Spilling Over

Let me start with the Great Vehicle Purchase of 2016.

Ta da! Here it is!

I couldn’t get a side by side view of the two vehicles but I got a back view.

As was expected, Sarah and I did some big time blubbering when the time came to say good-bye to ten years of Smith family memories. I was surprised at how difficult it really was. Steve, on the other hand, didn’t shed even one tear; he was too busy being ecstatic about the fact that he now has a vehicle that will not require constant nursing along.

We got into Winter Haven about 7 p.m. Saturday and after having dinner with Nathan and Meagan and the kids, got moved into our little house in a retirement village. (We are renting it for just $175 for the week!)

Sunday morning we got up to get ready for church only to discover that we had no hot water. I had pushed my ‘do into Third Day Hair on Saturday and knew that the viewing of Fourth Day Hair was going to be too alarming to expect any church congregation to handle. So I took a deep breath and washed my hair in the kitchen sink using very cold water. I felt rather invigorated when I was done. (And also, slightly shivery.)

Steve had gone to the church two hours earlier to practice with the worship team. Whenever he is in town, he enjoys sitting in on bass since Nathan is the drummer at the church they attend.  Few things make the two of them any happier than playing music with each other.

Nathan has turned into such a fine musician; I always get a little teary-eyed when I sit out in the congregation and listen to him. (You can’t really see Nathan in this picture; he’s in a drum cage under the middle screen.)

I looked at the familial line up on the platform over the course of the morning through Noah’s perspective and saw Noah’s dad, Noah’s mom, Noah’s uncle, Noah’s two aunts, Noah’s mom’s mom, Noah’s mom’s dad, and Noah’s dad’s dad, (Although Noah’s other Floridian uncle is not on the platform, his presence was felt in the beautifully laid out bulletins and all the screens that were behind the service participants.)  Noah and Madison are blessed to be surrounded by so many people who love them so much!

Here is (co-grandma) Sheri, leading in prayer and giving announcements. She is an ordained minister and an outstanding preacher.

Pastor Frank Hawley (Meagan’s dad) shared an excellent message that said when the Bible tells us to “go out into all the world,” it doesn’t mean you have to go to Africa to obey that Scripture.  Your world is all around you; it is wherever you go, wherever you are.

At the altar service, Meagan and her two sisters sang together. Such beautiful, sisterly harmony.

After church on Sunday, the various grandpas and uncles and other sundry fellas drove into Orlando to pick up Meagan’s brother-in-law’s dad from the airport and then on to play Frisbee Golf on an official Frisbee Golf course in Orlando.

Here are the intrepid Frisbee warriors. As you can see, right at the crucial moment, Steve stuck his hat over Frank’s face.

In retribution, Frank goosed Steve.  The two fellas were having just way too much fun.

The ladies (Sarah, me, Meagan and her mom and two sisters) took five children (under the age of 5) out to lunch. Good times!

Noah got some double team doting from his grandmas.

So thankful for a friend and co-grandma like Sheri; she is true gold.  And today I get to have lunch with her on her actual birthday, which doesn’t doesn’t happen very often!  After lunch, she and I, Sarah and Meagan are going thrift store shopping.  Hooray!

Sarah did her part and held Madison for a few minutes so that Meagan could actually manage to get a few bites of food between all the child wrangling.

When it was my turn to hold Madison, I remembered a little song I used to sing  with my kids when they were little.  It is taken from the Psalms and says, “Clap your hands all ye people, shout unto God with a voice of triumph.”  Except I re-wrote it to say “Clap your hands, all ye babies.”

And just to change things up a little (and because Madison thought it was entertaining) I clapped her feet instead of her hands.

As we all finally gathered up our things to leave, Sheri walked over to the table next to ours and said, “I just wanted to thank you all for being so gracious about our noisy table. Every time I looked over at you, you were smiling at us. Thank you for your patience!”

She then told them how darling their little girl was and we left. I happened to glance behind me as we left and saw the smiles that lingered on their faces from their conversation with Sheri.

Sheri and Frank Hawley and their family are the very epitome of graciousness, no matter where they are or who they are with.  They thank service people, they say hello to strangers, and they smile and share a kind word with whomever comes across their path.

With all the negativity that is bombarding us right now, especially with the National Conventions in full swing, it is a wonderful thing to do a simple thing like spread kindness, say thank you, and share a smile.

And I also want to add that during the meal, one of the members of our group noticed a police officer eating alone and told the waitress she wanted to anonymously pay his bill.  She took the time to make a difference in her world.

THAT is what we need more of . . . kindness, civility, appreciation.

In closing, I have one more restaurant story that ties into this theme.

As we were eating Saturday night with Nathan and Meagan and the kids, we made a pretty rambunctious party as we got our 2 high chairs in place and got settled in at our big table. After all the food was delivered, we all joined hands and Steve said a prayer over the meal.

During our meal, I happened to notice an older gentleman eating alone at a table a few feet away. He seemed to be watching us and at first I thought he might be thinking we were being too noisy. But there was a certain look on his face that made me wonder if he was watching because he was lonely and enjoyed seeing a family talking and laughing together..

In the midst of our continued merriment and mayhem we glanced up to discover this gentleman standing beside our table.  My first thought was thought he had come over to reprimand us for being too loud but instead he said, “Excuse me for interrupting but I just wanted to say thank you for praying over your meal together. You will never know how much it meant to me to see a family do that.”

Once again, a simple act at a restaurant spilled over into the life of someone nearby. And going back to Frank’s sermon, at that point in our lives, “the world” was right in the middle of Cracker Barrel.  We didn’t have to go overseas to make a difference.

What are you spilling over in your world today?  Will you join me in spilling over the good stuff?

We never know who might be watching; we never know who might be desperately needing to stand under the spilling over of our patience, our kindness, and our joy.

And if you are someone who has awakened this morning with very low reservoirs of joy, my prayer is that you will come across someone who has some joy and kindness to spare, to spill over on you.

Blessings to each of you today . . . in whatever part of our world you are in.