Post-VBS Quiet

This past week we've been at SonRise National Park VBS.  I took the week off work to spend time with my people and prepare for each evening's festivities.  We had an amazing time.  We transformed the church into a national park, without sap or bugs.  Honestly, that's totally my kind of park. 

N even created a waterfall in our sanctuary.  I have no idea how his mind works.  I see a baptismal and stage.  He sees a forest with waterfalls.  Here he is testing out the kiddie pools and pump.

We were elated it worked.  Then Wendy, the master artist did this:

We had a running waterfall all week.  The kids LOVED it.  It really added that extra something to our VBS. 

We had 89 kids come through.  We had over 100 people who helped get this VBS up and running through prayer, supplies, decor, and their time.  We are indeed blessed to be part of such a church family.  Thanks for the great week.  Only 359 more days until next year!

Fun at SonRise National Park

This week is VBS.  Since my mom and I are the directors, we are running in about 654 different directions.  It's part of the love of the ministry though.  Each night we get to hear kids singing, "God's got it" and learning how Jesus will meet all their needs.

Each night we hear laughter and excitement.  It's part of this crazy job that fills my heart.

Then there are these two:

That's Zoe and her cousin Micah.  Micah is her shadow each night and moves to sit next to his cousin.  They say good-bye about 752 times each night with hugs.  Love to see how these two love each other.

The best part, D is working in crafts and E is enjoying time with the other 6th graders.  I'm hoping to wrangle them all up for a picture. 

I'm so blessed God is showing me His continued blessings in my life this week.  He's definitely "got it!"

Small Joys of the Week 4

1)  Random dates with Zoe during the week.  Her excitement for them is contagious.

2)  Young adult dystopian novels.  I'm currently reading these:

Love them.  They took a bit to get into, but now I can't stop.  The third novel comes out in October. 

3)  Other people's creativity.  We have some crazy talent in our church.  They have totally transformed the church into a forest, to include redwood trees that are the height of the room.  N is making a real waterfall today. 

4)  Time with D & E.  It is much needed.  Our hearts are running low.

5)  Refresher VIA from Starbucks.  I'm really digging the Very Berry Hibiscus.  Although the name reminds me of the song "Hula Hibiscus" from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. 

Have a fabulous weekend.  I'll be in the forest with the creative people watching them create while I enjoy some berries and Hibiscus!

Some 3D Glasses and Pink Sparkles

This week I took a Tuesday off for a few reasons:

1) I really needed a mental health day.

2) I got to be a mom during the week!  I love being with Zoe and doing the things she LOVES to do.  It feels my cup.

3) We're in full-on VBS mode around our house.  There were some errands that needed running.  Since it's high 90's around these parts, a car with air conditioning is a great thing.

Monday evening I took Zoe on a date to Ice Age: Continental Divide in 3D.  She was so much fun.  We share popcorn and water.  She talked through 90% of the movie.  Which N accuses me of too, come to think of it.

Tuesday we woke up earlier than I had planned and while I was making coffee, Zoe had 876 things she was ready to play.  First up being "funeral."  She got out her piano and some nice jewelry for us to wear.  Her stuffed dog Zoe's sister Grace died.  She was to play the piano while I talked about Grace.  Then she sang a song and announced to the fake congregation that, "we'd be available in the kitchen after the service if anyone needed us for their funeral."  Ah, my little entreprenuer.  I think we need to work on a little life lesson called, "time and place."

After breakfast it was time to head to ice skating.  I found a skating outfit on Ebay for $25.  Normally I don't put my business on my blog like that, but in the skating world $25 is 1/6 of what you spend elsewhere.  Most skating outfits that are pink and have sparkles cost $120 or more.  Since Zoe will likely grow out of this one in exactly 6 weeks, I'm not going to spend $120 or more on a costume.  This little find was like finding Atlantis and Noah's Ark all in one day!  Isn't she cute?

She skates with her adorable friend K, who asked Zoe on a playdate.  Zoe was beyond excited because "you know mom, she's my BFF, even if she doesn't talk very much."  She a quiet girl, but I think it's because Zoe does ALL the talking. 

I'm so blessed to be this girl's mom.  She just lights up my world.

Small Joys of the Week 3

Now that I've started to do this, I'm noticing the little things that happen during the week more.  I love that.  I hope when I'm 98 I remember some of the little things about my life that I really enjoyed.  Honestly, while the big stories are fun, it's the little things that make up so much more of life.

1) Air conditioning - we're running in the high 90's - low 100's this week.  My mom's car doesn't have air conditioning.  I really think that I could put cookies on a baking sheet and 30 minutes later they'd be ready. 

2) Flowers for no reason

3) Lunch dates for Zoe and daddy on Fridays. 

4) "I love you because:" frames.  I saw this in Pinterest and just had to implement in our family.  It's been a HUGE hit.  We all love to have little notes and this way we can put things on there to show our love and appreciation.  Zoe wrote one for N last night that was absolutely dear.

5) Hearing Zoe and daddy on the couch reading the bedtime story and hearing Zoe randomly say, "I love you so much daddy." 

6) Unexpected calls from family just because they want to check in and find out how they can pray for you.

7) Church family that uses their talents together to create really awesome decor for VBS.

8) Free Starbucks and on a Friday the 13th!  Go get some from 12:00-3:00 today.

We Have Apparently Entered the Negotiation Stages of Arranged Marriage

On Monday Zoe went to church with grandma for a quick VBS meeting.  My mom and I are the directors of VBS, so we'll be living at church the next couple weeks and "quick" is a relative term!

Anyway, Zoe was at church and Ben's mom works at our church.  Ben just happened to be dropped off that day and he was very worried that Zoe was mad at him.  Zoe and I had agreed that the best thing to do was to treat Ben like we always do and just be a friend.  I'm so proud of my girl.  She went right up to Ben, started talking about who knows what and they ended up playing together for 4 hours.  No mention of the dreaded engagement talk, just two friends playing and laughing and having a great time.  At then end, he even thanked my mom for "her patience" because he knew she had been wanting to leave for the last 2 hours.  Score a point for Ben and his thoughtful heart.

Yesterday, we were at church again and Ben's mom was there, but no Ben.  As Zoe and I left, we said hello to her and went on our way.

Fast forward to last night, Grandma Lily ran into Ben's mom at dinner.  I guess when she got home, she told Ben she saw Zoe and his first question was, "did she ask about me?"  I have to be honest, that little question just makes me smile. 

I guess the real reason that he said "NO!" was because Zoe mentioned something about him living with us.  That, unfortunately was a HUGE deal breaker to a 5 year old.  Quite honestly, I'm glad he can keep his wits about him when asked major-life changing questions by a cute girl.  Score another point for Ben.

He told his mom that he does want to marry Zoe, but she'd have to move in with his family.  He's thinking he'll ask her on Sunday to marry him. 

Now we have entered into negotiations for a fake marriage.  Do we need to have a couple fake goats and some rubber chickens to sweeten this deal?  I feel a little unprepared.

A "NO!" and the Day I Turned Into My Mother

There's one more type of flowers that I believe are in order at our house:  the "I'm Sorry Boys are Dumb" flowers. For years Zoe has dreamed of her wedding. She's going to marry a boy named Ben who goes to our church. She thinks about this at least once a week. Mainly when she sees a wedding dress or fancy shoes. Sometimes she freaks out about it.

This past week she's been 100% gung-ho about finally asking Ben to marry her. She said to me, "mom, you need to ask Ben if he'll marry me when we're adults and I'm okay if he says no."

Here's the thing about being a parent, you walk a very fine line of crushing their little spirit or setting their expectations too high. Because I don't have a crystal ball, I didn't try to talk some reality into her, I just kinda let it go as, "I'll see what I can do." I figured either she'd forget about it by Sunday or I'd just tell her I already asked his mom before I got her from Children's Church.

Unfortunately I couldn't forsee into Sunday at church where we'd run into Ben and his mom and Zoe would know I hadn't asked yet because church just got out. Here's the order of events:

Zoe remembered the important question.

She asked Ben if he'd marry her, full of hope and excitement.

Ben's eyes became the size of saucers.

He forcefully said, "NO!"

Zoe grabbed onto me, said he said "NO" and began to cry.

And cry.

And cry.

And attract a crowd.

And cry some more.

Then it became the ugly cry with gasping for breath and loud sobs.

Then I told her a story of my preschool life with Jeff. I basically had the same story.  I'm pretty sure I didn't cry that hard, I just kinda shrugged it off.  Although we're friends today and I can laugh at my 5 year old self. Then I told her that N was the perfect man God had for me. Maybe God has someone even more awesome then Ben and I pray He does because Ben should see how awesome she is. If he doesn't, he's not worth her tears!

Then I turned into my mother.

The end.

Just Because Flowers

On Friday I got home from work and these were on the counter:

There was no note and no Zoe yelling "we got you flowers!"  I didn't think too much about it.  I thought maybe they bought something pretty for Grandma.  Here's a little fact, in almost 8 years of togetherness, I've never gotten flowers just because.  I've gotten I'm sorry flowers, Too Bad Your Liver Ruptured flowers, Happy Valentine's Day flowers, Happy Anniversary flowers, Happy Birthday flowers and Happy Mother's Day flowers.  I've never gotten them just because they could.  Until Friday.

I think of all the flowers I've ever received, these are my favorite!

Small Joys of the Week 2

This week's small joys include:

1) Cuddling with Zoe in a king sized bed that she was positive was smaller than a twin.  Nothing, not even sleep, beats sweet cuddles.

2) A mid-week day spent with N, touring his temporary dam and just being a family. 

3) Eating in a small town and NOT getting food poisoning - that's worth more than 1 line item.

4) God taking care of all the little details when I'm stressed about them and trying every minute to remember to just give them to Him already!

5) New, fast drying, hot pink nail polish - so when you're impatient and jam your foot into your flip-flop, it doesn't get ruined!

6) Sun

I finally think summer is here.  Happy Friday all!

Celebrating our Independence by Rebelling

On Tuesday afternoon I got a call on my cell phone from a number I didn't recognize.  I usually don't answer those, but for some reason I did.  It was N.  At the dam he's working at there is no cell reception.  He called to inform me that there was a change of plans to his work schedule today.  He would be home late.  In a spur-of-the-moment decision, Zoe and I decided to go to him.  That meant a very fun trip to Ritzville, WA - population 4 fast food joints, three gas stations and one Mexican restaurant we will never patron again.  Zoe had never been to Ritzville for a night, so she was beyond excited. 

Tuesday night we ate from a safe restaurant and then played in the pool.  Because N's hotel room only has a king-sized bed, we got to share.  N got the 1/3 closest to the air conditioner, Zoe got the middle 1/3 and I got the 1/3 closest to the bathroom.  This getting older thing really disrupts my sleep.

For the entire night Zoe slept on my 1/3 of the bed, her lovey got her 1/3 of the bed and N got a glorious night of sleep!

For our 4th of July, we took a trip to N's temporary dam that he loves more than life itself.

Zoe and daddy practiced skipping rocks, throwing driftwood and posing by signs because I told them we had to document this life moment.  Then we watched several people launch their boats into the water as we got insanely jealous!

It was time to head back and Zoe learned what happens when you're on a rural road, nothing between where you came from and where you're going and she says, "I have to go potty." 

We went back to Ritzville, played more in the pool (where Zoe learned to hold her breath and go under water), jumped on the hotel bed and bought some sparklers.  In our county you can't have any fireworks.  Any and all things that explode, no matter how pretty or immobile they are, they are illegal.  Some of my best memories of the 4th are spent sitting in a lawn chair with the hose watching all the fountain fireworks on our street.  I was always a little worst-case-scenario when it came to fireworks.  In my defense, no house or shrub or person ever caught fire on my watch!  It saddens me that Zoe will have a different memory of the holiday. 

To remedy that, we bought some sparklers in a county that allows fireworks and brought them home to celebrate the independence of the USA.  Appropriate, no?

 

Zoe took to them like she did to all the firsts of her day.  There was lots of smiles, giggles and a sweet rendition of "You're a Grand Old Flag" sung by Zoe herself.