Time with "GRACE" .... but she is too young to be a guest blogger!

I just spent the last few days taking care of this little cutie while her mommy and daddy are on a much needed "adults only" getaway with some friends.  This is the first time I have been with her overnight and for a few days but as far as Grace was concerned, this was just like a normal day when Grandma Lyn is there.  The first couple of days was rain, rain and more rain.  The poor girl kept asking to go outside, but there was no way we could go out.  Even Sammy and Kylie (the dogs) had to be kicked outside when necessary!  But yesterday was a glorious return to summer with plenty of sunshine and warm temperatures.  So we spent the better part of the day outside, enjoying the time together.

The little water table that Grace is playing in was handed down from Lia, Ellie, Zeke and Anna!  It is a testament to just how well made some of those "Little Tykes" items are.  In spite of almost constant use in the Johnson household, this table is almost like new.  I remember seeing those kids play inside with it filled with rice and outside during every summer.  Now Grace will be enjoying it!  She is the perfect height for it right now.  Most of her "pouring" happened back into the table.  Needless to say, she was not happy when I told her it was time to go in for lunch!  As soon as her nap was over, she was standing by the door, pointing to her shoes and hat and she made a beeline to the table as soon as her feet hit the ground!

Being with her for several days (after not seeing her last week when I was with the older kids) she just seems so grown up.  She manages a spoon all by herself - even with Kix cereal!  And it melts this grandma's heart when she call out "Ga-ma"!  She is learning to say new words almost daily now.  What a blessing it is to be able to see, hold and hug this precious little one.  

Last week, in my few free days between "grandma time", I managed to finish my scrapbook for Grace.

I have made a book for each of my grandchildren that  includes pictures of their first year.  I try to include events that are important to me and pictures of Ken and I with them.  It is always hard to pare down the (way too many) pictures that I have taken and to just use my favorites.  It was hard to not compare this album to Lucas' album.  Until you experience the loss of a baby or child, I don't think you appreciate the fact that although they are not physically with your family, they are still very much a part of your family.  Lucas is so "present" at Doug and Susie's house.  Grace will grow up seeing and knowing all about Lucas.  His pictures are all around the house.   The fact is, no one in our family will ever "get over" the loss of Lucas.  We will always miss him and think about him.  And remember him.  His album is in the stack along with Lia, Ellie, Zeke, Anna and Grace's album.  

Watching Grace playing at the water table, pouring water from cup to bowl, was mesmerizing.  She never seemed to tire of this water play.  And the flowing water reminded me to my life verse...

(from the Passion Translation)  John 7:37

Jesus stood and shouted out to the crowds - "All of you thirsty ones, come to me!  Come to me and drink! Believe in me, so that rivers of living water will burst out from within you, flowing from your innermost being, just like the Scripture says!"

And there it is, the source of the grace and hope and joy and life that fill my days.  I honestly don't know how you can go on after a loss, without that source of living water filling you every day.  I am so thankful that Doug and Susie decided on Grace's name.  I can not imagine calling her anything else.   And I pray that she continues to grow into the goodness and generosity, beauty and joy that are a part of the meaning of the name Grace.   She is off to a great start!  

Jesus, thank you for time with  my grandchildren.  Help us all to slow down and take time to reflect and remember just how precious life is.  Thank you for leaving us physical things -- flowing water -- to draw our eyes back to what is really important.  Give us ears to hear the waterfalls.  Eyes to see the flowing water.  Hands to touch the coolness of the water. And hearts to receive all that you are speaking to us.  Amen

When grace carries you through. And a special "Guest Blogger"!

This has been an exciting week for me.  I have spent the last several days with Lia, Ellie, Zeke and Anna while Gwen and Tim are on their church's Mission Trip.  I have done this for the last 8 years.  This is always a special time for me to spend lots of time with each one of them.  This year, everyone is so much more independent and able to function without help.   I have actually been getting MORE sleep this week than I normally do, since nobody wakes up much before 7:00am!  So far, I have colored many pictures, made lots of meals, done lots of laundry and played LIFE many, many times! 
Today is actually one of the "busy" days for us since Lia has Ballet (actually Ballet, Jazz, and Tap) and Ellie, Zeke and Anna all have gymnastics.  So I will be driving from one place to the other and keeping some busy while waiting on the others.  The beginning of my time here, the weather was really raining and cloudy.  So we had some inside days of more television than we would normally allow.  Thankfully, the sun is out today and it is warm and summer like.  Which will make our waiting time lots easier.  There is a farmers market in the town with Ballet and Gymnastics so I am sure that we will be visiting there for part of the time.  It is really exciting to see the "pre-teen" that Lia is becoming.  Lia has been asking me about this blog and has expressed a desire to be a "guest blogger".  So this is her chance.....
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Hi, my name is Lia. I am the oldest of the 4 kids. So my Grandma is brave and she is letting me be a "Mini blogger" on her blog. I am going to tell you my perspective of how the week is going. So normally in the Fall (When Mom and Dad work and Anna has school) somebody has to take care of  us Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. So Grandma takes care of us on Monday, I take care of them on Wednesday and, my other Grandparents take care of us on Friday. So anyway Grandma is here from 6:30-7:00 A.M. to 3:30-3:45 P.M. which if you count isn't very much time. (Plus we do school in that time) So this mission trip week is and amazing opportunity to spend as much time as I can with Grandma. After Grandma leaves on Monday I always beg my Mom to set up a play date with Grandma.

Ellie and I have the same bedtime and our bedtime is 9:00-9:30 P.M. but Zeke and Anna are younger than us and so they have to go to bed before us (7:00-7:30 P.M.) and so Ellie and I get to spend some time with Grandma without Anna and Zeke. So Grandma, Ellie, and I play "The Game of Life" (Which Anna and Zeke can't play) and every time we play it Ellie and I get cars full of kids and Grandma gets one at the MAX. Yeah well Ellie and I don't have children in real life and Grandma actually has kids. Grandma thinks that it's sad but I think it's hilarious. 

When Mom and Dad are away I am sad... but I am also glad. (Grandma doesn't give us a long list of chores to do) anyway it's good practice for college. for some reason I get better sleep when Grandma is here. Grandma also gets us treats at the store and she brings us to McDonalds play place and Baskin Robbins. My best friends birthday party is always during the mission trip and she always has a pool party because she has a pool and so I get to relax and get to be away from my cray family. 

This year for the mission trip my Mom and Dad and the churches youth ministry (Boulder) are at St. Louis. Yesterday they went to a HUGE ball pit with HUGE balls. I am in Boulder but I am still too young to go... you have to be going into High school to go on this years mission trip. They always change the age restriction (It depends on where they are going that year) next year I am going to be able to go! I am super excited. It is also my last year with Grandma though. I am really sad.

So tonight is going to be CRAZY. First we are dropping off Anna and Ellie at gymnastics at 4:00, and then we are going to my dance studio "Dance Connection" for my 4:30 class, and then Grandma goes back to gymnastics to pick up Ellie and Anna at 5:00, and then they have 1 hour to eat and then Grandma has to drive back to gymnastics to drop Zeke off at 6:00 and then Grandma, Ellie and Anna have to wait in the car until 7:00 and then they are going to go to a park after they pick up Zeke while they are waiting for me or  and then at 9:00 they are going to pick me up from dance. Crazy huh? This is my first Ballet class and tap class and jazz class this summer and this is Ellie's and Zeke's first gymnastics class for the summer and this is Anna's very first gymnastics class EVER! I am so excited for her and also really proud of her. Anna is really into front rolls AKA somersaults so I think that she will be really great at those. She wouldn't go to sleep last night because she was so worried that she wouldn't do her somersaults right tonight. Well that's all for me I hope that I will get to be a "Guest -Mini"  blogger again! It was really fun! bye!
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Yes, I know that the extra grace from Jesus is what carries me through this week.  I sure have a great appreciation for Gwen and all that taking care of four kids entails.  There are so many times in my "normal" life that I feel that blast of an extra touch of grace.  But this week, I have been living in that grace.  I love that the kids are learning about serving others by the example of their parents.  They have first hand knowledge of going into strange places to share the love of Jesus - even when it is outside of their comfort zone.  We saw a homeless person while we were driving, but unfortunately did not have anything to give away!  The kids were very sad that they couldn't help.  I was just glad that they even wanted to help!  This week is a growing week for me.  Growing in patience, growing in love.  Being with the kids and seeing how they maturing and learning is such a gift.  One thing is certain.  I would not miss out on this week for anything!

Jesus, thank you for the joy and wonder of children.  Holy Spirit, I could not get through this week without your extra measure of grace.  Jesus, bless all the children, adults and senior citizens that are being touched by Gwen and Tim and the team from Fellowship of Faith.  Help us all to approach our full and busy days knowing that we need more of your grace.  Thank you for all of your blessings.  Amen

Getting an answer to prayer (in the midst of things)

This weekend was the big "Dance Recital Weekend".  This year all three girls danced in this recital. This was Lia's 9th dance recital!  Yes, that's correct.  She is 12 years old and has been dancing since she was three.  This year, Lia was in a Jazz number, a Lyrical number and also Ballet.  It was her first year in the big Ballet production that is a central part of the recital.  Ellie had two dances - a Jazz and a Tap. It was Anna's first recital and she had a Jazz dance.  I was so proud of these girls!  They have worked so hard to learn these dances and spend hours practicing at home.  Lia will be adding (back) tap to her schedule next year, so she will have at least 4 dances to learn.  I forgot to mention that there are different shows (since this studio is so large) and Lia was in all the shows.  Ellie was in two of the shows and Anna was in one.  Thankfully (mostly due to Gwen's careful planning) all three girls were in the first show on Saturday.  Then Lia and Ellie were both in the second show on Saturday, and just Lia was in today's production.  I can't count the number of times Gwen had to drive someone to dance (and then pick them up several hours later) in the last week.  And then she had to sit through two days of dress rehearsals and then three performances.  Oh, the love of a mother (and father - Tim does some of that crazy driving)!  I actually went to two of the three shows (it's a grandma thing!)

 I have mentioned this amazing studio, "Dance Connection" in Grayslake, Illinois a couple of other times.  At the close of the program today, Bridget Blake, the owner of the studio, mentioned that dance is about so much more than this production.  These kids are learning so many valuable lessons while they spin and twirl and leap.  They are learning to persevere and work hard to accomplish goals.  So much of this recital was about team work.  Not only do they have to know where to be on the stage, they have to be aware of everyone else.  They are building confidence and character as they practice those really hard steps, over and over, until they get them just right.  (I watched Ellie practice "up, up, down, down" over and over - even when it hurt her ankles!)  The mentoring of the older students to the youngest is wonderful to see as "Student teachers" help with all the younger classes.  Lia has been so looking forward to the chance to fit into this role!  Such a refreshing and uplifting event, seeing so many helpers pull off this amazing show.

I can't end without telling a bit about the ballet production.  I have to admit, when Lia told me that she was going to be an Ewok in the ballet production, I was skeptical!  Really, how do you have a Star Wars ballet???  It was simply amazing!  It was clear that so much thought went into the dance choreography and the costumes.  Each one of the main characters was clearly recognizable by their (still beautiful and flowing) costume.  I believe it was the best Ballet production that I have seen (remember that I have seen NINE)!  And I just have to say, Lia was simply the cutest Ewok on the stage!

But now let me tell you a bit more about the title to this blog. Yesterday, I drove to the recital, listening to my music most of the way.  Gwen called me to give me final directions to meet up with her and my blue tooth in the car was working perfectly.  Somehow, during those hours of the recital, my car decided to throw me a curve ball.  When I got in the car to go home, I had no radio and no sound on the blue tooth.  Everything seemed to be ON, but I had no sound.  At all.  I turned off the car several times, thinking that might fix the problem.  But no luck.  So I began the drive home, in my very silent car.  While this might not seem like a problem, it is more than just an aggravation for me.  I have several very long car rides every week, back and forth to Gwen's and also Doug's house.  I admit that I really need my music to keep my focus where it needs to be.  And the blue tooth is necessary since it is illegal to hold your phone and drive!  After several minutes of lamenting that it figures that the radio would break when I am just about to make the last payment on the car, I decided to just shoot up one of those quick prayers about the situation.  Within a few moments, I started thinking about the fuses.  Now, I can't tell you the last time that I even thought about the car HAVING fuses!  When I mentioned it to Ken, he seemed to think it was doubtful that it was a fuse since the display was working for the entire system - just no sound.  I decided to "google" the problem, and sure enough, there was the answer.  Pull out the audio fuse and leave it out for several minutes.  Put it back in to reset the audio system.  A few short minutes later, the radio and blue tooth on my car were working fine.  It wasn't until a bit later that I realized that I had heard the answer to my prayer!  The Holy Spirit gave me that thought of the fuse to bring a solution to my problem.  I just got confirmation from google!

What a great reminder that we can all EXPECT to receive answers to our prayers.  We just have to be aware that sometimes that thought that pops into our heads, is really the Holy Spirit speaking to us.  Or sometimes that "gut feeling" that we get is a message for us.  Every one of us can hear from Jesus.  It is part of the reason that he left the promise of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus knew that we would need help - the Holy Spirit is called the helper.

My encouragement to you today is to expect to get help when you need it from the Holy Spirit.  Even in the midst of a very busy times.  Even if you don't think you have ever actually gotten a direct answer to a prayer.  Even if you doubt that you can really hear from Jesus.  Trust this testimony, and so many others, Jesus wants to communicate with you and He will!  You just need to listen more carefully.

Thank you Jesus for knowing how much help we would need, and giving us the great gift of the Holy Spirit.  Help us all to be more present and aware of the ways that you show us answers to prayers and give us directions when we need them.  Thank you for dance and the joy and laughter of children.  And Jesus, thank you for caring about even the very little things!  Amen