Mothers Day Weekend

Mother's Day weekend loomed ahead of me like a sentence to the gas chamber.

All day Thursday and Friday I was on the verge of tears. Talk about a pity party... ..I was having a 48+ hr. one.... And I was just all out of sorts with everything. The children tried to comfort me.


They understood that I was trying to be strong, and brave, and trust the LORD but that my heart was hurting, alot, and that no matter what they did or said they were helpless to help.

My brokeness didn't help when I had to help Bob with the tract and be his techie for the day, either. It took only a little bit of a tone and i was in tears.


During the HOURS I sat with Bob at the computer, the rest of the tribe were making desserts for the weekend.

Lets here it for chocolate! That is what every dessert had in common. LOL They have no idea how much I appreciate them doing that for me. It just wouldn't have gotten done, and that would have made us look bad.

Three cheers for Charity, Daniel, Joy and Nathanael.

Bob was adamant that all of us be in our bedroom around 11:30 Fri. night. Then he sent Josh down for water while he showered. Just after his shower, the phone rang. Bob answered it, and after he hung up he complained "that guy always calls so late". I mentioned a name or two, but he didn't tell me if I was right or not. So I was sitting on the bed, Bob called down to Josh, "Josh! Are you still in the bathroom?" (He was downstairs quite a while)

I kept wondering what the big deal was, and I was still trying to just stop whimpering and let joy come forth from my heart. Truly I am very blessed and even if my son wasn't home, he was still my baby and I KNOW he loves me, and is busy starting his own business and has a lot projects to complete.

Soooo, in comes Josh, finally, and says "someone wanted water?". THAT got my attention. I looked up, and had to do a double take...it was David.

Sobby gal that I am I burst into tears and didn't know what to think. I was just overjoyed...and just moments before I was trying to let go of my wishes and trust the LORD and Voila! The LORD gave me the desire of my heart in seconds.

Turns out, the mystery caller just minutes before was David. Josh wasn't in the bathroom but waiting to open the door for David. LOL

We sat up, all 8 of us, talking and hugging and laughing at ME because they got me so good. Usually I am the co-conspiritor for surprises. LOL We sent them to bed at 1:45, and gave them a cut-off of 2am to be quiet. It went a bit longer, but hey, we showed them some added grace, because it isn't every day that David is home.


Sat. morning Dave and Josh had to run to Somerset to pay some bills. They left around 10:30. It did sort of irritate me that David came home late last night and first thing Sat. morning they are out running around. But I kept it to myself.

Right after they left, Bob had me back at his side continuing work on the tract. The Rodriguez family was due in sometime too. Bob was on and off the phone with Pastor C. about the tract, and in between calls we got calls. It was crazy. I can't tell you when I remember us having a Sat. as wild as this one was!

Mid afternoon, just when I was wondering to myself how much longer the boys would be gone, someone yelled that they were home. I broke away for a potty break, when David said that he needed to talk to Daddy-who was on the phone, again! The look on David's face made me dread what was coming. And the big taped up box in his hand added to the mystique. When I re-entered the room I told Bob that David needed to talk to him. David came in bringing the big taped up box with him, which he plopped down by my side. Joshua gave me a bouquet of roses. Then David handed a pair of scissors to me and told me to open the box. (They used a whole role of that wide clear packing tape to close this box up--David said he got it for 98cents) I figured it was a Mother's day present and wanted to wait til Sunday but did as I was instructed.

The first thing I see in the box is a pool skimmer, and boxes/bottles of chlorine and SUPER SHOCK; packages of uninflated inner tubes.... and a smaller taped up box...which I am told to open. We didn't get any pictures of this happening, and I was so overcome with what was going on, I didn't know how to react...cry, joy....etc... Inside the little box was a long receipt...and the words that stood out ot me were "noodles". I was trying to figure out why they got the pools stuff, and what oodles of noodle soup had to do with it, and why were they showing/giving that to me! DUH! On the bottom of the receipt I saw it... P-O-O-L -pool. Would you believe those boys pooled LOLOL their money (sorry for the pun-couldn't resist) and bought me a swimming pool? Neither can I.

The reason they were so adamant that I open the box was so they could set it up and fill it before David went back up to NY. Even though it was snowing t his morning-really it was, MY pool is filled up and ready for swimming. Talk about a BIG mother's day gift. I think I got the biggest one ever...at least in my family!!!! LOL

They did the weed whacking and mowed the yard too. It was so nice to have David home and we all really enjoyed the visit.


Weird. Somehow we managed to get the tract done, missionaries arrived, more phone calls, a lot of fellowship and eating.....


Joy played big sister all weekend.


Bro. Manny preached a good sermon, and their family was such a blessing to us.

You can see a short video of the children playing guitar and singing at www.joyfulhelpmeetathome/blogspot.com
It might be on one of my linked pages....I'm not sure which one it's posted to.

We took pictures which I will upload to facebook, and our photobucket site, and also plan to add them to the church site too. I think we need to add a missionary page.



Sunday was a blur of activity too. We even started 30min. early. Bob preached out of Jonah....it was good too. I'm going to start putting the notes up on the church blog too. Then Bro. Manny's slide and sermon on top of that... then the children had more gifts for me.

By the way, this is VERY unusual for me...most years they only give me some small homemade gifts or regift cute toys they know I like, and they all make cards and write special notes in them. I keep them all. But they went all out this year. Maybe David leaving home prompted them to do it. I don't know. I didn't expect more than cards.

But it was fun to get a large shoe box full of stuff....Lavendar Bath Caviar (do not eat), dissolving rose petals for the bath (AVON), Stationary and matching pens, dark chocolate candy bars, a stuffed giraffe ( I just love them), a beautiful homemade beaded necklace, hair clips and a fancy bar of berry soap...so what does all that tell you??? I STINK! ALOT! LOL I need to write notes, eat more chocolate, fix my hair, ... LOL It was so much fun. Truthfully, I am still very overwhelmed and I don' think the fullness of it all has truly hit me, yet.


What a blessed woman I am. No gifts, soap, candy, No not even a big gift like a POOL means as much to me as the reasons why they did all this...they LOVE me, and wanted to show me that in giving me gifts. Blessed is the woman whose children know they are loved, and who love her in return.

When I was writing out my card to MY Mommy, I did'n't know what to say. Ok..you can stop laughing now...lol...I know it's tough to imagine that, right? But anyway... so I asked the LORD to help me. I started to write, and this is the jist of what I said.... A mother's love is ever growing....and only after I had my own children did I understand how much Mommy loves me, because I know how much I love MY children...and my love for them is ever growing too. It was better sounding in her card, but you get the idea. And the LORD brought Prov. 31 to my mind too. My Mommy is a Prov. 31 woman--it is a good overview of her life. Last night when I spoke to her on the phone she told me I made her cry--it was a good thing--and Mommy doesn't tear up as easily as Daddy and I do, so it really meant a lot to me. I'm still her "curly haired little girl"--and I feel that way inside--who is that strange woman in the mirror and in the photographs? I hope you know that I didn't tell you all this to brag on myself...but on how EXTRA SPECIAL the LORD let me feel this Mothers Day, and how BLESSED I am that my children are willing to give of their penury to express their love to me. It means SO MUCH MORE-the motive and not the gifts--even though I love the gifts too. But, wow, my babies are such a blessing to me, and my constant prayer is that they will continue to be a giving as they are now always, and trust the LORD too.

With Joy and Awe because of what God has allowed,
Terry at home in PA