June 8 with these lovable kids

Tuesday:   I prayed for strength and a good sense of humor today. I prayed that I would be kind and patient. I prayed that the children would know they are loved by me. I prayed that we would have fun. My answer from the Lord was MORE than all of that ... because, you see, I had a deep sense of JOY and a confidence that He would be with me all throughout our busy, hot-n-sticky, sometimes chaotic day.  

God gave me this hilarious expression from Erin, patiently waiting for her lunch while watching Matey hopping around on my kitchen counter.

God gave me this funny moment when Matey landed on Aidan's shoulder and was ALMOST tolerated by this little man!

God gave me this snapshot of Erin, all comfortable on the cool hardwood (fake) floor playing contentedly.

The Lord gave me THIS look from Bren ... this is how Brendan used to look at me, and the quiet, confident smile he used to have so many years ago. He is doing so much better! Good job, God. Good job, Dylan and Kelly! Good job to the therapists and their nanny, Jen, and Brendan's teacher, Miss Alison!

I also enjoyed these moments watching Matey "attack" the chileren for various reasons--mostly because they were playing with "his" toys! This little musical clapper is one of his favorites!

The Lord let me watch Aidan fixing his usual food on the window seat cushion and offering some of it to Matey-Bird ...

... and Aidan actually cracking up because of the feel of Matey's sharp little toes on his arm.

Aidan mixing up the food in his cooking pan--everything from apples to waffles to a fake box of cereal ...

The Lored also gave rain-free weather to play outside, underneath the protection (from the hot sun) of my carport. I hauled out the water toys and we played an entire hour outside.

Erin got a special "kick" out of squirting me in the face with her squirt gun (!!).

Aidan too!

Just look at these lovable kids. And I get to be their grandma!

Erin and Aidan set out, hard at work, to wash my car. They really liked the fact that I had scrub brushes on poles.

... the poles were sometimes a bit much for wee Erin ...

After our water play, we went back inside for a movie that was showing on Disney+ ... something about dragons I think. The kids have been watching this at their house too, so it was a familiar story to them.

Erin shared her watermelon and cucumbers with Matey during snack time.

Aidan ate his usual Gold fish crackers and Cheese-Its ... and two glass of chocolate milk. Oh! He had a PERFECT day on the potty--yay! We did not have to change his clothes even once. I told him he had turned into a Gi-Gundo boy!

Thank you, Lord, for strength to meet this day. Thanks, too, for the time with baby Callaghan at the end of the day and the nice hamburger/fry/tator tot meal Kelly provided. Love this family so much.

July 7 Errands with Emma

Monday:  I told you that Emma and I are working on her graduation open house (June 26), and today we had a few errands to run to pick up a some items for her party.  

But first, we had to FIND the credit union that Emma wants to use for a savings/checking account. She is closing the "child's" account she has through a federal bank and is having her earnings transferred to this local credit union. Naturally, I got a little "turned around" while on the way to the credit union because ... well ... I was on the WRONG street. But we finally found the place and after having to return back to Emma's in order to get her SS#, Emma did successfully open her own account at the credit union. Now she can have her paychecks deposited directly into her account--plus, she will have access to all of the money she has worked so hard to earn.

We also stopped by the Dollar Tree to look at table cloths, paper plates, napkins, and stuff like that. Emma purchased all of that today as well as a nice book for guests to sign and put their addresses in (so that we can make Thank-U cards). Afterwards, we came to my house and ate lunch together. I rarely eat lunch with anyone, so this was a real treat. Actually, I never usually get to be with Emma on a Monday--so being with her today and help her accomplish a very important goal was quite a privilege.

July 7 A special thrill

Monday:  Every few weeks I take a book bag over to the Plainfield KDL and load it up with good books for the kids to look at when they visit my house. My prior check-outs were due tomorrow, so it was time to return them and exchange them for others. I LOVE the library. I have loved it for years! When my kiddos were little, we would take a crate almost every week over to the library and fill it with as many books as could fit (one time we squeezed 55 books into that crate)--it gave the boys something to look at during their "quiet hour" while I was typing for the doctors.

Today, I was browsing around for books and I passed by a table display filled with bundles of same reading level, similar interest books rubber banded together for easy check-out. My eye was immediately drawn to ...

BEATRICE ZINKER!!! At my very own public library! My body tingled all over from the thrill of seeing my niece's book as a LIBRARY BOOK. It was actually a much greater thrill than seeing it brand new at Barnes & Nobles!

There were two ladies standing nearby, also browsing books, and I announced to them that "my niece wrote and illustrated that top book!" -- I just couldn't help myself -- I was bursting with pride for Shelley. How fun! I am so glad my library has a copy of Shelley's wonderful book. I hope they eventually carry the other two Beatrice books (Beatrice is a series of three books) as well as Shelley's latest beautiful picture book, "More Than Sunny."
 

June 5 and 6 with Emma

Saturday/Sunday:  Many more prayers of my heart were answered while I was with Emma for the next 24 hours. I had been worried that she might still be upset over the situation with Jesse earlier in the week. I had truly prayed 4-5x per day about that issue for both Jesse and Emma. When I picked Emma up Saturday night (after delivering Kaity back to Diana), she was just fine. We had the nicest talks Saturday night. I was so thankful to listen to Emma's heart and hear how God had been working in her life all through the week. God--YOU ARE SO AWESOME.

We watched "Madagascar" Saturday night and went to bed at about 11:30. Sunday morning service at Calvary was ... difficult to describe exactly HOW WONDERFUL it was--it just gets better every week. Pastor Tom is doing a study in Philippians, about "The Fight for Joy" and it has been so challenging and encouraging. Emma has tracked really well with the study (when not asleep), opens her Bible, makes notes, and remembers what was taught. I'm so thankful she and I can worship together every week.

Emma was unable to swim this weekend (biology) (!!) so we took advantage of the "down" time and worked on planning out her graduation open house (June 26) which is barely three weeks away now. We got a lot accomplished!

Sunday evening, Emma and I worked on designing a grad card for her best friend, Sarah. I LOVE LOVE LOVE making cards, so I was 100% happy while helping Emma with the card. 

These pictures are of Emma composing a message for the inside of the card, and then writing on the envelope. Perhaps I should post a few pictures (minus the message) of the card ...

Here are a few pictures of the card--all except the page where Emma wrote a personal message.

 We used this picture of the Mighty Mac for the message page. I faded out the picture a bit and then we superimposed Emma's message on top. All of these pictures are from Emma's various trips with her friends these last few weeks.

It was so much fun working on this card with Emma. We liked how it turned out--which is very important! We didn't get Emma back home until 9PM--but we'd had a very good day together. Thank you so much, Lord.

June 5 Little answers to prayer

Saturday:  I'll be honest with you--I have been DREADING today with Kaity. Not because of Kaity! But I knew, without nary a doubt, that she would want to return to Versluis to swim. It's SO hot! There isn't a cloud in the sky! But ... I am beginning to H A T E Versluis Park--the noise and chaos, the "ghetto" atmosphere of the people who visit it ... PLUS, I have a strong aversion (!!) to swimming in cold water. I am a super chicken about it. SO ... I've been trying really hard when I worry or dread something to talk to the Lord about it--in detail! He says He welcomes us coming to Him for whatever reason! I asked the Lord to help me "endure" at least ONE HOUR at the lake with Kaity. I also asked Him to give me the courage to SWIM--all the way in--at least 30 minutes with Kaity today. But in the back of my mind, I was hoping Kaity wouldn't be interested in going to Versluis today. HA!

Early in the morning, I received a sweet text from Kaity telling me that her baby Lily had gotten a brand new bathing suit and that she couldn't WAIT to go swimming today. Baby Liam had a suit all ready too. Sigh. So much for that!

We arrived at the lake at about 3:30. I told Kaity about my prayers for courage to face the cold and take the plunge. She was very pleased and tried to encourage me with kind words. I told her that I was going to do this because I loved her so much--but I could only promise 30 minutes in the water, and then I would be "allowed" to sit on the shore while she swam herself out. Kaity was in total agreement. With the help of the Lord, I dropped off our swim bag on the shore and took a running start into the water all the way up to my waist ... and then I stopped. I needed further prayer! Kaity was halfway in and already shivering, but telling me that I could do this! So I prayed more and took the plunge. It took THREE dives under the water before the shock wore off and then I was fine. I actually made it 35 minutes!

After I got out to dry off (and warm up) on the shore, Kaity very thankfully ran into a classmate of hers! She and Bella swam for another 45 minutes. They had so much fun. Then Kaity talked Bella into playing on the playgrounds. Here are some pictures of them. They played hide 'n seek and tag for most of their playtime.

Aren't these two darling?

Bella was using these bars as a slide and she challenged Kaity to slide down it too. Kaity wasn't sure about it at first and avoided trying it out. But Kaity doesn't like to be "one-upped", so she finally mastered sliding down and did it many times.

I was so thankful for this time Kaity was able to run and play with her friend. She was SO happy! It wasn't nearly as rough at the park today. There were many MORE people--in fact, the later we stayed in the afternoon, the more and more people arrived. We ended up leaving at about 5:30.

We drove the 5 minutes to my house where we ate our usual hotdog meal, and then we just played. It was sticky hot inside my little house, but the window fans made it bearable. We just hung out and built stuff together.

Kaity designed a special house for her baby Lily ...

Thank you, Lord, for this nice afternoon with Kaity. I'm so glad that You care, even about the little things in our lives.