A Christmas Funeral

So I went to a funeral last night. It was for the sweetest little 7 year old girl who had grown up in the nursery's and classes of my ministry. Doctor's said she wouldn't be born alive, she was. Doctor's said she would be lucky to live to be 2 but she did and then some. Doctor's said she would never recognize anyone or be able to communicate...she recognized everyone in her life and could even say a few special people's names. She was a little miracle in a wheel chair. You couldn't be sad around her because she was just so happy all the time and it was contagious. She smiled so big that you couldn't help but smile along with her. She started going to a smaller church closer to where her family lived about two years ago so I haven't seen her on a regular basis in a while but I have to say when I found out last week that she had died from aspiration pnumonia I was incredibly sad. She was such a beautiful little soul. And now she is free. Free to run and play and "talk in 20 word sentances" as her family said last night at the funeral. Free to talk to Jesus and free to run around the streets of Heaven. It was a bitter sweet funeral. We are all so happy for Alyssa Joy but we were so sad for our loss. I know Jesus will take good care of her. It was also a sad night because my assistant Suzie who was with me at the funeral had lost her first child in a car accident when he was only a month old and so going to the funeral of another little one was very hard for her. Apparently the same poems they read for Alyssa were ones they read for Logan, the same songs they sang for Alyssa were sung for Logan. It can be so hard to see how God's hand can be in situations like this but it is also hard to miss how He gets you through at the same time. Trusting God is a choice and is rewarding no matter what the circumstances of your life. He watched his own son die...his perfect son died for our sins and he watched. If there is anyone you can trust that kind of pain to it is God.

Christmas Spectacular

So as a little girl I always loved the part of the movie Annie where she got to go to the movies. Particularly because of the Rocketts. Last night as I was sitting in the very back row at the top of the theatre where people get elevation sickness and permenant wrinkles from squinting...I actually teared up when the Rocketts did that thing Rocketts do...I felt like a little girl who had the theatre to herself and was seeing something truley magical. It was definately a spectacular Christmas moment that I will remember for a very long time!

Diamond Dust...didn't need a weather man after all

So I got this little email today from a movie theatre and this was one of the blurbs...now I know what it was I saw the other night that I previously couldn't explain...!

DIAMOND DUSTMy husband, Ollie Lyle, and I went to dinner in New Hope in early December, and the waiter asked, "Did you the columns of light everywhere?" We thought it must be a reflection from the Northern Lights.Later, Ollie came in from outside and said, "There are shafts of lights are all around us, like a forest. Look out here!" He opened the drapes where white and pink columns of light were shooting up from the ground and from the streetlight in the next block. The light was completely focused, elegant and majestic. We'd never seen anything like it.We checked the Internet for "Light Shafts," and here's what we found from Alaska:" 'Diamond Dust' or tiny ice crystals in the winter air over Fairbanks cause many curious optical phenomena in the sky … At night one frequently sees pillars of light extending vertically upward from street lights or other bright sources. These forests of glowing vertical shafts can be easily mistaken for displays of the rayed aurora."These optical effects and others like them are caused by the reflection and refraction [bending] of light by the small ice crystals. The ice crystals are flat and they fall through the air with their flat sides horizontal. Light reflecting from the flat faces of the ice crystals causes vertical light shafts. Reflection alone does not alter the color of light, so the vertical pillars are the color of the light source, usually white."-- Kolf Jayaweera, the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks

A new life goal

I have decided that on my list of things to do in my life I am now going to include that I want to go to Carowinds in NC and ride the Borg Assimilator. I want to be assimilated!!!!!! You can just call me "eight of nine" :-)

The most wonderful time of the year!

I have done no christmas shopping and I am surrounded by sick people. I am not sure I have it in me to battle the crowds...walmart at midnight may be my best option. I think I need to invest in a years supply of Airborne...as great as it is to work with kids...they bring disease with them wherever they go! I have been coughed and sneezed on more times than I care to think about...usually directly into my face by a baby or toddler who can't help it. I am just praying I don't get sick! Besides those two kind of negative things...I saw a rainbow this morning on my way to work...freezing my fingers off on my frozen steering wheel but surrounded by beauty. Ain't that the way it goes? I also saw something Saturday night I have never seen before...not even sure what it is called...it's when the air from above is trapping the cold air down below and causing the water and ice in the air to capture the light and it looks like someone has put huge lights out pointed up at the sky when really it's just frozen air you can see...I should find a weatherman and ask him what it was called so you could all research it online and know what the heck I am talking about...crazy minnesota frozen weather trivia should be a catagory on Jeopardy. Where could I find a weather man anyways? hmmm...welp...I really gotta run now...off to have coffee with my BBBC girls while we discuss in depth the mysteries of the Great Gatsby! Wheeeee!

Happy Tears

So my assistant Suzie comes in today to drop off a project she was working on for me and I see her walking down the hallway crying. I immediately got worried but turns out she is crying happy tears. Her family was adopted by a group of teenagers from the church and apparently it took 4 people to load everything out into her car. She was worrying about money, worrying about christmas, worrying about car insurance, and wanting things to work out and trying to trust God when she was stopped in the hall here and told that the gifts were ready for her to take. Amazing to think that those kids who adopted Suzie's family probably spend more money on starbucks with little thought then she has money to buy diapers...but looking at it like that makes the world seem unfair I suppose and really you can only deal with what you have and wishing you had what others have would make it really easy to become bitter and restless...Suzie impresses me all the time becuase while she is trying to make ends meet and her husband is out of work and she works three jobs and they have 4 kids to watch out for, she is always thankful...she was walking down the hallway crying because she felt blessed and like why would her family deserve to be adopted and showered with gifts at christmas when they have so much...her words, not mine. Makes you want to do more for others and makes you realize how good you have it even on your worst days.

Two In a Row

So after blogging about my fun day yesterday earlier, here I am having had yet another good day...two in a row! It started with babysitting Beck...then it got worked out where Brandolyn is coming to celebrate christmas with us (weeeee!!!!) and then I went to a play, "The Attic" with Ira and Beck...and to think today was supposed to be a bad day seeing my ex-almost something at a thing I didn't want to go to...luckily I was saved by the stern advise of a bossy younger sister (who knew best of course). I think tomorrow will be a fun day too...I'm going to a movie with Anika and then to dinner with her and her husband and daughter and then I'm babysitting two little girls who love to build forts...lovely. I can't wait:-) I like being around a lot of people and it's even better when there are kids

I can fly!

I just wrote the longest blog and the stupid thing wouldn't post and then disappeared! Hope that doesn't happen again...I will give it a second try.So last night I had my book club girls over. We have more fun than anyone I am convinced...mostly because we all love living in that zone between reality and craziness. It is so much more fun to imagine what could be than to deal with what is at times. Last night we had a couple fun adventures...the first was when Kirsten convinced us all to go into my cellar like basement to explore...there is a crawl space that I have never ventured into before that looked to hold some interesting things...Kirsten actually crawled up into it with my flash light and we made some very fun discovery's...we found two very old wooden boxes...one was smaller and empty, I think I will use it in my house somehow, it's actually kind of cute. The other box was a lot bigger and we were convinced it held either money or a dead body...both of which would have been so interesting...but lo and behold it there was no money and certainly no corpse unveiled. Merely some decorative pillows, a blanket and some curtains. Still an interesting find I say. After this fun adventure into my basement we got back to our original plan...normally we read a book and then have an activity to celebrate we are done and it has to do with our reading...but after our last book (Dracula by Brom Stroker, we dubbed one another vampiresses and gave each other vampire names...I am the goddess of the ghastly!) we decided to wait to pick our next book for a few weeks. So in the meantime we decided to do a reading of Peter Pan...only, why just do a reading when you can print off the script and actually perform it?!! That is just what we did, I borrowed Ira and Ash's video camera and we made a regular production out of it...costumes, props and fake voices...what a hilarious night it turned out to be, and I have the video footage (aka-bribery material) to prove it. Anyhow, that was my fun adventure with my book club last night and it was such a nice change from the humdrum of my life these last few weeks that I wanted to share.Hopefully I will have lots more fun stories like this to share in the near future!

The Christmas Plan

So I just got off the phone with Ash and our thoughts on Christmas in Minneapolis this year are this:
Christmas Eve Their are 2 services I need to be at 3:00 & 5:00. Jessi will be working childcare for the 3:00 and I thought we could all go to the 5:00 service, I have to be there for the whole time.
LodgingJessi, Mom, Dad stay at Ira and Ashley's until Christmas Day. Ira, Ash and Beck arrive home on Christmas Day at which point they will need their house back. So Jessi, Mom, Dad will pack up to stay at Jamie's that night. (may work out for Jessi to stay and sleep on IAB's couch but we can decide that at the time.)
Christmas DayChristmas Day eve we will open gifts and hang out and eat at Jamie's house (before everyone brings their "gear" in from their cars so their is room for us and it still looks pretty)
Once we have adequetly celebrated at Jamie's house, Mom, Dad, Jessi will move their gear into my place where we will spend the night listening to each other snore and walk around at night because we can't sleep. fun.
Day after Christmas DayThe next morning we will meet at Jamie's house to exchange stockings after which we will go out for breakfast somewhere fabulous like Perkins (note the sarcasm)
We still need to work out the details of food and fun but I think this is enough of a plan right now for people to work with.
Mike and Jess...we wish you could come...you would have to sleep on a floor with the rest of us but wouldn't that be cozy? :-) We will fill you in on all the goings on I'm sure. Maybe you could tell us how you are celebrating so we can imagine you and all the fun you are having!

I survived!

I survived another year of christmas production childcare...this year was nice because it was only two days...vs the old days when it would last two weeks...but it is still a lot of work regardless of whether it's two days or ten. Funny thing about kids is you can get them to do anything if you turn it into a game...I had them all lined up (kids choir kids that is...) and they had to keep their mouths shut and do everything I did...super funny...I was shrugging my shoulders and dancing and wiggling my nose and they were all doing it right after me...we laughed a lot...silently though because we were waiting in the wings to sing...it was pretty funny.
Did I mention I got to eat three russian tea cakes...my all time favorite cookie...yum...a good end to a long work weekend!
Off to brave the winter wonderland of frozen Minnesota...brrr....

my time of day

I love midnight...it's the end of a day and the start of a new all in one moment. I keep telling myself I should go to bed earlier but I just can't seem to do it. Tonight I am babysitting Beck...he is so sweet and smells like baby. I came over in time for him to go to sleep tonight...not much play time but sweet sleeping baby time is nice too.

rearranging furniture

Last night was my work christmas party. One more year of everyone asking "where's your date Jamie" and thinking they are so cute...gag me. At least I got my bonus...which will be going directly to pay off debt. Ish. I rearranged my dining room when I got home...decorated for christmas and all that. I tend to rearrange my furniture when I want to regain control of my seemingly out of control existance. I have a feeling I will be rearranging a lot in the future.