Day 27 & 28 (Thurs/Fri)

Thursday was an interesting day at work.  While I had my regular class (minus a couple of kids who were absent), I also had 2 from another class (their teacher was out) and 2 of my own kids (the school age class's teacher was out, too!).  All in all, I think I still only had 9 or 10 kids all together, but it was a full house in my little classroom.  It was a good day, though because Thursday night we went to our friends' house to mow & swim again.  Samuel continued to perfect his skills & Sarah learned to hold her breath & go under water for a short time.  Despite getting frustrated with herself every time we go swimming, she's anxious for swim lessons to get here next month!  I'm glad she's excited because I'm a little nervous for her.  She's still pretty water-shy.  And while that means she's super safe in the water (she barely gets off the steps in most pools!) that also means she's not doing much but sitting on the steps.  I guess we'll see how it goes.  I hope the swimming teacher can convince her to give it a shot.  Every little bit of trying is worth something in my book!

Friday (today) was a sweet day, too.  Today was our appointed day to drive to the 1/2 way point & pick up Savannah.  (remember, she's been out of town at her friends' house since Sunday)  On the way there, we stopped at a gas station for a potty break.  Sarah got a Sprite while we were there & somehow dropped the lid in the parking lot on the way back to the van (not intentionally).  About 5 miles down the road, she started crying & was SO upset that she had littered.  (I'm telling you...this child has got the most precious, honest, sweet spirit!)  We kept reassuring her that it was no big deal, it was just an accident, someone would sweep it up, the wind would blow it away, etc, etc.  Oh no...that wasn't good enough.  She had to make it right.  We tried to convince her to pick up a piece of litter at our destination.  That wasn't good enough (although she did that, too).  So after much conversation with a very upset child who was horrified that she'd done something so "bad", we decided that we'd stop at the same gas station on the way home & see if it was still there so she could pick it up & throw it away.

Fast forward a bit.  We picked up Savannah, ate lunch with her friends, hung out & hugged everyone abouta hundred times.  Pictures were taken, good-byes were said, promises for another visit were made.  We bid farewell & were on the road.  Not so surprisingly we barely made it out of the parking lot before the sibling arguments began.  (sigh....I guess it's just part of parenting, right???  Please tell me it is....)

The trip home was pretty calm & uneventful and so, when we arrived at the gas station, everyone knew our goal---to find that Sprite lid!  When we pulled up, there was a man in the parking lot sweeping & we pointed out to Sarah that he'd probably already gotten the lid.  She still wanted to look, though!  We pulled into the SAME parking space where we'd been earlier in the day & opened the door.  And as crazy as it sounds.....it was there!  It made her day to get out & pick up that lid!!

I am so thankful for several things here....#1 that my precious husband was willing to stop & let her complete something that seemed so important to her.  #2 that God allowed a million cars to come & go through that parking lot without the lid getting squished & rolled out into the highway ...without it being hidden under a car when we came back ....that the man out in the parking lot had missed it & it was not swept up.  #3  that my precious thirdborn has such a soft heart that it truely breaks her heart to "sin".  Thank you, Jesus, for her sensitivity to your Spirit!  :::wiping a tear from my eye:::

Ok...gaining my composure now...

When we got home, we barely pulled into the driveway before Samuel reminded me that I needed to call Miss M.  M is the grandmother of one of Samuel's good buddies from church.  M has custody of her grandson so Samuel has spent lots of time with Miss M & loves her dearly.  On Wednesday night, M & her grandson had invited Samuel to come over this weekend for a sleepover.  I wasn't sure (then) about what our calendars looked like for the weekend, so I told her I'd call when the time arrived.  And so, since Samuel was clearly still excited about the possibility of going, I called.  It wasn't long before I left to meet Miss M & her grandson.  I'm sure the 2 boys are have loads of fun even as I type this (an hour past Samuel's usual bedtime).  They are both very sweet boys, so I know they're being good...and having a blast!

And speaking of sweetkids.... last week, Samuel & Sarah's teacher at my school (where they're going to a school-aged kids class while I work) cornered me & said "I don't know if you beat them a lot when they were kids or what....but whatever you did, it worked!  Those two kids are the sweetest kids!  They mind me, they have good manners, they're good listeners.  They're just great kids.  So whatever it was you did...it worked!"  Ha ha!  It's always fun to hear things like that from people outside the family!  And just so ya know... we try not to beat the kids too much these days.  (big grin)

It's getting late and we have a wedding to attend tomorrow.  I can't wait!!  Both the soon to be husband & wife were members of the singles group while Larry was singles pastor.  It's so much fun to watch their relationship grow and now to see them get married!!  It'll be a great day of celebration!  Congratulations Ron & Melissa!!

...and without further adieu....I'm done!  If you made it this far, thank you for loving me enough to read my daily ramblings!  I am blessed to have you as my friend.  This is for you:

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