Hershey Time, and NYC

Well, to be quick and sum everything up......Wednesday was my day with Stephen and Joash. I took them to Hershey, using up some Hospitality Day coupons. We went to Hershey Chocolate World. How I lOOOOOOOOOOOVE that place! I hope there is chocolate up in heaven, or something very similar!!!! We did the new Chocolate tasting experience thing. That was great, I got to eat............you guessed it, chocolate! The boys loved it too. The only disgusting thing was that they only allow 2 hours of free parking. I guess it's fair on their part, they could charge us for all parking. However, it's mean when you know you might go just 15 or so minutes over that! So the whole time I had to try to mete out our time and get everything all done. The tour doesn't take long but then there's the factory hands on tour and the chocolate tasting thing and then the boys had a tiny bit of money to spend in the gift shop. And, I had to shop in the chocolate part of the store for some gifts and some for myself of course:) So that was stressful, knowing it would be cut close. They charge $10 for anything over 2 hours:( And, when I saw we have to be at the car in 5 minutes, I got lost. I'm serious, don't laugh, it happened to me last year when I took Rachel too:( Why is it that when you really NEED to be somewhere at a certain time, everything wants to go wrong:( GRRRRRRRR! So I took off in the area I thought was right, only to come to a dead end. Then I tried another way and that was wrong. Stephen was trying to help me and I don't know what he thought of this dumb directionally challenged friend of his:( But on our way out I found out that Joash had been holding his free piece of chocolate in his hand the whole time and had it all melted and popped open and all over his shirt and some on his shoes. I could have cried. I did not have time to wipe it off and yet I didn't want that chocolate in my car. So I threw the chocolate in the trash and away we ran towards the car. Joash was almost crying, he said he did not want to run but I said we have to. I was not willing to pay $10 for being 2 minutes overtime. So I made it a minute early, praise the Lord. Then I stopped as soon as I could pull off the road and wiped the chocolate off of Joash as best as I could. It was not a good job though, it was already dried into his shirt. We went for lunch at a Wendy's next and I tried to wash it off with water in the restroom and it would not come off. So the poor guy had a big chocolate spot on his shirt the rest of the day. What a pathetically miserable mom I'd make:(

Before we went to the chocolate world, we went to the Hershey Auto Museum. That was great. They loved the old cars. I'm not a big fan of them but the tickets were free and boys like em so it was fun seeing them have fun. Probably the highlight for them and me was at the one cycle there was dressup clothes to pose with. We spent a bit of time there.

The third place we went was the Hershey Rose Gardens. I can NEVER get tired of seeing and smelling roses. I just think heaven is going to have gobs of roses and new colors and with our senses that are so much beyond what we have now......just imagine how it's gonna be! Can't wait! Stephen loved the place, he begged to take pictures with my camera and he didn't do too badly! It was just tiresome a little because he'd beg to take one everytime he'd see me taking one but we had to keep stepping and he didn't grasp that concept very well. I gotta give him a break, he's only a child! Joash got tired of the flowers soon after we were there:( Once when I was taking pics of Stephen, Joash said, "I just don't know why you don't like me". When I asked him why he said I was taking alot of pics of Stephen and not of him! Right before that Stephen had dropped a handful of pennies and I had told them to wait to pick them up til I took the pic. They had been in a perfect pose. Joash did not listen and started picking them up anyway. I said it pretty forcefully and in a no nonsense tone again that he must stand up and let me take the pic first. He ignored me and kept picking up the pennies. I was very frustrated, I can't stand outright disobedience but I left it go. However, I think he knew I was pretty stressed out at that moment and maybe that was part of the reason he thought I don't like him! Children can be very sensitive so I must be careful! After that, I was careful and went out of my way to include him and make him laugh. So, that was my Wednesday.

Saturday the Heart to Heart Tues. night shelter group went to NYC to hand out cds and tracts. There was only 5 guys and 2 girls. Sharon F went with me. She is not part of our mission but I had not other girl so she went with me. I had a blast. It's sad that not more of the group came along. Out of maybe 10 or 11 girls, I was the only one. It is extremely hard to plan something in the summer. Everyone is so busy, it's almost impossible to get them suited. I was expecting alot from the Lord an I had such a wonderful time. My big prayer was that the joy we have in Jesus would shine on our faces so they could see we have something to live for. That prayer was answered, what a confirmation, it make me so happy. One woman that I gave a cd said I look like an angel straight from heaven. She kept saying she can see the peace on my face and the joy of having been with Jesus on my face. She was saved and she asked for another cd to give to a friend. Sharon was nearby so she came over since I had no more and she gave her two more. The lady said so many people are Christians but the joy is not reflected on their faces because they are not Christians the whole way and have sin in their life they do not want to give up. She said I look like I never sinned. I assured her rapidly that I have been forgiven of MUCH, she has no idea! So that was indeed my confirmation from the Lord that God was reflecting His presence off of his daughter! I was so blessed to see some of the people reading the literature. Some grab it as they walk by and you don't know if they will even read it. But others I saw reading and it really blessed my heart. When we first started on our way to NY the talk was "What are we going to do?" I thought our goal was to hand out tracts. I would have been happy to do that for a few hours. The others thought we could do entertaining things and kind of weave that in with it. I was glad we did it the way I originally thought. I was pumped about handing out stuff and did not want distractions. After we did that, we went to a fabric shop where we found some nice pieces. And, I would write more but it's time to eat breakfast and go to work so............adios til next time!