Sundae Dinner

 Last night after the kids were in bed, Rick and I had a wonderful talk. I love talking with my husband. He is kind, caring, inquisitive, sensitive, and smart. We talked about our day, the wonderful evening we had had with some new friends, and how we will begin a new week hopefully with much less stress than the last. I shared with him how I had been praying that morning thanking the Lord for the great news about Andrew and wondering if my humble cries to Him all last week actually made the difference with the scan results. No, I am not God, but I do believe that our prayers matter. I just thought for a minute that maybe God had chosen to use my prayers to "sway" His decision with Andrew. Of course He had the ultimate plan laid out, but He does call His people  to pray and to pray boldly knowing that He hears our prayers. Anyway, we talked about that concept for a little while as well as the unfortunate fact that our minds seemed to already be moving on from the great news we received. Sometimes it is easy in the good times to just move on and become independent again and just "forget" what we went through. I didn't want to do this. I told Rick that at the beginning of the week when I was so scared, I shared with God that if He would spare my son, then I would throw a big party or do whatever He wanted. I wanted to shout from the mountain top that God had saved my boy if that would happen. However, my sinful self got involved quickly and the desire to really celebrate lost its appeal. Shouldn't we just move on and get ready for the week or even the "next stress in line?" How awful of me! You see that action is not Biblical. When God blessed the Israelites or spared them from harm, they celebrated. They threw parties and gathered their friends and families and praised God together for what He had done. Rick and I decided right then that the next day would be a day of celebration.

 We told the kids that morning that there would be a party that afternoon. It would be at our house and they wouldn't want to miss it. They made it through church and lunch and even naptime. While they all napped, Rick and I worked the magic. He went to the store and I covered our kitchen with streamers, balloons, a blue tablecloth, and Toy Story plates and napkins (and action figures). As the sleepyheads awoke one by one, we gathered them in Andrew's room and told them the party was about to begin. Rick shared with them the Bible story of celebration and we talked about how scared we had been and how good God had been to our family to heal Andrew. We also told them that this party was not just for Andrew, but for all of us because of what we had made it through and how we could celebrate. We led the kids downstairs to the decorated kitchen and surprised  them with ice cream and all the toppings you could possibly want to make sundaes. As many of you know, I am a time/schedule keeper. The kids can have light snacks when they wake up because we eat pretty early and I don't want them spoiling their supper. So at 4pm when we were dishing the large scoops of ice cream onto their plates my heart turned to rejoicing. The kids didn't really even know what to think. Rick and I helped with Reeses pieces, chocolate chips, gummy bears, syrups, fruit spreads, whipped cream and sprinkles. We piled it high on each plate and let the kids just dive into the candy around them. They ate and laughed and ate some more. By 4:30 we were all stuffed and feeling a little sick, but we were happy. We took the time out of our normal schedule to celebrate. To remember the God that has been faithful this entire time and continues to bless us with life. It was a great time with our kids. They were way too full to have dinner so we camped in front of, what else, but Toy Story before going upstairs to play and read before bed. Our family has learned that it is easy to mourn loss and feel negative emotions when bad times hit. However, it can be a little harder to take time and rejoice together and remember that God loves to give good gifts to His children.