Arky Arky

Don't you just hate it when you get a song stuck into your head? Luckily, this rarely happens to me. However, there is a song -well actually just a few words of a song stuck into my head today and they are from the song (drum roll please) Arky Arky. Ugh, I wished it was the entire song, or even a whole verse but it's only the following words...

"Elephants and kangaroosie, roosies"

Well, at least having some words from the Arky, Arky song stuck in my head is far better than having some words from the Hokey Pokey song stuck in my head.

Oh great! It's now worse. I've the words, "and shake it all about" running over and over in my head.

Sigh* :)

I hope I don't start dancing around the office.

Kindergarten Photo

Usually the first thing that I do when I get home from work is to go through Emily's book bag to see what's what. Yesterday when I pulled out her black note book from her bag, I immediately saw the tip of a large gray envelope sticking out of it. The type of large gray envelope that you instantly know that contains school pictures. My heart started racing with anticipation but my mind went back to the morning that the school pictures were taken. I remember getting a phone call from Hartford and he gently asked me if it was OK if Emily wore a necklace to school? I said excitedly, "Sure, she can pick one out of my jewelry box. Her necklaces are on the left side!" He hesitated for a moment before he told me that she had already picked out the “teddy bear” necklace. I recall taking a deep breath. I silently concluded that this was not a battle that I could or would win. So, I replied half-heartily, “that’s fine”. Hartford asked once more to make sure that I was truly fine with it. I told him that it would make her happy which is the important thing and besides, she would more likely smile when the picture was taken.

As I slowly pulled out the pictures with a little dread, I pulled out the class portrait first. I stared for the slightest moment, then a grin quickly grew on my face and I couldn't hide my laughter. I expected the necklace, however, I didn't expect to see Emily sitting in the front row with her pants cuffs rolled up on her leg. I showed Hartford and he laughed as well. We asked her why she rolled her pants up and she stated as if it was obvious, "I wanted to make sure that everyone saw my socks."

Needless to say, the pictures are priceless.

I love that child! She is truly precious. I hope and pray that she will always be true to herself. She inspires me to be true to myself and enjoy life.

George

George - I don't know his last name, however I know him also by the names of Jackson's grandpa and Santa Claus. He is a member of our church. He generates a sweet spirit.

A couple of years ago on Christmas Eve, he was at the same candle light service as we were. Since Emily had been acting up earlier in the day, I asked Hartford to see if he could make it though the crowd and get him to come speak to Emily. As Emily and I were waiting in the corner, Emily spotted George walking next to Hartford and was thrilled that Santa was nearby. He had a red sport jacket that made it all the more real.

He was so sweet with Emily. He got down on her level and talked with her. She was all smiles and boy oh, she was extremely well behaved for a few days.

Last year was the first year that Emily was old enough to attend Bible school. She loved it. One day she was extra thrilled because Santa was on vacation and worked at Bible school that day. She talked a lot about his visit and all the wonderful things that he had said to the children.

Needless to say George is a blessing.

Currently, George is fighting a battle with cancer. He has lost his hair as well as his beard. Of course, he still generates a sweet spirit.

Yesterday during the service the preacher was celebrating George and said the following:

You have three stages in life -
one, you believe in Santa,
two, you get to be Santa, and
three if you are lucky, you get to look like Santa.

I was sitting close enough to him and saw him wipe a tear from his eye. He hopes that one day that he will look like Santa again.

I hope and pray that he wins over cancer and he will look like Santa very soon. He will always be Santa inside.

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Wow, I can hardly believe that I am creating a blog.