It is hard to not question "Why?" when something so tragic happens to one of God's precious little children, but I know that we must stay strong in our faith and know that ultimately He is in control as hard as it is to wrap my mind around that. I truly believe that God crys when one of his precious ones dies, but that if we trust in God and confess that He is Lord and that we believe in the death of His son Jesus for our sins that one day we will all gather in Heaven with our loved ones and be able to embrace them and live with them for eternity. I pray that God will embrace little Ava's family that is left here without her on this earth and comfort them and help them to find that peace that passes all understanding as He has so mercifully promised to do for His people.
As I mourn for little Ava's passing I am able to cherish the good times that I have had together with my family this weekend and thank God for their health and safety and not take a moment of that time for granted.
Saturday morning Peanut and Dad left bright and early for an all day baseball clinc/scouting camp which took place in Sanford. Coaches from about 20 different colleges as well as coaches from a local travel league were there to evaluate all of the players. Peanut did pretty well and we will just have to wait and see if he caught the eye of any of the college coaches or the travel team.
The munchkins and I along with Grandma and Aunt Ninny headed out around 930 to hit the local farmers market. We started at the Sanford market, which was kind of barren and then decided to bite the bullet and venture down to the Winter Park farmers market. We definitely hit the jackpot there. There were several produce stands to choose from and I got lots of fresh fruits and veggies for us. Hopefully we can get them all eaten before they go bad. It always seems to happen that way. I get lots of yummy fresh produce and then don't manage to get it eaten before having to throw it away. I hate to waste good food and money.
The little boys got to try their hand at playing the guitar. A nice man was playing his guitar in a gazebo at the market and he invited them to play. They were so tickled to strum on the guitar and make beautiful music.
Missy Miss fell asleep on the way there and slept in the stroller most of the time we were there. She woke up shortly before we left and they all shared a couple of bananas that we had just purchased. We then to Schnooky's delight tasted some fresh made Kettle Corn. Oh my goodness, I have never really cared for kettle corn myself, but this was the best tasting popcorn I have ever had. We ended up with two large bags of the stuff and to my delight it is low calorie!!!We then made our way to McD's in Lake Mary and met Grandpa for lunch. And true to my word they did not eat chicken nuggets. I bought the chicken select strips which actually are 100% chicken with apples and yogurts. They also had only water to drink instead of sugary soda and didn't really complain at all. I was very proud of my little health nuts in training!
Then we let everyone play on the playground for a few minutes before heading back to Grandma's house to drop off everyone so that I could hit the grocery store. Oh yeah! I was however on a mission to find groceries without high fructose corn syrup as well as grassfed beef and organic products that still allowed me to stay within my budget. I am proud to say that I did it!!!! Of course not everything I purchased was organic, but I do believe that nothing I bought contained high fructose corn syrup. I am really trying to reach a new level of wellness for my family whether they like it or not!!!I also bought Missy Miss a new pair of shiny butterfly flip flops. She was so excited when she saw them, but they were a little small for her. You would have thought I cut off her leg when I took them away and told her we were going to get ones that fit better. After Daddy and Peanut arrived home we all loaded up again and exchanged Missy's shoes and then met Grandma and Grandpa for dinner at Smokey Bones. I had a $10 off coupon, but it still cost us $50 to eat (there went the dining budget for the month) and the service was less than perfect to say the least. It took over 30 minutes to get our food once we ordered, and if you have ever been to a restaurant with three young children that is a long time to entertain them until the food gets there.
Of course none of the littles wanted to eat what we gave them. Finally Miss Donna gave Schnooky her cornbread with cinnamon butter and he was like a pig in slop. Grandma offered Missy Miss some but she gave it back because she said the butter was, and I quote "disgusting". Yes, she is only two, but going on twenty-two!!
We finally paid for our meal and left a little after 8pm with four crabby kids in tow. Then it was home and to bed for all of them. Missy Miss crashed within about 2 minutes of her head hitting the pillow and stayed in her bed all night until almost 0730 this morning!!! Schnooky stayed in his bed until almost 0700, but of course Woobie our poor little guy who can't sleep through the night to save his life was in our bed around 0400.
It was this morning just before breakfast that I heard the news about little Ava, so needless to say I was very sad as we started the breakfast routine. I gave extra hugs to all this morning as I mourned for her and her family.
Peanut and Dad took off a little before 0800 for day two of the baseball camp. Reports throughout the day were that he did well pitching and that no one even got a hit off of him. He was clocked in the mid 70's and one at 81 mph. Dad said he did even better hitting today then yesterday. So we shall see if he hears from anyone.
Grandma came down around 0830 to help me get everyone ready for church. She truly is such a blessing to me and my family. She took the boys with her and headed out around 0930 and I followed shortly thereafter with Missy Miss.
I was in charge of Bible Buddies today so got there early to make sure everything was ready. After the children's story along with my helper we herded about 10-12 kids to class. I have to say it went pretty well. Mr Woobie was my worst discipline issue of the morning, but he settled down and they all enjoyed the class.
For their craft they all made crowns like King David and wore them into the sanctuary for communion. Schnooky was in Treasure Hunters and he asked the teachers if they could go to communion too. He kept asking, but they couldn't make out what he was saying at first until he said you know the part with the blood and the bread! Miss Wylene said he was so cute!!
After church we all went back to Grandma's for lunch and naps. The two little ones napped for quite a while and Woobie went with Grandpa to hunt for the evening meal and some groceries. The quiet time was nice as Grandma and I got to do some much needed homeschool planning. We found some really great free websites for spelling and math.
I also ordered our subscription to the IXL math website for both boys and even got the online version of Weekly Reader which I remember growing up with in school.
Dinner was yummy yummy swiss steak and zucchini. The littles ate pretty well, except for Schnooky of course who seems to always give us fits when it comes to dinner.
After dinner it was time to wind everyone down and get jammies on. The boys stayed at Grandma's and Missy Miss came home with me. She was so funny when we left. She had little stickers all over her face which she was so proud of. She watched an episode of Dora and then I attempted to put her to bed around 8pm. She has been quite a bear lately when it comes to bedtime. She flipped and flopped and played with all of her stuffed animals until she finally gave up the fight a little before 9pm. She is so imaginative and her little mind just keeps on going just like the energizer bunny. Grandma even mentioned that she would break out in song after everything Grandma was doing in the nursery today!! She is so precious as are all of my children. I am truly blessed! I go to bed tonight with mixed emotions of great sadness and thankfulness at the same time.
No comments:
Post a Comment