Big Happenings

Big happenings in Philly this week.

1. BCG Start Date

Josh’s official start date with BCG Dallas was August 29^th. He had, however, expressed interest in starting earlier if possible. Tuesday morning he got an email exploring the option of starting in May. By Tuesday evening the official start date was....May 16^th, the morning after graduation!

The up sides:

We are less than a month away from having an income!!!! Wahoooooo.

Josh’s project leader over the summer told him to start as early as possible for career development purposes & Josh will be the first of his class to start.

We have something set in stone around which to build the rest of our plans.

The down side:

Josh will have the shortest break ever documented between finishing a graduate program & starting his career, approximately 14 hours. Take out 8 hours for sleep and we have six hours to live it up big. As Josh put it, “we will eat a lot of ice cream that night!”

Somehow Josh managed to leave the packing and moving to me...again.

2. Offer on our Land

After three years of buyer’s remorse, a couple of contracts falling through, and many frustrating days, we found out Wednesday that we have another offer on our land. We didn’t even counter. We just want to get it off our hands. We are under contract now and the closing date is...May 16^th! Please pray that this one will go through.

3. Sunny Had a Day Off

Yesterday I left. I got on a bus and went to New York City for the day with three friends, also Wharton Widows. We took a walking tour of Manhattan focusing on history, neighborhoods, and food. We ate soup dumplings in the heart of chinatown, a risotto ball and cannoli in Little Italy, some ethnic jerky of some sort somewhere in our travels, ice cream in Greenwhich Village, a great Italian dinner, and carmel corn on the way home. No shopping for this crowd, just a whole lot of eating, gentle mixed with learning. We had a great time. It was nice to be footloose and fancy free for a day in the Big Apple.

4. Josh Played Super Dad

Yesterday when I left, Josh had a day on his own with the girls. As far as I can tell he was Super Dad. I hear tales of German Pancakes, an outing to see the stars, light up light bulbs, make paper, and seeing a train at the Franklin Institute, and reading Fairy Tales. I see signs of a trip to the grocery store, moving laundry, and straightening up the entire house. The girls were sleeping peacefully when I came home. Josh was folding laundry with extremely tired eyes.

5. We Went to the Shore

Almost every weekend last Fall, Josh wanted to “go to the beach.” Today we couldn’t return to our house after church because our place is up for sale and the realtor was hosting an open house. So, we dropped off our Young Men and Young Women and kept driving until we crossed New Jersey and came to the beach, only it’s called the shore around here. The sun was shining today, but the wind was blowing and it was pretty chilly. When we stepped onto the sand Jane protested saying, “there is something on my feet.” I had to tell her it was sand and then realized that this was the first time either of my girls had seen the ocean. We took off our shoes and socks and walked down the beach toward the crashing waves. The stiff breeze was blowing at our backs. The seagulls were squawking overhead. The girls were firmly clutching my hands. Kate was concerned about Tsunamis, she knows I have been worried about the people of Japan lately. As we got closer to the waves Kate said, “This is actually pretty incredible!” The second a wave came up and encircled their toes, however, the fear factor soared and we had two girls who were sure they were about to be swept away into the ocean. We had to quickly retreat, assure them they were safe, and break out the snacks. Still, a good portion of our half hour on the beach was weeping and wailing. We pulled together some semblance of a picnic a very long way from the water and things settled down a bit.

So there you have it. It’s been an incredible week in a lot of ways. I feel very blessed. We have been fasting and praying for help and guidance in getting things settled for our move to Dallas. Nothing seemed to be falling into place, however. I must admit that at times I have been more in the “help thou my unbelief” camp as I looked at so many variables and could not see how they could possible come together neatly, especially with regards to our piece of dirt. This week after receiving our tax refund, the early start date, and then the offer on our land, I was simply filled with gratitude. The girls and I offered a prayer of thanks and then I drove home with a feeling in my heart which I hope never to forget. I was simply filled with the knowledge that God had been watching out for us. He was watching out for us when Josh applied to school. He has helped us through the whole process. Now he will help us as we move forward. God is in charge. He always has been. Could it be coincidence that Josh’s start date and the date for our land to close both happen to be May 16^th? Possibly, but I choose to give credit to a loving Father in Heaven.

I’ll end with a couple more stories.

Any day when the sun is shining we try to squeeze in a run. The girls usually negotiate for riding bikes in the park afterward in return for good behavior in the chariot. After finishing one such negotiation, Kate sat back with a look of triumph on her face and said, “Okay, now run as fast as your little legs can carry you!” And Jane pipped in, “No, not little legs, big legs.” Then the two of them cheered us on the whole time we ran.

Kate has been telling me for months about the spotlight they do in primary. They pick a child to come to the front and ask them questions. Today Kate was chosen and she was so thrilled. She reported, with a huge smile of satisfaction, that they had asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up and she had the best answer. She told them she wanted to be an Indian! Kate the Indian.

A few weeks ago we had some friends over and somehow a stool came crashing down from the top bunk (don’t ask) in the girls’ room and hit the head of Kate’s dear friend. It was serious enough that I called the Staker doctors for advise. As I got off the phone I saw Kate tenderly wiping her friends tears with her soft green blanket. She wanted to help her friend and what could possibly bring more comfort than Soft Green, her most treasured possession. After all the messes and chaos, it’s nice to see your little bedlamites be sweet and kind.