How Big Nanny got her joy back

The days following Sumer's departure were quite sad.

Like, excuse me God, but I'm not going to get over my friend moving to Africa sad. I'm not going to forget that You did this. And I don't have to be happy about it. I can just sit in my sadness and just be a sassy miss sad pants.

You can obviously see that I have very deep theological talks with the Lord.

Anyhoo, it was time for Sunday. This would be the real test. Walking into church and not seeing my friend where I always see her. But the Lord was good to give me some distractions that day. Quite honestly, I have about 400 distractions every Sunday (all my normal distractions are under the age of 6 and I'm responsible for their safety) but these distractions were different. I was able to keep busy and go on with my day.

And then I got an email from Sumer that said that I could give her a call whenever I had a chance...

I called her on Sunday afternoon, and we talked for an hour. (I don't advise that you make a habit of talking to anyone on the phone for an hour when they live on another continent. That handy dandy international phone card is about to run out.)

And during that hour she told me all the things that they had been doing, how the boys were doing, what they had been eating, etc. And then she told me what she was going to be doing on Monday...

I'm going to see if I can find Habtamu and then we're going to find these two street kids to see if they want to come to the summer program.

And then she said this (not an exact quote but close)...

And I can't think of anything else I would rather be doing with my day than that.

And then I smiled a real smile for the first time in 5 days. The Lord quickly told me that He knew what He was doing, and it was time to stop being a Sassy Miss Sad Pants.

The Lord gave me a release from my sadness, and I've felt better ever since. I still miss my friend but there was joy in hearing her plan for Monday and knowing that she is experiencing the joy of doing exactly what God has called her to do.

Leaving On a Jet Plane

This past week has held lots of emotions. I originally planned to title this post...I'm really mad at Francis Chan right now and don't buy his book or your best friend will move to Africa but that seemed slightly childish and immature.

So instead of all that nonsense I'm just going to tell you how I spent last week.

On Monday I dropped the Lil'Nanny off for camp and went to work.

(Someone took this picture of her at camp and put it on Facebook. Obviously, camp is a good time to start wearing heavy eyeliner.)

Later in the day we had some fun party time for our Africa missionaries. We had a few of Sumer's favorites: Zaxby's chicken tenders, chocolate cake, Coke and water.

On Tuesday, Sumer needed to run a few errands and eat her last Cracker Barrel Meal. We had lunch at Cracker Barrel on Sunday, and I had assumed that would be her last Cracker Barrel meal, but I was wrong. I always joke that any meal that Sumer orders almost always cost $12. She didn't hold back on her plan of fattening up for Africa and on this day her bill was more than $12. I joined her for many meals over the last few weeks, and I'm now "fattened up" for Africa too. The only problem is that I'm not going to Africa anytime soon.

After our meal, we hit the Target to pick up a few items that she needed for the big flight. She was savoring her last Target run so we took our sweet time...

We picked up some stuff for the boys to play with on the flight. And I tried on an outfit...

Fun times. In my book, you're a real friend of mine if you're willing to wander aimlessly through a Wal-Mart or Target with me. We spent the rest of the afternoon helping her get the 10 containers ready.

Then it was time. Time for Wednesday. The day that I had been dreading for weeks. So I picked up Alicia and we went on our way. I had borrowed a redneck truck that I literally had to climb into and the ten containers were loaded up, a prayer was said and then it was time to load everyone up. Sumer climbed in with us for our last outing together.

Yes, two people were wearing sunglasses for a reason. We drove to the airport and chatted about random stuff because there was a slightly large elephant in the truck that kept shouting:

We're taking you to the airport and we're going to have to say good-bye!

We said our goodbyes with lots of hugs (generally, we have a no hugging policy) and lots of tears. She handed us each a card, and two women left the airport crying the ugly cry.

When I got in the truck I opened my card and read the first sentence...

You've got no one to blame but yourself.

And I laughed. Because one day last August I got on the internet and typed this in a google search engine: babies Africa orphans Please note that I didn't type this: friend Africa moving.

I recently heard this quote in a Bible study: God's character is always the same, but His activity is always surprising. I can say for a fact that is true and be careful what you type in a google search engine.

Stay tuned for part 2:)

Let's Make a Deal

Some may look at this picture and say: someone is obsessive compulsive and needs to buy 6 deodorants at one time and that might be true. But I just look at it and see 12 dollars. Yes, I got them all for FREE!

A couple months back we had a coupon event at my church. Deana and Angel showed us how to save big bucks by using coupons at the right time. You have to use the coupons when the items are on sale so that you get the item for the lowest price or sometimes FREE! Free is good.

This was my great deal last weekend. I have to say that I didn't like carrying my handy coupon holder box into Publix (where shopping is a pleasure and it would be if it didn't take me so long to find the Q-tips) because I thought everyone was going to think that I was one of those crazy coupon ladies. And I fully believe that I have the potential to be a crazy coupon lady especially after I got my good deodorant deal at Kroger. On sale for $2 each and I had a $2 off coupon for each one. I used http://www.southernsavers.com/ to make my list.

Many of you have jumped on the coupon bandwagon...what was your deal of the week?