The Nutcracker Movie

Chuck, Beth and I went to see The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. Sharaya had seen it and loved it but I was skeptical. (You know me!) From the trailers I'd seen it looked like a horror movie so I was a little nervous, but turns out, it's not a horror movie at all and it's really good! A lot of action scenes, a twist, amazing costumes and a lot of beautiful snow!

Chuck had to go to the other side to get his coffee so Beth got her root beer while we waited for him. (She loves those soda machines where you get to fix your own!) 

We got there early and basically had the entire theater to ourselves. A few people showed up right before the movie started but there were only about 15 of us total. We decided we needed to go to the movies on a Friday afternoon more often!

I hope you're having a fun holiday season!

A Person Can Only Take So Much

My job has been challenging to say the least. Technically I'm supposed to be at 25 hours a week but it's been closer to 35.

These are my stats lately...

 

And today I had to go into work and confront an employee who has been calling in sick at the last minute, taking time off, complaining, sometimes just not showing up... thankfully they told me they did want to keep their job. I'm hoping their behavior changes.

A couple weeks ago I wrote an email to Beth's job coach. I've been so frustrated with her lack of drive to find Beth a job.

 

Well, today I sent it to her.

And to her boss.

And the state agency who pays them both.

I told them that Beth has now missed out on TWO holiday seasons where everyone and their brother is hiring! Yet Beth is still without a job. I told them I didn't want to change services but maybe we're at that place?

And now I'm going to fix some tea, do some laundry and try to enjoy the rest of my day off. Some good news is, I got my Christmas cards done! 😊

How is your holiday season going so far?

Annie! An Evening Downtown

Sharaya texted me a few weeks ago and said she had two extra tickets to go see Annie at the 5th Avenue Theater in downtown Seattle, and did Beth and I want to go? Yes please!!

Beth and I rarely go more than a few miles from home so this was so much fun to walk a little downtown and see all the lights and feel the energy of Seattle in December. Okay, so it was actually November 24th, but you know what I mean!

We only had to wait in the lobby for a few minutes before they let us in to the theater. After we sat down I tried to take a group selfie. I think I'm getting better at it! 😁

We lip synced and swayed in our seats and jammed along with all the songs:

"...So maybe now it's time and maybe when I wake,
they'll be there calling me baby, maybe!"

"It's a hard-knock life, for us! It's a hard knock life, for us! 'Stead of treated, we get tricked!"

"Hey hobo-man! Hey dapper Dan! You've both got your style.          But brother you're never fully dressed without a smile!"

And at the finale when the whole cast was on stage singing, Beth began to belt it out, "The sun'll come out, tomorrow!! Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow, there'll be sun!!" I'm sure everyone around us could hear her!

But we had a fantastic time!! Thank you Sharaya for inviting us!

Shocked and Surprised!

Beth loves to buy fruit in a bowl. You can get watermelon or cantaloupe or sometimes you can get different kinds together. 

Beth bought some cantaloupe the other day and the other night she came upstairs and was kind of crying and between the mumbling and the tears I heard the words "not right" and "bad."

I took a look at it and figured out the problem. It actually hadn't gone bad...

She bought Butternut Squash! I guess they put some vegetables out for Thanksgiving, where they usually put the fruit. Sure looks like cantaloupe to me too!

I bought her some cantaloupe tonight and she was much happier!

 

It's Worth It

We have our first Leaders Meeting in August. 

We begin contacting last years volunteers.

We start sign ups the first of October.

But the Monday before Thanksgiving is when all the hard work really begins.

The kitchen begins prep work to feed more than 1200 people.

 

 The decorations go up all throughout the building

The dining room is filled with tables and it's my job to make sure they're spaced well enough for the servers to get through. Plus there has to be room for the giant food carts to get through, and people in wheel chairs, and service animals...

Once that's done we put all the chairs around and volunteers come in to decorate all the tables. 

 Then there's all the little details like making sure each serving station has brooms and gloves, water pitchers, serving utensils, rolling trashcans and anything they might need throughout the day.

When Thursday morning arrives everything kicks into high gear.

The teams of volunteers begin to arrive -

The Transportation Team shuttles people to and from the church and Beth rides along with Chuck as a greeter

This is the pastor who oversees the entire event and his wife who does all the work. 😁 During the Thanksgiving season she's known as 'Mumsy Pumpkin'. One of these days I'll have to find out how she got that name! They both give so much and they make you feel truly loved. Sincerely two of the best people I know.

This is the third year I've been in charge of the Busers and Servers which means I oversee the entire dining room.

Room set up

Serving stations

Section leaders 

All 120 Busers and Servers

Delivery of the food 

The guests

Just some of the Busers and Servers

Once all the teams are in place, we open the doors and the guests start pouring in!

Then the food is brought out on 4 large carts, one for each section. We deliver it to the tables and the table host serves everyone family-style.

 

 Mumsy always gets an incredible speaker who does puppets and balloon animals and entertains the kids while sharing the gospel. We had over 80 people raise their hands for prayer on Thursday.

After everyone leaves, we clean the tables and do it all again!

And again!

 We have three seatings every year and boy are we exhausted by the end of the day! Then the clean up crew shows up and before you know it, everything is put away and it's time to go home.

Being my first year as head of the custodial department (my day job) I had to stay until the very last person left. I made sure all the doors were locked and the lights turned out and then I set the alarm and headed to my car. I locked the parking lot gates and headed home. 

(I will admit, I'm glad it's over!)

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Feet

Beth and I went to Burlington to get some snow boots the other day. Seattle doesn't get huge amounts of snow but it's one of those things that you just really need to have and they'll probably last for the rest of our lives!

 

We also went and got her hair cut again. She's really liking the shorter look. Every morning I put it up in a small pony tail and then curl the ends under. After I leave the bathroom, she spends a few minutes admiring herself in the mirror! She is pretty cute!

We went to a Christmas Bazaar this year. I always hear people talk about them and I wish I had gone... after they were over of course! But this year I put it on the calendar and we went! It was actually pretty fun, lots of stuff to buy and a friend of ours was cooking - and serving - bbq chicken and rice, it was so good! We ate first, then walked around all the booths.

Beth bought a small key chain with the letter B on it, we both bought some weighted lap pads that you put in the microwave and they keep you warm! I'm planning to take mine to my Sunday school class. We won't put them in the microwave there, but we'll be able to use them like weighted blankets. 

Then I was walking around the area that has all the homemade signs. You know the kind that are wood slats, or just decorative wood with sayings on them. I saw one that literally stopped me in my tracks and right there in the middle of the Christmas Bazaar, I started crying. It was the world map and it had been put on a large piece of wood and it had the words, "Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander" scrolled over the map.

Oh my word. 

It's from the song Oceans by Hillsong. All the traveling we've done over the years, the memories made, the adventures we've had... but the very most important thing in my life is knowing God. As much fun as I've had traveling, nothing compares with spending time with the Lord. 

Well come to find out, the booth belonged to C (a friend from church) and she actually made the print! The one she had hanging there had been sold so she's going to make me another one. I just can't stop thinking about it! Boy am I glad we went this year!

(Next week is Thanksgiving and is gearing up to be The. Busiest. Week. for me this year. You might not hear from me, so let me say now, I hope your Thanksgiving turns out to be the best one you've ever had!)

They Were Happy He Didn't Have Down Syndrome

Beth is our oldest and when I got pregnant with Sharaya a lot of people asked me if that was the wisest choice since we had Beth to take care of. What if this baby has Down Syndrome too? I had never really thought it but but we just told them that if this baby had Down Syndrome, then we'd know what to expect. We really weren't concerned about it either way. 

Now, I will admit that when Sharaya was born, the first thing I asked Chuck was, "Does she have Down Syndrome?" When he said no, it was such a huge relief. But we didn't live our lives like that, thinking Beth was a burden and she made our lives so hard... she was just Beth. One of our three girls. (How Chuck survived all those years I'll never know!)

 

Beth was Beth and that was that. We lived our lives. We've never been easily offended, or hurt when someone said an insensitive comment. We've just never taken that stuff personally.

So I was really surprised the other night when I heard a testimony at church from J who said a friend had been told her unborn baby had Down Syndrome and 2 holes in his heart. But after family and friends prayed, the baby was born perfectly healthy. No holes and no Down Syndrome!

The church exploded in praise and cheers. And I sat there thinking, "Wait a second." I was clapping too but something just wasn't right. For the first time in over 34 years, I felt... Well I don't exactly know what I felt. It was this odd feeling down in my heart.

It was such a real feeling too, kind of a mixture of sadness and isolation and shock. It's really hard to explain it.

Like you've just heard your best friends taking bad about you behind your back.

"Is this what you've thought all this time? Is this how you all really feel?!" 

It was like they were so excited he wasn't gonna be like Beth. But all these years I thought you all liked Beth?!

She's grown up there, attended for 30 years and all that time she's been the only person with Down Syndrome. And at that moment, when everyone cheered because he wouldn't be like Beth, I suddenly felt so isolated.  

But I was telling Chuck it wasn't so much about their reaction to the news about the little baby, but that feeling I had. That very real, first-time-in-my-life isolating feeling.

What was that? And why would I feel that way now, after all these years? Stuff like this has never bothered me before, why now?