The Blackman family gathered at our favorite central location--Matt & Becky's house. Mom and Dad Blackman drove from VA Beach, and our special treat was being joined by Dad Blackman's kid brother, Robert, and his family. All of us had not been together since well before our little ones were born, so it was a great day of reconnecting with them--Uncle Bobby, Aunt Sharon, Ashley (an athletic trainer), and Trent (currently in his last year at VMI.)
Here's Uncle Bobby with
Amelia (who snuck into the picture of the two brothers & their wives!), and the four cousins together for the first time in a long time.
And speaking of cousins, Casey was a great host to Evelyn and Amelia, who enjoyed all his Batman toys and even tried their hands at video games. (I've finally found video games--besides Wii--that I can PLAY! They are rated for toddlers, but I think with a little practice I could ROCK!) For a split second we considered trying to get the three of them together for a picture--but we opted instead to maintain the delightful level of contentment!
One of my favorite moments was Amelia's prayer for the Thanksgiving feast. Once she bowed her head, she was staring at her plate of food, and she simply thanked God (as our forefathers did) for everything on it. "Dank you for my broccoli...my carrots...my weet potayoes...weet potayoes...weet potayoes. Amen."
Uncle Bobby recently had serious heart surgery, so there was an extra sense of thankfulness. What a tre
asure to be able to share in one another's lives. Thank you, everyone, for a lovely Thanksgiving!"Though You have made me see troubles, many and bitter, You will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth You will again bring me up. You will increase my honor and comfort me once again...As for me, I will always have hope; I will praise You more and more. My mouth will tell of Your righteousness, of Your salvation all day long, though I know not its measure." (Psalm 71:20-21, 114-15)
"You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters gone by. Life will be brighter than noonday, and darkness will become like morning. You will be secure, because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety." (Job 11:16-18)
So you'd never know it, but on Thanksgiving Day--November 27th--my dad turned 70. Since he's been nostalgic lately about the Ranch, we planned a reminiscing party. Gathering at RVR on Monday night, November 17th, were family and friends of old with whom Dad had worked as teenager in the early years of the camp his father stepped out in faith to start in 1952.
We showed a tray of slides (yes, with a screen and a projector) and laughed at old stories and stood in awe at God's faithfulness to us over time.
Each person's gift to Dad was a letter in which thoughts and memories and Scriptures were shared. We put all the letters into an album that night and presented them to him. (And many out of town folks and Dad's colleagues at the radio station added letters as well) It felt like a lovely gift for a man who's always written OTHER people letters.
Dad, we love you. Happy birthday.
Yes, we DID trick-or-treat this year, and here is the proof of our wonderful, low-key evening. Thanks to my mom's skill at sniffing out yard sale bargains, we have an extensive collection of costumes from which to choose. I know Evelyn LOOKS like a cheerleader--but believe me, she was a PRINCESS (same as last year.) Amelia saw the dog costume and there was no contest. Of course, my favorite picture is the one in which I caught her bending over.
Cousin Kate and Jay and my mom came over, ate dinner, and we took a leisurely walk around the neighborhood. It was fun, and I think Jay especially enjoyed his role as the carrier of the candy buckets, as it enabled him to subtly dip into the goods (yes, that is an Easter bucket Evelyn is carrying. She insisted.)
I have to say, we are blessed--it is no trick--to have the treat of close family and friends with whom to make memories! (I know, that is very cheesy, but I was not feeling creative. And when I asked Alan to work some magic on it, he said, "Why? They know it is YOU writing, so they'll understand if it's cheesy.")
It has been a long time since I had one of those experiences where I wanted to hit "pause" on a conversation so I could rewind and delete what I'd just said, so I guess I was due. We'd just had a wonderful walk through the woods as a family, marveling at the fall colors and enjoying the time together. On the way home, Alan was inspired to drive past a new restaurant that had opened in our neighborhood, just to check it out. They had an enclosed play area for kids in which there was adult seating at a few tables, so we decided to stay and have an appetizer.
There was another couple there with two toddler girls, and we immediately started talking. I think the first thing that rubbed me the wrong way was that they spoke disparagingly of my very favorite, non-chain, local-produce, walking-distance grocery store and said how grateful they were that THEY lived so close to the Safeway. (I admit that at the time I was tired and had had a fairly hard week at parenting, so I did not practice grace in the following exchange.)
As we were talking, The Mom turns to her 2 1/2 year old and says: "Maizie, remember, Santa Claus is watching you--so make sure you are nice to your sister!" She then turns to me with a sly grin and says: "That's our latest bribe for good behavior--the 'Santa's always watching you' thing."
Me: "Really? So what happens if she's NOT nice to her sister?"
The Mom, laughing: "She doesn't get any Christmas presents!"
Me: "Are you serious? Are you going to be able to follow through with that?" (I know, I know, I just laid that one right out there.)
The Dad, coming to The Mom's rescue: "Following through is always the challenge."
Me, apparently fearful of nothing and caring very little about this couple's feelings: "Yes, that's why you make the consequence something you can actually DO--like, 'if you don't stop that I am going to take away that toy you are playing with right now.'"
Here is where I started coming back to reality, and got a little sick to my stomach. They were still talking, but it stopped registering in my head. My head began spinning from the realizations that: 1.) I'd showed no grace to these people, and 2.) that mature, grown adults actually subscribe to the "if you're not nice to your sister Santa will see and not bring you any presents" method of parenting. Were these smart, middle class people really going to lay the burden of parenting on an imaginary guy in a red suit and expect big changes in their toddler's behavior??
We got distracted from one another with our kids for a little bit, and I DID come back around and apologize for jumping right out there with my opinion, to which they responded as graciously as I wish I'd responded to THEM, but it was a little weird after that. And I couldn't really get over it myself, especially after I told Alan (while we were still eating our appetizer) what I'd done and he immediately said, "What?? You didn't tell them we go to church and invite them, did you??" Fortunately, I had NOT, lest the Gospel be tarnished by my holier-than-thou parenting advice. (Which, I still think, was GOOD advice. Unsolicited and with very poor timing, but GOOD.) Looks like a study in Proverbs is merited....
"A fool's mouth is his undoing, and his lips are a snare to his soul." (Prov. 18:7)
"He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity." (Prov. 21:23)
"The heart of the righteous weighs its answers..." (Prov. 15:28)
"The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life." (Prov.10:11)
Just today as Evelyn prayed for dinner:
"Thank you, Jesus, for your love for everybody (this is her standard opening, and I love it.) Thank you for this beautiful food and this beautiful house and the kitty on the fence."
It was a very good day in the midst of a rather difficult week. I was able to read aloud to my children on the porch swing, spend leisurely hours together at the zoo, collect gloriously colored leaves, play in the back yard (where we fellowshipped with aforementioned kitty), eat leftovers (translation: very little time cooking means lots of hands on time with children--which probably made the food, for them, more "beautiful"), and bathe them in the light of those glow-in-the-dark necklaces that you snap to activate. The house is dirty (again, "beautiful" by Evelyn's prayer), but I am happy because, for just this day, I was able to be more of Mary than Martha, and sit at the feet of Jesus by spending time with the little people he told to "come." (Alyson has some wonderful thoughts on this subject.)
"My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you've been given. You've received Christ Jesus the Master, now LIVE in Him. You're deeply rooted in Him. You're well constructed upon Him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you've been taught. School's out; quit studying the subject and start LIVING it! And let your living spill over into THANKSGIVING." (Colossians 2:6,7 The Message)
The Blackman family gathered at our favorite central location--Matt & Becky's house. Mom and Dad Blackman drove from VA Beach, and our special treat was being joined by Dad Blackman's kid brother, Robert, and his family. All of us had not been together since well before our little ones were born, so it was a great day of reconnecting with them--Uncle Bobby, Aunt Sharon, Ashley (an athletic trainer), and Trent (currently in his last year at VMI.)
Amelia (who snuck into the picture of the two brothers & their wives!), and the four cousins together for the first time in a long time.
asure to be able to share in one another's lives. Thank you, everyone, for a lovely Thanksgiving!
