Laughter through Tears

Dana's funeral was last Saturday.  We went as a family and met others who came as families.  We were one in our grief, in our mourning and in our joyous reunion and recognition of Dana's resurrection.  We cried. . .and we laughed.  It was beautiful.  And it was sheepish.

Dana was a very special person and she graciously orchestrated and organized her funeral just as she did her entire life. 

She was dedicated to Jesus and she knew she was a sheep and that Jesus is our Shepherd.  Her license plate and her email were Mysheeep (hear the bleat of the sheep there?) 

The sheep thing happened while I mentored our EFM (Education For Ministry) group of which Dana was a part.  We had laughter. . .we had fun. . .we learned a lot.. .we became sheep.

The readings from Dana's service were as follows:
Isaiah 61:1-3
Psalm 139:1-11
Revelation 7:9-17
Psalm 27
John 10:11-16

If you read these, you will find an ever increasing revelation of Jesus the Good Shepherd and we, the people, as the sheep.  We are sheep.

Throughout the service up to this point, there were several songs sung, one of which is a particular favorite of mine. . ."For you oh God, my soul in stillness waits. . .Truly my hope is in you."  It's a particularly moving Advent song.  Love it.  It makes me cry.

Crying became a large part of my reaction to the service, up to and including the Gospel reading and even into the Homily.  At this point, the service had already gone on for an hour and I was mildly surprised at the patience of my young son.  And still he maintained his good behavior!  Even though we still had the Homily and the Service of Communion and the Committal to go!!  What a good boy he was/is.

The Homily broke down the why's and wherefores of Dana's choices in the readings.  It all relates back to the sheep.  After touching on the Gospel reading, Pastor Jeunee expanded on it all and explained the roots of our sheepishness.  And here it is, per Jeunee in a not so exact translation:

In late 2003, Stacy was attending Shepherd College in Shepherstown (mild laughter at this, mainly from the clergy in attendance due to all the sheep imagery).  She was required to go to a play directed and produced by one of her English Professors and roped some of her EFM group in to go with her.  Dana, Dana's husband Rob, Allison and Robin all agreed to go one Saturday night.  It was early December and the play was, "The Second Shepherd's Play."  (more mild laughter).  Stacy organized everyone into going in one car (HEY!!  MAMA!!  THAT'S YOUR NAME!!  my young son said VERY loudly.  yes, honey, it is. . .SHE'S TALKING ABOUT YOU!!  yes, honey, she is)

snickers abound. . .

When they arrived, they noticed the four piece band at the back of the stage.  They were wearing sheep hats.  Throughout the play, there would be a barely discernable sound. . .baaaaahhh!  After a while, it became clear that it was one of the musicians making the baaaaahhh! sound.  By the end of the play, the five were laughing uprouriously waiting for the baaaahhh to happen again!

The congregation was giggling loudly. ..

The five discussed it, laughingly, all the way home afterward.  Sheep were bound to become a theme with them. 
The next day, at church, Allison and Rob were LEM's and preparing to administer the wine at communion.  Allison said to Rob, "Wouldn't it be funny if, when Dana comes to the rail, I say, "The Bloooooood of Christ. . .The cup of Salvation."  Rob, horrified, said NO!  This is a Sacrament.  You must take this seriously!  So, when Dana came up, Allison said it as she should, to which Dana replied, "Baaaaahmen!" 

The congregation erupted in laughter.

Laughter. 

Through tears.

What a special way to have remembered Dana.  What a special way to have been given the chance to lighten our hearts.

Thank you Dana for the wonderful memories; for the reminder to remain true to Christ; for the reminder to be His sheep.

The Follow Up Call From The School

So yesterday, I marched with righteous (trying not to be self righteous, of course) indignation into Aidan's school.  Aidan was a little confused when I came with him past the entrance of the library, but seemed happy enough.  When we entered his classroom, one of the teachers said hello, you are Troy's gran. . .and the other teacher jumped right in and said Aidan's Mom!  Right. . .do I look like a grandmother?  Okay, I am old enough, but come on!!!

My righteousness deflated a little. . .

But, I forged on ahead.  My son had been wronged!  I will stand up for him!!  I stumbled through a little of the early story and basically said we didn't have the book that was missing and indicated that I felt Aidan had been confused about it because when asked he pulled out his legitimately checked out book.  I also told them that he felt like he would be in trouble if it was not returned on Monday, which was why I was there instead of having written a note.

The main teacher, Mrs. Taylor (who is the one who started to call me someones grandmother), jumped right in with apologies and assurances that Aidan wasn't in trouble and that we looked and didn't find it and that's all they can ask for.  All is well.  All is good.  And out the door I went.

Feeling a bit maneuvered!  But, well, okay.  I did what I had to do.  Onward to work!

Where I got a call about an hour later from the librarian at Aidan's school.  She had been out on Friday and had no idea of what was going on.  She had already found the book.  In the library.  She was horrified that we had been involved at all and offered to talk with Aidan with an an apology to him for his being involved at all.  Feeling pity for her, I said thank you but no.  We had already talked to Aidan and assured him all was well.  Let's all put this behind us and move on.  I thanked her for calling.

Lesson learned:  not all of the facts will be clear from the school.  Ask questions before getting upset with them.  They don't always know what is going on either!

Next up:  All of Aidan's Halloween Costume is here and we took pictures of him in it last night.  I'll post sneak peaks in a day or so, if you ask nicely!  : )

The First Call From School

It's not really a bad call, but I was dreading the first call from school.  It came on Friday morning. 

I received a message from Aidan's teacher, Mrs. Taylor, indicating that a little boy in his class had checked out a library book and then failed to return it.  His excuse was that he had given it to Aidan.  When asked, Aidan replied that it was on his book shelf at home.  The teacher simply asked that I check and let them know.

Well, without even checking I knew we didn't have it.  I check Aidan's backpack every day and knew what had come out of it and what had gone back in to go back to school.  And because either Pat or myself pick Aidan up at Day Care, we would have noticed something in his hands, which there wasn't.  Further, we read to him two to three books every night which means we are looking at his books every night. 

Realizing that there are three Aidan's (the other two spell it different, but it is pronounced the same) in Aidan's class, I called the school and left a message for his teacher asking her to call.  I wondered if perhaps they had the wrong Aidan.  Not getting a call back, I emailed her in the afternoon, thinking that she could possibly either call or email me after the children left for the day.  No response at all.  Either way. 

So, I asked Pat to double check Aidan's cubby at the Day Care to be certain the book wasn't there and then I double checked his book shelves when I got home.  Nada.

When questioned, Aidan pulled out the library book he had brought home on Thursday, which we had already read twice at that point.  Still thinking I would resolve this matter by writing a note and sending it to school on Monday morning saying we don't have the book and that perhaps they have been checking with the wrong Aidan, I heard my young son say, "Mama, Mrs. Brown (the Assistant teacher) said I would be in trouble if I don't bring the book back on Monday so we better put this in my backpack!"  Say what?!?!?!?

Needless to say, I will now be personally dropping Aidan off to his classroom today to give the teachers a piece of my mind!  Whether those were the words used by Mrs. Brown or not, it is definitely the impression Aidan had.  And it hadn't even been determined if he really had the book!! 

Grrr!!!!

According to Aidan

"Mama, you know what?  Some planes have lots of big jets to make them fly and some have japellers!"

And you know what?

"Tonight, if we have 'nuff time, maybe we can watch Panny McPhee."

And you know what?

"The finger skaters are still on the ice!"

And you know what?

"Daddy is going start the ferwheeler drive so I need my earspeakers!"  (said while covering his ears)

And you know what?

"I heard a fire truck going down the road with a loud siren this morning so I'm glad my school is safe cuz I want to learn lots of stuff!"

And you know what?

"Daddy said he wasn't going the speed lemon after he picked me up at Winwood today."  (Daddy!?!?!?)

And you know what?

Yesterday, when I left Aidan at the entrance to the library, he walked half way down the hall and then looked back at me and smiled!  This was a first.  He has not looked back at me before and always looks sad walking down that hallway all by himself.  Huge!!

And finally, I will share a story from the middle of the night hours at the Harrison house. 

I awakened to hear my young son get out of his bunk bed, walk across his room, down the hall and past his bathroom, into our bedroom, negotiate his way around both dogs and past our bathroom, around our bed to my side, climb up the side of our bed and then over me, get under the covers and then turn to me, putting his little hands on each side of my face and said in a very loud whisper, "Mama!  I have to go to the bathroom!!"    :  }

All of this is said to me with that cute little earnest face, sprinkled with freckles, and a slight lisp that I just can't correct yet because I just don't want him to grow up out of this stage yet!

I just love this kid!!

Mini Mites Rock!!!

Saturday, Aidan had his second Hockey lesson in the morning.  He was less than enthused.  I am positive he was bored because they actually spent time marching.  Aidan learned to march on the ice back when he was in the Toddler skate class when he was two.  It was so bad for him that he was slow moving and usually last in line.  Like I said, less than enthused. 

Then we got to the rink for Mini Mites.  Pat and I were a little nervous considering how Aidan had been in the morning.  We checked him in and got his new Mini Mites jersey--Aidan is on the Yellow team (there are Red, Green, Yellow and Blue) and then went to wait for our turn on the ice. 

Aidan looked out at the ice and said, "Mama, look.  The Finger Skaters are on the ice."  : ) 

The boys waited and waited. . .and then finally, the zamboni was on the ice!!!

And then, they got to take the ice!!!!  The Yellow team played the Green team on one end of the rink while the Blue and Red teams played eachother on the other end.

Aidan is the one in the yellow jersey with the red and white portion of his socks showing.  He is crowding the boy playing Center on this start. 

Aidan loves Mini Mites.  He was always pushing to be first on the ice and even got a lot of ice time.  Out of the 60 minutes, I would guess that he played at least 35 to 40 minutes.  He won each time he was the one up for the drop of the puck, he chased after the puck and took it away from the other team (and from his own team mate a couple of times!) several times, he guarded the goal and deflected the puck away several times and he could be credited with many many assists.  He didn't make any goals himself, but he was really into it!

He showed an interest and enthusiasm that was really awesome.  I think we're going to pull him from the lesson and see about getting him into the Hockey Skills class instead.  That will mean two hours straight on the ice on Saturday afternoons into December, but I think he will be much happier.  And, it will make our Saturdays a bit easier too!

On the way out of the Ice House, we saw the Mites coming in to play next.  I think they are 7, 8 and 9 year olds.  Not sure.  Aidan looked at them and said, "I want to be one of those guys."  Okay.  If you continue to like it!!

Meanwhile, on the way home, Aidan crashed in the car and slept so soundly on the way home that we had to practically pull him out of the back of the car to bring him in the house!  Total exhaustion.

Mini Mites Rock!!!  Go AJ!!!