Special Olympics Basketball!

A new Special Olympics season has started around here!

It's BASKETBALL time!

Nathaniel is THRILLED that he gets to play "real" basketball!

And he had a BLAST out there on the  court.

Notice the concentration tongue....

I tell you.... he was a TIGER on the court!

Look at him go!

Okay... sorry, but he was too dang cute out there!

I couldn't help taking a million pictures!

He might have been one of the smallest kids out there on the court, but that didn't stop him from taking them ALL on!

Audrey was sad she couldn't play, but she did find a cute little baby to help out with!

And she played on the sidelines whenever she got a chance.

Look at him.... no fear!

Although there might have been a little fear on that girl's face!

Mr. Nathaniel can't wait to go back to basketball next week!

DONE...... Finally!

Dang.... sometimes I think the kid's school projects are just exercises in ways to torture parents! I KNOW that they are to expand the kids world, but still....

So Audrey has been working on this horribly hard project for the last two weeks. Part of the problem has been how sick Nathaniel has been, and therefore how tired I have been. But another part of the problem is that the project was a creative art project that also needed to be a book report. My artistic daughter spent countless HOURS over planning and executing the details of her creativity, but didn't want to spend ANY time on the book report part!

Case in point: She needed to make a list of "ingredients" in the books she was reporting on. She took TWO HOURS to "write" the few words out in the MOST DRAMATIC handwriting EVER. The problem? Other than it took her FOREVER and drove me bonkers? You couldn't READ the handwriting because it was so dramatic! When I pointed this fact out to her the answer I got in return was "But it LOOKS beautiful and it adds visual power to the project." Seriously? Visual power from a third grader???

So we had to compromise.

I INSISTED that all the writing had to be done on the computer, and that she could not spend more time on the execution of the art than she spent on the execution of the report. Could have been a BAD compromise on my part.

See, my kid is pretty smart.

 I set a timer for how long it took her to answer the questions on the scratch paper, then type them all into the computer. Then the deal was she got to spend that long on the art too.

See a problem here?

Yup, you guessed it.

She DRUG out the writing part FOREVER to have FOREVER on her art.

Sigh.

Can't say I didn't try...

But the project is FINALLY done, and most of her planned "creativity" is still included in the project, yet it is readable enough for me to be OK with her turning it in.

So here it is, in all of it's glory:

I DID decide that this project was not a lesson in computer skills, so I helped with the formatting of the pages. That was a little over the top, but I did put everything where SHE told me to. And she TYPED all of the words, I just formated the pages so that they printed correctly.

Notice the words search in TEENY TINY letter that you need a magnifying glass to read, that was her plan! She was SO DETERMINED about that. Other than setting up the graph for her, and helping her to get all the words in there, I didn't help with this page. SHE put all those dang random letters in there! And she was HILARIOUS about the words she put in there NOT on her list.... her teacher's name, her school name, her name, thoughts about the project, the names she was calling her brother while he was picking on her during this project, ALL kinds of stuff. It was pretty funny to watch her.

And the BIGGEST plan of all: 

The spring loaded turtle that pops up when you open the box... my goodness she was so funny explaining that to the guy at the hardware store where we had to go buy a spring! He thought we were totally crazy I am sure!

It might have felt like it was going to KILL me to get through this project without hanging her, but it is DONE! Finally.....

Now I need a glass of wine!

Open Arms

Wait!

Stop the presses.... it's a MIRACLE!!!!

I am BLOGGING....

Crazy!

Yes, I know it has been like FOREVER since I have sat down to write on here. And I even really miss writing, but life has been.... well LIFE!

But today I just can't contain my excitement and my feeling of DOING what God asked me to.

Not just praying about it with my feet stuck in the mud.

 Not ignoring His call.

 Not using excuses why I can't or am too busy or too tired (and seriously? I AM busy, I AM tired and I AM fighting gloom... but life goes on!)

And I AM going to share it...

I AM going to find the energy to write a few words.

I AM going to find the time to post.

I AM going to shout from the roof tops "It feels GREAT to do what He asks us to!"

And I want you to "get this" right here and right now.

I am NOT bragging, I am only a lowly servant to Him.

 I am NOT telling anyone else what to do with their life or their time, that is between you and your higher power.

I AM sharing what I am passionate about and how it blessed my life today!

For MANY years I have felt a tug on my heart to be involved in a food ministry.

 I have prayed for YEARS for God to reveal to me HOW He wanted it to look, and for wisdom and discernment. I have searched my heart, His word, and pleaded for His leading.

In the last year I have gotten involved with a group at church that distributes meals weekly to the homeless. For almost a year, the kids and I have been making dessert twice a month for the BIG meal that our church group prepares. And for the past 2 Christmases my sister, Faline, and I have overseen the Christmas Eve meal that is cooked for our church family and the local needy.

And yet through it all I have felt Him saying over and over to do more. There is this specific "group" I feel called to bless, a specific hole I feel lead to pour into.

In the time I have been working with this group at church another woman and I have totally "jelled!" on what we were passionate about. Susan and I have known each other for a number of years, and been in church groups together for a very long time. For many months we have discussed a food pantry that would be available to the specific group, plus anyone else God leads to us. Susan especially has poured countless hours into getting all of the paperwork done, the red tape waded through and the details nailed out. Me? I am the worker bee! I carry the boxes, pack the car (because we ALWAYS buy too much for the car we are driving!) and provided whatever support I can to her.

Last weekend we were able to open the doors to Open Arms Ministry's Food Pantry for the first time!!

It was such a joy to finally be DOING it! Not talking about it, but DOING it! And we were totally blessed!

We didn't shout it from the roof tops, but we did hand out fliers to our congregation to use and to share, and we took 25 fliers to a local school. From that we were able to bless 14 adults and 9 children!! I thought it was a GREAT first day!

The most amazing think happened that first day. While we were handing our food items we had 2 people come in and donate food to us. Those two people brought in as much, if not more than the food items we handed out that first day! And we handed out a LOT of food! God totally blessed our works that day! We connected with dear people, and He gave us loaves and fishes!

So this week, during the week, Susan and I prepared again for a open pantry. It was a little hard to know how much we would grow this week, and therefore how much food to get, especially the perishable food that would not hold until next week. This morning was the day, and I was excited to see what God would do!

This morning I think we had close to twice as much food to give away. The fridge was STUFFED full and we had LOTS of frozen meats. It was crazy. I thought we were well prepared, but I also had this nagging little thought in the back of my mind.... what if? What if we only gave out for 20 again this week? Would the food hold? What could we freeze? Where could we distribute the stuff that wouldn't hold?

But then I opened the door for something and saw the people lined up.....

CRAZY!!!!

(Thanks Audrey for taking a team picture for us!!)

We had a wonderful team of volunteers, and we all ran our tails off.

I wish I had thought to take a picture when we were done because this week God brought us 49 adults and 20 children!!! AMAZING. We were OUT of food. Seriously. We had enough for the last people through the line, but there was almost NOTHING left. It was crazy!! Crazy GREAT, but still crazy!

I can not wait to see what the Lord has in store for us next week!

(although I might be just a little terrified too!)

It is SUCH a GREAT feeling to be DOING something to bless people in our community. I can't tell you the high I am on tonight. But then again, just that I am blogging in the midst of my January gloom when I haven't written in a month or so should tell you something, right?

What can you do to make a difference in the community you live in?

We can ALL do SOMETHING!

Christmas Eve

Last year Faline and I started a new Christmas Eve tradition and this year we were blessed to be able to continue it!

We got up EARLY (thanks Randy for making it earlier this year... sigh) and headed to church to start cooking. As you can see from the picture we were a wee bit tired!

The day had the makings of a DISASTER, but dad came and saved the day! Or at least the cooking!

You see, no one bothered to tell us that the stove and the ovens at church had not been working correctly! So when we got there bright and early to turn the ovens on nothing happened. That is to say, the ovens did NOT get hot! Now how exactly were we supposed to cook Christmas Eve dinner without ovens???

Thankfully dad, a self proclaimed jack of all trades, master of none, came and saved the day with and inexpensive part from the hardware store. Thank goodness! We were back on track.

We were blessed with MANY helpers in the kitchen that day, including Josie, Queen of mashed potatoes! She has already requested INSTANT mashed potatoes for next year.... but I think she might get out voted!

Amazingly, even with starting over 2 hours late (thanks to the stove situation) dinner was ready just a few minutes late.

We had a plethora of yummy food....

We had friends and family all around us

And some wonderful fellowship!

Afterwards we even had a dish fairy and lots of help cleaning up!

Then it was off to candlelight Christmas Eve services!

(which might have been too much for these two tired little helpers!)

Here's praying that we get to continue our tradition next year and may many more join us!

Audrey's Ballet

On Sunday I got to watch Audrey and her friends in the Winter Showcase for her dance studio!

And take pictures too, of course!

This was the ballet piece she was in.

They danced to the "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies" piece from the Nutcracker.

Of the two pieces Audrey was in, this is the one she enjoyed the most leading up to the show.

But I think that is because learned it faster than her jazz piece!

They did very well...

And Audrey was thrilled ....

If you couldn't tell!  LOL

I am thrilled too... that she enjoyed it so much and had fun!

My dear friend was kind enough to record it, so now you can see it too!

Hope you enjoyed it! We sure did.