Second Grade Musical: Act 2

A few weeks ago, there was an evening that we were supposed to get to watch the second-grade musical that Ben and Maddie were in. Unfortunately, just a short time into the show, local tornado warnings meant we all retreated to the library for safety. The rescheduled show was for a morning, and I was the only one able to go. I tried to get good pictures, but I've never had much luck with a camera in the Cain Elementary cafetorium. Nonetheless, the Texas musical with my little cowboy and cowgirl square dancing with their classes and doing sign language for the Pledge of Allegiance was pretty neat!

Ben is sitting toward the left in front of the red and white striped shirt. Maddie is standing in the second row under the painted sun.

Mocking Peeps

I kept seeing a mockingbird go into the hedge by our driveway, and I peeked in yesterday to find these three little birds.

Today, they were all gone. I suspect one of the neighborhood cats had a snack :(

Answered Prayers: My favorite ministries all together!

This group picture is a BIG deal to me. Two years ago, when I was fund-raising for my Uganda mission trip, I approached our church's missions team and asked them to consider donating funds for shoes for PCM kids. In the end, they did not end up giving any, but that's when I got involved with that team with hopes of someday opening doors for Parental Care Ministries to come share with our church what they do. I've had a few opportunities through PCM for them to come, but the schedules never lined up properly for it to happen. 

Last year, we took our American Heritage Girls troop to a Uganda children's choir concert at another church on a scout meeting night. Our families LOVED it -- soon the girls and parents were asking for us to set it up again. When I asked Justin (at PCM) if they would have another Monday-night concert, he asked if our troop and church would be willing to host one for our community. I was over-the-moon ecstatic about the chance, but had to get it approved by our church and our AHG ministry team since I would need help doing it. Everyone was excited about the chance and so it came to be...

Our Explorer scouts (grades 4-6) have been working on their cooking badge and on their social skills and etiquette badge. They ended up hosting the dinner -- though Kristen ended up precooking all the taco meat, the girls met right after school to chop veggies, make fruit salad, and scoop ice cream for dessert. When the PCM team arrived, the girls served dinner at the tables, then they sat down to eat and visit with their new friends from Africa. Kristen's and my kiddos were all there, also, even though our daughters are in the younger group (the benefits of having moms leading the event). It was heart-warming to me to watch all the kids interacting and learning about each others' cultures. A few of the Tenderhearts (grades 1-3) arrived before the concert to help clean up from dinner and to pass out programs. 

Since I was the common denominator between PCM, AHG, and First Baptist, I ended up getting to be on stage introducing my Uganda family to my AHG and FBC families. I was on cloud nine with all three of my favorite ministries coming together!! Since I was in a position to have some special requests, I arranged for the concert to be kid-friendly -- the kids in the audience were invited to come dance and sing and worship in front of the stage... because it is REALLY hard to be still when the Ugandans are leading worship. 

My "special requests" for the evening were all met: a group photo of PCM with our troop, teacher Emmy dancing, and 12-year old Samuel sharing a story about sharing Jesus with a customs official. From the stage, I was able to look out among around 250 people and watch the evening come together beautifully -- from the custodian helping me set up the chairs, the scouts feeding the Uganda children, the church staff showing up to sing along, the orphan-care ministry and more staff helping clean up at the end.... I was SO richly blessed tonight that I had tears of joy overflowing my eyes many times. So. Very. Richly. Blessed!! ... and ready to do it all again next year!

Maddie and Millie photo to update the one of them we have had in our kitchen since they first met in 2013.

Community Clean Up

The boys and Allen were supposed to be on a camp out this weekend, but the weather threatened to cause trouble for them and they cancelled it. While the guys hung out at home, Maddie and I joined our AHG troop in the Keep Whitehouse Beautiful community clean up. Our troop had about a two-mile stretch of road that we cleaned, with half the group starting at each end. We were supposed to meet in the middle, then cross the street and do the other side, but that didn't quite happen right. In the end, each of the girls did end up walking about two miles, though, and all of us had a good time even though we were doing not-so-fun, messy, and sometimes stinky work picking up trash.

We ended the morning eating pizza and playing at the park with our crew and others from the community.

Welcoming the PCM Choir

My Uganda family has arrived safely in Texas! Tonight, the boys were supposed to be camping and Maddie and I were going to head to a PCM dinner to welcome the choir. Instead, the campout was cancelled because it looked like it would be stormy all weekend, and all six of us went to welcome the Ugandan kids. I was thrilled to see some returning faces!

Below is Maddie with Gaudy. Gaudy was on the first PCM tour and remembered the triplets because she has a photo of the trio and her. Gaudy is also the one who is in some of the photos of me in Uganda as she was teaching trying to teach me to dance.

I love these kids!! Several others are also returning from previous tours and my kids are familiar with some whose faces are in photos in our kitchen. This was a just a taste of the joy that Monday will bring...

Second Grade Musical: Act I

Maddie and Ben had their second-grade musical tonight. Well... they were SUPPOSED to...

This spring has had LOTS and LOTS of rain. It was raining when we arrived at the school at 6:00pm this evening. The kids took their spots with their classes -- everyone decked out in western wear. About 10-12 songs were on the program with some being done by all four second-grade classes and others being just one class at a time. All the kids sang the first two songs, then Maddie's class got up to do their square dance. Then all the kids sang again.

That song was interrupted by the principal who asked us to take storm shelter in the hallways. Not long after that, we were told to take tornado shelter in the school library. With everyone seated between shelves of books, MY kids were thrilled. We ended up being in the library for over an hour and my crew read nearly the entire time. When we were cleared to leave, it was almost 8:00pm, and we were told the musical would be rescheduled.

On the way home, we drove past our neighborhood park and it was flooded. Ben asked if our house would be flooded, too, and my response was "Not if you stay out of the bathtub."

Tidal Wave Flooding

Fastest way to get my downstairs floors mopped? Two 8-year old boys aiming to make bathtub tidal waves UPstairs meant someone's knee broke through the tub. We didn't know about it until hot, raspberry-scented water started flowing from the ceiling light DOWNstairs. We expected the bathroom floor would be wet, but it was completely dry. A flooded downstairs hallway, laundry room, closet, and garage, 30 soaked towels, an hour of searching for a broken pipe, then someone pointed out the hole... that "NOT ME" made.

Our tub drained through the wall and the water came out the trim of our coat closet and through the entryway light fixture. The next day, the water stains started showing up on the ceiling. :(