What a Week...

What a week it has been!

Last week I mentioned helping out with some VBS prep work and I finally caught up with one of the coordinators on Sunday. This coordinator I caught up with headed up the decoration committee for VBS so the work I helped out with was to help decorate the church. The theme for this year is "Kingdom Quest...a journey through the Middle Ages...Learning about the armor of God and Heroes of the Faith." I was given different Coat of Arms and had to string them together. Not all of the Coat of Arms were fully assembled and one set still needed to be assembled. All in all, I was given 6 hours worth of work. The decoration committee was finishing up their decorating on Wednesday, so I had to get my job done by Monday evening in order to deliver it by Tuesday afternoon. So, I spent Sunday evening working on the project and whenever I could find time on Monday.

I took the stringed Coat of Arms to the church on Tuesday afternoon and I felt sooooooo small! As I walked into the narthex of the church, there was a HUGE castle that greeted us! Next to the castle, the work I did seemed sooooooooo small. It made me wonder if my time was well spent, seeing that my job is only a small detail. The only thing that I could think of to keep my spirits up is the passage where Paul speaks about how we're all part of the body. So, I may have just been a pinky toe in this situation, but nonetheless, the help was still needed and the needs were met!

One thing I am thankful for is that God gave me the wisdom to work on this project while the girls were asleep and I didn't miss out on spending time with them. In fact, I made it a point to make time with the girls so that I would not regret the time I spent helping out.

During the summer time Regal Theatres puts out free movies on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays for the kids. Well, this Tuesday, I decided to bring the girls to see Babe: Pig in the City. This was the first free movie the girls and I went to and so I packed up a huge bag with popcorn, apple juice, animal crackers, goldfish, M&M's, and Kit Kats. Yeah, we were set to experience that whole movie going experience, but the experience didn't last very long! The movie was horrible for a G rated movie! There were women in bikinis, violence, and content that only adults can understand. I was surprised they gave this movie a G rating! We went with DearDaughter1's friend really excited and left 30 minutes into the movie really disappointed.

Nonetheless, we still had a good time afterwards. We all came back to my house and had a fun time playing impromptu games. We also had a good pizza lunch with garlic bread and salad. So, it turned out really good that we left the movies. It just gave us more time to hang out and spend time with one another!

Wednesday was a chore catch up day and we spent it outdoors! I finally got to mowing the yard and tended our garden! I hadn't staked up the green beans or tomato plants and the green bean plants were shooting up their vines. They were actually getting out of control and started clinging on to each other and even choking the tomato plants. Weeds were also starting to grow. As I weeded the garden, staked up the plants, unraveled the vines and guided them up the stakes, I thought about what would have happended if I just left my garden to grow by itself. The green bean plants would not have had anywhere to shoot up their vines and so they would have attached themselves to anything around them, choking each other up and killing one another. Then, the weeds would also overtake the garden and use up all the nutrition for the green beans and tomatoes. The garden would eventually just die.

As I thought about the importance of caring for a garden, I related that care to my children. If I don't give them the right guidance like the green bean vines or remove the weeds or at least keep the bad influences out, my lack of care for them would ultimately lead to their destruction, here on earth and for eternity. What a good lesson and all from a little garden!

Oh, by the way, our tomato plants are starting to bear some fruit! It's soooooo exciting!

Yesterday, we spent some time visiting with a friend who is very discouraged. Her husband, who was in the automotive business, lost his job and has been out of work for 2 months now. She's been carrying a huge load on her shoulders and she's growing anxious about their financial situation. There was nothing much I could do for her but listen and continue to remind her of our faithful God! In the end, I also reminded her that if she needs someone to cry with, I could do that with her too!

After our visit, we then went to Lab Corp to get some routine blood work done for DearDaughter2's 1 year check-up. I wouldn't normally write about this, but I was really surprised with how well DearDaughter2 did! She did not let out a single peep. She watched the nurse tie up her arm and just watched her stick the needle in. When the needle was out she struggled a little because she didn't want a band aid, but nothing uncontrollable. I was sooooo proud of her.

Then, since we were in the area of DearDaughter1's friend, we stopped by for a visit.

Not sure what we're going to do today, our girls' day out! Oh, by the way, I did end up spending time with the girls last week! I took them to Pizza Hut and the park! I was thinking of taking them to the mall today to their favorite (and mine too) Japanese restaurant at the food court for lunch. Then, I was thinking of stopping by Borders because I have a coupon and so I wanted to see if there are any summer clearance sales on kids books or games. If time allows, I was then thinking of going to a lake nearby the mall for a little swim. Who knows what we'll end up doing...

Lastly, I wanted to jot down a small concern that I have. DearDaughter2's 1st birthday is coming up this Tuesday. I had a cool day planned where we would take a little friend to Build A Bear in the afternoon and then afterwards have dinner and then after dinner another friend would come over for the birthday cake...I got a cancellation for the dinner and cake from one friend and the other friend cannot make it until 7:30pm, past DearDaughter2's bedtime. DearHubby and I were a little sad that we may be celebrating DearDaughter2's actual birthday with just our family. I was a little upset at myself because I haven't spent time networking with the parents of kids DearDaughter2's age and this is the result, birthdays alone, no one to enjoy the anniversary of DearDaughter2's birthday. Anyway, I know this is not a big concern, but it made me sad and made me miss being nearby to family. I trust that God will work all things out.

Next week will be another interesting week. My DearFriend from Japan will be here next Friday and so I need to spend some time planning and shopping for her stay...