Rolling along in Birthday Party fun!

 Grace decided to have a Roller Skating party this year.  She has a pair of skates and had even gotten an entire unit in Gym class at school in roller skating.  So this was a great year for this.  

Her party was at Funway, a local very fun place that includes skating, arcade, bowling and so much more (when the weather is nice).  My kids loved this place when they were young and now the Grandkids are loving it as well.  Even Jimmy got in the skating action!

There was a very long time to skate followed by time in the party room!  Pizza and drinks were followed by cake!  Every kid got a card for the video arcade so there were many happy kids. It was a loud, crazy time - but one very happy Grace.  Lia and Ellie had a Spotlight show (Anna elected to do Grace's party and missed the Spotlight performance).  As the kids are getting older it is harder and harder to get them all together for these events.  

Anytime my kids are together I try to snap a picture.  It doesn't happen that often and it is worth having the photographic evidence that they actually do sometimes get together.  

Several of the kids asked me why I didn't roller skate!  That is worth an entire blog!  At close to 70 years old, I certainly wouldn't risk breaking something!  It occurred to me that I was roller skating even before I rode a bicycle.  I had a pair of metal, strap on skates that actually used a skate key!  I am sure that some people reading this blog would have no idea what I was talking about.  I found the following picture on the internet...

These look exactly like my first skates.  Since I was child number five, these were not new but rather hand-me-downs from one of my older siblings.  They were adjustable with your shoe size and I remember that when I started skating my feet were actually smaller than the smallest size.  My dad had rigged up another strap around my toes to old my shoes on the skates.  From the time I was four until I was twelve, I spent much time on those skates!  In the winter (in Minnesota) I would skate in our basement!   I was thinking about this long-lost skill.  I haven't been bike riding years either!  

Getting older is not for the faint of heart.  While I might have been ABLE to skate, I also might have fallen.  And when I did fall, I could have been seriously hurt.  So, it was much smarter to admit that I SHOULD NOT skate.  It's not easy - but it is smarter.  I have noticed that many things are getting a bit more difficult.  I can't get up and down off the floor quite as easily now with Jimmy, as I did when Lia was two.  A lot has changed in those 15 or so years.  It is good that God designed families with young parents who could keep up with the kids!   While I'm not quite ready to sit in a rocking chair and watch all the action from afar, I do welcome the occasional time to put my feet up and relax.  

Every one of these events reminds me how grateful I am that my health is very good.  It has been a bad winter around here with many families going from one sickness to the next.  Here, at the middle of February,  I can report that I have somehow managed to avoid all the sickness.  While winter is not over yet, I believe that the worst has past.  I am looking forward to warmer, sunny weather and more time spent outside.  

 One of the best parts of this birthday party was talking to some of Grace's friends from school.  I was telling them that I always skated when I was their age!  I could tell by the looks on their faces, they were surprised that an old grandma like me knew how to skate.  My rather long-winded account of the skating party comes with a reminder to be kind to us folks that are getting older!  While we don't need to be treated like REALLY old people, it is good to have some understanding of our (new to us) limitations. And always listen to our stories.  We love to tell you about the olden days.  Sometimes there are valuable lessons contained in those stories and they are worth hearing!

Jesus, thank you for children and their excitement and joy.  Holy Spirit, you give wisdom to us even when it is difficult.  Give us courage and boldness to continue to do hard things - when it is the right thing to do.  Thank you Jesus for helping us preserve memories and pass on stories and lessons from the past.  Give us all hearts that are open to hear wisdom from others.   Amen

May events just keep on coming!!!!!

Memorial Day weekend also included yet another big family event (picture minus Gwen the photographer) - Lia's 10th Birthday celebration! She decided that we should go Roller Skating so our entire family at least WENT to the rink - we did not all skate.  This picture is after the skating and you can see that there were no (visible) injuries.  This was most likely because Ken and I did not skate!  Neither did Anna!  Ellie got some skates but didn't like all the flashing lights and loud music so she never skated.  But the rest of the crew had a wonderful time zooming around the rink.  Zeke and Lia used a "trainer" (think a walker on wheels made out of PVC pipe.  A really clever way to help young ones skate without an adult) for part of the time.  By the end of the skating, Zeke was going around on his own.  Lia was also much more comfortable and skating well.  And then there was Tim.......  Well let's just say that boy can skate!  He regularly skates on an adult Ice Hockey team, so roller skates were a breeze for him.  Doug could also hold his own and his years of roller blading showed also.  Susie and Gwen both did really well!  Anna had the most fun putting her hands inside of Ellie's discarded skates and pretending to skate!

It was quite interesting to find myself back at that roller rink.  Doug and Gwen talked about all of the time they spent there as kids, and it was lots!  I spent many an hour skating there myself, back in my much younger days!  After the skating we went back to our house for a barbecue and to enjoy the really wonderful weather.  It was such an enjoyable day just being together and there was also plenty of laughing, an usual.  I managed to CHAR (and I mean CHAR) the hamburgers and brats, but it was still good to eat that summer food.

Our back yard opens onto a large park.  That park has made our house so much better over the 39 years we have lived here!  Our small yard does not seem small and we love the open land with a small creek running through it.  We have had quite a bit of rain and that park is actually a water "detention" area to prevent flooding.  Many times that small creek has become a very wide and flowing river.  On Sunday it looked like the park was just a wonderful green carpet of grass.  But as Zeke said "It is very squishy over there!"  Eventually all of the kids had their shoes off and were playing in the water.  Anna was covered from head to toe after using a frisbee as a water shovel!  But for this Grandma, it was just another wonderful part of a really great 10th Birthday Celebration for my sweet Lia.  Lia is really an amazing young lady and it has been such a joy to watch her grow!

Today I was thinking about our roller skating day.  I am very thankful that Ken and I knew our limits and made a choice not to push it!  Sometimes it is good to take a step back and sit on the side lines.  Recently I have been doing a lot of thinking about stepping out and going into new things.  So this seems like a bit of a contradiction!  But just like in roller skating, what is most needed is BALANCE!  There are plenty of times when it is necessary to take that step into that scary new place.  But there are also times (like being over 60 at the roller rink) when it is good to know when to say NO!  I know that I need to seek balance in my life everyday.  Don't we all?   Today at my small group we were talking about information overload.  There is just so much available through the internet that it is  possible to just get muddled with all the stuff you hear.  Taking time to rest and be refreshed in prayer and praise certainly helps with that balance.   We read Psalm 18:30-40 from The Passion Translation (oh how I love that translation!) and these couple of lines really stuck out to us....

From verse 30..... All your promises have proven true..... You are the wrap-around God giving grace to me!   And from verse 34..... You've trained me with weapons of warfare-worship!   That idea of "warfare-worship" was good for a very long discussion!  In another version that verse talks about training our hands, which brought us to our WARFARE needs to be lifting our HANDS in WORSHIP!  The rest of that Psalm talks about how God is going to defeat our enemies in His strength and power.   Isn't that just a great word picture?  As we lift our hands and worship our "wrap around" God, He does the warring for us!  It is all about HIM!  It is much easier to stay balanced in this crazy, busy, over information world we live in when you lift your hands knowing that Jesus has everything under control!   Yes, a wonderful word from Jesus today!

Jesus, thank you for fun family times that keep me grounded and laughing - sometimes at myself!  Holy Spirit help us all to find balance through worship and praise.  Thank you for speaking to us everyday through scripture.  Jesus, help us to know when to step out and when to sit it out!  Amen