FULL OF JOY!!

WHEN READING THIS VERSE AND TRYING TO FIND A PHOTO THAT FILLED ME WITH IT, WHEN I SAW THIS ONE I SMILED AND WAS FILLED WITH JOYFULNESS AND REJOICING!

     ABOUT 4 DAYS BEFORE I WAS HEADING FROM TACOMA TO OMAHA LAST AUGUST, I, AT THE TACOMA MALL AREA, MET A BOY, AND IN A FEW HOURS WE BECAME FAMILY.  AARON CONSIDERED ME HIS GRANDMA.

      THREE DAYS LATER, WE WENT TO CHURCH TOGETHER AND HAD THE PICTURE TAKEN RIGHT BEFORE  WE WERE LEAVING.  WE WALKED A FEW BLOCKS AND HAD LUNCH AND THEN HE WENT TO WHERE HE LIVED, A FEW MORE BLOCKS AWAY, AND I WENT UP TO MY COUSIN SHARON'S ROOM TO BEGIN PLANNING  RE: AIRPORT SITUATION THE NEXT DAY. 

      AARON AND I HAVE BEEN IN TOUCH ON EMAIL AND PHONES QUITE A NUMBER OF TIMES IN THESE PAST 9 MONTHS.  WHEN I PLANNED TO BE IN TACOMA A COUPLE MORE MONTHS FROM NOW, WITH MY HUSBAND AND I DRIVING OUT,  I TRULY WANTED DAVE TO MEET AARON SO DAVE WOULD SEE AND MEET HIS NEW GRANDSON.  WELL, THIS WEEK WHEN CALLING HIM, I FOUND OUT THAT AARON IS SUDDENLY IN TEXAS WHERE HIS DAD LIVES.  HE'S GETTING A JOB AND WON'T BE GOING BACK OUT TO THE NORTHWEST, SINCE HE HAD, THROUGH HIS DAD IN THE PAST, FAMILY AND FRIENDS IN TACOMA. AARON WAS BORN IN TEXAS AND HE  HAS FAMILY AND FRIENDS THERE. 

    

     I'D GO DOWN TO TEXAS IF I COULD!  I WANT TO SEE HIM, MEET HIS HAD AND GIVE THEM HUGS, SINCE I'M FAMILY. OH, WELL.  IF NOTHING ELSE, IN HEAVEN I'LL SEE MY GRANDSON SOME TIME, SOME YEARS FROM NOW.

 

A NEW GRANDSON...SPIRITUALLY

I ain't a mall hanging-out person, usually.  However, when in Tacoma, about 3 weeks ago, staying with a friend from Omaha who hadn't known I was raised in that town [I blogged about that a couple weeks ago when I had came home] and she was a wonderful nursing teacher for a couple months and had a wonderful apartment arranged by the business out there. 

Lisa and I at my sister's; Lisa heading to Sea-Tac

The apartment was near the Tacoma Mall.  I wanted to walk around and about, getting some exercise, so strolled over about noon.  That happened for three days.  During that time, I met a few new friends and that truly was a real treat. I bought one thing from a really special seller, Natalie. And I'll be wearing those purplely leggy things for a very long time.  

The last day, Thursday, I sat for what I assumed would be a few minutes.  Well, it became more than an hour.  There were two twenty-ish aged people.  They had become Mall friends very recently.  The guy, Aaron, and I talked quite a bit re: where he had lived previously [Pennsylvania and Texas, but born in Tacoma], what his working and college situations were that were challenging him, and we talked about the Lord.  The gal, Brittany, had gone to lunch with a friend, and she returned before I left, so I've had her email and phone number.  I was very, very pleased.

One of the amazing pieces is that, on Friday, when my friend was leaving Tacoma and returning to Omaha, I ended up at a cousins apartment, a significant distance from where I had been staying near the Mall.  And this apartment was very small and only about 1/2 mile from where Aaron lived.

On Friday and Saturday, he called me about going to his church.  I knew, as he described it, that it would be in the general area I had lived in and traveled through for years and years and years.  But I didn't recognize the church's name.

That Sunday I was picked up by Aaron and his driver.  A mile-ish away, when they pulled up to the church, I was overwhelmed.  My mother's church when she was about 20 years old, back in 1940.  I'd seen it many, many times, but had never gone in.  

To be in it on that Sunday, it was amazing.  It had been a Baptist Church for many years, but now was a non-denominational church and filled with worship and worship and more worship.  And, that day, sharing many of the summer missions situations around and about our world.  And wonderful healing and helpful prayers in the middle time and at the end time.  I was prayed over more than once!  And I prayed for another near me.

Just heading out from church

Aaron and I sat together and had a wonderful time.  Then we walked about a mile to have lunch right under the apartment of my cousin's. After about an hour of just eating and talking and encouraging, when we finished, we hugged and he walked his way and I went up to the apartment. I returned to Omaha the next day, hitting the planes.

The important everydayness of this situation is that now I have a "grandson".  Aaron, when he calls or emails, he has consistently called me "grandma".  

What a blessing to go to the Mall.  I was walking around and about in that very large place, seeing many, many people.  Suddenly meeting three.  A blessing, a special one, is that I  have a spiritually-focused grandson and now I am "officially" being his grandma.

Yes, a blessing.

GIVE MORE THAN RECEIVE

MY HUSBAND AND OUR GRANDSON ARE GREAT CHEFS.

AND THEY COOK AND GIVE AND SHARE.

THEY WERE TRULY BLESSING PEOPLE

WITH THEIR SKILLFULNESS.

A VARIETY OF BLESSING FOR MANY...

BUT DEFINITELY INCLUDING ME!