Unexpected Blessing

Yesterday at church, when I got into Sunday School...after singing in early-church choir, Jim whispered to me, "did you see Joshua anywhere?"

And that's how Marty died.

It's like he doesn't even know me at ALL! Because why else would he say that?

He said that he walked Joshua to his class and no one else was there. He said that he waited with him for a while, and Joshua said he was FINE and for Jim to go on to his class. Jim gave him instructions on what to do/not do if no one showed up by a certain time.

Well, there was no concentrating on the lesson after that.

I knew that a lady from choir was singing the offertory song, so when she got up to leave at 10:30, I left with her. I looked for Joshua at the gazebo area...where he was found one time. I looked for him in the foyer of the church...all the way around on both sides. I did not look in the sanctuary, because the early service was still going on. I basically stared out the back at the building where his class meets...hoping to see a glimpse of him in the window.

I didn't.

The music minister asked if I wanted to walk over there and peek in the window.  I told him, "no."

I mean, I really did want to, but I didn't want Joshua to feel like a baby. It's a fine line I walk because he's 28 years old. He's a man. But he's also very child-like and trusting. But I'm a Mom...his Mom. I HAVE to know where he is.

So I waited in the choir room and I was all by myself until this one lady came in. I'm ashamed to admit that I had never really talked with her because she seems very different.

From me. 

She is always very friendly to me, tho, and to others.

Maybe that's the difference between us.

(sigh)

We chit-chatted for a minute and when my Sunday School friend was done with the offertory song, she came in the choir room and asked if I'd found Joshua. In the course of our conversation, the new lady started asking me about Joshua. And even tho I didn't know this lady at all, my words stumbled out fast as I shared my story with her.

Why did this stranger feel like a safe place?

Maybe it's because she asked.

Or maybe it's because she seemed genuinely interested.

When I stopped talking, she put her hand on my arm and said, "I understand."

She told me that her son has Aspergers and that they had had a very hard time in church. She told me about one incident with her son...similar to one with Joshua...where the teacher let him leave the SS class on his own, and when she got there to pick him up, he was gone...and they didn't know where he was.

She said that, because of this incident, they did not come back to church for a long, long time.

We talked for a while and agreed that our church...or SOME CHURCH...needs a class for adults with special needs. I said, "there just HAS to be other kids like Joshua in this town," and she said, "there are."

I don't know. Just talking to her I felt such a relief. Like, FINALLY someone gets what I'm talking about.

When we got into the choir loft for the late service...I felt her tap me on the shoulder. She leaned down and whispered, "did you find your son?" I said, "yes," and pointed him out to her.

After church was over, we were talking to some people in the lobby area of our church. This same sweet lady came up to us with her grandson, and introduced herself to Joshua. She said, "I just really wanted to meet you, Joshua."

And that's how Marty cried.

I don't necessarily believe in "signs," but I do believe that God can and does give encouragement in many different ways. I am very thankful that He used this new friend to encourage me yesterday.

"Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!" Hebrews 13:2

College Ministry Dinner

In other news, as I write this, there are 3 hummingbirds and a wasp out fighting at the hummingbird feeders.

(sigh)

We had a good Saturday and Sunday. Quiet and low-key. Holly and Aaron went to the Razorback game (AGAIN) up on Fayetteville. They are just the social butterflies. (wink!)

On Sunday, we went to Sunday School and Church. Our small group class had volunteered to feed the college kids on Sunday night. The plan was to have 6 pans of beef spaghetti and 6 pans of chicken spaghetti, 6 pans of brownies, 6 people to bring 2 dozen cookies each, salad for 100...and tons of garlic bread. I signed up to bring 2 pans of chicken spaghetti and 1 pan of brownies.

I boiled the chicken on Saturday night, so I would have that out of the way. After our lunch on Sunday, I got started on my food. I put the pasta on to boil and at the same time put the sauce ingredients together on another burner. While that all cooked, I mixed up my brownies and got them into the oven.

Everything turned out great!

I met some of the other women up at our church at 3:30 to get set up. I was kind of nervous about it because our class is really big and I don't know many of the women. I get into class late every Sunday because of choir...and I leave as soon as class is over because of choir. Makes it hard to socialize.

But everyone was soooo friendly and everyone worked well together.

We had 80-90 college students there to eat our home-cooked meal. It was such a fun time! I am so glad I decided to participate!

After the meal, we had to clean everything up. I finally got home at 7 p.m. Exhausted, but happy!

Early this morning, my daughter-in-law texted me to say that Logan got out their iron for the very first time to iron his shirt before church.

The only reason I'm not questioning why this is the first time he is using the iron AFTER 3 1/2 MONTHS OF MARRIAGE, is because I know my son. All of my children know HOW to iron. My boys just prefer the throw-your-clothes-into-the-dryer-with-a-Bounce-sheet-for-a-few-minutes ironing method. (sigh)

Morgan said that she started to smell something burning and went in to find that Logan had left the paper cover on the iron and it was burning.

Eeek!

And an hour later, she posted a picture of the two of them at church. They were the greeters for the morning! (Logan's shirt looked really smooth and neat!) The picture put a big smile on my face!

I was excited to see them serving at church. For the past few Sundays, our pastor has been talking to us about how many of our high school kids never darken the door of a church after they graduate. We live in a town with three colleges...and one of them, the largest one, is literally in the back yard of our church.

I am thrilled that Logan and Morgan chose to get connected and involved in their church. We are so thankful for the church family there who reached out to them from their very first visit over 4 years ago...and pulled them in and loved on them. It blessed them and it has blessed us as well.

There are many ways to serve in a church. Whether you are a teacher, leader, singer, baby-holder, greeter...or a faithful attender...you are filling an important role in your church and your church needs ALL OF YOU.

"God has placed each of the members in the body just as He decided. If they were all the same member, where would the body be? So now there are many members, but one body." 1 Corinthians 12:18-20

I Never Could Pass for Britney Spears

Back in the day, I was a young mom...and I had 4 young kids...and they all went to the public schools in the small town where we lived.

One year, each one of them went to a different school. Thaaaaaaat's right...4 kids, 4 different schools.

Thankfully, I only had one year like that, because it was crazy!

I enjoyed volunteering in my kids' schools when I could. The school I volunteered in the most was Clark's elementary school. I tried to go once a week if I could. I would help in Clark's classroom, or help the teacher run off stuff for the class. Sometimes, I helped in the office.

At Clark's school, all guests had to sign in at the office. My friend, Robbie, was the receptionist. It was always so fun seeing her and getting to visit. So every time I went, I signed in and got a name-tag...and I signed-out when I left.

So, the year that the kids were all in different schools, I was in that office every afternoon to check Clark out early. With 4 kids, it was always a trick trying to figure out who to get first...who had after-school practice, who had piano, etc. For the first few years Clark was at this school, he did not want to be the last one picked up...so I checked him out early every day.

Now, the "bus kids" left a few minutes before the car-riders, so I just checked him out when they left.

Every.single.day.

But that's beside the point. The point is that I was there a lot, and I knew the teachers and the secretaries and the principal.

But the principal? He never knew my name. Or, if he did, he never called me by it. He was nice and polite, but it was always kind of awkward any time I had to talk with him.

And on the days that I had Joshua with me, he called him every name under the sun: "David," "Ben," "Dennis," "Billy," "Bobby," "John."

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

We lived in a small town. I thought everyone knew Joshua. 

WRONG.

But, at one point during this time, I let my frustrations over this get the best of me...and started writing random names on my name-tag. I checked in under my own name, but just put a different name on my name-tag. Let's see...I was Jennifer Aniston, Mariah Carey, Madonna, Brooke Shields, Barbara Bush.

On more than one occasion, I was Britney Spears.

And I just cracked myself up.

In my young(ish), naive mind, I never considered things like crazies with guns coming into the school...or tornadoes ripping everything apart. It never occurred to me that having my real name on my real name-tag might be important in identifying me.

I feel bad that I was so immature about it, because it was all about PRIDE. As much as I felt that a person I saw every.single.day would at least know my name, it ticked me off beyond belief that he couldn't even make the effort to call Joshua by the right name. Ugh.

And Joshua was completely unaware of this, and was just as happy as a clam, so this is what is called taking an offense from another, boys and girls.

Don't be like me.

Or, like I WAS.

I'm older now, and a little wiser. And catastrophic events like 9/11 happened while Clark was at that school, and it made me aware of the importance of the rules.

I never could've passed for Britney Spears, anyway.

And that's not a bad thing.

"Therefore, God elevated Him to the place of highest honor and gave Him the Name above all other names..." Philippians 2:9

Cheering Them On

It's football season, and so I thought I would post something from my draft folder. I probably wrote this a couple of years ago, when I was in the big middle of being a football mom. This is NOT a post against cheerleaders. This is a post about understanding where MOMS are coming from, because sometimes we get lost in the shuffle. And sometimes, with our boys (and girls), we are left out of a part of their lives that we so much want to enjoy and share with them! 

This is the first time in AT LEAST 10 years that I don't have a boy playing football. It's hard...sad...weird. We went to our first Friday night game last night. It wasn't to watch our high school team where we live now...the one Clark has played on for the past two years. We went to watch the team from where we used to live.

It was strange...and different. And Jim and I both agreed that it was the least stressed we have been at a Friday night football game in YEARS.

I love cheerleaders. I do. My daughter was a cheerleader for several years when she was younger...my daughter-in-law was a cheerleader all the way through school, and in her first year of college. Cheerleaders...as a group...do so much for the athletes. My boys got treat bags and signs and their cars were painted up. Their lockers were decorated. Our house was decorated. The accomplishments of the team were celebrated. I loved that time. 

Side note: my daughter was a swimmer. She was on the high school swim team from 9-12th grade. The cheer sponsor never brought cheerleaders out to cheer at their swim meets. They never got the treat bags or their lockers decorated, even tho they went to state every.single.year. At our school, it was mainly about the football boys...and not as much about some of the other sports. So that's why this post is mainly my observations as a football mom.

We saw you look at us and roll your 16 year old eyes as we cheered for our team. That cute little uniform you're wearing? Some of us wore it, too.

What WE know: You're taught NOT to "woo." You have special cheers and chants. You've learned band dances. We get that. But those boys we're all cheering for? We are their MOMS. Truth be told, some of us are YOUR moms, too.

What you DON'T know: 19 excruciating hours of labor and loss and sickness and cancer and up all night crying and one of mine nearly being born on the I-630 bridge over the Arkansas River and worrying they're gonna get hurt and never having a day off from being a mom and knowing this is only a game but it's so much more to them.

So, yeah. We're gonna "woo."

We might even "woo-HOOOO!"

We're all here for the same reason...let's all be nice.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us..." Hebrews 12:1

Salt Bowl 2014 and Links for You, September 5 Edition

Before we moved here, we lived in Bryant, Arkansas for 5 years. Bryant has a HUGE rivalry with a school a few miles down the road: Benton, Arkansas. Every year, they have a football game called the Salt Bowl. It got that name because of the salt mines around there...the county is even called Saline County.

Some of our most favorite memories are going to that football game. It's always held in Little Rock at War Memorial Stadium...which is where the "big boys" play (the Arkansas Razorbacks), so we always thought it was a big deal.

I remember the first Salt Bowl that Logan was going to get to play. They did a "walk-thru" at the stadium the day before the game. Logan was pretty wide-eyed about the whole thing. Where we had lived before we moved to Bryant...they had community support, but nothing like what was going on in Bryant. And it was a pretty small team. I think they had maybe 32-35 boys on the team. We moved to Bryant and they had 103 boys on the team. They had community Pep Rallys and the restaurants fed them and they got to be on TV.

On the way to the Salt Bowl, the boys got a police escort all the way through town. They were treated like heroes before the game even started!

On the day of the walk-thru, Logan said it was the best.day.ever. He said that as he walked thru the tunnel and prepared to step onto the field...the stands were empty and it was daylight...but he said he could feel the excitement. In his mind, he heard the noise of the crowd and saw the lights and smelled the smell of football in the air. My 16 year old, football lovin' boy thought he had died and gone to Heaven.

Tonight, Jim and I are going to the Salt Bowl, and there's no pressure because we don't have a dog in the fight. I'm really excited!

Here are a few links for you today! Have a great weekend!

This for when you are worried about sending your child to school (and there's a special note in there for Mommies of kiddos who have Special Needs).

This from Holley Gerth on what your heart needs for the hard days.

This on keeping your childlike awe.

This when you wonder what you have to show for your life, "a life so small."

"As for me, I will continually tell what you have done..." Psalm 75:9