Lovely Day!

Yes, that describes the day the kids and I have had.

After dropping L at classes, the other kids and I went to Target to get some essentials. I needed a frame to put one of the 8X10 photos I just got back of Bee and myself. I think I mentioned in a post some time back that she and I got Glamour Photos taken. They turned out pretty good and I wanted a pretty frame for this one shot.

We went to the Arena to pick up hockey photos because there was some mix up and the Team Manager did not get B's for us. They have been in for at least three weeks. We got that taken care of (will post one soon, he looks AWESOME! LOL) and then I treated them the Golden Arches for lunch.

We raced home and I got some packages ready to mail while they cleaned out the van and tidied the Rec Room. They trashed it the past few days and were wanting to watch some of a particular episode of Oprah (Faith Hill was on and O was telling her about when she finally "Let go and Let God" about something in her life. I wanted the kids to hear Faith Sing "I Surrender All") that I had Tivo'ed for them. So they raced through that and earned the right to watch it.

We left to get L and then mailed the packages and bought lots of candy and ingredients for some baking I need to do while we used up time before going to the church to prepare and feed some less fortunate people.

I cannot say enough about the time we had there. B was in his element and is BEGGING to go back ASAP!! LOL I confess to picturing my spoiled cherubs sitting and sulking and counting the minutes until we could leave to go home. I am ashamed of my attitude. I severely under-estimated them.

We got there early and the people preparing the food said that we would just serve it when it was ready. I asked if we could go into the hall and visit with the people who were waiting for food and they said yes.

So we went in and the kids were all hanging back and shy. They laid their coats on a chair and I bent and asked Bee who we should visit with first. She pointed out a man and we walked over and sat down. I introduced myself and motioned to the kids, who in turn introduced themselves. As he was introducing himself and telling us how he slept in his car last night but found out today he has a room to stay in, (Praise God!!) I noticed Bee was not beside me anymore. I looked around and saw her 3 tables down, going from Senior Citizen to Senior Citizen, hugging them all. They were beaming and so thrilled and nodding to me, as she pointed out where her mother was.

Things just got better. It was such a pleasure to serve these people and all the kids pitched in to the best of their ability. We wore gloves to serve and since L is allergic to latex, he manned the drink table and refilled people's drinks, handed out cookies and kept an eye on Bee for me. B was unstoppable! He could not get enough and was running back and forth, myself and the other servers could hardly keep up!!! He was asking people if they needed anything, can I get you more gravy, do you need more milk, etc etc?? Bee went around hugging people and giggling and being adorable and they could not get enough of her. R stayed put at the original table and eventually warmed up and spoke with the people at that table. He was such a constant fixture that one of the other servers served him everything the other people got! LOL I don't think she realize he was with us:) He even brought home a goody bag with fruit, nuts and candies:)

I had thought I would also be helping in the kitchen and knew I would get hot, so I wore a T-shirt. I had not thought about my tattoos and was worried they may offend people, so was hesitating in taking my coat off. I finally couldn't take it anymore and it turned out that the tats actually broke the ice with some people. We had that in common and it got conversations going! LOL

So all the kids agree, we will go back often. Our church does this also, but I think they have enough people to always help. We have a HUGE church and it is quite well known in the community. So we will travel across the valley and do this AT LEAST once a month, perhaps weekly. It was so wonderful. All the other women I got to know have not done it before either, but have always wanted to just like me. We laughed at ourselves for putting it off and not just looking into where to go and when. We agreed we will do it often. I loved getting to know the people and they were so sweet and really appreciated the company.

Off to bed. Party from 9-Noon, then spend the day making goodies for a goodie exchange I need to make an appearence at tomorrow night before rushing off to the Space Needle with Hubby and L for a 9 pm reservation. That is what L wanted to do for his birthday. It is only almost a month late!! ARG!! Hard to get a sitter!!

We got him a new bible and will present it (Teen Bible, I know he will love it!) at the restuarant. We love this place and go every 3 or 4 years, it is a real treat. Horrendously expensive and the restaurant actually rotates. Takes it an hour to turn 360 degrees. REALLY cool:)

Rambling more than usual...over and out!