A Family Dinner!

After I got home from the retreat we went to dinner with my family! All 19 of them! Yes you read it right! 19! We had a great time with all of them at Downtown Trini's in Sparta which so happens to be relation as well! Here are some pictures of our dinner adventure! I will also say that Ellisyn had to be a frequent visitor to the bathroom. She hopped the entire way everytime through the never ending crowd of people! She almost tripped a waiter one of the times and she stepped on a few toes I do believe. At least it seemed with the scowling look I kept getting from people! Oh the joys of potty training in public!

                         Who's taller? Emmalee or Wyatt? They are only one month apart in age!

                           Triton loved Emmalee! She was holding him up to see out the big window!

                                Sisters! Sarah, Kayla aka Pookie, Monica, Me, and Shantori!

Aunt Shantori teaching Ellisyn how to dance!

The NINETEEN by family: Kayla and Jono, Eric Sarah Wyatt and Jaxon, Shantori Chris and Triton, Kevin Myself Emmalee Elizabeth and Ellisyn, Monica Bill and Amelia, and Mom and Dave!

My One Night Getaway!

Eleven woman from my church Crystal Lake Community Church went to the Wesleyan Woman's Retreat in Bay City.

Dinner!

                                                              Michelle and I at dinner!

                                                                        Angie and Lacey!

                                                        Patti, Jan, and Violet!

JoAnn and Sandi!

Cheryl and Vera were also with us but I didn't happen to get a picture of them!

Today, I am going away for the night! I get extremely nervous anytime I leave the kids. I get sick to my stomach and all I can think about is anything bad that could happen is certainly going to happen while I'm away from the girls. Normally the only sense of comfort I have is that Kevin is with me. Well this time...he won't be! That's right I'm going away for the night without my kids or my husband! I am surprisingly not nervous about it. My stomach is not upset and I am not dreading it. Of course it is 6 hours away! I have plenty of time to nerve up! I need this getaway though and I just keep reminding myself of that. It is going to be a really good time with a really good group of woman!

By the way, my coffee is far from Ellisyn and far from my computer!!!!

Lifeline

I woke up this morning already planning how this day is going to go. I have to get up do the dishes, pick up the house, put on something other than my pajamas, make coffee, take Emmalee to the bus, have coffee with my friend, feed the kids, and start packing for the one night I will be gone. Is this how my day went? No way! During coffee with my friend, Ellisyn decided to climb on my coffee table where my coffee happened to be sitting and spilled it. Not only did she spill the coffee that I was so thoroughly enjoying but it just happened to spill all over my laptop. Immediately frustrated I grabbed my computer hoping to get all of the coffee before it seeped into cracks and plugs and anywhere else it could find before it ruined this piece of electric joy that I wrap my life around! PLEASE DO NOT RUIN MY LIFELINE TO THE WORLD!!!! I soon came to realize that my cries for the life of my computer had not been heard by anyone. The keyboard stopped working.


 During my spell of crying in the bathroom, knowing that all of the hardware work I have to keep "safe" was on that computer, my morning devotion had a chance to sink into my mind: '...the problem can be a ladder, enabling you to climb up and see your life from My perspective. Viewed from above, the obstacle that frustrated you is only a light and momentary trouble (2 Corinthians 4:17)

I definitely wasn't looking at the trouble I was having with that perspective. When I did I realized that what I considered to be my lifeline to the world was simply that. Of the world. I do not NEED my computer I WANT my computer to communicate with friends, family, and of course do work. I, however, am privileged enough to have two laptops! Who am I to be this upset over a computer? Our vision gets clouded at times and before we know it we are all about the material things in life. I don't need a lifeline to the world I need a lifeline to heaven that a spilled cup of coffee won't damage and won't break and won't make any less effective! Thankfully so, I have that through the Word of God and through my loving Savior Jesus Christ!

Yes, I am still a little miffed that I can't use my newer, faster, computer. I am thankful however that I have a backup computer and that I was indeed able to backup my entire computer without the keyboard! I guess this is what I would consider a Battig kind of life!


Devotion taken from Jesus Calling by Sarah Young