"DOZENS of Prayers!"

I wanted to share something funny that happened at church on Sunday. I'm now in primary and teach the 4 year old class, but not Anna's class. The theme during sharing time on Sunday was prayers. The woman doing sharing time told stories about having her prayers answered when she lost something as a little girl, then she called 3 kids up who she had asked ahead of the meeting to share a story about prayers being answered. They also told stories about losing something, praying and finding it. The woman then asked if anyone else wanted to come up and share an experience they'd had with prayer. One of Addison's friends, Sammie, got up and was close to crying. He said, "I lost my two dogs a few weeks ago. They were my favorite stuffed animals. I looked and looked for them. I have said DOZENS of prayers and I STILL haven't found them. My prayers weren't answered. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

Two of the women were trying to reassure him to keep praying and have faith. I was trying hard not to burst out laughing. But it only took a moment for me to realize how often I feel like Sammie. I probably haven't said dozens of prayers, but there are definitely times when we each feel like our prayers aren't answered, or at least not answered as quickly or in the manner we would like them to be.

I've been smiling all week each time I think about him. I'll let you know if he finds the dogs.

It's sad when your own child doesn't recognize you...

Last week I got a haircut. In June Jenna donated 10 inches of her hair to Locks of Love and I decided I wanted to follow in her footsteps. I wanted to be sure my hair was long enough so I waited for a couple of months. My cousin MeLynda recommended a place called Visions and I really liked the gal there that cut my hair. I told her to take off enough for the Locks of Love and then cut it however she wanted to. She was very thorough and spent an hour on my hair. I'm happy with the results, even if it was a little difficult to get used to.


The reason I wanted to write about this was to tell of a funny/sad thing that happened with Andrew after my haircut. That evening I took him with us to Sarah's back to school night. He was so difficult. He whined and cried the entire night. Finally when we got to the van he started screaming and throwing a terrible tantrum. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. He's usually a pretty even tempered child. He screamed out of control all the way to my parent's home. After we got there I got him out of the car and he ran to my mom and jumped into her arms. He was immediately happy and grinning. I told her I didn't know what was going on and that he had been screaming for the last 30 minutes. Sarah jokingly replied that he didn't know who I was with my new haircut. My mom asked him, "Where's Mama?" He did this "I don't know" action and looked all over. His eyes passed right over me as he kept looking and not finding "mama". It was so sad for me. My mom thought it was pretty funny. It took him a day or two to warm up to me but I think he realizes I'm "mama" now.

Andrew's "I don't know" pose.

In other news, the kids started back to school last week on Monday. They are enjoying it and I'm a little relieved to start back into our school year routine. Sarah started middle school and is in 7th grade. I really like this middle school and the teachers we've met there so far. Jenna is in 4th grade and according to a few different neighbors, she has the best teacher in the school. Addison is in 2nd grade and seems to also have a great teacher. Anna starts preschool tomorrow at Miss Margaret's school in our old WJ neighborhood. We are going to do that for the two months until her preschool at the local high school starts at the end of October.

First Day of School

The last thing I wanted to mention was that my parents are now officially English professors in China. They will be there for 10 months teaching at the university. The arrived safely and are trying to get their tiny apartment set up. I believe it's 400 sq. ft. total. They are living in a coastal resort type town on the Yellow Sea across from Korea. Here's where it is on the map.


I think they will really enjoy it there. I'll add some pictures once they are able to send them to us. I'm not sure how to end this blog entry. I've come close to putting "Take care," or "Love, Jody". Funny. I guess I'll just end it now.