A Great Day

I know I said I was going to catch up on what we've been up to over the last year but yesterday was such a neat day that it must be noted first.

To be honest, I woke up dreading the day and had a shameful, grumpy attitude to go along with it because Brent had to be at work at 7am and would be working all day and night. Ugh. So right away, while rubbing the sleep from my eye, I tell God I'm sorry for having this bad attitude and also asked if He would stay next to us throughout the day and keep us in His perfect will because life is so much more happier there. The girls and I had our breakfast and slowly woke ourselves up and before long it's time to get ready for church. This is a long process with two parents let alone one parent who is as indecisive as her five year old on what to wear. It was raining out as we pulled up late to church and normally I'd be a bit crabby at this point but I think I was doing okay. We saw an odd sight as we were walking in of a couple guys directing a driver up on to some blocks where they were, apparently, about to do an oil change for him--right in front of the church doors. Next, we're greeted just inside the church by two of the pastors dressed in bright orange t-shirts and jeans as we say "hello" in our proper (and well thought out, I might add) Sunday bests. Pastor Pat gives me a funny look and says, "Were you here last Sunday?" I tell him no and that we had been out of town. I know it's not necessary but I can't help but always feeling like I should explain church absences--especially to the pastor. He said that this their annual Sunday where they cancel services and tell the congregation the week before "don't just go to church, BE the church." They place an ad in the paper with a number people can call if they have work that volunteers can do for them. I got so excited as I'm listening to him because I just love these kind of service acts so I asked him if there is any project that would be appropriate for me to bring the girls along with so they can help too. He gave me the address to an 80 year old woman's house who needs help with her yard work and washing windows. We rushed home to change our clothes, grabbed our gardening gloves and headed to Ms. Lucile's house. There were several people working there already and they directed us to a couple apple trees that needed picking. My heart jumped inside because this is something the girls and I did a lot in Omaha at local apple orchards and we've missed it this fall because there are few apple trees that can grow in this cold climate and orchards are nowhere to be found. It felt like I were being blessed as much as Lucile because of this amazing opportunity to teach the girls about what it means to show love to others around us through selfless acts of service. They were so thrilled that she was going to have all those apples to make apple pie with! We also worked together in washing down windows on the outside of the house. Right before we left, Clare spotted some flowers and said she wanted to pick them for Ms. Lucile so we snipped a few day lilies and Clare brought them into to give to her. Lucile was so sweet and I found out that she use to be a teacher so I would imagine it meant all the more to visit with Clare and have a good chat.

We drove home exhausted, hungry and so happy. I had to chuckle as I thought about the dressed up state we started in compared to the mud smeared mess we were now. Work is always so much more satisfying if you can come away from it good and dirty.

As we sat down to eat, I asked to Sage if I could check her loose teeth. Two bottom teeth have been quite loose lately and the night before, one of them had looked like it could come out at any minute. I gasped when I saw in its place a little gaping hole. I asked her and asked her if she remembered the tooth coming out but she clearly didn't. I checked everywhere but there was no tooth to be found. After reassuring her that we could write a letter to the toothfairy explaining what happened and she would understand, we called Brent so she could share her big news. It was a big deal as this was the first tooth to come out on its own accord. The year before, her top two teeth had to be pulled out after one was fractured from a run in with Clare's head. No harm was done to Clare's head in case you were wondering.

Later, I took them to the mall to have a little girls shopping time and while we were taking some silly pictures in one of those photo booths, Sage started shouting "Mom! My tooth fell out!" Sure enough, there in her hand was the other loose tooth. We went to visit Brent at the hospital after that and she was so proud to show him her little baby tooth. I won't mention the little squabble that flared up when sister Clare wanted to be the one to carry the tooth around.

That night as I was tucking Sage in I remembered our prayer from the night before and asked Sage if she did to. She didn't and so I said "Remember you were really nervous about it hurting when the tooth fell out and also what if it bled? So we asked God to help the tooth come out tomorrow on its own without any pain or bleeding." I asked her if it had hurt when the tooth came out. No. Did it bleed? No. She got a big smile and said "Mom, we can ask God for whatever we want!" Oh boy. In the end she thanked God for helping the tooth come out and asked for Him to help the new teeth come in fast, not too fast...just kind of slow. :) Then I went to Clare's room and she prayed "Thank you God for all the pretty flowers that you made special for me. Thank you God and thank YOU Jesus. Amen"

It was a great day.