Thursday Is "The Candy Day"

It's Thursday. [I am not getting any more creative with my opening sentences.]

As my wife prepares lunch, I am taking this opportunity to begin writing this post for the day.

Skimming through the Psalms, I focused for a few minutes on the privileges we have as God's children.

God is . . .

our Glory (Psalm 3:3).
our King (Psalm 5:2).
our Deliverer (Psalm 18:2).
our Redeemer (Psalm 19:14).
our Light and our Salvation (Psalm 27:1).
our Helper (Psalm 33:20).
our Strength (Psalm 46:1).
our Guide (Psalm 48:14)
our Portion (Psalm 73:26).
our Shield (Psalm 84:11).
our Habitation (Psalm 90:1)
0ur Keeper (Psalm 121:4-5).

Our younger son has dubbed this day The Candy Day (details to follow).

After a good night's rest, my wife and I arose early - it was probably 4:30 when she got up, and a half-hour later when she woke me up - to see Stephen, Sheri, Sydney, and Samantha off to Atlanta.

My wife climbed back into bed - we have been sleeping downstairs on the pull-out sofa for a month now - and we began reading e-mails that have arrived in the past week. E-mails that I have read, but ones that my wife has not been able to enjoy because of the busy-ness.

At some point, our younger son came downstairs and snuggled beside us in the bed.

At 6:15, my wife woke up our daughter and pre-school preparations got underway. A friend graciously offered to drive our daughter to school today, enabling my wife to remain in her pajamas and enjoy a quiet morning at home.

The four of us were able to enjoy an extended time of prayer together before our daughter left for school. It was a very sweet time.

My wife prepared breakfast for me - scrambled eggs, bacon, and grits. It was quite a treat.

After a few light chores, my wife was able to crawl up alongside me and enjoy reading more e-mails. There are still many left to read. And new ones keep coming.

My son and I enjoyed reading several books together and have plans for doing some more constructive activities this afternoon. I was also just informed that we would be playing Monopoly after lunch.

The highlight of our day, so far, has been dubbed by our son as The Candy Day.

Yesterday, in addition to bringing home a great variety of fudge for dessert, Stephen and Sheri went on a scavenger hunt of sorts - at CVS - to pick up a variety of "treats" that I listed on a piece of paper.

Some people may choose to spend their final days in exotic locations, taking risks, or both. I simply want to spend time with family and friends and enjoy some of my favorite foods. And candy.

This morning, the three of us sampled the goods collected by Stephen and Sheri. The Candy Day experience featured samples of white cheddar cheese popcorn, Jordan almonds, Necco wafers, malted milk balls, mini-Heath Bars, and assorted flavors of Jelly Belly jelly beans. There is also toffee popcorn, but that will wait for another time. We taught our son to enjoy each flavor, especially when it came time to sampling the jelly beans. Guessing the flavors is difficult without lablels!

I also took some time to tell our son about how we used to visit the candy counter at the local variety store. All the penny candy. And how we could fill up a small candy bag with 25 cents worth of candy treats.

The best thing about this day, by far, is that we are spending a quiet day at home, enjoying being together.

I have observed that when things are busy here, more tears are shed. Tears associated with the sense of loss, of being apart. But when we are alone (as a couple or as a family), there is a greater sense of peace, of joy. We can focus our attention on one another. We can more easily focus our attention on seeing Jesus - together.

God is meeting our need for this day. As He does each and every day.