Chandra's Journal
March 28, 2006
Canon’s birthday/ celebration party was a huge success! We had a big inflatable castle with two giant slides and a smaller inflatable castle for the kids to play on. Those kids were probably worn slick by the time they left because they played so hard the entire time it was up. My cousin Jackie and Reese Herndon volunteered from the high school class to dress up in Tigger and Elmo costumes! They were great! It was so funny how some kids thought they were great and they would call them over to jump with them, “Tigger! Tigger, over here!” And then others would steer very clear and not turn their backs toward them at all. We had toddler music playing the whole time and lots of colorful balloons on all the tables. I had wanted a fun, cheerful atmosphere and I think it turned out to be just that. I wish I had a picture of Canon’s face when Linda and Mom brought the boys in! Mom said that when they drove up to the building Canon started saying “church” in the backseat. I wish I knew what he was thinking when he saw everything – the castles, the characters, the balloons. His face was priceless! He kept his head totally still, his brow slightly furrowed, and just scanned back and forth with his eyes. I discovered the costume phenomenon: The closer we got to Tigger or Elmo, the tighter he held on to me and the closer his head came to my shoulder. It was so funny! After a little bit, we cut him a corner of his Nemo cake, sang Happy Birthday, and he and I blew it out together. Then everybody got some cake and we played “How Great Is Our God” by Chris Tomlin real loud. It was so perfect! Canon ate one bite and then realized what song it was and started to sing along! I had a great time and was so glad that we had so many friends and family there to help us celebrate this special birthday. Mom told me I would have a hard time topping this party in the future; I’m sure that’s true! I’ve only done two birthday parties now and I’m beginning to see that I have a tendency to get carried away!
Now to another topic that isn’t near as fun – selling the house. We THOUGHT it was going to be fun when we had a contract on it within a week of listing it. Spring Break came and my mom and sister came up to help us pack/babysit. Then on the 10th day of the buyer’s 10-day option period, they backed out. AHH! We were so frustrated. Come to find out the guy still wanted the house, but his mother (who was financing the whole thing) had little hang-ups about it. Drew agreed to extend their contract for another two days and fix the little things. They said yes, they would take it. Then, would you believe they backed out two days later??!! I gotta’ say, it was hard not to be “quick to anger” after they made us wait while the house was not being shown for almost two weeks and then backed out!! I mean, if you’re that nervous, back out on the third day or the fourth day. So anyway, we’re back to square one – keeping it clean and ready to show all the time. Our realtor thinks we should get another contract as fast as we got the first one. I wouldn’t be worried about it, except that we’re buying a new house from our friends and we wrote a contract with them when our house went under contract. Anyway… lots of prayers!
Besides all that, life is great! Creed says “Mama” now and in doing, sprinkles unexpected bright spots throughout my day. He’s such a great baby! Canon is practicing asking nicely for things instead of using one-word demands. For example, he’ll point and say “movie!” and I’ll say “You need to ask nicely. Say, “Mama, can I watch a movie please?””. Usually he’ll then say, “Mama, [mumble, mumble] movie please?” It’s so sweet! Now when he demands something, he anticipates what I’m going to say. I’ll say “You need to ask…” and he’ll say “nicely” with me! Like yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. Sometimes when he gets frustrated and forgets how to say the whole thing, he’ll just cry and say “Nicely! Nicely!” At that point, that’s good enough for me!
Every day is a gift.
James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above.
Chandra Perkins