Easter in Lizella

Well, it was quite a busy time in Lizella last weekend.  It started @ precisely 3:15 last Friday.  The school day was over and every child in Bibb county had a new lease on life.  There was a thick yellow film on everything that hasn't moved in at least 15 seconds.  I have never known the pollen to be so thick in any place, but I am not kidding, you can be driving down the road and you can literally see the pollen blow off the trees.  Regardless of the pollen, the Easter Bunny was coming to town.  He would just not be as brilliant white as normal.  He had a suttle yellow tint to him, after all, yellow is the new white, or it sounds good anyway.

As I said, there were Eggs to be hunted.  On Sat. morning our church hosted an Egg hunt.  I was overwhelmed at the response.  There were probably close to 100 little angels there ready to stake their claim on a small plastic egg that cleverly hid the ultimate prize... candy.   Although this is normally a happy time, I couldn't help but be somewhat sad.  O.K. I did break down, but only one time and I was very inconspicuous about it.  Why, you ask?  What could possibly cause me to have the mully grubs on such a fun day?  Well, at the risk of revisiting the emotional place from which I finally dug myself out of Sat. evening sometime, I'll just state the fact.  Maci and Bayley neither one was in the least bit interested in going the Egg Hunt.  At first it didn't really bother me until I got there and saw all the children and the anticipation that they exhibited on their little faces.   I thought, as I watched them charge the field to find their treasure, that I had a handle on myself.  But, when the mother of a 5 month old little boy asked me if I wanted to take her son and help him find eggs, I realized that I had failed miserably.  By the way, he was more interested in the necklace I was wearing then the eggs I was trying to gather for him.  But, this was all a distant memory as I went shopping trying to finish up my Easter shopping.

Saturday evening, our choir preformed the Easter Cantata "Known by the Scars".  This cantata is a wonderful depiction of the love of God in how He sent His son to die for us and save us from our sins and become our hope in this dark world.  We did this cantata a couple of years ago, but we added a couple of things and instead of using the narration in the book, Paul wrote the narration.  He did an excellent job.  We also had a guest come to visit us Saturday.  Rebecca and Corbin came down to visit and spend Easter with us.  Rebecca's husband Rodney, was in our youth group when Maci was born.  Now, he is married and has a child of his own.  That doesn't make me feel old at all.  

Sunday morning came around and it was truly a beautiful day.  It was as if all of creation was celebrating the true meaning of Easter.  The choir was ready to repeat the cantata from the night before, the lights were down and we entered the sanctuary.  From the first note to the last note.  God revealed himself to me through the message in the program.   His Spirit was truly in that place.  I am constantly amazed at the fact that the God of the universe longs to have a relationship with me.  That He longs to spend time with me.  

After church, we went to a friends house and had lunch and hid a few more eggs.  After all the eggs were found and all the bellies were full, we all piled in our respective cars and took off to the ball field.  The day would not have been complete without someone getting hurt.  Mr. Ed was the lucky recipient of a torn calf muscle and a torn ligament.  I don't think we have ever gathered and played any kind of sport that someone didn't get hurt.  We ended the night playing the Wii with a couple of friends.  

Maci is having to go to school this week because her spring break isn't until next week.  Bayley and I came to Mom's for a couple of days to keep Granda from calling the powers that be.  Lucky for me, oh who am I kidding. Lucky for Paul, Bayley remembered she had a Reach project due the week of April 7th.  She has to build a house with 10 different architectural structures.  Needless to say, we got GDaddy right on that.  Stay tuned for updates on this late breaking event.

It's been a long time

Due to much harassment from people who shall remain nameless, I am going to update everyone on what has been happening in Lizella. It has been anything but normal. I don't think there is an adjective to describe the happenings of the past few months. But here goes....

I am going to begin with Valentines day. Again normal is not even an option here. Maci has a "boyfriend" and we had to, no excuse me, had the pleasure of searching for the "perfect" gift for him. I learned that to be able to shop for a boy, you must actually have a son. I was at a complete loss. In the past I have gotten him shirts or shorts or some article of clothing. I'm afraid I may have offended them so I tried something different this time. On the eve of valentines day, Maci, Bayley and I were sitting around trying to figure it out. I had already bought him a little something but Maci wanted "the perfect gift". All the while Bayley is basking in her sisters delima. Well it came down to it and we decided to get him a picture frame and put a picture of Maci in it. She was very pleased with the choice and all was right in the world.

Well the day arrived. This was not only difficult for me. Connie, Brandon's mother, had a difficult time as well. Brandon was extremely picky about what he wanted her to get Maci, but wasn't a lot of help in the process. After several dry runs to the store, Connie decided on a beautiful sterling silver bracelet and a webkinz. Which by the way, was her first recommendation to Brandon and he acted like she was insane. A true testament that mothers do know best. Brandon has a brother that is absolutely precious and he and Bayley always exchange gifts as well. The girls were ecstatic about their bracelets and webkinz and chocolate (We can't forget about the chocolate).

Now the part that blew us all away and rendered Bayley speechless, which by the way is very hard to do. Bayley has liked a boy named "Pedro" for a long time. He lives across from our friends Sandy and Tony. He started coming to church with Tony and was saved shortly after. He and Bayley became good friends and have been for a couple of years now. Well, it turns out that he likes Bayley a little more than the limits of friendship would allow. Sandy brought him over to the house Valentines night (unannounced to Bayley of course). I think she had a small heart attack. She was all hyper, due to chocolate I'm sure, and when she saw him getting out of the car she froze in her tracks. It was quite enjoyable to watch but quite nerve wracking all at the same time. Anyway to make a long story short, he asked her to be his girlfriend and gave her a chocolate rose and a silver necklace. We had to scrape her off the ceiling that night when it was time to go to bed.

I also forgot to mention that when she got in the car that afternoon, a boy in her class had given her a stuffed animal, a pair of earrings and a box of chocolate. Oh well, I said nothing around her is normal.

Fast forwarding a couple of weeks, Paul was out of town last week preaching a revival in Calhoun. When he is gone something always happens. This time was no different. I am taking a class at Central Ga. Tech. College for work every Monday night. I had a project due that night. I went to the Doctor that day afraid I had strep and She told me it was an ulcer on the back of my throat. Again, no normalcy here. The next day on my way to pick Maci and Brandon up from school, the transmission goes out in my van leaving me at a four way stop thinking now what?. A girl from church was passing me and I flagged her down and she pulled over. Because of God's mercy, I was right beside a convenient store and there was no one behind me. I put the car in neutral and let it roll back as far as it would. My friend and a man that resembled one of the Oakridge Boys came and pushed my van out of the road. I promptly called Paul and told him of my late breaking situation. Remember now, he is in Calhoun. I look back now and realize that was probably torture for him. I asked another friend to pick up Maci and Brandon. Paul called back and told me Benjamen (our Youth Pastor) was on his way to come help. By this time I am crying. Paul didn't know what to do. He called at least two or three more times just to be sure I was o.k. Benjamen got there and brought me home. My children got home and both of them came up to me and immediately asked me if I was o.k. I don't think they were worried about my physical state as much as they were my mental state.

I called my Mother to bend her ear and cry on her shoulder and you want to know what words of encouragement and wisdom she spewed forth. Are you ready for this? She said, "You have got to put this in your blog." I wasn't kidding when I told you I have been harassed about this blogging thing. I'm kidding, she was very helpful in helping me laugh in the midst of my unfortunate situation. I mean after all, if you can't laugh about it, what else is there but to cry. Thank you Mom for teaching me to find joy in any situation. God knows, you are a shining example of that.

Well we made it through last week, Paul came home and the girls made him sign an agreement that he would never leave them alone with me for more than 24 hours at a time. This week, I have found out that I am suffering from a mild case of Alzheimer. I only wish I could remember some of the details of the week to share with you.

Tonight, the girls went to Maci's best friends 13th birthday party. It was a "Hollywood Premier" party. Her parents rented a limo and all the kids dressed up like they were going to a Hollywood premier. They had a wonderful time. Maci and Bayley were so excited. Jenny fixed their hair and they got all dressed up to help Caroline celebrate her big day. They were, needless to say, absolutely gorgeous. I am going to try and download some pictures so you can see them. Believe it or not, Bayley and Pedro didn't plan their outfits.