Waiting...and Sunday

Sunday's message was on waiting....waiting for the promise, waiting to step into what we know we've been called to do, waiting...We are certainly in a season that includes much waiting.  The sermon was preached by Paul Peterson, an Army Chaplain who attends ACF.  He made many good points from the life of David. This one resonates with me in our current season, "I don't know what God is going to do but I'm not going to rush what He's doing."  Chaplain Peterson shared David waited well because he nurtured his friendships and developed his faith in the wait. As I contemplate waiting, I realize many times we are not waiting for something exciting but for something we dread. 

Currently, heaviest on my heart is waiting for a trial I never wanted to attend. Colleen, a wonderful lady from church, stopped to see how I was really doing today. She told me she was sorry to hear the DA's offer hadn't been accepted. She had wanted to share with me the thought that maybe I shouldn't do that hardest of things...sit in the court room and watch the video of my son being killed. We didn't have time to really talk...but she shared being on a grand jury and watching a video she will never be able to erase from her mind. I told her our plan was to avert our eyes and not watch. She said we'd still hear. I was INSTANTLY transported to a summer day in San Antonio when Josiah reached over the fence to pull himself up in his quest for an errant ball. He grabbed on to a bunch of wasp's nests on the neighbor's side of the fence. They attacked. As I sat in church, I could hear his screams and the agony from that day...and it multiplied in my head as I contemplated the video. I hadn't even contemplated this part of the trial and I'm glad Colleen cared enough to voice her concerns this morning. 

Krista is flying to Guam today. It was fun to see Luke and the kids, Carrie, the girls and Jess and Jamin. We caught lunch with Jamin and Carrie and the girls. Can you believe this sweetheart is waking her Mama up every 45 minutes. Please pray for her to sleep better. Carrie needs rest.

📷by Carrie

Our weather is nice enough to pull out SUMMER CLOTHES! 

Girls' gotta keep up with her friends - 📷by Jamin

Luke and the kids were talking about dropping by. I don't know if they dropped by before we got back to town or if their plans changed. LOL We made a stop by Bre's to drop off birthday goodies. 

Michael, GG and I took naps. The girls headed to the swimming hole. Millie has a sweet set up in Stacia's car....she has a bed, a suctioned water bowl and a tie down. 

Millie rides in style. 📷by Allie

📷by Allie

Stacia made peanut butter/chocolate frozen bananas.  We had planned to have a fire, but the wind picked up again as we were about to begin. 

We watched the end of season 1 of Scorpion. It's hard to go to bed before midnight now that the sun is still up and shining.  Ah, the beautiful long days of summer. 

Happy Birthday, Bre!

 We'll celebrate on Saturday, but we I can't let the day go by without noting the auspicious day. We kept missing each other, but we dropped off some birthday surprises on her doorstep. In our family we tend to leave the "day" for individual families to celebrate...and we celebrate as a family one time a month - because otherwise the "family as a whole" would begin to take over individual plans. ::snort:: 

Bre is our first born. She's always been amazingly mature for her age.  I always had a Mother's Helper with her in the home; and she trained Krista and Arielle to follow suit. LOL  I went looking for photos and find that mostly I have kids' photos...so here's one of her darlings.... BTW all the girls should be forewarned I will be out to get photos of THEM as I realized I have very few with Mamas and a whole lot of photos of grands...

Gideon, Annie, Trudy, Bella, Jojo

It's been a joy to watch the woman of God Bre has become. She LOVES Jesus. She lives a LIFE of worship. She's had ups and downs, grieved the loss of babies and now a brother...and yet this girl's faith is solid - it stands through the tests.  Bre is one of my favorite people with which to spend an afternoon.  

I remember sitting with her 37 years ago. Michael was at work. I was a bit lonely as all my friends were busy with classes. I was one of the first to marry and have children. Bre and I went out to Bob's burgers. She was about 2. She set in her highchair and chattered away...about an amazing array of topics. I caught a glimpse that day of how fun Bre was going to be and what good friends we would become. That picture encouraged me through the years of lots of littles...and now I have some of the best friends in the world as the Gherkins "age." 

Am I saying "age" a lot? Bre is nearing 40. I still feel like *I* am 40 and here she is rushing into spaces I didn't fully realize I'd moved on from. LOL 

Happy Birthday, Bre!