a little bit. No interest whatsoever. I'm not really sure why. I had a friend in junior high school who absolutely LOVED Greek and Roman mythology, but I don't think his love for it had any effect on me. I think it must be my Christian upbringing! To even remotely consider "other gods" is so ridiculously impossible, my imagination just won't accommodate it at all. 

Erin and Aidan were completely into the stage sets and all the pretty lights. Aidan followed the story in every detail. He has a very analytical brain (!!). Little Cal, who was sitting right next to me, was very pleased that there were a ton of FIGHTS.

The middle school choir was NOT on stage except for the first song following Intermission. Instead, they were seated in the "wings" of the stage where they could watch and sing when indicated.

The arrow is pointing to Brendan ... who loves music and is very quick to pick up almost any musical score and enjoy it.

So ... while I was very impressed with the musical and acting performances, and it was obvious all of the students had worked their behinds off in this project ... the storyline itself was so DARK, DREARY and I found it ... meaningless and empty. Whoever the music/theatre teacher is who chose this particular story must have chosen it with a purpose--but what? There was a lot of FLARE and cool technical stuff throughout the whole two hours ... but ... once it was over, it was ... over. I couldn't help but wonder how many hours and hours these kids had put into memorizing their music and lyrics and dance moves and staging/props ... for what? 

To quote a few verses from Ecclesiastes (Grandpa Jim's favorite--or at least ONE of his favorite--books of the Bible):

Ecclesiastes 1.2  "Meaningless! Meaningless! says the Teacher. Everything is meaningless."

2.10  "I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the rewards for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun."

11:5. "As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother's womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things."

12:13. "Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil."

I was very glad to be invited to "The Lightning Thief" and I was glad to watch Brendan's enthusiasm--he is so precious. I hope this "post" doesn't sound too negative--I am not criticizing Brendan at all; just sad that something more morally true, something truly beautiful, could have been presented instead.

PS  What bothers me most about a "play" like this is that THE TRUE AND LIVING GOD is nothing like a mythical god at all: petty, fickle, jealous, adversarial, abusive, vengeful, selfish. No! The one true and living God is: 

"I am the LORD, I am the LORD, the merciful and gracious God. I am slow to anger and rich in unfailing love and faithfulness. I show this unfailing love to many thousands by forgiving every kind of sin and rebellion." Exodus 34.6 

And so much more! The LORD is the exact opposite of these smug and self-consumed mythological gods. It just seems to me, that having children focus so much of their time, energy, and amazing talent on something SO offensive to our God is just ... beyond sad. My heart is STILL sad days later. What if these kids internalize this story and it influences how they believe about our God? !!!

November 22 Sir Callaghan

Friday:  I picked this youngster up from his mom's workplace today at 11:00. We drove over to my house and played for hours! Wars, mostly! Wars between stuffed animals, wars with our animal figures, fights with various cars (!!), etc. Mr. Cal is a fighting machine!

I set up a little "farm" scene on the coffee table before I picked up Cal. He has always ALWAYS liked playing with my little animal figures and my horse and stable set; so I combined them today and we made up a story (kind of) as we played. I can't remember the details ...

... and at first, I thought the animals were all going to be friends ...

... but then one of the animals got ticked off at another one and ...

... there was a gruesome fight! I'm not sure WHO won.

We read a few books this afternoon as well. I was very surprised how much Cal enjoyed reading: "Oliver the Mighty Pig"--he liked the story so much, he requested I read it over (cover to cover) again to him right away! It's such a cute story. I remember Brendan really liked this little book too. You see, Oliver (pig) receives a special birthday gift from his folks: it was a real genuine Mighty Pig cape! The story follows Oliver's fantasies about rescuing people, etc. and his Oliver's mother plays along so sweetly.

Our last 20 minutes here, I did let Cal watch a Hot Wheels show while I picked the toys up that had scattered throughout every room of my little house. Cal really likes these Hot Wheels stories--lots and lots of fights going on--right up his alley.

November 21 with KT

Thursday:  While I was at Meijer yesterday, I remembered I had a $10 off coupon to use by the 23rd; so naturally (!!), I browsed the toy department looking for a new game or something that perhaps I could do with the kiddos. When the boys were little, we had a game called "Perfection", but somewhere along the years, it went missing. Perhaps I gave away games as the boys grew too old to be interested in them anymore? So anyway, I spied the game "Perfection" on the shelf and it was on sale! Plus, it had some new features that made it more fun--so I naturally purchased it! 

When Kaity saw the game sitting on my coffee table, she recognized it! Evidently her home room teacher has this game--except it is the older version. We had fun playing it for awhile and changing it up here and there to make it more interesting. Kaity beat me almost every game. Surprise, surprise.

Before coming to my house, however, we went to Menard's because I had received my $45 rebate check and I wanted to buy a small waffle iron. I looked up a recipe today and got all the ingredients ready to mix up for our dinner tonight. Wow. Those were some tasty waffles! BUT ... I had no idea how THICK they would be! They looked like a small loaf of bread when I opened the waffle maker--very fluffy too. I'm not exactly certain if Kaity liked them or not! I topped mine off with a bunch of butter and syrup and found they were VERY yummy ... and evidently VERY fattening, judging by the few extra pounds I have gained in the last week or so.

I took Kaity back home to Jesse at about 7pm. I am always glad to spend time with Kaity. She is very dear to me.

November 16 at Olivet

Saturday:  I have only gone to one other Olivet game this season--I intended to attend ALL home games this year; but "the best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry ..." to quote Robert Burns from 200 years ago (or more). One thing or another prevented me going to other home games--but today was free and clear! My only hesitation was driving ALONE for 90 minutes to and from Olivet. I have a terrible malady of falling asleep while driving -- well, not ACTUALLY falling asleep -- but ALMOST. It's a terrible feeling to not be able to stay awake while driving 70 mph on a highway.

BUT ... I committed the drive to the Lord and asked for His protection there and back. Other than getting terribly lost (no surprises there!) on the WAY to the game, everything worked out fine. I had handwritten the directions, every turn at every single road (according to Mapquest on my computer), but somewhere along the way, I took a wrong turn. Olivet is out in the middle of NOWHERE. Farm roads for miles and endless miles. Gorgeous farm country I might add. Hardly any gas stations. No road signs (well ... hardly any!). I finally pulled into a drive and decided I would look at the map program on my phone to see where on earth I was. Unfortunately, however, I had deleted that APP months ago because I decided it was worthless.

Thankfully, I have watched other people add "apps" on their phones, so I just went to the App Store and selected Google Maps and installed it! Hah! The map showed me that I hadn't strayed too far off course (thankfully) and I showed up to the game at exactly 1:00 (when the game began). I had to park quite a long way from the stadium, but I finally got to the stands only to find that Hope University was already leading 14-0 and it was only 5 minutes into the game (per the game clock). Jeeps.

By the end of the first quarter, it was 35-ZERO. Sigh. 

I have a gripe with coaches who do not play their guys. This was the last game of the season. Do you mean to tell me when the score was something like 41 to 6 that you can't put in your second string to give them some experience and confidence at playing in a LIVE game? Disgusting that this coach does not do that. Obviously, I am NOT a coach ... so what do I really know? But STILL ...

And look who came with Kaity to the game? Ayden!!! These two are so funny together ...

And look! Emma was there too! I was SUPER happy to see her. It was about 50 degrees and very windy during the game ... so we were COLD. Emma had these cool hand warmers with her and she let me use one of them. I'm going to have to check into getting some of my own--they are wonderful! And it was so nice to sit near Emma and have the JOY of being with her during the game.

As half time was being called, I heard some people in the stands say that you could go down to the field and the team would High-5 you on their way to the locker room ... so I wandered on in beyond the fenced-in area and stood and waited ...

... but it turns out that no one told the TEAM about high-5-ing anyone ... so they all just went into the locker room, bypassing all of the folk who had gathered for the honor of greeting the players. Oh well.

This is the Comets mascot. I haven't the slightest idea WHO it is supposed to be. Perhaps a totally made-up character.

See the picture of Kaity below? See the smudge on her face? Rats. I had no idea there was a smudge on my camera lens and henceforth the remaining pictures ALL have smudges on them.

Kaity had just eaten a rather large portion of BLUE cotton candy. It's difficult to determine in these "bad" photos, but the result of eating BLUE cotton candy was that Kaity had BLUE teeth and BLUE lips.

The second half of the game wasn't much better than the first--well ... Hope didn't score as many points at least. If they had scored 35 points in each quarter, they would have had 140 points total. Unheard of.

Olivet through a stinking amount of intercepts and just could not stop Hope from much of anything.

You have to admire these Comets though. And I DO. It's a lot of hard work to be on a college football team. I am proud of Chris for all the work he puts into it.

After the game, we all waited to greet Chris. Here he is, looking like a red mummy.

I love these pictures ...

I think Chris and Ella make such a nice couple ... four years now ... wow. Chris speaks very highly of Ella. I remember one time this summer when Chris came over to see me and I asked him how it was that he and Ella maintained a long-distance relationship! I told him how rare it was that this ever worked. He answered: "Where am I going to find a great girl like Ella?" Ah. Good answer, Chris. 

Mmmmm. Regretful that Matt isn't here with us today. I love these pictures of these three ... would have been better, though, with Matt here too.

We talked Ayden into getting into a picture with Chris too. I'm not sure what this goofy smile is about ... Ayden is a crack-up.

It was good to be here today, Christopher! I love you so much.

Diana took this picture of Chris and I and was kind enough to forward it over to me.