Surprises on Mother's Day

No, I'm not pregnant.

Since a title that includes both "surprises" and "Mother's Day" might lead some readers to imagine that a pregnancy announcement was coming up, it seems best to clear up that idea right away! :) But even without a positive pregnancy test, this Mother's Day did turn out to be a day full of surprises.

To begin with, our original plan was to drive north on Sunday to worship with a congregation of dear loved ones in the DC area; but when I logged onto Facebook late Saturday night and discovered that the parents of a college friend, Katie, were traveling from New York to Tennessee but had had car trouble and were spending the night in my town (really? my town? out of all the possible places they could have broken down between NY and TN, they ended up here? what a "God-incidence"!) but needed a ride to the airport to pick up a rental car the next morning, it didn't take but about half a second to realize that that was what God wanted us to do on that day. So we cancelled our plans to head north and instead headed out to retrieve two people we'd never met before so they could get a car. Dave and Kathie were delightful, and I enjoyed chatting with them, then especially appreciated our prayer together before we dropped them off. I wouldn't mind a bit if their travels brought them our way again. :)

Well, after that, since it was too late to make the trip up to DC, we decided to head west just a short distance from our house and attend the Sunday morning service of a Russian church. Jeff has a number of Russian customers in the barbershop and has formed friendships with some of them, and this particular family had often invited Jeff to come to a service at their church. This was our chance.

It was a little bit like stepping into another world. Everything was in Russian, and the familiar words and cadences of language swept me back to the time when we lived in Israel and had many close friends who were Russian. (Sidenote: when we lived in Israel, I learned how to type in Russian, because our congregation was revising our songbooks, and I had the very fun job of being the typist. Sadly, even though I could type the Russian letters, I couldn't actually read or speak the language...except for a few words, and even then my pronunciation was atrocious. In fact, at a certain point in one of the songs we sang during worship, the ladies kindly told me I should probably not sing so loudly because the way I was mispronouncing the words actually made it mean something entirely different--something not nearly as good as the intended meaning! Over and over, they tried to demonstrate what I was doing wrong; but the thing was that I couldn't even hear the difference between the correct way and the way I was saying it. It's awfully challenging to correct an error if you can't even discern it! But it does make me laugh to remember that conversation.) :)

Well, where was I? Oh yes, in a little country church just west of here, listening to the fascinating Russian language...

It wasn't until a few minutes after we had walked in, attracting curious glances from everyone, and sat down on the left side of the sanctuary that I noticed that the congregation was segregated: men on the left, women on the right. I hurriedly asked Jeff's friend Victor if it would be better for me to move, and he assured me that there was no need for that; sometimes the families sit together, especially if the dads want to help the moms, for example, with their little children. Which begs the question: what about Sunday school? There wasn't any. All the children--and there were a lot of them!--were part of the main service, although there was some coming and going during the service, as needed to take care of the little ones. In these two regards, it felt very much like an Old Order Mennonite service!

Victor was our translator, and he sat behind us and did an admirable job of helping us understand what was going on--except for when he needed to go and participate in the wonderful music. I enjoyed the vibrant, hearty singing very much; and my boys looked at me with some amazement when they heard me singing along to two of the songs. No, I had not been given the gift of speaking in tongues at that moment. As a matter of fact, those two songs were "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" and "Blessed Assurance," and I was, of course, simply singing them in English. :)

It just so happened that a very special treat awaited us. Some members of a sister congregation in New England were visiting and had joined with some of the local members to form an orchestra. Well, when I think of orchestra, I think of violins and cellos and flutes and so forth. This, however, was a very different kind of orchestra, comprised mostly of balalaikas and domras, but also including an accordion and a few other instruments. (For an idea of what we experienced, you might want to click here to check out this Russian folk orchestra. Isn't that the coolest thing??) I was enthralled. :)

The part of the speaking that stood out to me the most was an older man telling of his experiences years ago in the USSR. He had become a Christian and was also teaching a class of children about Jesus, which was strictly forbidden. While being questioned by the KGB, a tray of needles was brought out and shown to him to suggest to him what would happen if he clung to his beliefs in Christ; but even though he was young in his faith, he stood firm. Eventually there was a disturbance of some sort in another office, and all the guards from his office went to the other one to find out what was going on and to help in that situation. When one returned, he told this man that he was free to go. As he walked out the front door of the police station, there was his mother, fervently praying that he would be true to the faith and would not give in to their threats and torture. What an inspiring and convicting story to hear on Mother's Day!

Jeff helped tremendously with Moriah while we were sitting in the pew, but towards the end of the service she got fussy and I carried a not-so-silent Moriah out of the sanctuary into an adjoining room. And then a dear, sweet Russian grandma hurried to get a homemade cream puff and handed it over with a big smile to Moriah. A little later, she brought over a few more pastries. God bless grandmas everywhere--especially Russian ones who might not speak my language but who know how to comfort with food!! :)

I knew we were somewhat of a curiosity, and I got a kick out of some of the children who would turn and look at us; then when I looked at them and smiled, they would quickly smile and turn away. After a few minutes, they would turn and look again. So sweet. :)

After the service was over, people came up to us to greet us warmly; and they urged us to stay for the meal they were having together--an offer we appreciated very much and probably would have accepted, had it not been for the fact that it was Mother's Day and we wanted to eat with my parents. We somewhat regretfully said goodbye and left with fond memories of an entirely different worship experience.

Then we came home, fixed tacos, set out the Celebrate plate for my mother, gave her two cards (the grandkids wanted to give her one, too!), then ate together around our kitchen table as a family of nine. I should mention that earlier in the day, the boys had given me a homemade card, and Josiah told me that he had a surprise for me. It turned out to be a cute little wall hanging that says "Children are for hugging." He had seen it, chosen it, and paid for it all by himself. You won't be a bit surprised to hear that I cried when he gave it to me! :)

After lunch, I got my wish of a long, luxurious nap on the couch, and the boys splashed around in our pool with Jeff--their first dip in the pool this year. Later that evening, Moriah and I participated in another first when we went down to my parents' house to help go through some of my mother's clothes that don't fit anymore so we could get them ready to donate. While Moriah explored around from room to room and played with the toys in their toy cabinet, my dad kept an eye on her, giving me a chance to help my mom try on a bunch of clothes to see what we should keep. My mom had such a joyful spirit about it. "It's so much fun to do girl things," she said often. :)

Mother's Day of 2014 wasn't what I expected it would be, but it turned out just exactly right. Although it's unlikely I'll have another one like this, I'll certainly treasure the memory of this one! :)

And now, is it possible to have any kind of significant day without taking pictures? I thought not! :)

How about a blurry selfie to start? :)

Moriah's dress was a gift from Jeff's mom--one of the yard sale finds that she's famous for. :)

Setting up a backdrop to take some group pictures...can you tell Moriah was getting tired? :)

When I posted this picture (below) on Facebook, I wrote this: "Every year I think SURELY I'll get one 'good' picture with my kids on Mother's Day. Every year I end up with something like this. And you know what? I wouldn't change a thing. :) Turns out these kinds of pictures might just be better than a 'good' picture any day." ;-)