Abby's Visit to GA

What a fun time we had this past weekend! Abby and Titus and Andy flew in on Thursday morning last week, and we enjoyed a leisurely day with them since it was a school holiday, Veterans' Day. After we got home and ate some lunch, we put Titus down for a nap, and all of us rested a bit. Later that afternoon, we went to the park. Aunt Abby and Stan kept the kiddos at the park while I put in my last run before the race. Then when I got back to the park, Abby and I walked a while together while Stan watched the kids a little longer. We fixed shrimp and linguini and marinara sauce for supper. Late that night Nonny and Uncle Will arrived, so we had a very full house come Friday morning. We got Olivia off to school, I got Benjamin to preschool, and then I had a dentist appointment. After that we went to McDonalds for lunch where the kids had a great time playing in the play area. Then we hurried over to Mamie Lou Gross Elementary School for a special ceremony where Olivia was recognized as the "Terrific Kid" for this quarter in her class! Yeah Olivia! The ceremony was a little lengthy but really sweet. The first graders even won the "Spirit Award" for cheering the loudest. :) After that, we all hopped in the cars and headed to Albany. We got there around 5:30 I believe, and Carrie Beth, David and Jonathan were there waiting on us, and Mom had called ahead to them and given CB directions to get dinner going. We had a yummy meal on the cozily lit back porch, but it soon became too cool, and it was time to bed everybody down. On Saturday morning Nonny had made a "Grits Bar" for breakfast, and I was sorry to have to miss it since I was running in the Albany 15K Chili Run. I hear it was scrumptious. I was pretty nervous about the race, because my knee had been beginning to give me problems the week before the race. I was afraid I would have to completely stop and drop out of the race because the knee pain might get too bad. God got me through it, though! And it honestly felt like a miracle. I knew I could do the distance, but I was so worried with how much pain my knee had been giving me, but it really wasn't too bad. It didn't begin bothering me until mile 4, and then even after that, it wasn't a severe pain. I had to stop 4 times to walk for 30 seconds to relieve some of the pain a little but I still finished in 1:21--a minute faster than last year, giving me 2nd place in my age group. Next year, I'll be in the 35-39 year old group, so I'm hoping that since I"ll be one of the younger ones in that category that maybe I'll do even better! :) I was the old geezer in my age group this year. :) The really frustrating thing in this race was that these two women who were in their 40s kept just ahead of me the whole time. I just couldn't keep up with them. I thought to myself, "Maybe I'll get faster in my 40s, too!" :) Saturday afternoon was a blur--lots of icing my knee and resting. We did go outside and play in the yard a good bit with the kiddos while Carrie Beth and Abby enjoyed a little shopping venture. My knee told me, "I do not want to walk around stores today, please!" So I stayed behind and enjoyed watching them tree climb, ride bigwheels and play baseball. Sweet, lovely afternoon. That evening Dad came home for good from his Kairos adventure. He'd been working a Kairos all weekend, but finally we got him to ourselves a little. Stan had to leave to get back to Kingsland for the church services on Sunday, and Will also left Saturday night because of needing to be home in Montgomery to be at his church on Sunday, so it was Dad and us ladies and lots of grandkids! We spent much of Saturday evening going through some of Muzzy and Papaw's old things that Mom and Dad are trying to sort through and distribute to all of us. We enjoyed hearing some sweet stories from Dad as we opened up each storage container and pulled out items many of which triggered an interesting memory. It's still hard to believe she's gone. We all miss her and are sad she got called home earlier than we would've liked. Sunday morning was wild and wooly as we all got the kiddos ready for church. We were running late for Sunday school, as usual, and then Mom realized that she'd left something important at home, so I dropped everyone off and went back to get it. I had forgotten to bring my black tights that I had planned to wear with my dress, so Mom gave me a pair of unopened pantyhose that had belonged to Muzzy. You would've thought they'd be fine, right? Nope. They kept slinkin' down on me! So I had to go buy some tights at Kmart, and unfortunately by the time I got back, Sunday school had ended. I did get to enjoy the 11:00 service, and Daddy preached a wonderful sermon which inspired us all to remember our first love--Christ. Sunday afternoon Mom had made a mini Thanksgiving feast since Abby won't be here next week. It was delicious, and Lisa (the youth pastor's wife) and her daughter Kayla came to join us since Joel, her husband and their son were out of town. We enjoyed a great meal, and soon we were packing and out the door to go home. Mom drove me, Olivia, Benjamin and Abby and her boys home to Kingsland since Stan had to leave Saturday night. Well, what was supposed to be 3.5hr drive home became a 5.5hr drive home because Olivia got sick. She threw up, big time, twice in Mom's brand new van. It was pretty muchly a worse case scenario kind of deal. We had to stop at a Wal-Mart in Tifton and buy supplies to attempt to clean it up, but at that point we were still 2.5 hours from home. Right before we got to Waycross (an hour from home), she let it fly again, bless her heart. It was pure misery. Truly. God graciously got us through that and carried the vomit van home to Kingsland. We all slid into bed around 11pm, and we all prayed that if it was a virus that we could be spared! Fortunately no one has yet contracted it. PTL! Monday morning was spent in taking Mom's van to a detailer where a guy named Chuck worked some major magic! Amazing. I don't know how he did it. Just so glad it was all restored to its clean state--no more odor! :) Mom left Monday afternoon, and Abby and I took the kids outside for a fun, dirty afternoon playtime. Stan had to be in Waycross for a band event Monday night, so it was just us and the kids that evening. We had a pork loin roast, mashed potatoes and green beans and corn! yum! Tuesday morning we got up, got Olivia to school and then we zoomed off for the beach in Fernandina. We had a wonderful quick visit to the seaside. It has been two years since Abby has been to the beach, and Titus had never been until yesterday. It was such a fun time. Then we came home, tried to de-sand them, ate lunch and headed to the airport. It was very hard to say goodbye not knowing exactly when we'll see them next, but it was such a precious visit. I'm so glad I got so much time with them. It was truly a treat. I know it's such an exhausting experience flying with those two little guys, and I appreciate Abby being willing to make it all happen! It was a fun weekend, and now here I sit on a Wednesday morning feeling a bit like it should be Monday. Didn't the week stand still for me while I was busy having fun? :) I guess not, huh? Got to get busy planning for Wednesday night children's choir, and I probably should get some laundry going. Back to the routine! Life is rich!

Photoshop fun

One of Benjamin's preschool classmate's fathers, Mr. Troy, saw Benjamin in his costume and said, "I think I could make a really cool picture for you if you have him pose for me against this wall." So we stood Benjamin up next to this blank wall, and Mr. Troy told him to stretch his arms up high and look at the ceiling. Then Troy took the picture, and fiddled with it, and he came back the next day Benjamin had school with this photo! Isn't this hysterical? :) Benjamin absolutely adores it, and I giggle every time I look at it!

I was just reading this morning in the closing chapters of Deuteronomy where Moses is blessing the tribes, and when he gets to Benjamin's tribe, this is what he says, “Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders.” It's only when we settle in and rest between the shoulders of our Creator that we can plug into the true "super power"! I pray that this little guy will grow to be a man who knows how much the Lord loves him and may the Lord use Benjamin mightily as he learns to reach up and cling to the shoulders of the real super hero, Christ the Lord!