"May you live to enjoy your grandchildren." PSALM 128.6 So thankful to be alive to know and love and be full of JOY with my grandkids!
Tuesday: I'm so glad today worked out for the kiddos to come to my house! The plumbers arrived eactly at 8:30 and had all of the problem fixed by 9:30. I was able to "clean up" and pick the children up at 10:30 and return them here to me!
... and all of the kids played with the magnet tiles (although I have no pictures to prove it) for hours and hours today, making all kinds of neat stuff. So thankful for this beautiful day with these guys.
Monday: Today I had a very easy, fun, relaxing kinds of "chores" to do: i.e. laundry, organizing my pantry, general cleaning ... and things were going very well until ...
GLUB ... GURGLE ... GLUB sounds came out of my kitchen sink as the washing machine was in the middle of a cycle. I have heard these sounds before, and they are never good tidings. However, since I live 90% in denial, I went on with what I was doing without investigating further. Sigh. That came to an abrupt end when I opened the front bathroom door to find water all over the floor there. Rats. Plumbing has always been an issue here.
I called my go-to all-around best worker ever--Jim--and told him what was going on. I tried the garbage disposal, only to have one sink back up into the other (I have a double kitchen sink). I didn't dare try to flush a toilet, but I did take note that there wasn't a drop of water in the front toilet. I told all of this to Jim. Since the "park" has regular and recurring plumbing issues due to the many trees and the millions of roots that have infiltrated all of the pipes around here--he suggested that I call the plumbing company that the "park" works with. You see, if the plumbing happens to be an outside-the-house problem, the park is responsible to pay for the repairs.
I called the plumbers and the dispatcher told me she didn't think she could find anyone to come to my place today--they are pretty booked all week. I explained the situation, and told her that Tuesdays are my grandchildren day, and she was very kind and said she would get back with me. I wandered briefly through the house, kind of dispairing ... and then I stopped and prayed. I asked the Lord to help the plumber arrive and fix the problem this afternoon!
Voila'! They showed up! It WAS an outside problem, and they fixed it! I called the plumber's office thanking them for their great service! I was SO happy.
But wait ... after the trucks drove away (after I had run the kitchen sink and flushed both toilets as they asked me to do), I resumed doing laundry. Pooh. More GURGLE and GLUB sounds from the kitchen sink ... and water EVERYWHERE. I called the plumber back. The dispatcher answered, the same friendly lady I have already spoken to twice today. Sadly, it is now 4:30 in the afternoon. She cannot get anyone out here now until tomorrow morning between 8:30 and 9AM. So for now, it looks like my Tuesday plans with the little kids is being messed with.
Saturday Night/Sunday: We took Kaity back to Diana by about 8:00 and then came back to the Beach House for the night. We usually hang out for awhile. I had some picking up to do around here, and Emma was doing some business on her phone. We finally settled down to a few episodes of "Once Upon a Time" ... which is sometimes depressing, if I am honest! It's an interesting series, for sure--and I'm not sure who has written the storyline, but it takes twists and turns that I would never dream of.
We went to bed around 11:30 after talking for a little while together. I sensed that Emma was really struggling with "stuff" ... so I listened (and quietly prayed) while she talked. My heart surely goes out to her in this terrible year we have all lived through--but compounded so many times over for Emma in her particular situation. My heart ached so much as she talked through some of the things she thinks about--the challenges she faces on a daily basis.
We worshiped at Calvary Sunday morning. One of the intern pastors spoke from Revelation 8.1: "When he opened the seventh seal, there was SILENCE in heaven for about half an hour." Marc's entire sermon was on the silence of God, the significance in our lives when we cannot hear Him or see Him ... when we have cried out and not received an answer or rescue. There was much more than that to what he taught, and all of it was good to be reminded about and to think through.
After church, we ate a good lunch and while I was cleaning up Emma fell asleep on the couch. She has been really tired lately, so I just let her sleep. I had planned to bake a special Christmas cookie recipe with her today, had all of the ingredients out a room temperature, etc. Hmm. What should I do? I decided to just go ahead and mix the dough together and start baking. This particular cookie recipe is one of my Grandma Mary's -- Russian Tea Cakes -- and Grandma's recipe is the best I have ever tasted. Emma did finally wake up enough to help me roll some of the baked cookies in powdered sugar, so that was just fine. It isn't like I needed Emma's help to bake cookies--it was just something I thought she might enjoy doing together.
It was apparent to me this weekend that I need to pray more specifically for Emma. I think in my own life, when I look back to the painful stuff (especially in my childhood) the only way I have received any "healing" from those scars is from His wounds. That may sound weird, but it truly isn't. Isaiah 53 talks about the suffering Jesus went through and it says this: "Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows . . . he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed." Those enormous losses Emma has experienced that have hurt her so deeply, I'm asking Jesus to take those to His own heart and give her His peace deep inside her. Please use all of this for her good, Lord--and for Your glory.
Saturday: I picked Kaity up first Saturday and then we swung by to get Emma. We spent about 4.5 hours together in the mid-afternoon to evening. Once again, we did a lot of stuff in that short amount of time. Kaity and I played a few rounds of foosball, Kaity winning two out of three! Emma was not interested in playing that particular game because ... she admits to being a sore loser AND she stated Kaity and I have had much more practice time than she has, so it was not an even playing field.
Anyway, this time Emma was with us. She reminded me how completely direction-challenged I am (thanks, kid) and told us we would find the star's owner nearer to the golf course. So we drove that direction using various side streets, but lost track of the star amongst the trees and couldn't find it again. By this time, we were on 7 Mile--no star to be seen. I heard dear Kaity in the back seat: "Dear Jesus, please let us find the star tonight!" After hearing that, there was NO WAY I was giving up our search until the star could be found. I told the girls that I had an odd feeling that we should continue east on 7 Mile and turn down Chauncey heading south back in the direction of my house. Because ... isn't Chauncey a very curvy, crooked, rather wind-y street?
Sure enough! As we turned down Chauncey and went around the first curve, we could clearly see the star shining through the trees. We passed it by, drove into the back entrance to the park where I live and followed the streets back as far as we could get. There was the star above and behind us ... apparently attached to a garage ... how could we get to that house? I drove back out of the park, back up Chauncey, and the first driveway to the left was a very dark and L-O-N-G drive, curvy too, SO SO dark ... should we turn and take it? YES! The girls were both in agreement that we HAD to find out for sure if this was where the star lived. We drove up the long narrow road to the very top, where security lights immediately went on as we drove past an out-building and right next to that building was a garage with the star (as big as the side of the garage) shining super bright. Thank-you, Lord! Mystery solved. We all slept better because of finding it!
Thursday: Kaity's school is still closed due to COVID (she actually returns to in-person school tomorrow), so I picked her up from Jesse today at 2:00 to give us a little extra time together. A lot is going on in Kaity's life presently. COVID is a super big deal when you are in the second grade and cannot attend school--virtual school doesn't work very well at this age, at least not with Kaity's type of kiddo.
Plus, Kaity is the only child going back and forth between Jesse and Di--she does really well with it, I think, but still ... it is a lot for a little child to handle, no matter what. Thanksgiving happened without me seeing Kaity this year; plus, the prior Saturday she had been out of town with her mom--so almost 10 days had gone by without spending time with her. The extra time that was given to us today was good.
Tuesday: It's been SIX very long weeks since these little ones have been able to come over to my house! But now I am fully recovered, no more weight lifting restrictions, back to completely normal eating, and strong enough to entertain these guys over at my house.
Monday: I had zero responsibility for grandchildren today, so I spent most of the day fussing around my house, cleaning and organizing, to prepare for three little ones to come tomorrow. I did a fun Origami project, making picture frame ornaments and filling them with my beautiful grandkids' pictures.
These are the 12 I made for the O'Pahman group:
