Along with dealing with grief were the regular job responsibilities. Added to that were the numerous text messages and emails as our little church at Houserville pulled together Bob's memorial service and a meal for Friday. That meant lots of food prep for many of us and music prep for me.
Added to that was that fact that for months we had been planning for my Florida friend Tracey Kirksey's son and his friends, all from University of Central Florida, to sleep here Friday night. They were coming up for Saturday's Penn State/UCF game. That would, of course, require some extra cleaning. When we found out Lois's funeral would be Saturday morning at 10:00 I knew we would not get to spend much time with the Florida kids. But that's life, right? Never just one thing going on at a time.
In the midst of the craziness of the week I got the sweetest thing in the mail in honor of Grandparents' Day from Austin. What a day brightener!
The memorial service and the meal at Houserville on Friday were tremendously uplifting. I could not believe the amount of food that had somehow been prepared for that meal. It's just so heartwarming to see people pull together, give when there didn't seem to be anything left to give, some taking just an hour or two off work to help out, some all day. My heart was very full when I left.
Late Friday evening our Florida guests arrived. They had been up since the very wee hours of the morning, flew from Orlando to Philly, did sight-seeing there, did a short stop in Hershey, PA, then drove to State College. They were really ready for some sleep.
Tracey's son Zach and his girlfriend Alicia.
Zach's roommate, Josh, is at the far end of the table. Dick could have entertained them all night.
A picture for Zach's mamma!
Here's his beautiful mamma with me on the day we met in person back in the summer of 2010. We actually met through blogging a few years before that.
On Saturday morning Dick and I were up early and out the door as quietly as possible shortly after 7 am. Arriving at Lois's memorial service was like a homecoming. SO many dear, dear friends. The service itself was a worship experience and a wonderful tribute to Lois and her life and her faith. I was very convicted and inspired. We learned to know Lois in our very first year at Grace Community Fellowship in 1987. For a number of years we were in a small group that met at her home and was led by her husband Barry. She was beautiful, her faith was profound, and although she had tremendous physical struggles with her kidney disease, she could not be shaken. Her three adult children each shared tremendously heartwarming tributes, and the tears flowed. This is a picture of Lois that I took in 2005.
After the service we stayed for the meal and had time to talk with many more friends, some that we had not seen for years. It was just wonderful. Here are some of my dearest friends, the ones who served the meal. How I love these women.
When we left there we made a quick trip to Dollar General Store to buy paper supplies and balloons for Destiny's birthday party, then we went to Grandma Mary's house for some R and R. And some fresh homemade peach pie. Why did I not take a picture of it? It was so delicious.
Then we drove to Reading and helped to get things set up for Destiny's birthday party. We could only stay an hour because of needing to drive home. But I was just so happy to at least spend a little bit of time with her.
She didn't have her hair done yet when we had to leave, but I told her she's beautiful however her hair is, so she posed for a picture with her cake.
After church today Austin came for lunch and his nap, as usual. He got a new train set that he had to bring along. After his nap he spent so much time just creating one scenario after another with this simple train track. Mostly disasters, like bridges falling down and derailing the train, etc. His favorite was when the train PLUNGED into the muddy water, over and over again.
This evening we had a hot dog and s'mores roast at Anthony and Lori's. Her brother Gary and family were there too. We had good food, good stories, and even some fun campfire songs. This is one thing I do like about cooler evenings.
And now I must get some sleep to gear up for another big week. Jay's funeral is on Wednesday, so again we'll be going to Lancaster County.
And it's getting to be TOO LONG since I've seen this little guy. We just couldn't make it work yesterday.
2 comments:
My goodness - you really did have a crazy week. You made it though - and were blessed by doing so, and were a blessing to others as well.
Happy Birthday to Destiny! She's really growing up.
Anthony and Lori have a wonderful backyard! mmm, s'mores =)
You had a crazy week. I hope it will be less busy this week....one can hope, correct?!
Post a Comment