If You Give a Girl a Camera . . .

Click to make larger. Can't wait to see what she comes up with when she's had some classes!

To the New Mr. And Mrs.

 I'll bet you all thought it would be about Ty and Jessie!

Congratulations to my Sweet Mama and Charlie on their wedding day. Wish I could be with you, but I am holding you both in my heart! May today be the beginning of everything beautiful. 

The Lord bless you and keep you;

The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. 

 (Numbers 6:24-26)

You are dearly loved!

Bible Club

Our church used to host Vacation Bible School each summer, but the budget made us cut expenses. Instead, our high schoolers hosted a neighborhood Bible Club!

For three days, they set up a canopy in a local neighborhood. They had games, crafts, and Bible teaching.

Although flyers were passed out ahead of time, only one adorable family showed up each and every day to participate.

One family, but it was enough!

Kudos to the high school group for putting themselves out there!

Behold . . .

. . . the most ridiculous shoes. . . .

. . . . ever. 

That's a puffy nylon "flower" on the side.

Tuesday is Guest Star Day!

This is an older post that I just got around to reading, and I'm so glad I did.

In our home, the rules were simple:

1. It's only fun if both people are laughing

2. When someone says stop, that means STOP.

What a simple way for children to feel heard and respected.

I Will Bring Praise!

I didn't even realize that I had a sour attitude until I got to church yesterday.

I thought I was moving along pretty well, and even cheerfully, given the fact that I'm feeling a little sleep deprived and trying to catch up on rest after a busy weekend. I arrived at church and greeted my friends. I may have "hmphed" a little because Kelly was back at college and not up there singing with my Glenna and my friend, that Little Stinker Margaret.

After the first song and announcements, the music team started playing their set. That's when I looked over and saw her. I immediately started bawling, and I'm bawling right now as I write this!

Joanna was in church after almost SIX YEARS of being unable to fellowship with us due to illness. SIX. YEARS.

Joanna was home!!!

I cried the rest of the service. I cried after an abbreviated hug with her, thankful that I didn't put on perfume that morning! (I'm sure my flowery deodorant was too much as it was.)

She's been on such a journey and you can look back at it here, though she still has miles to go. Until Joanna went through it, I never even knew E.I. (Environmental Illness) existed. I have since become more conscious of my product choices though.

Welcome home, Joanna. It was a glory to God to see you! I saw Sunday morning through your fellowship-starved eyes yesterday and my heart was changed.

Twenty

Happy Birthday, our Dearest Kelly!!! We already miss you and are counting the days until we see you again. I hope your day is wonderful! We love you so!

Back in a Few

Today, I won't much be around. I'm taking my girl back to her college town.

Does that sound like a country song to anyone else?

It's her Junior year and she was asked to be a Dorm Leader! We have all kinds of adorable things to decorate her unit. Pictures to come!

Note to Self

After almost a year of avoiding fast food and processed food, what made you think it would be OK to zip through not ONE but TWO drive-thrus?

Not so convenient at 2 am when your guts are ripping out, huh?

Lesson learned.

Sock It To Me!

My first attempt at making a sock bun!

Put hair in a pony-tail. Cut the toe off a sock and place it over the pony-tail. 

Roll the sock and the hair downward, tucking it in as you go. It's totally secure!

The added bonus is that if you sleep in it overnight, your hair comes out in nice, loose waves.

(PS: Happy first day of school, my Glenna! I know you're going to rock your Jr. year. Philippians 4:8!)

Tuesday is Guest Star Day!

Even though she wrote this a couple of weeks ago, I just wanted to share what Amanda had to say.

So many times we try to make things exactly perfect for ourselves and our children. Is this, instead, a handicap?

Observations at Unload and Restraint

The bag on the side of the rocket is NOT for used gum.

Indoor voices please. Or, try not talking all at once.

People of Walmart - skipping the morning shower is never a good idea.

Please, take your time gathering your things before exiting the rocket. There are not 12 other rockets hurtling through space and due to arrive in 2.3 minutes.

Little kids who conquered your fears and rode a rocket for the first time - you are my favorite. You're stinkin' adorable. And YES, that was AWESOME!

Dads who make fun of the Moms for checking the lap bar 40 times on their little ones - we see you making gestures behind your kid, asking us to check the lap bar. Kudos for being discreet and not letting the kid see you do it.

Conversely, parents who force a screaming and hysterical child into a seat - no, I will not send that rocket. You can do a Rider Switch. The boy was begging and pleading with us to get him off the ride! A 2.3 minute ride is not worth your child's mental well-being.

Guests who ask, "Is this ride fast?" It's a ROLLER COASTER.

Guests who ask, "Is this ride scary?" It's a ROLLER COASTER. (Thrilling? Yes. Scary? No.)

Guests who salute me or give me Trekkie hand gestures - you are also my favorite. Carry on, Space Traveler. Carry on.

Hats

For one of Jessie's showers, we were invited to wear hats. Glenna and I went shopping immediately (this is back in the day before THE CAMERA) and would you believe there wasn't a single mirror near the hats? How in the world were we supposed to see what it looked like?

I finally told Glenna to take pictures of the hats I was trying on, and then I did the same for her. What is it about putting on a hat that makes one immediately strike a pose?

Wasn't ready

I might go back for this one!

By the way - I had NO IDEA how expensive hats could be. Glenna or I would find a beautiful hat and fall in love with it, only to see the price tag. It got to where we would sigh with resignation, "Well, at least we know we have excellent taste."

To Be or Not To Be

I love this clever English Teacher!

The Mrs W

Mrs RNW, MrsTNW, and Mrs JLW

Unfortunately, we didn't capture a photo of the MISS W club, of which there are also three!

At Last

Glenna received an amazing camera for her 16th birthday! Finally, we'll have some non-fuzzy photos to share on this blog. Here's a sampling:

I call this, "The Lecture." Himself had taken her camera and I was telling him to give it back.

"What? A camera? POSE."

Friends

Lizard on a rock. I can't believe how clear this is!

The Road Home

I can't wait to see what Glenna will capture! I know we're going to have to get organized on photo storage and identification. I can't tell you how long it took me to find just those photos!

Happy Birthday!

A very Happy Birthday to my Sweet Mama! I'm so glad you came to visit, and I hope you have the best birthday ever! I love you!

I Follow!

I worked a shift at Space yesterday. I haven't been there in a month because I had a very busy July. At track talk with the manager, we were told that the last of the Brazilian tour groups had left for the season.

My friend, Carmen, shared this incident that happened while she was at Fast Pass Return:

The ride had gone down, and Carmen was spieling to the guests. One woman with three small children was distraught because she didn't understand what Carmen was telling her. Carmen found out that the woman was Brazilian and only understood Portuguese. Carmen tried speaking to her in Spanish, but the woman didn't understand.

Carmen began to look around for a Brazilian tour group. She called out loudly, "Does anyone here speak Portuguese? Anyone at all speak Portuguese?"

Suddenly excited, the woman waved her arm and exclaimed, "Me! Me! I follow Portuguese!"

The Rest of the Story

I've put off telling this because really, how to put the words on the page? Also, Tyler knew, but we chose not to say anything to Jessie - I'm hoping she knows by now!

The day of the rehearsal dinner, everyone was gathered at our house. My Dad and his wife, Pam, came and had lunch. Shortly after lunch, Pam began to feel poorly and asked to go back to Miss Nancy's house so she could rest. Himself and his sister, Mary Ann, took Dad and Pam back to Nancy's.

Soon after, Pam was taken by paramedics to the ER. While we were at the rehearsal dinner, we received the news that Pam had died. It was my worst nightmare come true; this was my fear the moment they told me they were coming to the wedding. Pam had been in such horrible health for such a long time and should not have traveled.

The rest of the rehearsal dinner was a blur. As friends and family found out about the death they would try to come and comfort me, but I begged them to just let me get through the dinner. I was wracked with guilt over needing to be with my son and his bride-to-be and 60 invited guests, and needing to be with my father, who had just lost his wife. I escaped the room several times to use the phone and my father assured me again and again that I was in the right place, that he was fine and he would see me the next day. Nancy was with him and had told me months before that if this should happen, she would handle it. How I had prayed and prayed that wouldn't be the case!

My father actually came to the wedding the next day. I told Tyler that morning on the phone, but we all agreed not to tell Jessie until after the wedding. God was so gracious - He completely preserved the joy of the day for all of us (what a blessed evening!).

God's great mercy was evident in so many other ways:

It happened the night before the wedding, and not at the wedding.

Dad was here and Nancy was with him; he didn't go through this alone.

Pam's daughter, Valerie, was only 13 hours away in Virginia, visiting her daughter. They drove down immediately.

My Mom was here to be with ME! She kept me sane and level-headed.

Last week was surreal. Instead of saying goodbye to visiting family and then having another week with my Mom, I was instead visiting a funeral home, caring for my father's needs (he is also medically dependent), and working part-time. Mom hasn't been around my father for 43 years. God's grace was also on her and she reacted to this interruption so well, but she did end up going home earlier than planned.

So, my father's now back in AR with his step-daughter and step-granddaughter, preparing to sell his home and belongings and move back to New Mexico. My cousin and his wife practically begged him to come and live with them; their plans are to build an in-law apartment on their property and care for him forever. This works out for me as well - I can now visit my Mom and my father in the same state!

I now know what it feels like to just do the next thing no matter what life throws at me. I'm so thankful for all of Himself's family. They were all so kind and understanding and gave me hugs just when I needed them! Their constant support gave me the confidence that I would get through this.

My father left on Saturday. We all cleaned the house and put things back to normal, went to lunch, and then I came home and slept and slept.

Done.