It is so sad when someone you know and see on a consistent basis passes on from this life. It isn’t as difficult when they are in their 80’s or 90’s but anything under that is hard and the younger the harder.

Last week a very faithful lady in our church passed away. Helena Norman was committed to Christ and her family. She was an excellent example to many. She will be greatly missed.

Her memorial service was last week and Michael, Tiffany, Sean, and I volunteered to help out in any way needed. We served the light lunch following the service. The microphone was opened up for people to share thoughts and memories; it was so nice to hear how she impacted her co-workers and church members alike. I didn’t know her very well but she usually had a smile on her face. By the time we returned the The Family Prayer Center, where she attended for over twenty years, her son Isaac was already grown and off at college. Seeing him at the memorial service and his heart for those that had come, his appreciation and compassion for those who shared and then his smile, you couldn’t help but see Helena.

When I took the picture above, there was music playing. It was so good that I thought it was a recording and I glanced up and this is what I saw.

Brenda, who plays in church frequently, was playing the keyboard. It was beautiful. I’m sure it was very difficult for her since they were good friends. Helena had been battling cancer for a while. I don’t know how long she fought; I do know they had time to prepare, while doing all she knew to do to be healed on this earth.

The service was a light, joyful time, as is common with fellow Christians, since we are assured they have gone on to a better place. Helena had served in the military and so there was a flag presentation. The two young men (they were probably in their late 20’s to early 30’s ) that did the flag presentation and playing of Taps did an amazing job. I don’t believe there was a dry eye in the place when they were done. I commended them as the left, telling them that theirs was the hardest part of the service and that they’d done an amazing job. They were so soulful and had such respect. I can imagine the music being played for the funeral of someone lost while on active duty would be even more gut-wrenching. Wow!

Thankfully, we know that Helena knew Jesus was the Son of God, He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, and was crucified for our sins. Helena accepted Him as her Savior and definitely lived her life for Him. Thus we know, she is now in heaven rejoicing with those who have gone on before her.

We stayed until there were just a couple people left. Two sweet ladies of the church joined us at the end and helped us do the final clean-up. It was nice to catch up with them, as we hadn’t talked in a while. It was a good day.

Michael had proposed the day before that we go see a movie we’d been wanting to see but I had a feeling that we’d be finished between showings and wouldn’t want to be hanging around town. I was right. So we headed home and had a relaxing evening together.

Well, I didn’t intend to write the entire post on this subject but I think it is fitting. Helena was a dear lady and sister in Christ, whom I look forward to seeing again in eternity.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and enjoy those you have in your life.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

The weekend after we celebrated Brian and Liam’s birthday, I had an Aunt/Niece Day with my youngest sister’s girls while she took Tiffany out to lunch. They had a good time, as did we.

The girls and I started with making lunch. Tracie has told me that they enjoy cooking or would like to cook more, so I figured we’d make our lunch together. Ashlee likes chicken nuggets and she’s the oldest, so I let her do that with my help.

She did a great job cutting cutting the breast into pieces. Then she followed the easy directions of adding beaten egg and then the add the breading ingredients. Then fried it, all with my supervision.

Macie likes vegetables and cheese, so I thought she’d like to do the broccoli tots.

She too did a great job. I helped her prep the ingredients and then she mixed and formed the tots, with supervision. I put them in the air fryer but let them cook a few minutes too long and some of them were overdone. But rest assured, none were tossed. Some were leftover for the guys to eat upon their return from work that night.

It was a tasty lunch and fun cooking together.

After we ate and cleaned up our mess, it was artsy time. I pulled out my beloved washi tape, pens, pencils, markers, inks, stencils, and stickers. I gave them each a bookmark and they decorated any way they wanted.

I think they had fun.

They are so used to pictures being taken. They’d pause and pose so quickly, all with a big smile.

Macie is a bit quicker with her crafting (well, with everything . . . she reminds me of Tiffany in that regard). If you look closely at the picture above you can see Ashlee’s just barely begun on her bookmark but that Macie’s has been painted and is sitting to dry. She as done several other pieces as well and even put a second coat of ink on the bookmark all in the same time Ashlee has spend on hers. I’m definitely more like Ashlee.

Yeah, they tolerated me taking some quick pictures and obliged me with some smiles.

When they were finished with their works of art, we moved on to a board game. But first, Macie and I whipped up some ice cream in the ice cream maker. I used a recipe from the booklet for regular ice cream for them . . .  because I’m a good aunt and won’t make them go sugar-free while they are here.

I had magic skinny chocolate nuts while they ate their ice cream. I enjoyed the Mario Monopoly game. I don’t usually care for Monopoly but this one is different and fun.

The girls spent the night, enjoying some cousin time (and some Uncle time too). They got to play games with the cousins. Tiffany was a trooper and played a lot, even though she felt miserable. She’d come down with some nasty sinus yuck and even got feverish before the weekend was over. She ended up sharing that nastiness with Sean and I, which wasn’t very fun. Thankfully Tracie said they took some E-merGenC and didn’t get anything. Whew! So glad.

It was a fun time! We’ll do it again next year. (Yeah, I’m real . . . I’d love to say before the end of the year but I know better; it’ll be next year before we do another full one like this.) But I have made plans to be a cool aunt and have them spend the night more often. We’ll see how that goes.

I hope you enjoyed a glimpse into my life. It was a special time.

Until next time, God bless,

 Michele ºÜº