the tomatoes ARE good

August 14, 2017 | Stacy

It was one of THOSE moments. I suddenly had a keen, crisp awareness of the fleeting of time. I saw my *baby* girl as she truly is – an almost 4½ year old young lady with a whole self of her own that is growing up. And though at that moment she was asking me to turn on the faucet to wash her sticky hands, she would not always need me to turn on the faucet. I gently rinsed her hands with not-too-warm water, with the spray feature on the way she likes it, and danced the water around longer than necessary as she wiggled her fingers under the streams. I found the towel and took extra moments to dry her hands as I soaked her in with my eyes. I planted a kiss on her nose and said, “I love you, Katriel,” and moved in for a hug.

She brightly responded, “I love tomatoes. And you, Mama.”

Psalm 90:17
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!

Following directions

August 6, 2017 | Stacy

During the summer, sometimes I will work evening shifts on weeknights. When I do this Johanna likes me to leave the girls a note for the morning (so I can sleep in until 7:30 or 8:00).

She actually didn’t need a note one morning, because I had been able to give instructions verbally before she went to bed. But she pleaded with me to leave her one just the same.

Instead of thinking it was funny, as I did (I was laughing so hard as I typed it out) she said it made her cry. She said that as she read it she was worried about all the jobs. She also thought “gas” said “gats” and she thought those were bugs, and thought I meant get them out of the big van. Which was even funnier. But I guess she’s just not yet primed for my witty humor. I will stick to love notes from here on out.

1 Corinthians 13:11
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

VBS 2017

July 21, 2017 | Stacy

While Nigel served in Costa Rica this past week, Stewart, Marie and I had been serving the campers at the VBS at Pittsford Community Church. Tabitha, Johanna, and Katriel all got to embark on Operation Arctic. The emphasis all week was the Bible.
B = Book of Books
I = Incredible Impact
B = Bedrock Base
L = God’s Love Letter to us
E = Exciting to Explore

Marie worked in the four-year-old group (Katriel’s group).
I led group 1A (Johanna’s group).
Stewart was a Bible teacher.
Tabitha was in her final year as a camper. Fifth graders get to do their camping out in the “Garage” where they follow a slightly different rotation and dig a lot deeper into the work. Next year Tabitha gets to come back to VBS as an assistant.