Last night I started my “mama happy dance”! In the middle of sitting outside in our backyard around the fire with Mark’s colleagues (LOVE those people!), Jesus walked out my back door and came over and gave me a huge bear hug. Or, rather, he resembled what I imagine Jesus looking like. Long, slightly curly hair, beard and mustache. Beautiful smile. My boy! He just got home for a week of Thanksgiving vacation and Jesus definitely gave me a hug through him last night. So, yes. I DID hug Jesus last night. 🙂
He and Mark are off this morning to buy the turkey and everything else to create our yearly feast. Blake insists he wants to learn how to do all the cooking and baking which thrills my mama heart even more 🙂 I can almost smell the homemade rolls and pies already…
The next round of dancing will be on Monday around noon when we pick Abby up from the airport! Yippee!!!! This will be her first visit here and I’m so excited to show her the town and people of Pleasanton. I have no doubt she will fall in love with this place and be joining us here in the near future. I can hardly wait!
By late Wednesday or very early Thursday, I will be dancing like a fool. Four of my kids all under my roof again. Laughing, reminiscing. Loud and boisterous. Brittany and Brendan. Blake and Abby.
But there will be one place setting empty (next to the other vacant spot where, in my mind’s eye, I always picture Mitchell). Janay. Off in her new “home” land. A place where they don’t celebrate our western holiday of Thanksgiving, obviously. There will be a dynamic missing. A thread in the conversations that will be left dangling because she’s not there to pick it up. No one to call Janice :-).
There will be a definite ache in my mama heart as well as the other hearts around the “almost full” table. But because of God’s provision for her and her diving in and finding sweet community in Cambodia, she will not be alone or lonely. Her celebration with her new friends will be different from what she’s used to. And so will ours. But I know that she will think back to a couple of months ago when her Arizona friends had a true Thanksgiving/Christmas feast for her. I’m sure those home baked tastes will linger in her mouth for a very long time. Not the taste of the turkey or the pie. But the taste of great love.
So, you’ll excuse me if I burrow down and nestle deep into family time this week. Savoring each delicious morsel of it. Drinking in every word and interaction. Entranced by every burst of laughter and bits of family history shared.
The oven will be busy and the candles will be burning. But they won’t be the cause of the warmth that will be filling my heart for the next eight days.
Very happy sigh………………….:-)
