Sunday was a busy mix of Mommy working in the church nursery with a full attendance of smiling, creative little people. Seriously, my assistant and I had a good time with the children and enjoyed fellowshipping with one another as well. However, I was sweating when we left the nursery in apple pie order! More little people make more work! Then, we watched the Packer game and did a few minor tweaks to the house, since Daddy's cousin was coming for dinner. The house was tidy, but certainly nothing more than that. And the food was comfort food-type, but definitely not more impressive than that. I told myself to chill and enjoy Amy's company. She always comes to see us, not the perfect house. That's the heart of hospitality, a balance of household excellence and a heart for people and their comfort. The Blossoms have been pesting to make caramel apples. I'd waited til we had the most delicious Honeycrisp apples (because a yummy apple makes a yummy caramel apple AND because that the girlies' favorite variety.) As soon as Amy walked in, we started unwrapping caramels and getting it all going. Chaos ensued. Chatting. Blossom4 spontaneously dipping her OWN apple. Quick swipes of caramel. Dribbles everywhere. Sticky wax paper. The whole nine yards. I grabbed some Butterfinger Baking Bits out of the pantry and rolled some of the caramel apples in those. #geniusappleidea Then, we sat down to a cozy spaghetti dinner (with home-canned spaghetti sauce), alongside homemade bread. The homemade bread stole the show. It always does, which is why I serve it. Homemade bread is like the home-cookin' constant. It doesn't matter what cuisine you prefer or what age you are, everybody appreciates homemade bread. I was grateful for Amy's sincere cooking compliments. Later, we all headed out on the deck to eat our uber-messy, but super delicious caramel apples. Rory licked Blossom4's apple and she was too busy to finish hers, but we all totally "made a memory" out their munching on what we later declared to be "the best caramel apple we've ever eaten." (Pretty sure the Honeycrisp apples and the Butterfinger Baking Bits were the key!) Later, as were pushing the girls on the swings and whatnot, we got a call that "Grammie" (The Rugged Mountain Man's mom) was in the ER with heart issues. Oh man. That's when it went from a busy weekend, to a topsy-turvy weekend. Between praying, answering phone calls, running to get their dog, visiting in the hospital and having surprise nighttime company, it all got a little crazy. Long story short, she's home and she's fine. Praise the Lord.
I still believe that God answers prayer.
Tuesday was when all the craziness took its toll. Everybody was cranky, everything was behind and no one was cooperating. Thank God for grace, as a friend of mine reminded me. Even Mommy had to apologize (several times) and start anew (several times). Boy, is that ever humbling. Hopefully, they'll remember my repentance and heart change, more than they'll remember all of my failings. God is still working on me. I want them to know how much we are all growing and changing, always.
ALWAYS.
Do you remember the Cinderella puzzle? Somewhere in the last two weeks, we went back to the Snow White puzzle we started about nine months ago, toward winter's end.
Spring came shortly thereafter and our schedules kicked into a different gear, leaving this puzzle languishing on the dining room table, seeing only occasional Blossom attention.
Additionally, this little guy, Rory, came to live with us.
He discovered two pieces on the floor and promptly chewed them. We had no way of knowing if he'd eaten any more of them, but we chose to salvage the pieces as best as we could and eventually continue on with the puzzle.
The cold weather is here! And, our puzzle drive is back! Check it out! All the pieces were still there and we managed to finish it through two weeks' worth of here-and-there work. (Hint: You have to look HARD to find the Rory-chewed pieces!)
In a topsy-turvy weekend/week, it was a major highlight, since every time I look at it, I see the hours of quality time spent with the Blossoms. And that makes me smile. I'm hopeful they'll catch something good somewhere in that time.
PS - They're already talking about the Bambi puzzle!
