Parks, bubble tea and dedications, oh my!

Friday I got off of work early for Yom Kippur! I work for a Jewish private school so I get those holidays off in addition to the regular holidays everyone else gets off! It's super nice. I was very happy. I went home and got to take the boys, including the hubby out for a few errands. We had to drop paperwork off for homeschool and we went to a store. Then one of my boys wanted to go to the park while the other wanted to go home.

Dj went home with Gideon and he went to see if his best friend, Mariah, could play. Then Gabe came with me. I asked Dad if he could give me a few bucks for ice cream after the park!

Gabe and I hit Washington park in Stillwater. It was very nice. By this time the weather cooled off to around 70's and it was very breezy. I loved it. Watching him play was fun. He's so reserved so when I encouraged him to try and play with some other kids, he just says no way. He doesn't know anyone here, no one from his class is there. I tell him well Gabe your homeschooled this year so no one will be here from you class. He's funny.

He was perfectly content to play on top of the slides. He really seems to like to climb. And swing. In fact, he loves to conquer climbing poles. The reason I say this is because at home or anywhere we go if he sees a pole, he must climb it. And not once, but many times. He will get to the top, if not this time next time. He also doesn't appreciate if I watch him. He asks me to look the other way. So I honor his request, sort of. I like to pretend to look the other way and when he's deep in thought, I sneak a look. If he catches me he gets crazy, "I told you not to look!" Finally he gets to the top, "mom!" I look and applaud. He loves it, then he says "ok look the other way." Ha ha ha.


We went to Nelson's ice cream store after the park. They have the most delicious ice cream in Minnesota I am convinced. I love it. Three bucks and you get seriously like a pint of ice cream. I got chocolate zanzibar and Gabe got cookie dough. We got Gideon cookie dough too. And really tried hard to keep from spilling in the car all the way home. We got the ice cream home, but we'll just say I had to wash the inside of my car. And Gabe and I laughed about it, versus being upset about it.

Saturday I cleaned up a little. The boys got busy playing and then the neighbor was digging a hole for a window in the basement he was putting in. He offered the boys $5 each if they helped him. So the boys, being that they look up to our neighbor (he's a younger adult in his twenties and he's cool). They really put their heart and soul into helping. And it surprised him that they stayed to do it. He thought they'd only be in there for a few minutes. So it was nice. My little men. Then after all that we went to run a few errands. Picked up a movie they won from the bowling alley at cody's party. Tron! And the dollar store and the thrift store. I got a couple of books to read, Danielle Steel and Jodi Piccoult. And finally we ended up going to try a bubble tea.

A bubble tea is a beverage that has tapioca pearls in the bottom of the cup. It's what makes it a hit. So I tried a chocolate cooler with coffee bubbles. The kids tried a chocolate and strawberry with strawberry bubbles and Krissy tried a chai tea with traditional bubbles. Gideon did not like it at all. Dad tried his and did not like it at all. Krissy liked hers in the beginning but got sick of the bubbles. I really enjoyed mine as it tasted like coffee and chocolate but I gotta tell ya. I didn't want to eat all those bubbles. Yuck. If I go again, I will leave the stupid bubbles out. I already have planned my next one, iced green tea with honey and lemon. OR iced black tea with chocolate. Yumm! My bestie wants to try one with me, so maybe this week I'll get to try again!


Sunday we went to church. It's been a long time since we've attended church. We used to faithfully go as a family to Oakridge Community Church. When we hit some rough times with finances and my hubby's battles with the court, we stopped going. I mostly needed time to relax and not stress. church had become something that stressed me out by having to go to one more place each week after working all week long. It was embarassing our life circumstances and I didn't want share any of that with my friends and I would have in that smaller community. Through it all, the youth pastor never forgot about us. Not that everyone else did but he was in contact with our family over the years. Kris still went to youth group off and on. And he organized a turkey dinner for our family at Christmas time and a group from church came to deliver it with carols last year.

His family has held a special place in our hearts. They also have a little girl that when Holly was pregnant they were told she had some kind of medical condition wrong and that she wouldn't make it to labor and delivery. I can't remember what it was......... so as Holly and Jeremy prepared for what they would do after Holly delivered God gave them a miracle. The doctors were able to operate on the baby and save her life. After being born she passed all the days and markers that the doctors were unsure if she would make. And now a year later, she is alive and well. I believe she will always have some health issues but she is alive! And she's a cutie. And this sunday they had her dedicated. We went for them. And it was beautiful. The pastor said a prayer over her with tears in his eyes as Holly and Jeremy's eyes filled with tears and I found myself with tears in my eyes. For God's goodness and miraculous love.


It reminded me that when man says you can't, God says you can. Nothing is impossible. And God spoke to me in that service. The message from the pastor was a really good one. I felt like he was talking right to me. Talking about when you go through hard times, you tend to stop producing spiritual fruit. You tend to go inward and forget about trying to produce fruit. (This has totally been me for years) but it's during these hard times that we can use our circumstances to show the world God's love. That we can do something for others and doing that will take your mind off what your going through and show that your trusting the Lord to help you through it and you will be blessed by helping others. Seeking the kingdom first. Seems to be a theme that has been repeating to me over and over the last few weeks.

It felt good to be there again. Felt like being home and with family. And no one made us feel weird or asked us where we've been. It was nice. And I decided no matter how much I open up or not.... I need to be there and with friends. And doing something for someone else too.