Today has been . . . eventful. (I say today because it was 10/30/2013 when I started writing.)
Nothing earth shattering mind you, just full of busy-ness and blessing.
A good handful of us Wiregrass Beekeepers Association people met at the fairgrounds this morning for the annual ritual of decorating a club exhibit for the National Peanut Festival. How we ever manage to get top prizes year after year remains a mystery to me. We're rarely organized. Usually one or two people come up with an idea close to the last minute and we pull it together. This year three of us women brainstormed less than a week before setup time and the results are phenomenal. If you live in the Wiregrass you should go. And you should dance. It's that good.
While having that finished is very satisfying even more so is something most beautiful that happened while I was knee deep cutting out lots of letters. Turns out one of our "competitors" at the National Peanut Festival (NPF) wasn't able to pull it together to decorate their booth. It was the local food bank, the ones who feed hundreds and thousands in our community. While my lady friends were putting the finishing touches on our booth, the menfolk were plotting and planning, and after a quick lunch and a grocery/pumpkin run, we decorated their booth as well. Staff at NPF covered the walls. We did the rest. United Way never lifted a finger and they have a great booth that they can be proud of. Letters and all.
I got out of there around 3:30 and after a quick Publix run to get the hubs his favorite milk, managed to make it home long enough to catch my breath - for about 20 minutes.
Because there's more. After picking up J&K, my young neighbors and friends, we headed to church to decorate for (drum roll please) Trunk or Treat. This is the 2nd year our church has hosted a Harvest Festival and this time Mrs. J asked me to manage that part of the festivities. I don't know how much managing I did - mostly just ask folks to participate, give them ideas, help where needed and make sure the cars were parked in the right places. Everyone who donated and/or decorated their vehicle and/or dressed up did a fabulous job. I can't say everything went as planned, my plans anyway, but God's plans were just awesome and I don't think it could have gone any better. Except for candy. Nobody anticipated attendance doubling from last year! Thankfully our Pastor had an emergency stash. We had several Bible characters, clowns, Phil and Willie, and a bee. (What else would I bee?)
I can't say I learned anything profound. But I was blessed by seeing age old truth at work.
Teamwork
Cooperation
The blessings of giving
Paying attention to detail but not sweating the small stuff.
Praying
Planning
Sharing
Loving People
Grace
So that's my day. I don't anticipate another like it for -another year maybe? But it's been good. And tiring. And satisfying. In two days the booths at NPF will be judged. There's some good prize money riding on it. But really, even if our club don't win this year, in the grand scheme of things, we've already won.
Because we did the right thing.
Now I'm going to bed.
