Weekend wrap up...

I'm a day late on my weekend wrap up post, but it has been a few glorious days. I started off with one granddaughter, Shelby, on Friday night so we could get up early and be at the ball field at 8:00 Saturday morning. 

But you can't complain about the early morning start when you are getting a view like this from the ball field.

They played at the Ripkin Experience in Pigeon Forge, TN. It is a beautiful setting with a bunch of different fields all with AstroTurf. One of my favorite parts of the park was this cool brickwork made like a baseball. I wasn't tall enough to get a pic of the whole thing, but it was perfectly round like a baseball with the red stitches.

Colby's team played five games total. Two on Saturday and three on Sunday. I was so excited that I had a four day weekend from work so I got to go to all the games. This child loves ball and practices at home every chance he gets. You could tell it by the great hits he got. He runs like the wind. It is something to watch.

We came home after his second game and the girls had to stop at the playground for a quick turn on this weird thing that I don't know what you call it. The minute you get on, you lean and your body way can spin you around. It was cool. 

Then we headed to church to decorate our room for Vacation Bible School. It just took us about an hour and a half. So we stopped and had supper at Wendy's, then went to the store. We left home that morning at 7:00 and got back home that night around 6:00. We crashed and watched TV all evening.

Got up the next morning and had pancakes for breakfast and headed back to the ball field for a 9:30 a.m. game. They had another game at 2:00 and the last one was at 3:30. It was another beautiful day at the ball park. We did have a rain delay of about an hour where we all headed into the Clubhouse and had a snack while we waited it out. Then the sun came back out and it was gorgeous.

Colby made some great plays in center field.

They ended up with 2nd place for the whole weekend tournament. It was a close game, but we just weren't able to pull off a win. I believe the rain delay cost us the streak they were on. But they played great ball all weekend.  

We barely made it home from the game before we had to be at VBS. We got there about 5 minutes before they had to be in class. I was so tired, I didn't even get any pics that first night. But I grabbed my photo props and got some last night. Alexis is in the green shirt. She is such a people person that it didn't take her long to make new friends. 

Colby comes home every night and brags about how much cotton candy, popcorn and snow cones he got to eat that night. I threatened to send him to his teachers house if he starts bouncing off the walls. LOL. Shelby is having fun too, but I got this on the run and she just stopped, posed, and went on her way. I didn't even realize she didn't smile till I got home.

Now off to the upside down house (Wonderworks) for another day of fun. Then VBS again tonight. I swear I feel like I have been on vacation.

Even though I go back to work tomorrow, we still have VBS the rest of the week. I'm sure I'll have plenty to talk about later this week. Have a great Tuesday and don't forget to enjoy life!

Game On!

VBS starts tonight. It promises to be a fun week, even if it will be a little busy and crazy. But, hey, I've done crazy before and it's just normal for me. 

Have a blessed Sunday!

And so it begins....

The weekend kicked off with baseball time to watch my grandson Colby play, some sun, some clouds and a breezy morning. Then a break for brunch at McDonald's with the granddaughters, followed by a visit to Dollar Tree to get some odds and ends. Back to the ball field for game two. They took home the win at both games. And all this happened before noon. 

After game two, we headed home and got caught in a downpour and could barely see the road. By the time we got to Kodak, the rain had quit so we went to the store. We picked up some things for tonight and tomorrow and then got caught in another downpour coming out to the car. 

Got home and sorted the decorations for VBS and headed to the church to decorate. Made a run by the dump to take off some trash. Then we stopped at Wendy's for a quick supper because we were too tired for anything else. 

Now we are watching something called Max Steel and I am getting ready to fix some popcorn for me and the girls.

It's going to be a busy, crazy week.

Rainbow of HOPE

It was three years ago today that Hubby went to the doctor because the whites of his eyes were getting a little yellow tint. He worked in the food industry so hepatitis was a worry. After a couple of hours testing, he was diagnosed with a liver problem with fatty tissue around his liver causing his blood cell reproduction to go "to sleep". They immediately hospitalized him to try to get his blood count back up and try to plan a strategy. They said they would be keeping him for three days while they did more testing and came up with a treatment plan. On the way home, I was so distraught not knowing what the future was going to hold and I saw this double rainbow when I left the hospital and it was beside or in front of me the entire 45 minute drive home that evening.

I took that as a sign that everything was going to be fine. They had speculated that in a couple of weeks he would be okay and ready to go back to work. He started declining fast and nothing was working. Then three months later, they confirmed that the fatty tissue was actually covering up the fact that he had full blown cirrhosis of the liver. They gave him two months to live and he died two months to the day. One day he was working and 5 months later he was gone. 

Where was my rainbow? Where was my promise for everything to work out okay? Well, here I sit three years later. Still loving him. Still missing him with every beat of my heart. But do you know that God's promise was true. God delivered on His guarantee to be with us. He wasn't telling me that Hubby would be cured. He wasn't making a promise that it would all turn out okay in the end. I realize now that God's rainbow was His way of telling me He would be with me through the days and years ahead. And though the ending was not what I had prayed or dreamed for, the ending was exactly in God's plan. 

By His grace and mercy and the faith I had in my Lord, I did make it through. I am a survivor and kept my faith. I didn't toss my belief in God to the curb and say "Where were you?" God was the one constant that got me through the dark days after I lost hubby. I got angry at times at the situation but not at God. I fell to my knees in deep, dark despair at times. But I kept my faith and I have made it to the other side of the rainbow. My life is a little different now, but not in a bad way. Was it what I expected it to be at my age? I'm just 61. It wasn't supposed to be like this. Hubby and I had plans for retirement. We still had hopes and dreams. I still have those dreams and I still have hope. It's just that they are different than the ones we shared. I was 59 when I lost him and I had to rebuilt my life. 

I would take him back in a heartbeat if I could, but I can't. I try not to let the grief get me down, but sometimes it still rears its head and I will be telling a funny story about a memory and the pain hits and the tears flow. And I just have to stop the story. But I still have the HOPE of that rainbow to get me through those dark moments when doubts, fears, and grief overwhelm. But I get through by taking it one day at a time and holding on to God's unchanging hand.

Odds and ends

My mind is just full of all kinds of odds and ends today. But I am getting nowhere fast. I am working on the last two items from my 17 item to do list. One is prepping crafts for VBS. Sat down to work on that and it involved cutting some foam and my trigger finger it locking up this morning so I had to quit that. I got about 15 of 60 cut out.

No biggie. I also needed to sort the stickers for one of the crafts. I presort into quart freezer bags per class so I don't have to count them out before craft time. Went to get started and only had a couple of bags so I couldn't do the sorting yet. 

So I thought. Forget it. I will make a pan of brownies with Peanut Butter Milky Way frosting. Turns out what I thought was a package of brownie mix was a white cake mix and I ended up only having two Milky Ways. Scratch that idea.

I did find a dunkin' stick to go with the Milky Ways. I may just have to microwave the candy on top the dunkin' stick. I do that a lot. It is a sugar rush but oh my goodness it is divine gooey goodness.

Still in the mood to make something I decided on simple and easy peanut butter candy like the picture below from last time I made it. Just takes sugar, milk, butter, vanilla and peanut butter. Takes 10 minutes to make and 5 minutes to set up. Easy peasy. 

Until I went to get the sugar canister and remembered I forgot sugar at the store the other day. UGH!

But in my foraging through the cabinet, I did find cookie mix that just requires a couple of teaspoons of oil and water. Finally, something sweet I can make to snack on today. 

Hope you are having a great day.

Playing chicken..

I guess the appropriate title should have been playing WITH my chickens. I had a dear friend give me some chickens when she redid her kitchen. So I have had fun moving things around to make room for more hens (or roosters) in the hen house. I love this little black rooster. I don't have any like him. 

I found a spot for him in my three tier stand.

This one was so cute. He sets on a shelf with his feet hooking him on and he looks over it. I just have to find where I want to put him.

A cute little candle holder. However, I may take the candle out and fill it with fake eggs. We will see.

I love these two big ones and the jug she gave me as well. 

I have another busy day ahead of me with 17 items on my to do list. I've done two of them first thing this morning and blogging was #3. That means once I hit publish, I now have 14 things on my to do list. The list is things I want done by noon on Friday. I have to work 8 hours every day so I will keep you posted if I accomplish my goal or not!

Tickle me Tuesday

I had a great day off on Memorial Day. More to share on that later. VBS starts this coming Sunday so I'm working on a lot of the prep work for my PreK - Kindergarten crafts not to mention the last minute stuff for decorating my room. I'm pulling a shift at Dollywood today....which will probably be in rain most of the day. I volunteered. A friend needed to trade schedules. So I did the nice thing and volunteered to cover for her. The joke is on me because they are calling for rain and thunderstorms. UGH. But at least if it storms too bad, the park will close. I'm just there a few hours then I'm off to do group greeting at the Stampede for awhile, then an early evening. It will be a busy day, but will fly by fast. Here's some humor for your Tuesday Tickle.