Gabby's Talk

Several months ago, Gabby felt called to lead a talk at youth group on depression and suicide. Caelan took the night off work and stepped in to pray for her sister as the night began. Buck stepped out of Bible study downstairs to listen to what Gabby had to say. You could have heard a pin drop in the room. Usually restless teenagers tuned in to listen to Gabby's words about what she experienced after Grandpa B and Aunt L died. They also heard Gabby share about how she found comfort and truth in scripture, recognizing that Biblical heroes of the faith experienced the same emotions and questions she did. In all these things, they pointed to God, and Gabby did, too.

When her talk finished, our youth director called Buck up to pray over all the kids the way he prays over Gabby. Then Noah led worship, confirming Gabby's words, and applying scripture that agreed with what she'd said.

Small group time filled with confessions and struggles and hope. It was a powerful night, and by answering God's call to talk to her peers, Gabby addressed some important ways to seek help if her friends or others are struggling with dark thoughts. Take care of yourself, eat, sleep, talk to someone you trust, monitor what you listen to, watch or read, and open your Bible.

We'll know in heaven someday if those morsels of wisdom planted might have helped saved lives in that room. It was a very special, very brave, and very vulnerable night. To God be the glory!

More Family Moments

Amazingly enough, we still had a few more very big items on our family to-do list! One we kind of forgot about was looking up in the night sky to see a lunar eclipse. Caelan popped in to remind us, and we all stood on the back deck and watched the moon "disappear." Here is a glimpse at how our photos turned out . . .

And here is a glimpse at how my NGF's photos turned out . . . lol, quite the dramatic improvement!

After we came inside, we took our "last day" photo with Grandma J. She and Auntie Z stayed the final night at our house, because their plane left pretty early in the morning. Auntie Z is early to bed, early to rise, so she missed the eclipse and the photo, but she did get in a puzzle pic with Caelan earlier in the day!

I'm not sure when this photo falls in the line up of things, but since Buck rode the dirt bike at my brother's house, G$ has found a renewed interest in trying to fix the mini bike my dad bought the kids. It hasn't run in years (since my older younger brother ran it into a tree), but a new carburetor seemed to put some pep back in its wheels--too much pep actually, as it took off and headed straight for Caelan and Noah, minus a rider! Our retired neighbor is good with engines, so he's going to look it over this weekend and see if they can determine the cause of the runaway bike :)

When Monday morning rolled around, Buck took his mom and sister to the airport early; Gabby went, too. They arrived home just in time for all of us to head to the courthouse for a very important court session--Mr. M's adoption day! While this brought up many emotions for most of us in the room, it was an exciting blessing to witness. Mr. M got to bang the gavel to declare himself officially the son of K! We all clapped and cheered and cried a bit, and then loaded into our vehicles and went out to a celebratory brunch :)

Later, and I don't have any photos, we gathered again as a family, but with even more guests, and celebrated K's birthday at another local restaurant! It was a day filled with fun, free food ;), and family. What a special day to gain a child, happy birthday to sweet, K!

Oh! Another important moment that I got to be part of was witnessing and praying for my brother's family becoming members of our church. I was back in the nursery and some of the other volunteers covered for me, so I could find a chair and celebrate the moment. Mr. M spotted me in the rows behind him and gave me a big wave. It's so sweet to have family in church 💕

Gabby's Graduation Party

It turned out to be a lovely day to celebrate with only one small rain burst in the middle of the afternoon! We had an excellent team of setter-uppers, including my friend Jo, who dreamed up ideas for centerpieces. Caelan did the flower arrangements, I sewed the placemats, and Gabby painted the tiny canvases. It all looked so pretty with the twinkle lights floating in the water! Gabby's larger works of art decorated the pillars and appeared behind her graduation table set-up. I think I saw a few people checking the backs for pricing! :)

Somehow we accomplished the loooooong list of graduation beautification before the first official guests began to arrive (it might have taken a large rubber mallet to pound a few things into the walls). I think by the end, more than 100 people showed up to congratulate Gabby and to celebrate her accomplishment! The room looked so pretty, and we had plenty of food. Conversation and laughter grew in volume and filled the room. It was a truly good party, and I enjoyed it immensely!

Friends from youth group, our former church, karate, the college, and more jumped into pictures as I found time to take them. Eventually, the room was so full, remembering to take pictures kind of fell by the wayside. I think we captured some good memories though, along the way. It certainly was fun to catch up with friends of mine, and their kids (who have grown!) It was good to have family in the room. And we almost made it through two of the three big cakes we bought, that's impressive!

While I was visiting with guests by the door, party-end arrived and a crack-team of tearer-downers did an amazing swoop behind me! As my sister-in-law's nephew said, "Where did the party go?" It was packed up and stored in the van in no time flat. In fact, we arrived at my brother's house at the same time as the caterer--Gabby's one wish, Chick-fil-A! What she didn't know was that they were including a graduation surprise package, pictured below :) Adorbs!

The after party turned into dirt bike riding, basketball hoops shooting, high-flying trampoline, pool playing, grad card opening, fun! We ended the evening with smores--like luxury smores, K even had marshmallow forks that you could rotate with your thumb--by the fire. We are super thankful for my brother and sister-in-law's generous open door policy when it comes to family gatherings! I'm sure I've said that before, but it is true every time :)

Praise God for family, friends, accomplishments, celebrations, and for His love! We are blessed!

Spring Choir Concert

Since the teens are old enough to drive themselves to choir, the only auditory glimpses I've gotten of this year's songs are the snippets they sing at home. And usually those are in jest, not serious practicing :) So, it was a great surprise to hear how amazing they sounded at their concert! We were in a new church with squeezy seating, and it was full! The younger choir kids took up the first bunches of pews on each side, so we sat towards the middle. I couldn't see anything and have been hoping to get some of my NGF's pics to add to this post, since I gave up trying to take any. Probably as soon as I hit the button, she'll finish with her masterpieces, and I'll need to circle back and add them in. Ha! It was a good night, lots of old Spirituals, lots of hard work . . . and don't they look nice?!

Checking out Gabby's senior medal for choir

After the concert, Caelan went to work on Gabby's flower arrangements for the next day's party! She and Noah picked up the flowers and greens when they met up with his family for dinner (and clearing out Noah's dorm room for the summer move back home). The sunflower-filled arrangements turned out so bright and cheerful! We used the floating lights in the mason jars, and they looked like fireflies through the clear glass. Heart-eyes emoji :)

Gabby also discovered a package waiting for her when she got home--graduation gifts that arrive unexpectedly at your door, woohoo! This was from our pastor's family. We should have brought it with us for the party set up in the morning :) 

(that's what's known as foreshadowing in literary circles ;)

It's Only Been Five Days

But there is SOOOOO much to post! Let's start with a few random tidbits and some blina ;)

Once we got the fridge up and running, we realized we have a lot of eggs . . . sometimes 25 chickens can surprise you :) Graysen said, "I think I want waffles--actually, can we have blina?" I told him we would see if Grandma J was up to making this family favorite once she arrived at our house for the day. As if she would ever say no, lol! I washed two dozen eggs, Graysen cracked two dozen eggs, Grandma J blended two dozen eggs, and then she taught Caelan how to pour and flip the blina batter. Usually Gabby is the co-blina maker, so it was great that Caelan got to learn!

It takes awhile to get through all that batter in thin splashes, so the kitchen filled and filled with young men and Auntie Z eagerly awaiting the chance to dive in and eat! Caelan offered a tutorial for Noah as this was his first blina experience. You would not believe how quickly that big stack of yum disappeared! I saved back just enough for Buck to have some for breakfast :) 

Between final prep for the graduation party, we finished my swing! Isn't it cute? I sewed together three deck chair cushions, cut the velcro back straps off of the original cushion and sewed them onto the new trio. I also quick-stitched and then iron-on patched the tear in the back of the swing's base. Buck and I both tried cleaning off the lichen that has grown in the open spaces, and then we carried it up the hill and adjusted the chains to the right height (he still needs to cut off the excess). Caelan spent most of yesterday up on the swing, letting the chickens eat bugs and free range. Amazingly, she was in the shade the whole time! I am pretty happy with the results of everyone's efforts. Yay, swing!

You can see the hard work Graysen has put in on his tree house, too! He's getting close to getting it finished--the roof went on yesterday, and he's got the saw out again this morning :)

Getting everyone in the same place at the same time for a meal is a pretty extraordinary occurrence! I managed to find an hour in the middle of the week that everyone could be back from some events and delayed on heading out for the next round, so Grandma J could take us all out to dinner. With finals week at college, youth group events, Bible study, concerts, and all the other things . . . it was nice to sit for a second and eat a meal together. 

In the above picture, Grandma J made my day a whole lot easier by picking up pizzas before the kids' spring choir concert! I've been waiting for my NGF to post her amazing photos of that event, because I got pretty much none during the performance. That happens when three tall guys sit in the rows in front of you :) Oh well, it's about the music, and I did get to hear all of that!