Birthdays, tea party and really freaky snowstorm!

On Monday, I celebrated Ellie's 9th birthday a day early.  She turned 9 (and Doug turned 36) on Tuesday!  I had a long discussion with Ellie about her wishes for her birthday presents and she was quite specific about what was on her list.  Of course, her greatest wish was also the "toy of the year" for girls her age.  This grandma had a bit of a stressful time when I thought that I would not be able to find any of the items on her list. Even Amazon was sold out!  It was a miracle that I happened into the local ToyRUs on the day that they received a shipment of the exact items that she wanted!  So it was a happy grandma that was able to give Ellie exactly what she wanted. And it was a very happy Ellie. 

 (Side note, this toy of the year is LOL dolls.  They are a series of little collectible dolls that have "accessories" like clothes, shoes and jewelry, as well as "little sisters" to each of the big dolls. And by "big" dolls I mean they are about 2 inches tall and the little sisters are about 1/2" tall.  Of course you don't just get the doll.  Each item is packaged separately in "blind bags" that you have to open.  Now that you know the size of these dolls, imagine just how small the accessories are!

Oh, and the big dolls don't just come in a bag.  They are hidden in a foaming bath bomb ball that you have to place in water and let fizz until the doll is revealed!  Listen, I could not make this stuff up!  I am telling you the honest truth!  And this is the toy of the year!)    

It was especially wonderful to see just how delighted Ellie was with her gifts.  She has really grown up in the last year and suddenly just seems so old!  This girl has the biggest heart I have ever seen.  She would give away her most prized thing if she thought that you wanted it.  She is the most loving and caring girl.  She has a creative gift that is extraordinary.  There is no trash to Ellie.  She takes boxes and packaging and creates amazing things.   She is cutting and creating from morning until night.  Usually making something for someone else.  Right now she is working on making bracelets for all the girls coming to her birthday party.  When she is not doing that, she is working on large jigsaw puzzles.  As I am writing this, and thinking about what makes Ellie who she is, I am reminded of the clear message I received for her of God's plan and destiny for her life.  She is a warrior who will be praying for others.  Her gifts will bring her to places and people that will need God's love. She will be there, declaring and sharing Jesus will everyone around her.  I can't wait to see what Ellie accomplishes in the years ahead.

After all that birthday celebration, I was helping Anna clean up her bedroom.  She was very clear that all the cleaning was being done, just so that we could have a tea party.  After everything was put away and things were exactly right, Anna prepared the tea for us.  She did not need any help (of course) getting the water from the bathroom for our "tea".  We each had a doll that would need help and I was given very clear instructions for the help that was needed.  The highlight of the tea party for me was Anna's great surprise that this "old" grandma was able to sit "crisscross applesauce" on the floor!

It is so wild for me to spend time with Anna since it feels like I am in a time warp and back to spending time with Gwen.  Anna is so much like Gwen in so many ways.  In typical Grandma fashion, I manage to call Anna, Gwen more than once!  

Then on Tuesday, Grace and I had a fun day of play.  Our Chicago weather was typically crazy beginning on Monday evening.  We had rain, followed by sleet, followed by little icy pellets, followed by more rain and finally snow.  By Tuesday midday, the ground had basically cleared.  The sky had a really funny cloud bank and it was pretty windy and cold.  But the sun was shining!  Then out of nowhere came this burst of a blinding snowstorm.  And there were giant flakes of snow - like half dollar size!  The snow was swirling around and you couldn't see very far for all the snow.  This is how Grace stood for over half an hour!  She wanted to get to those snowflakes in the worst way. 

Pretty quickly the ground was once again covered with snow.  But as quickly as it started, it came to a halt.  And within another hour or so, all the snow was gone!  But the wonder and joy of Grace stayed with me.  Seeing snow in the eyes of a one year old really changes things!

This couple of days has just reinforced for me how incredibly blessed I am to be able to spend time with my grandchildren.  Being with them on regular days, just doing normal things, allows me to get to know who they really are.  I just love seeing all of the wonderful gifts and talents in each of the kids.  Being able to share birthdays, and tea parties and snow showers with them is not only making memories it is sowing seeds into future generations.  Our life is influenced by our ties to past generations and we have the ability to leave a lasting legacy for our family.  Gwen sent me this quote out of her current Beth Moore Bible Study ....

I loved this paragraph so much!  Yes, it is God's way for fruitfulness and faithfulness to come from being connected one generation to the next.   Knowing and receiving from our past generations and then being intentional to sow into those around us will bare fruit in the future.  

During our tea party, Anna started talking great grandma Nona (my mom) she called her "great grandma Nona that I never met".  She knows all about her.  She talks about her and she knows that she is in heaven with Jesus.   She is connected to her  through me, through her mom and through her sisters.  When she gets older she will hear many stories about her.  But she knows, already, the most important thing.  Great Grandma Nona loved Jesus and is in heaven with Him.  Her faith is being shared with Anna because of the spiritual lineage of our family.  

My encouragement to you today is to take this short paragraph to heart.  Look at the spiritual seeds in your past generations.  Think about taking time to share with those around you what is happening in your own spiritual journey.  Start right now leaving a spiritual legacy for future generations.  

Jesus, thank you so much for all these special times.  Thank you for the gifts and talents that you have placed into each of us.  Holy Spirit, give us courage to look at our past generations and open our eyes to the spiritual legacy that was given to us.  Jesus, help us to connect to those around us in open and honest ways.  Give us grace to share our spiritual journey with others.  Amen

A blessing in disguise.....

So I woke up this morning and looked at my Facebook feed - nothing unusual about me doing that!  But then I noticed a "throw back Thursday" photo someone else had posted.  On this day 39 years ago (yes, that is a long, long time ago! Sigh!) there was a major snowstorm in the Chicago area.  And then I remembered that day, almost like it was just yesterday!  Here are my photo's from that major snowstorm....

Yes, that is me and Ken and the parking lot of our apartment.  But here is the story that makes this storm "extra" meaningful to me.  We were supposed to close on our house buy on that very day.  It got delayed because of the weather.  In fact, there was an almost two week delay before we actually finally closed on our house.  Now considering that we were supposed to be moving into our new home, you can only imagine what our one bedroom apartment looked like.  We had everything packed and only had a narrow walkway through the boxes.  We had not gotten groceries for some time, since we did not want to worry about moving stuff like that.  We had made our apartment seem even smaller than it was by purchasing furniture for our new home - before we moved in!  So we had a large dining room table and six chairs and hutch crammed into the space.  As a side note that particular table and chairs now resides at Gwen and Tim's house.  And I sit at that table every time I am there.  We were grateful for some good friends that lived next door to us.  They invited us over to eat with them.  On the second day, Ken was able to walk to a small convenience store and get some basic supplies to tide us over until the parking lot was cleared out. It certainly made our last few days in an apartment an interesting memory.  

I am really thankful for Facebook on days like today.  I would have just sort of blasted by the date and not even recalled this event.  It is good to be reminded that even when your plans have to change, or things don't go exactly as you wanted them to, there may well be a good memory in the making.  

Here I sit, in that same house that we were so anxious to finally own.  And I can tell you, that snowstorm 39 years ago was just one of many things that didn't quite go as planned for Ken and I. 

I am so thankful that over the years I have learned that it is really okay to NOT have everything happen as you planned.  It's a hard lesson, but a very necessary one.  Sometimes we don't know what is really the best for us.  It is good to let go and trust that God is in control of things.  Flexibility is a wonderful thing.  It is not always easy to set aside your plans and your ideas when something comes up.  But more often than not, in the end something good comes out of the change of plans.  It turned out that our move in date was changed not only because of the weather.  There was a delay in getting our electric meter installed.  We were blessed to have apartment management that allowed us to stay in our apartment for an extra two weeks. They might not have done this for us if it were not for the snowstorm! So the snow was a blessing in disguise for us.   By the time we actually did our move, most of the snow had melted away.  We had no way of knowing that snow was actually going to help us out.  And it was totally out of our control.  

What a great reminder to just take things as they come and not be so ridged in our thinking.  When our plans don't work out, when people disappoint us, and even the weather conspires against us, it is good to step back and take another look at the situation.  There could be a really nice blessing hiding right there for you.  It is so much easier to do this when we remember this verse from Jeremiah....

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Jesus, thank you for your great love and care for us.  Holy Spirit, help us all to look at the challenges that we face from a different perspective.  Give us grace to look above the situations and to see those blessings that might be hidden from view.  Remind us, Jesus, that you care for us!  Amen