Oops!

Yesterday started with a not so good event. It was the last day of Christmas break and the kids needed to get things in order for the next day. Part of that was cleaning up their treasures from Christmas and putting their rooms in order. One of those chores was cleaning out their betta fish.
The middle schooler spent the best part of the day cleaning up his room. The youngest? Well, he wanted to move his furniture around. He wanted a new look for his room for the new year. SIGH!
We shifted things around some, which created an even bigger mess. Although once completed was better than before, and allowed us to purge some toys and broken things! This child likes to keep things even if they are broken, maybe we can fix them, or maybe I can find a part to replace a missing part.. and so goes the clutter. Together we went through these things and parted with most! Whoo hoo!
Now to the ooops! It was time to clean out his fish. Albert Einstein he called him, pretty blue and black with a tinge of red on the outer edge of his fins. This fish has been around since early October as a reward for good grades. Poor little thing, his water had gotten murky over the holidays as there was no time to clean him out.
He asked for help, so as we poured the fish into another holding container that little booger jumped when he was supposed to slip into said container, and straight down the hole, down the drain. We both looked at each other. Then came the silence. "Mom, where is he?" We are both looking at the sink,like maybe he will reappear, we looked back in the original bowl, looked at the running water. SIGH!
"Um, he um, he went down the drain." It was hard for me to say it out loud.
Little man, just as soon as the words fell out of my mouth, it became reality and the tears started rolling down his cheeks. Sitting the holding container down, he bolted for his room, throwing himself onto his bed sobbing.
Oh! The twisting of the heart. The middleschooler now hearing this starts to do all he can think of to help. He starts pulling out change, until he has $4.00. He wants to buy his brother a new fish. (on days when I wonder if they love each other I will pull from this memory)
Needless to say, we got another fish. We all put a little money toward a new one. That way everyone could enjoy watching our little man smile again. The new Albert Einstein Jr. is a different shade of blue, more of an aqua. With the promise of not cleaning a fish out around an open drain (the one in the boys bathroom you have to hold up, it won't hold on its own, we found out too late)the boys were able to sleep soundly.
With the first oops of the new year behind us, we hope the rest of the inevidable oops's are as "easy" to fix.

He knows what we need

Prayer over whether to lead another small group Bible study was choppy, at least on my part. Choppy meaning I prayed about it, I just didn't allow God's answer. I could hear Him. I filled in the silence with all the excuses as to why we couldn't add yet another social event to our weekly calendar. God was persistant and He knew I knew what needed to be done. Feeling very inadequate Sweetie and I began our singles group. We have a truly dedicated group of 20 somethings, some 30's,and a couple 40ishers.
Our first few meetings we had two. The Lord kept pushing. We grew, now we have a dedicated 8. There are 4-5 more that are on our list, that pop in as their schedules allow.
We wondered what this diverse group would want. This group is focused! These guys want meat! They want to dig into the word and grow. They are aware of the pains of growing and are willing to go the distance. They are already sharing goals and asking to be held accountable. The prayer and passion of these folks is truly amazing.
One of my goals this year is to spend more time listening. Listening to God and growing my prayer life. I have a prayer life, I just feel that it needs to be more. If I want a closer walk, I have to invest more time in that relationship.
God told us that this was needed, and that we would all grow from it. We weren't sure if the time was right. We listened, and are getting rewarded everytime we get or send a text message, read an email, or get a phone call from one of our precious singles. All these relationships would have been missed opportunities, real value missed in our lives. We now have more folks to connect with weekly, sometimes daily. God is so awesome! He knows what we need!

Welcome 2010!

Well, I will always remember what I was doing when we rang in 2010. See, my Sweetie isn't home much on holidays, so when he is, we try to do something to etch it out in our memory.
This year on Dec. 31st we decided to go experience a New Year party. Now, what kind of party can you go to with two children? We braved the biggest one in Nashville! We went to watch the guitar drop in downtown Nashville, TN at the Hard Rock Cafe. We got there around 930 p.m. We parked several blocks away so when the drop was over, we could go. We had no desire to hang around for the drinking party part.
Last year a club in Nashville had a guitar drop, and it was so popular they decided to get with the city planners and make it a bigger event. (or so I was told by one of the supposed committee members last night. We wanted to be able to say we were part of the first guitar drop in downtown Nashville.
There were folks everywhere! There were bands that got up and played everything from jazz to rock n roll. There were New Year hats that lit up, were poofy with feathers, and some that were just big. Horns were blowing and confetti littered the streets well before the famous countdown. Needless to say there were a few partiers that had already reached their limit of alcohol. The police officers waded through the crowd to keep tabs on the rowdie ones and to remove those that were ruining it for the rest of us. We were able to observe more folks that were just there to be there, than were drinking. That was pretty cool. THe family behind us and over to the left was in from Oklahoma, and they had friends from Arkansas that had come in just for this event. There was a couple in front of us that were in from Washington and were driving home after this, so they wouldn't be drinking. Lots of kids were around so the boys had plenty to do and see.
I think had Sweetie and I been on our own, we wouldn't have paid as much attention as we did having the boys with us. For instance, there was a guy that kept waving his whiskey bottle around and screaming. Go figure he would be close to us. We, and the other parents around gathered our children in close and kept this "gentleman" at bay. Folks were pushing and shoving. We were able to get out of that as the crowds closed in. We heard from a news crew that crowds reached all the way back up to the Sommet Center! WOW!
The boys learned some valuable lessons watching several of the partiers last night. Neat thing is, we didn't have to point them out. While they enjoyed being part of the big countdown, they both, in their own way, now know why we don't party like these others. Our middleschooler nailed it when he said, " at least I will remember in the morning what I said and did." No truer words have been spoken!
There were some college boys that embarrassed themselves and folks around them. Sad thing is most of them will not remember. Hopefully these folks all had designated drivers.
The slow at times wade back through the crowds was a task! But we laughed our way through it. Laughter is something that just happens (in spite of ourselves) when you people watch. And we had lots of opportunities for that last night! Wow. Seriously, it was chilly last night. We were standing there in our layers, toasty warm, while others (like the gal in a too short skirt and sleeveless top, the shirtless college boys, or the country boys in their overalls and tshirts).
IT was an experience we may never do again. However, the lessons learned and the time together was truly priceless! Happy New Year!