A Memorial Service

We went to a memorial service tonight, the first my children have been to.

It was a lovely grandma that we knew from the home where Thomas works.

We used to see her every day when we lived in town.

The memorial service was a delightful affair. Stories of love and strength, poetry, triumphant music. She was a woman who knew the Lord and LOVED Him, and LOVED life! The children and I had to sit in one of the front rows because we were LATE and all the seats in back were taken. We sat down with great rustling and took coats off with more rustling and gave littlest ones a snack to keep them busy with...yet more rustling. For about 15 minutes there at the end, I thought I'd made a mistake bringing the littles. Golden and Silas' feet kept straying noisily onto the seat backs in front of them. Sparrow was arguing with the littles because they wanted her activity book. Pippa and Her Voice were barely contained in their eagerness to draw on benches and hymnals. But soon it was over and everyone gorged themselves on cookies.

I had a great time talking to people from church, and Sally's family.

We picked up Thomas from work around 8PM, then all drove home. Got everyone's teeth brushed and their squirmy little bodies into bed, and came out to the kitchen to straighten up.

That's when Golden came out, crying.

What's the matter, Golden?

I can't sleep cause I can't stop thinking about Sally being dead!

And it's making you cry?

Yeah, cause I love her and I didn't get to say goodbye!

I picked her up. She cried into my neck five-year-old tears, her heart tasting the sorrow that we must face, the sorrow of being human on this fallen earth.

I rocked her back and forth and whispered truths to her.

Sally knows you wanted to say goodbye, and she is saying goodbye to you right now! Like this: Goodbyyyyyyye, Golden girl! With her big happy smile and her laugh, she is waving to you! Do you know the Bible says that people can see us after they go to heaven? She knows you love her, Golden. Don't worry! She is happy now! No more confusion, and no more sadness, and hurt! She is in the real world now. She knows who you are more than she did when she was here!

Sally. Was. Spunky, original, outloud. And she loved babies. Here she is holding Pippa in 2012. Isn't she flexible for an 82-yr-old woman?!
 

December Funnies

Silas (3): "What's that?"
Me: My chocolate pudding... want some?"
Si: "No thanks... I have dirt in my mouth."
Me: "You have dirt in your mouth?"
Si: "Yes."
Me: " Well go drink some water."
Si: "OK."   -Dec. 5

Silas got a little physical when he was mad about the fact that I turned off the Netflix after only one episode.
Me: "No, son. Remember: You never hit a girl."
Si: "But I'm a little bit mean."
Me:  "No, you're not. You are not going to be a mean man, and you're not a mean little boy."
Si: "OK. But I have to push play a little bit." -Dec. 5

Sparrow, age 7: "Why do they call them Israelians?" -Dec. 12

I let 3-y-o Silas lie down in our bed to fall asleep tonight. When I went to go sit with him and pray for him, he scooted over and said, "I maked room for ya." Squeeee! No words for that kind of love! -Dec. 12

Me: "Don't run in the parking lot!"
Si: "I'm not! I'm going slowler!" -Dec. 13

Sp: "If I were you, the only part I would like about eating healthy would be the whipped cream."
Me: "Well the cream I get is not even that healthy. I am still allowed to eat some though, because unless you eat it with a bunch of sugar, it won't make you blubbery."
Sp: "Well, I think being blubbery would keep you warm." -Dec. 16

Sparrow's version of the wait until Christmas— the interval kept shrinking at a rate much faster than real time.  It was December 20th.
Sparrow: "I can't believe it's three days until Christmas!"
Me: "Three FULL days," I said, "until Christmas EVE."
She quickly agreed.
20 minutes later, it was, excitedly, "Two more DAYS, tomorrow!"
LOL. At the END of tomorrow... Ah, the magical wait of childhood. -Dec. 20

Pippa story!
Not only was she up before everyone else, banging pot lids onto pots with vigor to match a marching band, but then she came and sat on my bed where I was still asleep (or had dozed off again after the lid-bangings), and she woke me with the repeated insistent word, "Ide? Ide? Ide? Ide?" When I cracked my eyes open, I saw she was pointing toward the window. "you wanna go outside?" I croaked. "Yah." "Well you can't go outside without pants," I said. Immediately, she slid off the bed, ran across the room to her crib, used ALL her strength to pull the drawer open just a crack, and pulled out the first piece of clothing she could wedge out of there. She ran back with it triumphantly. "That's not pants, that's a shirt!" I said. She said, "Oh," slid off the bed again, ran back to the drawer, stuffed the shirt inside, and then found a pair of jeans, which she pulled out with the utmost difficulty. "Godit!" She cried as she ran back to me. So I helped her put them on. "Now you're gonna need shoes," I said. She ran out of the room and eventually came back with her brown boots. "Oos," she said, and threw them on the bed, where one of them clocked me right in the face." "Ow! That hurt, Pippa!" "awee," she said in her sing-song, and sympathetically rubbed my arm.  20 months old! That girl is going places! -Dec. 21

Me: "How many cookies did you eat?"
Si: "Eleventeen." -Dec. 22

Si: "I wish I could be in an ambulance when I get hurt with my face." -Dec. 22

What's making me smile right now? 20-month-old Pippa, running through my kitchen with no shirt on, wearing a skirt, one rain boot, and a mullet, with her hands and mouth full of prunes. That's what. -Dec. 22

My children are playing cricket in the front yard, with a basketball and a mallet. And one of them is naked. -Dec. 23

Things I never thought I'd find myself saying:

"I hope you put on pants for Christmas dinner!" -Dec. 24