Unexpected Event

I spoke several times last week about the two birthdays this weekend that we were planning.  First was Kyle's on Friday night.

The plan was to have the whole family meet up at CFA for dinner/dessert for celebrating on Kyle's birthday.  We did that because Rachel was working, and she could come to the table on a break.  So that went perfectly, Kyle enjoyed his favorite meal, got his gifts and we shared cupcakes (his choice) with the family.

Kamryn loved them!

We gave Kyle his gift from us before we went to CFA.

Here's a photo Rachel took of Kyle last week.  

The rest of the plan was that Tim and Kyle were going to go to breakfast and mini golf with Kyle's best friend Daniel and his dad, our friend, Mike on Saturday.  Saturday happened to be Mike's 50th Birthday, and so his wife Jen and I planned a surprise party for him.

Tim and I were hosting and the idea was that after Tim, Mike and the boys came back after enjoying time out for Kyle's birthday, they'd arrive at our cottage for a surprise drop in party for Mike.

The people were invited, food purchased, the cake ordered, and while I was out Saturday morning picking the cake up, I got a call from Tim saying that Mike was in a "pretty bad" accident.  

What?!!

That wasn't part of the plan! Mike took the brunt of the impact on the driver's door, which was pushed in more about 18 inches!  Long story short, Mike is fine.  He fractured a pelvic bone that will heal itself in about 6 weeks.

Jen decided to tell him about the party.  We'd told her that if he needed to stay in overnight, we'd bring the cake up to the hospital to celebrate but he had the option to go home, and once he knew there was to be a party, he decided he'd come home!

I had been sending out updates to everyone and told them that the party was back on just with a time adjustment, and so we had even more to celebrate than just his birthday! 

I wish I'd taken a few photos but it was a flurry of activity to get it decorations up (think black balloons and streamers and an over the hill cake!) and really we were focused on Mike.

We are so thankful at how it all turned out.

Sarah has work today, and I have an IT issue to deal with for the business.  I will be making a call as soon as I get done with this post, in fact.  And then I have the grandgirlies for a few hours this afternoon.

Now we are going to ease our way into our school year.  This is my 24th year of home education, Sarah's last year (she has a lot of credits so she is combining 11/12th grade) and Kyle is beginning 8th grade.  I have five years left, which seems incredible.  

With the life changes this year (Rachel going to Bible School in a few weeks, Sarah getting her driving permit and working, Kyle turning 13) and Mike's accident (which could have been a horrific accident if it hadn't been on slower back roads) I have been reminded of how our lives are like a vapor.  God has created each one of us with a purpose, He knows all the days He has planned for us.  We don't know that, so let's live intentionally.  

Reach out to that neighbor, take your mom to lunch, call that friend you haven't spoken to in a while.  Hug your family, tell them you love them everyday.  Forgive each other.  Walk with God.

Friends, I'm going to start by telling you that you are loved, by me and God.  He loves you better, but you are special to me. 

Have a great Monday!

What A Day

Well, we had quite an unexpected day yesterday.

We started out by having breakfast with Tim's brother Dan and our sister in law Sharon.  They leave soon for Senegal, West Africa, so we were taking time together while we can.  This was the expected part of the day.

While we were at breakfast I got a call from my mom that they were headed to the ER.  She was having some potential symptoms of something and they wanted to get it checked out.  I told her we'd be there as soon as we could.

That was an unexpected part of the day!  We arrived and since my dad was back with her, I was the only one able to go back, so Tim got comfortable in the waiting room area.

Mom was having a test run, so I chatted with my Dad.  I got a text with photo from Tim.

 While reading the local paper, he saw their write up about Sight and Sounds'  Premier show for 2016 Samson.  The photo the newspaper used is the scene Lindsay rode in - in fact she is the focal point of the photo - and of course, Jericho, that awesome Arabian she is riding.

Here is just the photo.

I told her this will be an awesome photo to hang on her wall and show her children one day.  You know at some point your kids are amazed that you had a life before they came along.  I told her she'll be able to say, "This is what I did before I became a Mommy."  How cool is that?

My Mom was absolutely fine, by the way.  It was good that she went in, as it could have been a very serious thing.  We are thankful it wasn't.  The photo of Lindsay was a great distraction for them while we were waiting for the test results, too.

I am glad that we can trust our days to the Maker and Sustainer of all things.

We have today, this moment, let's rejoice and be glad in it!

Unexpected

Over the weekend, while Tim was on the mend, Rachel started to have some discomfort.  By Sunday night it was pretty miserable, so off to the doctor we went yesterday afternoon.  (I'm thankful they were able to get us in!)  It turned out to be a cyst and needed to be drained.  The best person for this task was available several hours later, so we needed to come back.

The only thing is we live about 40 minutes from this office and we did not want to go home in between.  That meant only one thing.  We would take the opportunity to go to the Clay Bookstore!  We love this bookstore because they have an awesome used book section!  

I'll show you one treasure I found there yesterday.

I have two of these already under the title "Hidden Art of Homemaking."  I am collecting them to give one to each of my girls, so they will have this inspiring book in their own collections.  The price on this book was $1.50!

We found some other treasures too, that I will share another day, but we were able to find some Lori Wick books to fill out some of our her book series, and also so old volumes of Dicken's Pickwick Papers and Little Dorit.  To my girls the look of the book, the bindings and covers are very important, as well, and these fit the bill.  I'll show you later this week!

Having sometime still to wait, we went to Middle Creek Wildlife Management area.  Soon the lake here will be full of snow geese and tundra swans making their migration north to Canada, but right now our temps have been so cold the lake is frozen and covered with snow!

Rachel and I drove around the lake and saw these guys ice fishing.

 We've eating a picnic lunch in this spot before!

 It was a beautiful day.

I can't wait to go back after things thaw out!  The sight of thousands of birds on this lake is stunning!

Well, back to the doctor's office we went and had the cyst drained. We are thankful and she is feeling so much better.

We came home to Sarah and Tim having made Big Mac Salad and then we watched the Downton Abbey Christmas episode from last season.

Today we are headed out soon for a field trip to Chick Fil A!  Seriously, we are getting a tour of the place!  It'll be so fun!

Back tomorrow with a nifty post about a fun project I got to do for Chairish.com.  

Unexpected Things - Remembering To Be Thankful

Why is it that somethings seem to come in bunches?

Over the last month or so we have had many items break or need some sort of repair. The carpet attachment on our canister vacuum is dead, the motor on my kitchen aide is going south, the pump, that sends the wash water from the laundry to the septic, is not working properly. Tim's van is totaled....my van needs transmission work and a switch needs to be replaced for the a/c which works fine but now won't blow out the vents.....

Our oldest son has broken his leg - a spiral fracture of both the Tibia and Fibula in his right leg. He had surgery on Sunday and now sports a metal rod down the bone and several lovely screws as accessories!

Are these things insurmountable? No. Are they difficulties? Yes, and inconvenient. It makes it harder for me to get my work done. But certainly nothing like this dear family whose 5 year old daughter Kate, is battling a malignant brain tumor.

All of these things are unexpected - but we need to remember to focus today on what God allows. I can be thankful that we have mostly hardwood flooring and just a few rugs, I can be thankful that my husband is handy with fixing things. I can be thankful for my healthy family, other than the broken leg, recovering hip, sprained ankle!

I was kind of feeling sorry for myself yesterday. Today, God has helped me to put it into perspective. I will remember that God is in control, and that nothing comes to us that He doesn't allow for our ultimate good, and His glory.