Author Archives: Nannette

About Nannette

Wife to The Sweetheart, Mom to the Fantastic Six, Nana to six of the cutest littles on the planet, Author, The Daniel Fast, A Devotional. UPCI ministers.

Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend… And A Groom’s Worst Nightmare

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diamondsIt’s Anniversary Week on Hope in the Healing! Sharing a few of the top posts from the past year. Enjoy!

Forty was a year of transition for me.

They say it brings out a mid-life crisis in a man. I was way too busy to have one of those. We were leaving the only home we ever truly loved. Seven wooded acres of beauty, a pond, two-story house with four bedrooms for three growing boys. This was the house my father-in-law built, The Sweetheart grew up in and we had come back to refurbish and call a “home” for the last six years. But change was inevitable in the ministry. We had a calling and it trumped even nostalgia.

So we are moving three hours away to carve out a new life for ourselves. I have entrusted the final move to The Sweetheart and the two older sons, Kyle, the Soon-to-be-Engaged-One, and Kristopher, our Teenage McGyver. The youngest, Korey, is with me on-site at the new place making sure everything is ready for the moving vans to arrive.

That was my first mistake. I left everything that was of any value to me at all in the hands of MEN. Everything was packed; all they had to do was make sure the movers loaded them on to the trucks. It really was very simple. Then drive three hours and I would be there to supervise the unloading process. How could it go wrong?

It’s always hot and humid in southern Indiana in August and moving day was no different. The Sweetheart is a very organized guy. Remember, he was an air traffic controller by trade. Hey, Jack! He was an air traffic control supervisor no less! But, he was overly stressed with the move, so much was going on and to make matters worse, his dear mother, who lived just around the corner, had fallen that very same day outside her home. She was 75 at the time, had broken both her wrists and one elbow, and been laying on her side in the sun for over an hour and a half before she was discovered! So he was called to help get her in the car and to the hospital in the middle of all of this move! Needless to say, the day was not going as he had planned.

So back to the house he runs where he finds Kyle, the Soon-to-be-Engaged-One, in sheer Panic-Mode.

He has discovered that the beautiful Engagement Ring that he is about to give to his Beloved Rachel is missing!! (Mind you, this is also the Little-Girl-I-Never-Had-Rachel, but that is another story for another blog post.)  All of the boys rooms had custom bureaus and armoires built right in to the walls so Kyle still had odds and ends inside his dresser and the ring was in a box there. These were all personal items and since this dresser was BUILT INTO THE WALL there was no reason for the movers to open these doors!

What we didn’t realize is that while Kyle was out of the room, two of the movers found the engagement ring and took it out of the box! What is amazing is that later when Kyle was gathering up the rest of the things inside of that closet and grabs the ring box, he opens it, I guess just to gaze upon it one more time, lovingly of course, and to his horror it is gone! Of course he knows it was just there earlier that morning because he had lovingly gazed upon it only a few hours earlier! That is what a Soon-to-be-Engaged-One does! Or so he was told.

He rushes to find his Dad and they make the surprised Barney Fife assumption that “We’ve been robbed!” Since the perpetrators are still in the house, the situation must be handled with the utmost care. What to do, what to do! While Barney is fumbling for his bullet, Andy is calm, cool and collected. He walks outside and calls me. Well, who would you call?

Now I know you all realize I am a wonderfully sweet, encouraging and uplifting person. But even a wonderfully, sweet and uplifting person doesn’t have to let herself be taken advantage of!

“Call the police!”

The Sweetheart thinks maybe that is a little extreme considering they are still in the house.

He wants to just ask them to return the ring. Yeah, right, like that’s going to happen. What if they are violent? What if they have a gun? People are crazy these days; you never know what they might do!

So he comes up with a plan. He calls the owner of the moving company; it’s local so the owner comes down to the house in about ten minutes. The owner confronts the two guys and they deny that they have taken the ring. Interrogation is a wonderful thing. If it works. It wasn’t working so he gets serious. This guy has watched every season of “Law and Order”.

He decides to do his own strip search!

Right there in my kitchen!

And they do it, right down to their boxers!

Unfortunately, he finds no diamond and decides to hold them there until the police arrive and calls in another crew to finish the loading.

While they are waiting on the police, Kyle is pacing up and down the front sidewalk and the sun happens to catch something shiny in the bushes! What does he see off to the side? Sure enough they had placed the ring underneath a hosta in front of the porch! They are elated until they discover that the actual diamond itself has been pried out of the band! Unbelievable!

Joy one minute, disappointment the next, this day couldn’t get much worse!

The police are ready to haul them in when the sun just happens to glisten off of something shiny and The Sweetheart sees the diamond laying in the grass. Miracles do happen and it seemed that the Soon-to-be-Engaged-One surely deserved one at that moment.

His Rock had been found and reunited with its Band and the living happily forever after was soon to be told.

When law enforcement show up they said we could not charge them with theft because the ring was still on our property. There were minor charges they could have come up with but we decided not to pursue it since the ring was recovered. They are fired on the spot by the owner; he admits he has had a few minor instances with them but nothing like this before. He doesn’t even give them a ride back to town, he makes them walk at least three or four miles!

So the ring is safe back in its little black velvet box. The Soon-to-be-Engaged-One is once again cool, calm, and collected.

Does he tell the Bride-to-Be? Do we want her to know that the symbol of her undying love has been man-handled by strangers?

Should she be made aware that it was thrown in the dirt and possibly stepped on, maybe even little chipmunks ran over it or other miniature creatures tried it on for size before we ever found it?

Or are there some things that just stay “on the island”?

Momma always said, “If you want to start a marriage out right, you don’t keep secrets…”

 

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Sharing with Titus 2sdays,  Tell Me a True Story, Modest Mondays, Walking Redeemed, Winsome Wednesday, Homemaking Linkup, Wholehearted Wednesdays, Messy Marriage, Encourage one another, Whimsical Wednesday

 

 

Life is Precious

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vigilWe all seem to come together in times of national tragedy. And thank God we do. We can never answer the “why?” What causes the violent to take innocent lives and leave others maimed and forever changed?

Our hearts are broken for those that were in Boston this week to celebrate Patriot’s Day and run the Boston Marathon but not be able to finish the race due to a senseless act of terrorism. Our prayers go out to the families of those who perished, for those who were injured and all of those who are suffering today. They will continue to need healing in the weeks and months to come.

When 9/11 came to America we ALL were changed. Forever. Yet we all came together. That is one way we prepare ourselves. Unity and community. That is what we witnessed in Boston yesterday and what we remember in New York, D.C. and Pennsylvania almost twelve years ago. We need each other. There are no Big I’s and Little You’s.

And yet in times of terror and tragedy we need more, much more. Our hope and our trust have to be in a higher power, and not just any higher power. There is only One saving hope and that is in the Name that is above every Name, Jesus Christ. He was there in September, 11, 2001 and He was in Boston Monday, April, 15, 2013.

He showed up in the first responders, paramedics and the innocent bystanders who turned into volunteer nurses. He was there in the form of the marathon runners, who instead of finishing the race, kept running all the way to the hospital to give blood for the wounded and dying.

We have been here before; we do not want to be here ever again. But yet the reality is that we may experience it many times to come. How do we prepare our hearts and our families if it comes to our neighborhood? And how do we comfort one another and move on?

We have to realize we live in a fallen and evil world. We can’t change that but we can change ourselves and our reaction to it. We can be prepared on the inside. This isn’t all there is to living. There is another hope beyond this life and that is our confidence. But while we are here, we focus on the good and the living and reach for those that are dying.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:10 ESV.

We look up, and we look outward. We become Kingdom minded. That’s what the love of Christ is all about and we carry it with us wherever we go. When we become like Him, and His purpose, then we become ONE, united together with Him and we are unstoppable. Those that want to terrorize us want us to be cowering with fear, huddled in our homes, and paralyzed with so much anxiety and dread that we cannot even function.

But when our hope is in Jesus and we are rooted and grounded in Him, our faith is strengthened and our resolve is firm. We are then concerned with our brother and our love for our fellowman takes precedence over our own personal wants and needs. This is The Church, The Body of Christ, working together for the common good.

Let’s forget about our petty differences and focus on the important things in life like:

The Kingdom.

The Love of God.

Our Neighbor.

The Hurting.

The Outcast.

The Lost.

The Dying.

The Sick.

We can’t afford to be picking and back-stabbing and finding fault with one another. It’s not worth it. Time is too short. And life is just too good to be wasting it on hurting each other.

Ask the people in Boston.

Life is Precious.

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Gray Hairs, Cap Guns, and Duct Tape

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67875_534407129903065_1626337972_nI have mischievous boys. If you know them you probably think this story is going to be about number two, the impetuous, and sometimes dangerous, Kristopher Ryan. But this time you would be wrong. Kyle was the oldest, he was always on the lookout for Kristopher, and someone had to be. It wasn’t that he was a tattletale, but he could be that too, he just felt it was his job and duty to keep him safe. They were more than five years apart and that seemed to bring out not just the older brother, but almost a father figure in Kyle. He took it seriously and it saved Kristopher from many a catastrophe.

But then there was the sweet and innocent number three, Korey Ross. He never got into trouble. He didn’t go looking for it, especially in his younger years. He was too cute, too adorable, and too doted upon by his brothers to do anything wrong. There was another five years between Kristopher and Korey so there again was the protector syndrome. We didn’t plan on that but it sure worked out well.

But sometimes they used him when it was for their convenience. Like the time Kyle, Kristopher and their cousin, Jeremy, duct-taped Korey to the wall. Literally, up off the floor, to the wall! Poor kid, I came down to the basement and there he was a foot and a half off the floor. They had totally duct-taped his whole body to the wall. Some of it was not to his clothes either, so he was not a happy camper when it came time to start ripping that sticky gray stuff off.

We were youth pastors when the boys were young so they had about 25 teenage brothers and sisters. This gave us a host of babysitters and provided them with tons of attention. Kristopher and Korey were definitely spoiled. Needless to say I was a busy mother of three; frazzled, and always on the run. This is my excuse for what happened on that sunny spring day when Korey was almost expelled from elementary school…

I had gotten in the habit of taking the youngest two to school in the mornings so they didn’t have to ride the bus and it gave us a little more time. One particular morning as they hopped out of the mini-van we said our good-byes and away I went. After I left the school, I stopped at the grocery store for a few items and hurried back home. As I was getting my bags out of the van I noticed Korey’s cap guns were not on the middle seat where they had been when we got in the vehicle on the way to school. My brain started working very quickly and I began to feel sick.

We were just about six months past the terrible Columbine tragedy in Colorado. And I suddenly realize my first grader has put his beloved toy cap guns in his backpack to show his friends! Panic set in as I ran to the kitchen to call his school. We had direct lines to the teacher and I knew that if I called and explained that Korey had them in his backpack BEFORE he ever took them out, that everything would be ok.

Unfortunately his teacher did NOT see it that way. She wanted to make a public example out of my six year old. She was practically yelling at me through the phone and said she and Korey would meet me in the principal’s office where Korey would be “dealt with”.

I just couldn’t believe this was happening. I understood things were delicate and that is why I had called to stop this before anything did cause any misunderstandings. Was it really necessary to put an innocent little boy through public humiliation just for wanting to show his friends his toys? And he hadn’t even gotten them out!  Korey had played Cowboys and Indians ever since he could walk; he loved John Wayne and anything western. He was a little boy.

As soon as I arrived, the secretary ushered me into the principal’s office and she offered me a seat. She told me Korey was on his way with his teacher. I said I understood that the teacher was going to make a big deal out of this. And the principal said, “No, she is not. We do not make public examples of children, or adults.” This wise woman saw this for what it was. She thanked me for calling the school when I realized what had happened. She then very softly told Korey that we cannot bring to school anything that even “looks like a weapon”. And he understood that. She was my hero. I honestly think that teacher saw an opportunity for publicity because she just kept telling me on the phone, over and over, “we are going to make a public example out of him”. But regardless, it was handled appropriately, and I was thankful and did not hold any hard feelings; we got along great the rest of the year.

Of course I had a long talk with Korey, and with Kristopher, about how times were changing and how we had to be careful in the world today. And I am sure we cannot fully understand the pressure teachers and administrators are under, my admiration for all of them remains the same.  They are under a lot of stress, and even more so today, than we can imagine, and I didn’t want to be guilty of putting any more pressure on them. They are all heroes. I realize she could have had a bad day, I do not know what caused her to want to overreact but thankfully an even wiser principal was in charge.

This post wasn’t for debate about toy guns. It was about mischievous little boys and the mothers who survived them. That one aged me a few years and cost me several gray hairs. Korey cannot take credit for too many of them but he can brag about that one. Or not.

Kristopher on the other hand….have you heard about the one where he called the police to our house when he wasn’t even two years old? Another day, another story…

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