Blowing Some Hot Air

Can you believe we weren't home to see this? Yup, this hot air balloon landed in our yard last night (That white house to the left of the balloon is our house for those who haven't seen it)! Thankfully our nice neighbor across the street took some pictures and came over today to tell us!

Where Were You on 9/11?

I remember it clearly. It was a beautiful fall day - "perfect."

I was working at the time, and a woman I worked with came in a few minutes late and said - "there's been a plane crash into the Twin Towers." We both assumed it was a small plane. Before she turned around to sit at her desk, all of the phone lines rang at the same time, we couldn't answer them fast enough. It was relatives calling us to tell us what was going on. My mom and I tried to call each other over and over again, but the phone lines were all jammed and there was no getting through. Even though she knew I wasn't there, she just needed to hear my voice, and I hers.

No one worked that day, we just hooked up radios and gathered around them to find out what was going on. My husband came and got me for lunch, and we both didn't hurry back. We wanted to be with each other. He never said he was scared, but I think he was, and I definitely was. We ate lunch at a bar, since that was the only place we could find a TV. No one was talking, just sitting quietly, watching TV, and just picking at their food.

I remember how odd it was not hearing airplanes fly over head, a sound I guess I took for granted. At the time I lived in NJ, and was able to see the very tops of the Twin Towers when I used to commute to another job. My husband and I drove to a mountain, and although we're not positive it was from the site of the Twin Towers, we saw a haze in the direction of NYC on an otherwise perfectly clear day.

I will never forget.

Kindergarten, Here He Comes!

Well, the day has arrived. My first son just got on the bus a while ago, and is headed to kindergarten. He was ready 40 minutes before we had to wait for the bus (which we need to be at the road 10 minutes early - following me? So, he was ready for the bus 50 minutes before it would come!)

The last year was filled with nervousness and tears (for me - not for him!) and I just had to lay it before the Lord. Amazingly (not really), God has filled me with such peace and joy! I had to stop looking at all I was "losing" and all that he was "gaining"! When I look at school from his eyes, and look at his excitement, it changed the perspective for me. Praise God!

Last week I met his teacher who is a WONDERFUL, KIND, AND LOVING young woman. She is genuinely excited to have our children, and what a blessing that is for me as a first time school mom! She is excited to teach my son how to read, early math, and so forth. The room was so inspiring. I want to go back to school and learn there!

I have a tendency to want to orchestrate and control everything in my children's (and mine, and my husband's, and, and, and...) lives. But even when I feel in "control", I am not one bit. And that is a reality that is hard to accept. This is really the first time that my son will be truly out of my hands. And I can sit here and dwell on the scariness of that, or I can use it as a time to really lean on the Lord, and trust that He loves my children more than I, and that they are safe when I let them go into His hands! That is actually very freeing once you start to really accept that truth.

So the verse I will be working on with my kids to memorize is Hebrews 13:5b - "Never will I (God) leave you; Never will I forsake you." God is with my son (and me, and you), wherever we are. Amen!

Blessings (and I will post pictures of Owen's first day/school bus, etc. this week sometime!)

Jen