The Sting

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal

with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true:

"Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"

1 Corinthians 15:54-55

After almost 92 years of living, laughing, suffering, persevering, working, playing....

being Mom and Grandma and Great Grandma...

Wife, Sister, Friend...

Teacher. She taught hard work, fun, practicality, faithfulness, giving your best, and loving in a big way.

And her final lesson... how to let go. How to go Home.

She is now cloaked in her perfect immortal body. I imagine her opening her once cloudy eyes to the crystal clear scene of Jesus before her...Him wrapping his arms around her small frame and whispering "Well done, my good and faithful daughter" in her ear. "I've prepared a place for you", he says.

I imagine her standing straight and tall without a single ache or pain...her steps strong and confident...once again the quick and confident stride of her youth. A glow in her cheeks and smooth heathy teeth glistening in her smile as she sees "Daddy" after so many years apart. A long wait for her....only a moment for him. A knowing look must have passed between them in that first meeting. Amazing Grace, indeed!

The sting of death is no more for my wonderful Grandma Ruth Stroshane. For me though, the sting seems to have settled right into the center of my chest. I miss my Grandma already.

Ben's Star Wars Birthday Party!

My kids always enjoy choosing the "kind" of party they want to have - when we started this themed party thing, I don't know...but it's still fun!

This year, Ben chose Star Wars as his theme. Boy, did we have fun with it!

The fun started with the invitations. I downloaded a free Star Wars font (do an internet search for "free fonts", and you'll find more than you know what to do with!), and wrote the invitations with it. Add a little Star-Wars-ese...and you have a simple homemade invitation:

"In a galaxy not so afar away, a baby

boy was born. From the beginning his

energy drew the attention of the jedi

council, who named him Ben. They knew

he was the chosen one. In the 8 years that

followed his birth, young ben has been

learning the powers of the force.

Recently though, the Jedi knights have

felt a strong disturbance in the force.

many jedi knights have been lost. The

very future of the jedi order is now in

jeopardy.

The jedi council has called upon young

Ben to seek out future jedi. Your young

padawan’s presence is requested to complete

jedi training on december 13, 2009.

The trials will begin promptly at 2 pm

at the Fouch system of the galaxy.

Please advise the jedi council as soon as

possible at 381-0478 as to whether your

young padawan will accept the challenge

of the trials. May the force be with you!

I'm a total dork. I know this. No need to comment about it ;-) Ben LOVED this invitation though...he especially got a kick out of the fact that I wrote the details "in normal language" on the back of the invite "for you grown ups who just don't get it". Oi. ( BTW...I can't take 100% credit for the language. I searched the web for invitation ideas, and then pieced a couple of other ideas together. Sigh...I'm not alone...there are fellow dorks out there!)

Coming up with Star Wars games was lots of fun too. Of course, we whacked a pinata, as always. But this time, we converted a store-bought soccer ball pinata into a "Death Star" by wrapping it in aluminum foil.

We even turned the pinata whacking stick into a light saber with some black and blue tape:

At the beginning of the party, I had all the kids sit in a circle. I explained to them that we all needed Star Wars names, and how to come up with them. I had figured all the names out before, and had written their new names on name tags. I invited each child to come up, I announced their new name, and said "May the force be with you" as I affixed their name tags (can you see my hubby's eyes rolling?)

To figure out a Star Wars name:

1st name: First 3 letters of first name + First 2 letters of last name

last name: First 2 letters of mom's maiden name + First 3 letters of city of birth (I got info from parents as they dropped their kids off)

Ben was "Benfo Faboi"

We also played

1. "Escape the Death Star" - wrap a small ball in foil to be the death star, then play "hot potato" with it. It's fun if you have Star Wars music to use :-)

2. "Capture the Battle Droid" - print a picture of a battle droid on a small piece of paper. Fold it an insert into a balloon. Fold blank pieces of paper and insert into other balloons. Under-inflate the balloons (by quite a bit) to make it difficult to pop the balloon. The kids use their bodies to pop the balloons, and whoever has the battle droid gets a prize.

3. "Light Saber Training" - the kids battle two at a time. They use ONLY a light saber to keep a balloon in the air (they each have their own balloon). They're "out" when their balloon falls to the ground or they touch the balloon. Keep rotating until you have winners against winners, and one final winner is found.

And of course...the CAKE. It's all about the cake! I made a 9x13" cake (grease and flour very well!), and cut it into varying sized of rectangles. To figure out how I wanted to cut the cake, I took some paper, and taped it together to make one 9x13" piece. Then I sketched the cuts, cut them out, and used them as templates when it came time to cut the cake.

According to Ben, this was "the best cake you ever made, Mom!" :-)

I used frosting from the baking isle. I used chocolate for the handle, and cream cheese frosting mixed with blue food coloring for the other part (two containers of cream cheese frosting....it took quite a bit to make it look smooth). Chocolate chips and a red candy (gum ball in this case) worked well for handle details.

For a little something extra, we printed small Star Wars related images off the web (google "Star Wars images" to find them). Print two of each image, cut them out, and glue them back to back with a toothpick sandwiched in between.

One of the most challenging parts of this cake was that it was 3 feet long! I didn't have a tray that big! Hubby cut a piece of wood to the right size, and I covered it in foil.

See that little face of my 2 year old? I now know that that's his "I'm gonna blow those candles out" face. He promptly blew all but one candle out before Ben could even inhale!

Ben was a good sport...but he DID nearly twist Thomas' head off!

We re-lit the candles so Ben could blow them out:

Happy Birthday, to my favorite Jedi-in-training: Mr. Benfo Faboi! I love you!!

A Daddy and His Boy

Our little Thomas is typically too busy for snuggles anymore. He's an active 2 year old...we're lucky when the kid slows down enough to EAT!

He does enjoy a nice long afternoon nap every day though (thank the Lord), so when our little man was rudely awakened the other day by his older siblings the other day, he was Cranky (yes, that's "cranky" with a capital "C"!).

My wonderful Luke is a wise daddy. He could see that the problem was that Thomas just needed more sleep, so he rocked and snuggled him back to sleep while a football game played in the background.

I'm not sure who enjoyed it more...me, to see the two of them so sweet...Luke, to be snuggling with our busy little guy...or Thomas, who needed the sleep.

We never know.

We never know until days or weeks or months later...when will it be the last time that he snuggles like this? When will it be the last time that this little person will hold my hand? Call me "Mommy"? Enjoy talking with me? Want to spend time with me....heck, want to be seen with me at all?! Kiss me on the cheek?

I'm doing my best to soak it all in and not take it for granted.

Mile 23

Almost....there...I....can....make....it....

Whew. This is an insane month. Can I get an Amen!?

AMEN!

Exactly 8 years ago right now (at 8:13 am), I began the torturous, yet impossibly joyful and rewarding task of pushing my first child out of the safe warm place he'd known as home...and into this world of ours. After hours of (foolishly) medication free torture (which included me bawling my eyes out because I was CERTAIN that I was dying and I was just so sad for my poor husband), my baby boy was born.

Eight years later, here I am. Again, huffing and puffing, trying to get everything done that is required/expected/hoped for/planned. It's a tough job, this mama thing!

So today I'm entering the last leg of this marathon month. Sammy's class this morning, leave preschool early so I can grab the cupcakes I made last night and dash off to Ben's school in time to eat lunch with him, cupcakes for the class, volunteer in Ben's class for the afternoon, come home for gifts and a birthday dinner of grilled cheese, tomato soup, and milk shakes...bless his heart! I'm hoping to wrap up my Christmas shopping in the next couple of days, make candy and cookies and shortbread, make some notecards for gifts, go to a couple of Christmas parties, finish putting the lights up outside, deliver the last of my photo orders, get a couple of galleries on line, have the windshield replaced (it has a 3 foot long crack in it right now), and....and...there's something else, I know it. I just can't think of it right now.

Jesus, Did You Know?

Our local Christian radio station plays nothing but Christmas music for the entire month of December. I've been enjoying that song that goes something like "Mary, did you know". Do you know which song I'm talking about? It's the one that wonders if Mary fully knew and understood the magnitude of her situation...the mysterious miracle of her physically giving birth to the savior of the world. Impossible to imagine, really.

But the thought I've been pondering goes more like "Jesus, did you know?". Matthew says that Jesus would be called Immanuel which translated means "God with us". God with us. In diapers. In flesh. GOD in a mere human's body.

My question is this: did Jesus always know who he was?

It's clear that there was something different about him at a young age. I recall the time when he stayed behind in the temple to teach. His mom and dad found him there and he said something like "didn't you know I'd be in my Father's house?". It seems that he had at least an inkling (if not more) of who he was at that time...a good 15 or so years before he would start his "ministry".

But what about his first moments in the womb? What about his first moments on earth? Did he lie swaddled in clothes in those first moments of breathing with human lungs...smelling the aroma of animals shuffling around in the straw....smelling and feeling the warm skin of his mother....maybe seeing that amazing star which blazed with the news of his arrival even with those fuzzy newborn eyes...stretching his arms and legs to their full but still tiny length...

...during all of this, did he know why he was there? Did he think of ME? Did his heart swell with his love for me and did he cringe a little (or a lot) to know what he would endure to save me once and for all?

Jesus, did you know?