handsful

The day began early for me, since EJ had to be at church by 7:45am.  He plays drums for the middle school worship band every-other Sunday.  And, since Randy struggled with allergies the night before, I let him sleep in a bit.

I’m an amazing woman, aren’t I?

Once home, the rest of us got ready since the first, full TESTIFY concert was at 10:30.  I’ve really been looking forward to this.  The kids and Randy have been working hard, about 4 hours of practice each Sunday, to get ready for this.  Randy has been helping with the acting practices, since he wrote the play.  Abbey dances, sings in an ensemble, and acts; Marley sings a duet/solo, Payton dances and acts, Ethan sings a duet/solo.  The kids share acting parts, so they don’t always act in each concert…none of the kids acted yesterday.  But, Marley was singing her usual duet as a solo since her partner was out of town.  My daughter who is SO like me, and would rather the attention be on anyone other than her, was going to sing a solo.  Courage!  It helps that she absolutely loves to sing.

The concert was incredible, they did an amazing job!  Let me share a God moment…

One of the main characters in the play is a bully.  You don’t know it at first, but you find out that he’s very anti-God because he lost his mom to cancer when he was 15.  His father initially became angry, blaming God for taking her away.  He drank and the situation became too much for the son, who moved in with family.  Later on, the father stops drinking and eventually becomes a Christian, but the son…still too mad at God for taking his mom…wants nothing to do with his “religious” father.

After the play, a man came up to Randy, having heard he wrote the play.  He said, “You won’t believe this, but…” and begins to tell Randy that he lost his wife to cancer when his son was a teenager.  He became an alcoholic.  His son moved out and, to this day won’t have anything to do with him.  The father has since become a Christian.  He was in tears, Randy was trying to hold his back.  The man told Randy that he was going home to call his son, and ask if he’d come to a future concert with him.

God works, people.  He’s alive, and uses us in ways we’d never dream of, to further his plans and purposes.  I’m in awe!

So, that was the morning.  Pretty good, eh?  We came home to meet up with EJ (who had gotten a ride home from church), took a few hundred pictures to get a couple of good ones (heh), and then went to one of my favorite restaurants for a late lunch.  We ate too much.  But, it was yummy.

Oh, and they gave me a zebra print tote bag (from our church’s Marketplace store…we sell things made by women in impoverished countries and the money goes back to them, giving them a way to earn a living and support their families!), and a book that I can’t wait to start.  Score one for Randy.

Back home, Randy switched out sprinkler heads while Marley and I hoed around the plants in our newly planted garden.  I’ll blog about that next.

We spent the rest of the night watching old videos while Randy attempted to get them put onto DVD’s.  We have video from 2009 to present on our camera.  Not good.  He’s still tweaking the best way to do it.  Why can’t anything involving a computer be easy?!?

A great back massage later, and I was in bed for the night.

I’m blessed to have such a wonderful husband who spoils me and makes me feel so special, and 6 kids to get hugs and “Happy Mother’s Day” greetings from.  I think back to our infertility treatment days, when we weren’t sure we’d have ANY children….I still remember that sad feeling for the other women who so desperately want to be moms on this day.  It’s such a hard day for those not on this side of the fence.  I wish everyone who wants to be a mom, could be.

Mother’s Day 2013 was wonderful.