This is Marie heading in for her first day at Hobby Lobby.
She is helping them set up the store. Like she is physically setting up a store from nothing. They are assembling shelves and hanging tags and establishing spinning kiosks and stocking goods. What an incredible experience!
Oh – that I would have seen this joy with my own eyes.
A few weeks ago, while we were finishing up with story time, Katriel turned to me and stated, “Mom, I want to be baptized.” Can you imagine the spirit within me leaping with gratefulness?
Right after the sermon on Sunday, John walked Katriel up to speak with Pastor Tim, and a few nights later he and Miss Polly came by to talk with Katriel about what it meant.
We told Stewart and Noelle, and also William and his family, that the special day was coming. They all joined us at PCC for the morning.
Katriel grabbed a small hug as she came up.
We had a small lunch back at home with our friends.
And Miss Barb brought some special frog cupcakes from her favorite bakery on the west side.
This was super special for a few reasons.
First – Katriel almost drowned a few years ago. We don’t really talk about it. But even getting her face wet is dramatic.
Second – the rest of us were baptized together in 2018. She was really too young to grasp it, but what a joy it is for me to know she arrived at this moment 100% on her own.
Just a picture Noelle shared with me of the outing she and Stewart enjoyed today at Letchworth. I miss my boy, and we love Noelle. This is going to be my new screen for my phone for a while.
Mama picked Marie up from her SATs and off we went for a surprise at a little Mexican restaurant in Bushnell’s Basin.
It was exquisite. I may have teared up a little. It felt so normal, minus the masking to and from the table. The music and the new experience made it feel like we were traveling.
We recognized the melody of the Spanish language music overhead as a contemporary Christian song, and the server confirmed it was a Christian radio station from the Dominican Republic.
Food PLUS atmosphere – oooooo – it was awesome.
We painted Nan’s kitchen.
Just a subtle change.
A little warmer on top and a little softer on the bottom and – voila! – she has a new feel to her kitchen. ♥
Today marked the resumption of rehearsals for the Music Man production that was abruptly brought to a halt last year when the world locked down. Johanna asked if we could have dinner at Wendy’s to celebrate. She said she’d been dreaming of Wendy’s for “so long now” and nothing else would do.
The best part was the Freestyle beverage machine was fully operational AND self-service made it so she could combine any numbers of pop flavors together for the perfect concoction of sugar.
So insanely grateful for any bits of our former activities.
(Mama also got to hang out in Hobby Lobby for a little while.)
This is an activity enjoyed by Butler kids for over a decade, now.
Ducky was selected to don the gear as outlined in Ephesians.
My very first blog post included the boys’ turn at this project.
Later the older girls had a go at it.
And Johanna’s turn at the curriculum was three years ago.
My kids are so blessed.
Dayspring Disciples 