Watching your kids grow up/Happy Birthday Anya!

Several days ago, I was driving around like a crazy person, (not a big shock there) finding last minute items for Anya’s mission trip to Nairobi Kenya.  It was an interesting day.  Two days before she leaves, Tom is home watching the kids so Anya and I can go do last minute shopping…The day consisted of breakfast for us at Cracker barrel, just chatting about life…Then we headed off to Goodwill to pick up some jeans, long sleeve t-shirts, and shoes that she could keep over there, those clothes will be pretty skanky after 2 weeks working in the slums…

We couldn’t find any shoes, so we just went and picked up some very inexpensive ones at Wal Mart… (Sorry, Beth, I know how much you LOVE Wal-Mart…but they were 5.00 shoes!!)

It was a great day!  I was up late looking up all the emails from Rhonda Hewett, the team leader,  gathering all the info I would need to have while she is gone…contact info, itinerary, passport etc. 

The next morning Anya had to finish her photo shoot gig…then head off to a special breakfast with her dad.  I was looking over her packing list…when she got home I asked her, do you have your outfits for working at the slums?  Yes…what do you have?  I have the new pair of jeans you bought me a few weeks ago…What?  Oh I don’t think so…you will be walking in excrement…getting filthy.  You are supposed to have 3-4 different sets of clothes.

Yea, she had maybe 1/2 of what she needed, more than clothes, other necessities too…the day before…no babysitter, not so good.  She and I got in an argument.  Not pretty… She didn’t’ want my help, she wanted to do it herself.  The only problem,  she didn’t have time, she actually NEEDED me…But she didn’t want to admit that.  But after our “discussions”, she finally said I could help.  Then she threw out,  she didn’t think I wanted to .  Haha!  What?

Ahhh, the internal struggle of being a teenager…I need you, I don’t.   I love you, I don’t.   I like you, I don’t…I want to be a grown up, I don’t.

Also, I had just dealt with Taylor when we went to Colorado; I trusted my 14 year old to pack for himself…for over a week.  He packed 1 pair of shorts, 1 pair of cut off jeans, one pair of socks, 2 pair of underwear, 2 t shirts, one disgustingly STINKY pair of skate shoes, we had to throw away enroute and pick up some new ones at a Target somewhere in Kansas!  Haha!!

OK, back to Anya, so she took off to Goodwill for more jeans,  capri’s and T’s  that she can thrash and leave there, and I went and picked up her other necessities.

Throughout the day, we would text each other, that was the safest thing to do, then she and I chatted on the phone and we were good again.  We then had a very nice good-bye dinner at Carrabba’s.   The waiter (or server person whatever you call him), found out she was going, and he bonded with us and told us, every time he would come over, about his first job, at the young age of 18, working construction in the Congo!  It was very sweet.  We did enjoy his stories.

Back home again…  
I then had to make sure that Taylor was packed, I checked and Tom double checked his list of clothes and necessities, as he was leaving for his mission trip the next day as well.  He is in Wheelright, KY, an Appalachian town, for 5 days, with the Crosspoint Youth.  Anya did this mission trip a few years ago and it changed her life, and she goes up, with CP, every chance she gets.  Usually in August, for delivering school supplies for the kids up there, and December, Crosspoint adopts children and takes Christmas gifts to them and has a huge celebration.

He passed inspection, was packed and in bed.

Anya on the other hand was up way past 2:00 am packing,  No big deal, as she needed to sleep on the plane to try to offset major Jet lag. Problem…I was up too, as I was worried she wouldn’t get done in time, or we would over sleep.  Don’t know why, since I have the Rowan Factor as an alarm clock…

We got up about 7:00 am and headed to the airport.  Met with the team, checked in, said our good-byes and she was off…

Am I proud of my 2 oldest?  You bet!!  I can’t tell you the joy that exudes from my inner most being as a mom.  I don’t have the words; none of them would come close.

Today is Anya’s 17th Birthday!

Anya with Grace. Crosspoint.tv team in Nairobi

Happy Birthday my sweet, young woman!  I love you more than you’ll ever know!

Lifelong Friends…a true blessing.

Even at spring break it's not terribly crowded!

Tom at the beach...

 

Last week Tom and I were in Florida for a little break. We stayed with my parents, their house is conveniently located very close to the beach. It was short notice and they graciously let us invade their house.   We knew that my parents had friends that were down for the month of March, and we would stay out of their way. (which of course we didn’t have to)

Tom and Christy in the pool

The New Pool!

Their friends were staying in a house one street down, so staying with my parents was not a problem.

 

We were finally able to meet my father’s “infamous” life long friends, or a few of them.

Bobby showing Tom a site on the computer

 

Mom and Anna having a chat

50th anniversary party

Christy and Carol

50th anniversary party

Mom and Christy at the pool

 

 

Here is the history:

Many years ago, my father grew up in this magical, mystical town, Morristown NJ, and had friends from all different races and ethnicities.  Now mind you, it was the late 40’s and 50’s.  He graduated in 1957.   Seriously…the 40’s and 50’s!  Prejudice and discrimination was never a part of his vocabulary.  He taught us well!  Amazing!

Growing up, I heard stories, many funny stories, of all of his friends,  but it wasn’t until after I had graduated and married that my father really began to keep in much closer touch with his “forever friends”.  He never missed a class reunion, but as the years went by, too much time would pass between reunions, and they began calling each other.  They began to have get-togethers

I never really got the whole “why”  they decided to spend more time together, as I was knee deep in children, babies and toddlers…

Over the years, they would make bigger plans and spend a week or 2 with each other.  Now, I get this, as I have my girlfriends that I have my week long getaways, and dinners and weekend getaways with my “BFF’s”.    These are necessary trips for us!!

Until this last week,I had never met my parent’s friends,  I was finally able to meet a few of the “gang”

Let me tell you, I was not disappointed…

50th anniversary party

Mom and Dad

I met Bobby, the Pagano’s (they left the day after we got there), Carol, and I met Anna.  We were invited to their cocktail parties, and a BBQ, and an amazing dinner they had for my parent’s 50th anniversary.  (That is another blog post…50 years!)

It was wonderful.

Bobby and Dad cooking

Bobby and Dad discussing sauce

It was quite an experience to watch my dad and Bobby, who he has known since preschool, and Anna and Carol.  Here they are in their early 70’s, we watched them banter and bicker and laugh and love. You could tell that they have known each other forever.  They are so comfortable with each other that they banter/bicker like siblings, and no one is offended, they love to laugh and they love to love each other.  They have included my mom in their world, which is an added gift.   I had moments, watching them, that I couldn’t help but see Anya and Cooper and Lane in 50 plus years!

Kids at a party

Cooper and Anya

Lane, Anya and Cooper

It made me laugh.  It all brought me joy.  I loved watching this amazing relationship between these adults.  I am so very glad that I finally met all of these wonderful people, and that my mom and dad are blessed to have such good friends in their life.

It showed me once again, the preciousness and blessing of friendship.  I am blessed with my friends and it blesses me to see my children have the beginnings of their life long friends, and to see my parents enjoying their retirement years, enjoying life  and sharing life with their lifelong friends.

It is really what life is all about…family and friends.

Anya is heading to Africa in June with Nairobi Hope Now

My oldest daughter, Anya,  is turning 17 in June…That is huge!   She will have the opportunity to celebrate her birthday in Nairobi, Kenya!

How stinkin’ cool is that!!

She is going on a mission trip with a team of amazing people from our church, Crosspoint Community Church. When I was in college I went on a mission trip to Europe with our Choir.   It was very cool!   About a year into my marriage, I was able to go on a mission trip with my husband. We went to Russia, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania, with an amazing ministry run by Jim Gilbert.  It was awesome, life changing.  Tom did mission trips to Haiti, all through high school, with a group called New Directions, as well as trips while he was in college.

As life as gone on and I have had my 6 children, my mission days have been on hold.   I want to go back out,  it just isn’t my season.

It is Anya’s time!

You can follow her journey here: Anyanairobihopenow

I am so very excited for her!!! She is going with an amazing team led by Rhonda Hewett, (you can link to her blog) has the opportunity to work with an amazing ministry run by Garry and Brenda Kean.   She and the others will be working at the Kibera Slums and other places.

Here are some pictures that Rhonda has sent me over the years.

Here is a letter that Anya has written as she is looking for support for her trip.  If you’d like to help financially you can send a check to the address at the bottom of the letter.  If you would like to help in prayer, that would be awesome, and definitely needed and appreciated.    You can follow Anya’s blog, or Rhonda’s blog and keep up to date, now and this summer.  Also they are both on twitter, @anya36 and @rhonree, you can follow their journey while they are on their trip, in real time…The blessing of technology, I love twitter!!

The letter:

Dear Friends and Family,

I hope you all have had a wonderful 2011 so far! I have some exciting news. On June 3rd I am leaving on a plane to go to Nairobi, Kenya for a mission trip. I’ll be gone through the 15th. Thirteen people and I are going to be serving the men, women and children of the local slums around Nairobi (including the Kibera Slum of the movie, The Constant Gardener). We will be working with Brenda and Garry Kean and their church New Song Nairobi and Jacaranda, their sewing ministry. It is going to be a heart-wrenching, powerful, wonderful journey, and I cannot wait!

This trip is going to be my first trip out of the country so I am a little bit nervous, but very excited! We are leaving on Friday morning to fly to Chicago, from there to London and then finally to Kenya! We will be there until Wednesday the fifteenth, which means I will get to spend my 17th birthday there! Four of the people going are some of my best friends ever, three of which have never been to Nairobi either, so we shall get to experience it together. We are all very excited.

Brenda and Garry Kean are the founders of New Song Nairobi, and Jacaranda Sewing Ministries. They have been living in Nairobi for several years now and have been working with the people of the slums since they moved there. The Jacaranda sewing ministry is a group of women from the slums making and sewing many different things like purses, dolls, bags, suitcases and aprons. They then sell these items outside of Africa in places like the United States to raise money. This money keeps these people off of the street. A lot of these items will be brought back with us to sell and make money for them, if you are interested in buying something, let me know when I get back!

While our team is there, we are going to be serving many people in different ways. We will be visiting several different slums around Nairobi, talking to and praying with many different people. We are going to be working with kids in VBS and maybe even a sports camp as well. Our goal is to show these kids that they are loved not just by us, but by God as well. We will also be visiting the Jacaranda sewing ministry and teaching the women some different techniques and ways to paint their crafts. One particular thing I am excited about is the privilege of getting to help lead worship for some different people there. Needless to say, we are going to be busy.

There are two things I need help with. The first is funding. For the trip altogether, I need have $3,000 by the end of March. This is a huge amount of money for a 16 year old to raise! If you can help in any way, any amount of money would make a difference. If not, you can help me with my other need, which is prayer. $3,000 is a big goal, and I could use all the prayer I can get, both financially and for the ministry while I’m there. The checks are tax deductible, and are made out to Crosspoint Community Church, with Anya Harden in the memo, and are sent to Rhonda Hewett (our team leader) at:

Rhonda Hewett
301 Mill Run Circle
Nashville, TN 37221

Thank you so much!
Love,
Anya

My Sweet Anya turns 16!!!

Wow…that’s all I can say.  Wow.  Anya is now 16.  I know it has taken her “forever” to get there, but for me, the time has flown.  I know so many of may friends from school, have kids that are married and have grandchildren.  But I am not there as of yet.  So this is a huge milestone for me!  It is overwhelming.  It is wonderful and it is horrible all at the same time.  Wonderful…because she is a beautiful young woman, who knows who she is and loves life, and loves God.  Horrible…because this means that she only has 2 years left until she leaves for college, or whatever else may come her way!  That devistates me…plain and simple.

I love and adore all of my children, but with your first born, it is different.  You experience everything for the first time with them and them alone.  She and I experienced all of our firsts together.  Good firsts, bad firsts, ugly firsts, sad firsts, amazing firsts…

Although we have 6 children, when we first got married, Tom and I didnt’ want kids!  I know, hard to believe…We were so very happy together.  Then one day, I found out I was pregnant.  June 10…I was changed forever….           

Time to blog???!!!

It is so frustrating!  I am in the car and running around all the time.  With that…no computer, no internet, no blogging!  I have so many ideas for blogs jotted down, but by the time I am on the computer…I am TOO tired to try to put any words on this computer.  So frustrating!

So, life lesson…Slow down…

A Dream…with 6 kid and a crazy busy musician husband…not so easy!  I am trying…well, I want to try.  haha!

I am taking Anya to the Frist Center to an amazing art exhibit today.  I am very excited!  I will try to blog about our time there!  It will be amazing!  I only wish Tom was joining us…He will LOVE this.  I think it might be our Anniversary date next week!  March 11!

I am still here…please don’t give up…