We cannot do great things on this Earth, only small things with great love.
~Mother Teresa
~Mother Teresa
My husband is returning home today after being gone twelve days straight, including the last two weekends...yes, that means we were not together to celebrate Resurrection Day. It was quite a downer for all of us. He was stuck at a hotel all day, while I tried to do the usual things with the Princess. We went to our sunrise service and then afterward I was just planning on going home and...well, I was not sure what we were going to do from there.
Bare with me as I do a flash backwards...that is, more backwards than Resurrection Day. The weekend before, our church did an egg hunt on Saturday. We planned to be there and I had plenty of time to prepare lunch...until someone pulled up into the driveway: the mother of one of the Princess' new friends in our neighborhood. This friend wanted to play with the Princess, of course, and I asked if she could join us for the church egg hunt. Unfortunately, the mother and I talked a bit too long, as I am well too known to do, and then I hurriedly had to make a lunch for the two girls. Now if you really knew my daughter, you would know that eating fast is not her thing with the exception of mac-n-cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches, and hotdogs, which can disappear in lightning speed by comparison (although it is probably just normal speed in reality). So, we left the half-eaten sandwiches took a cut-up apple with us to eat on the way.
I silently groaned when we arrived because, instead of doing a craft as was done in the past, the church had cupcakes, cake, chips, and sodas for the children before the egg hunt. Then these sugar-charged children were expected to quiet down for a short Bible story about the resurrection...while on this carbohydrate high...I will just let you imagine how that went for yourself. Finally released, the children wildly scattered. Eggs awaited the little ones in the front and others in the back for older ones. The flurry ended in just five minutes. The captured eggs were feverishly opened to find the treasures of candy, but no chocolate or nuts, and little gifts. Then they did a tossing game with raw eggs which was rather messy.
My husband left a few days later in the week to work in Orlando. While he was there, his father went into the hospital. His blood pressure was doing some odd things since his pacemaker was changed out. Being that my husband was only a little over an hour away, he spent an extra day in Florida to visit his parents but is traveling home today and expected to arrive tonight about the time of our 4-H meeting, so we might not see him until later.
If you had not noticed I flashed forward to today, so now, if I have not lost you yet, I am going to flash back to the day before Resurrection Day. That day, the Princess and I colored eggs. This was particularly difficult for us as this was one of the things of which my husband usually takes charge, but we had a very good time and made some beautiful eggs. My daughter has become quite adept at doing creative things and I enjoyed it more than I expected.
While at services on Resurrection Sunday, the pastor's wife, taking pity on us and I probably looked pitiful, asked if we would join them and their family for dinner after church. With both the Princess and I feeling pretty lonely and, after having a tough week with her because of it, I was very thankful for the invitation to be with other adults, but there could have been a bit of a snag. My next door neighbor, since her grandchild was walking, has always invited the Princess to an egg hunt at her place, but I had not heard from her. I felt it was breaking with etiquette to call her asking if the Princess was invited to her egg hunt this year, and if it had not been a tradition for the last five years I would not have been so bold. However, as gracious as she is generous, my neighbor assured me that she had meant to call me earlier, but got busy with making dinner and, of course, the Princess was invited to the egg hunt, which would be after dinner in the early afternoon.
Perfect! I turned to the Princess and said, "You are truly blessed!" The Lord had worked it all out so that we could go to the Pastor's dinner and our neighbor's egg hunt. And both we did!
Our neighbor does not put candy in her eggs; she puts money in them. The Princess came away with just under $20, which we split up as we usually do money gifts and allowance: twenty percent goes towards tithing and the remaining eighty percent is split into savings and spending money.
Bare with me as I do a flash backwards...that is, more backwards than Resurrection Day. The weekend before, our church did an egg hunt on Saturday. We planned to be there and I had plenty of time to prepare lunch...until someone pulled up into the driveway: the mother of one of the Princess' new friends in our neighborhood. This friend wanted to play with the Princess, of course, and I asked if she could join us for the church egg hunt. Unfortunately, the mother and I talked a bit too long, as I am well too known to do, and then I hurriedly had to make a lunch for the two girls. Now if you really knew my daughter, you would know that eating fast is not her thing with the exception of mac-n-cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches, and hotdogs, which can disappear in lightning speed by comparison (although it is probably just normal speed in reality). So, we left the half-eaten sandwiches took a cut-up apple with us to eat on the way.
I silently groaned when we arrived because, instead of doing a craft as was done in the past, the church had cupcakes, cake, chips, and sodas for the children before the egg hunt. Then these sugar-charged children were expected to quiet down for a short Bible story about the resurrection...while on this carbohydrate high...I will just let you imagine how that went for yourself. Finally released, the children wildly scattered. Eggs awaited the little ones in the front and others in the back for older ones. The flurry ended in just five minutes. The captured eggs were feverishly opened to find the treasures of candy, but no chocolate or nuts, and little gifts. Then they did a tossing game with raw eggs which was rather messy.
My husband left a few days later in the week to work in Orlando. While he was there, his father went into the hospital. His blood pressure was doing some odd things since his pacemaker was changed out. Being that my husband was only a little over an hour away, he spent an extra day in Florida to visit his parents but is traveling home today and expected to arrive tonight about the time of our 4-H meeting, so we might not see him until later.
If you had not noticed I flashed forward to today, so now, if I have not lost you yet, I am going to flash back to the day before Resurrection Day. That day, the Princess and I colored eggs. This was particularly difficult for us as this was one of the things of which my husband usually takes charge, but we had a very good time and made some beautiful eggs. My daughter has become quite adept at doing creative things and I enjoyed it more than I expected.While at services on Resurrection Sunday, the pastor's wife, taking pity on us and I probably looked pitiful, asked if we would join them and their family for dinner after church. With both the Princess and I feeling pretty lonely and, after having a tough week with her because of it, I was very thankful for the invitation to be with other adults, but there could have been a bit of a snag. My next door neighbor, since her grandchild was walking, has always invited the Princess to an egg hunt at her place, but I had not heard from her. I felt it was breaking with etiquette to call her asking if the Princess was invited to her egg hunt this year, and if it had not been a tradition for the last five years I would not have been so bold. However, as gracious as she is generous, my neighbor assured me that she had meant to call me earlier, but got busy with making dinner and, of course, the Princess was invited to the egg hunt, which would be after dinner in the early afternoon.
Perfect! I turned to the Princess and said, "You are truly blessed!" The Lord had worked it all out so that we could go to the Pastor's dinner and our neighbor's egg hunt. And both we did!
Our neighbor does not put candy in her eggs; she puts money in them. The Princess came away with just under $20, which we split up as we usually do money gifts and allowance: twenty percent goes towards tithing and the remaining eighty percent is split into savings and spending money.
~ Thank you, my Lord, for the generosity of our friends and for providing all that we need. ~
