We met Tabitha Stacy Butler 12 years ago.
It’s been a wild ride that I wouldn’t trade.
Nene blessed her with STAR WARS sweatshirt.
Nan gave her that spiffy new bathrobe.
It was fun surprising her with new Converse.
There were other gifts, too.
She chose yummy strawberry ice box cake.
And that meant we all won.
This “Easter Bunny” is 12.
For her twelfth birthday Tab asked her friend Ava to come over.
I took them to Sky Zone for an hour of bouncing.
We grabbed some amazing sandwiches at Smashburger and headed home.
Tab had made her own birthday cake, and opted to frost it to honor both herself and Ava, whose birthday had been the week before. She also made LEGO girls to look like each of them.
They watched Spiderman and didn’t get much sleep.
She said it was wonderful.
Last week one of my kids asked me, “Mom, why are you always so busy?”
I replied, “Because you are, honey.”
You being plural, of course.
I firmly believe in being engaged in what they do. The last few years the boys have done FCWC. I was part of a Sidewalk Club last year and resumed my role this year.
John had his first year as a Worksite Leader.
Stewart’s college classes interfered with him taking part in the traditional way, but he was able to plug in to helping with some of the A/V needs and getting to hear some sermons.
Nigel was eager to do another year on a worksite, and we twisted Marie’s arm to participate this year.
It was ridiculously cold. And we endured one nasty, NASTY windstorm Wednesday.
Marie ended up coming home early because she was not feeling well. She even fell asleep at her worksite…
I don’t have a good photo of Nigel, but every time I saw him he was grinning ear-to-ear.
It was pretty wonderful.
About two weeks ago our pastor left a message on our answering machine just asking us to give him a call back. When John talked with him, Tim had been calling to let us know they were having a baptism on Easter in case anyone in our family was interested. Tim was thinking maybe one of our teens was ready for that step. Weeellllll — it just so turns out that neither John nor I had ever been baptized (outside the infant baptism our parents had conferred upon us).
We quickly decided we both wanted to be baptized, and we mentioned it to the kids. Tabitha readily asked to join us, and Johanna asked if she, too, could be included. We ran it by the pastor and we agreed wholeheartedly with us that both girls were decidedly welcome. Over the next week or so, the Holy Spirit convicted each of the other three big kids, and on Easter Sunday we wore our bathing suits under our church clothes and headed to church.
We have it all on DVD, but I’m not sure how to just share the clips.
All in all there were 16 people baptized at PCC today, including my sister, Kelly. (Nan was baptized in 2001).
Pretty wonderful.
We had Easter activities before and after church, and enjoyed more sugar than we should have. Yum.
It was ridiculously cold. But we had a fast egg hunt after church.
Can you read Katriel’s card?
It says, “Happy Easter, Tabitha.”
HAPPE ESTR TABUSUH
The fact that we skillfully decorated 24 eggs is marred only slightly by the fact that they somehow all ended up pretty close to soft-boiled. Ugh.
But we still had a blast. ♥
This was the boys’ fourth year in the Charles Finney School’s musical, and it was also the fourth year that I volunteered to be part of the cast party crew. Actually, last year I was tapped to take home all the left over items and the bag of doo-dads with the expectation that I would assume the lead responsibilities for this year’s party. I was more than fine with that because that meant they were excited about my kids coming back again!
My friend, Julie, agreed to be on the committee and we quickly fell into co-coordinating roles. I sincerely enjoyed working with her last year and it was very wonderful to have this opportunity to work side-by-side again. It was even better than it might sound, because literally NO ONE ELSE joined us!
You know how when you go into Party City there is a section to buy party gear for every conceivable party theme? Have you ever happened into their section for first century Middle East and Rome? Have you? No, you haven’t. Thankfully, Julie is super smart and looked up some items like “Pentecost” and “Fishermen” on Pinterest; and I am super desperate and looked up things like “Jail” and “Jerusalem.” And somehow we ended up with a few things.
Helium balloons with card stock doves represented the Pentecost.
We had Roman roads.
We had a jail, a well, two snazzy palm tree, and some signs our handy husbands each made pieces of.
And it turned out really, really cool.
The young man who played Peter (Benji) and Stewart (who played Paul) handed out the directors’ gifts.
And each actor received a tongue-in-cheek “award” from their directors.
These are the seniors.
And this is a God thing…. My homeschooled sons were part of a high school musical four years running. He gives good gifts.
Some seasons, we find ourselves in the valleys of life; we walk through hard places and experience painful refining.
Other times we are wholly on top of the mountain, just basking in all that is good and joy-filled and life-giving.
On Friday afternoon, it suddenly dawned on me as I dropped off my boys at the Charles Finney School that I was having a mountain-top weekend.
For starters, Marie, Tabitha and Johanna were performing in the church’s production, “Who Can He Be?” This is the same production our church did in 2012 and 2013. I was able to participate in 2012, and John participated in 2013. Marie and Tabitha were also in both of those shows, albeit as markedly younger performers. This time around, both are part of the adult ensemble and had much larger roles.
The boys and I were able to go to the dress rehearsal on Wednesday, March 21st, and I was able to watch a second time on Thursday, March 22nd.
I was blown away by the musical. Though I had been in it in 2012, I had never watched the entire production from start to finish. My sister, Kelly, also played the woman at the well.
My joy would have been complete if that was where it ended.
Oh boy – that’s only half the story.
Since December, Stewart and Nigel have been practicing at the Charles Finney School to be part of their production, “Acts – A City Rising,” a modern retelling of the book of Acts.
Stewart was cast as Saul of Tarsus/Paul, and Nigel was cast as Isaac, a zealous defender of God and persecutor of Christians.
As I dropped them off for their cast call on Friday and hurried home to get the girls ready for their performance and over to the church it dawned on me how this is the kind of joy-filled weekend I had to hang on to. Remembering just how abundantly we were blessed for this weekend should constantly remind me of how God loves us. My kids – my HOMESCHOOLED kids – get to be part of fabulous, Godly stage productions. How cool is that?
I could blow up the internet with images of the boys’ production. They put in almost 100 hours of rehearsal. Stewart met with Mr. Carl Wager many, many times as Mr. Wager helped him advance his singing abilities. I had no idea the treat I was in for as my son sang triumphantly as he conveyed Saul/Paul’s life.
As the boys and I left the production Friday evening, they asked if I had cried at the end. I confessed I had not and they were disappointed. Truth-be-told, I think I was in shock. I believe it wasn’t until after the third production that I truly grasped the full story; until that point I think I was just absorbing, “Those are my handsome boys! There are my handsome boys!”
I feel like I know the apostles so much better after this show. And I am in awe even more of how much God loves us and how He grew the church. I can barely express how moved I was by this musical. What is more, I can barely express how generous God is.
I got my second sneak preview of the upcoming Acts: A City Rising musical today at Rochester Christian School.
It’s a lot to process when your son is S/Paul and he is singing like you’ve never heard before.
Tab made a cake for no reason at all.
and it was delicious.
Dayspring Disciples 