Tag: van

The Miracle of Friends

The Miracle of Friends – aka down to one car on a meet weekend with college and work too!! #2023 #Family #Friends #Friend #Blessings #Blessing #TheBlessingOfFriends #TheMiracleOfFriends #OpenHearts #FriendshipIsAwesome #GymnasticsMeet #SavannahTrip #Kupets2023 #GodsHandIsInEverything

March 21, 2023

The Miracle of Friends

It was Wednesday, March 1st.  I was on the floor stretching with my little preschoolers and talking about what color butterflies they were pretending to be today.  

My phone, however, received this from my oldest daughter who was on her way to work from college: 

Car trouble rn

I am going to be late to work.  I actually don’t know if I’ll get to work.

Followed thirty minutes later (I still hadn’t come off the floor so hadn’t seen these) by:

Daddy has me.

I’m not gonna make it to work

Letting Thea know

Thirty minutes later (I still hadn’t seen anything):

ACTUALLY

Nvm

I will be there right on time.

I only saw her arrive at her normal time (4pm) as I was working.  I didn’t even know something was up until about 7pm when I finally looked at my phone!

Our Buick decided to shut all electrical systems down on the interstate!  We had a meet in Savannah that weekend!  Louis and Christina took it to the closest dealership because this poor car was new when Louis got it but has spent a greater percentage of time getting fixed than any used one we’ve had!  (Nice that it is still under warranty!) 

Thursday arrives: at noon, the dealership still hasn’t even looked at the Buick!  Christina has to go to college on Friday.  Louis had requested the day off work Friday to take Jillian to her meet in Savannah.  All the potential rides for Jillian weren’t able to do this one. (So many meets would have been missed without all of the amazing friends who have driven one gymnast or the other over my three years!) We looked into renting a car for the day – so far out of budget.  Christina looked into staying over with a friend so she wouldn’t need a car for college but no one could get her back to work in time and she just doesn’t drop school or work.  I was going to ask Jillian’s coach how to go about scratching (missing the meet, we’ve never done that), when Louis called (I was sitting at a school waiting for kiddos to get in the bus).  He had contacted the dealership at 2:30 & they said they would look at the Buick on Monday. He had told his boss he didn’t need the day off because he didn’t have a way to get Jillian to Savannah – his boss loaned him a van!  

Jillian didn’t even know.  She didn’t know how close she came to missing her first meet.  (She did hear the story through when she’s like, “wait where’d we get this van?” on Friday in the wee hours.)  She and Lucas went down with Dad and had a great time!  

His Best Buddy is here!
Sharing the Nintendo Switch
Three Best Buddies!
Photos by Louis Tart & Mikaela Reppert
Silver Team at the Kupets Meet 2023

Sometimes we get busy and forget about the amazing miracle of friends.  God gives us friends.  People who honestly care about us and whom we care about.  The miracle of friends is that they are always there.  Sometimes we miss out on a blessing and being a blessing because we forget to ask.  How do we know someone needs anything unless they ask us?  How can friends know we need anything unless we ask?  I love how children don’t have these “I shouldn’t bother them” issues because they ask friends everything!  From, “your sandwich looks good, can I have half?” to “help me fix my ribbon, please!” to “I’m sad, can we sing?” and everything else in between.  

A scene from an old movie makes me smile: a girl says “oh I forgot to buy a ladder!” and turns to go back inside the general store.  Owner of said general store laughs, picks up his ladder leaning against the wall and says, “country folks don’t buy ladders, they borrow them.”  He is trying to impress on this family that people around care about them and want to help in any way possible.  

I love that God gave us the miracle of friends.  Sometimes we don’t see them for a long time (ages, it always seems) and sometimes a pop-in visit is needed and God arranges that.  

I’m so thankful for the friends and family around us.  Our people bless us so much!  I pray we can return blessings when they need them!

Thank you for reading!

Type at you later!

~Nancy Tart

Encouragers: The Chaos Of Joy Mother

Encouragers: The Chaos Of Joy Mother

October 9, 2022

I’m sitting at the desk at gym, taking payments and checking liability waivers for our open gym one Friday at noon (every Friday noon to 1pm is Open Gym – basically, allow your kiddos to expend all their energy just before naptime!).  She pulls up into the handicapped parking space.  I smile. 

This woman is such an amazing encourager to me!  She has overcome more physical and medical challenges in her life than I could ever understand.  She has five little ones all five or younger and normally is accompanied by at least one nephew in the same general range.  She is such a blanket of calm mothering in a sea of chaos – and her smile!  Such joy!  She chooses joy!

I call her the “Chaos of Joy Mother” because you’d think her life with five littles zero to five years old would be chaos.  (I see some of her posts on Facebook and yes, it’s laughable, amazing, lovable chaos!) Add in farm animals, countless stunt-double-training apparatuses in their kid-ninja-warrior yard, kids turning the house into ninja training course, and homeschooling… I love her beautiful chaos!  She’s the type of calm mother I hope I am.  Minus the goat and stretching births out a bit, one of my girls pointed out that there were some family tales we turned into “The Funny Sisters” stories that are probably relatable. 

She encourages me by her love of life!  She is always doing something new or allowing her daughter to try something new.  They grow in love, life, and faith by expounding on the adventures life hands them.  This is such an encouragement to me.  I pray for them and thank God that I see her.  She probably doesn’t see herself as an encourager, but she totally is by the joy she shares!

Sometimes chaos is where you find your joy.  I know some of the craziest moments in my life are where I felt I couldn’t do anything else BUT find joy in Jesus and look up. 

While I’m driving to my first school on our afterschool pickup route, I happen to hear “Season, a Joy Bringer” and I smile at her anecdotes.  She is always focusing on how to share joy.  I feel the Chaos of Joy Mother is always sharing something she finds joyful with us – some see it as joy (like me) and some as craziness (are you kidding, you did/allowed what?!).   In our journey of life, I am super thankful for those who encourage me.  I pray I am an encouragement to others. 

I’m super thankful for the Chaos of Joy Mother because she and her little angels always make me smile with their love, wildness, and crazy adventures! 

Type at you next time,

~Nancy Tart

Movie Review: Onward

April 12, 2020

Movie Review: Onward

As a family, we got to watch a new movie called “Onward” (Disney/Pixar) recently.  Curled up on our couch, eating tangerines instead of popcorn, we also got to discuss this movie during the end credits.

I was pleasantly surprised at this movie. 

(Spoiler Alert! If you haven’t seen the movie and want to watch it without knowing the end, don’t read any further!)

In this technologically advanced world that mirrors our own, mythical creatures have lost their magic and settled for the easier way of doing almost everything.  Fairies don’t fly. Centaurs don’t run fast. Elves don’t go on quests.  Wizards don’t exist. 

The only relics of magic are mirrored in a game that young adults play like our Dungeons and Dragons.

The protagonist is a 16-year-old elf named Ian whose older brother, Bailey, is lost to this “gaming” world and set a little in the past with his audio cassette tapes and 70s roadie van he built himself like a hot-rod.  Ian never knew his father.  His mother’s centaur policeman boyfriend is a far cry from the father figure he is looking for. 

After a bummer of a birthday, Ian and Bailey are given a special present from their late father – a staff and crystal and a spell that supposedly will let him come back for 24 hours to see who his boys grew up to be.

So the spell doesn’t work.  Mom leaves.  Bailey enters as Ian is actually making the spell work – and enters half-dad.  Yes, Ian brought back a walking pair of pants with purple socks and leather shoes.  Bailey knows it’s his dad because of a tap-tap on shoes game they used to play. 

The boys go on a quest (based on Bailey’s game knowledge) to find another crystal and bring their father all the way back.

They end up finding the crystal but releasing a curse (huge dragon made of weird stones pulled from their school and a construction site) as the sun is going down (when dad will disappear). 

Ian has realized that his real father figure is Bailey and that Bailey is the one who must speak with dad because he blames himself for being scared of the hospital and missed his chance to say goodbye to his dad in real life.  Ian starts the spell to bring dad back and leaves him with Bailey so he can fight the dragon.  Mom and a manticore bring in a magic sword to kill the dragon (she was on her own side quest).  Through teamwork, the curse is destroyed, Ian uses magic to repair all of the dragon damage, Bailey gets to say goodbye to his dad, and magic reenters the lives of some of the people; the biker fairies are now flying, policeman centaur boyfriend is now running, and Ian now is a wizard.

The theme is love: Mom’s love for her sons and the brother’s love for each other.  The lesson of enjoying what you have instead of wishing for what you don’t is also there.  Ian wishes for the father he’s never known and wants to be like him while ignoring or disregarding his elder brother until he realizes that all the love he was searching for in a father figure has been coming from his brother all of his life. 

We discussed how it is very easy to focus on what we want but don’t have yet miss what God has given us.  In every situation, our character shines with how we choose to handle said situation.  I choose to focus on what is with me now.  Right now, I’m thankful to still have a job when so many I know are suddenly unemployed.  I’m thankful to be able to play more board and outside games with Christina and Becky – all the girls, but they had started to get heavily involved in extracurricular activities and with Christina driving, I had seen less and less of her.  Forced online college courses and the closing of CAP and the gym mean I get to hang out with her more.  I’m enjoying what I have.

Live your life enjoying what you are given and love your family with a sacrificial love: that’s our take from “Onward,” a very entertaining, slightly funny, kid safe movie with real truths embedded in it.

Thank you for reading.

Type at you later,

~Nancy Tart

Two Cadet Homecoming

January 7, 2020

Two Cadet Homecoming!

On January 4th, a beautiful day with misty rainshowers threatening the gorgeous parade ground at Camp Blanding, I watched both of my cadets march in their pass and review (ceremony parade at the end of the 2019-2020 winter encampment).  I almost cried two years ago when it was just Christina.  As I watched this day, I was overwhelmed with pride and a bit of anxiety.

Kimberly, short blondie (about middle in each picture); in her barracks, AF Blues, ABUs

Kimberly is twelve.  My spunky little fireball has taken her future by the horns the last two semesters and spent her twelfth birthday, as she’d planned it for almost two years, attending her first Civil Air Patrol meeting as a cadet.  I’m not sure Mom (me!) is ready for her to take on so much independence just yet.  I’m missing my snuggly, grinning, dog-wrestling toddler who used Sheba as a pillow-pet before we knew those toys existed.

Christina was OIC of food services. (In English, your know, civie-speak, please?)  That means she was the basically the kitchen manager for encampment.  I’m sure it was far more detailed and with at least some oversight, but that’s the break-down bare-bones version of her staff role this time.  I’m sure, based on these pictures, that she is fairly comfortable giving orders.

Christina is far left in both pictures. Winter Encampment 2019/2020

Moments like this both amaze me and, honestly, almost scare me. 

How can my babies be so mature already?

How did 16 and 12 years flash by?

Life goes by so quickly.  I’ve learned to just release and enjoy.  Watch them grow and smile as they fly.  I love learning the young women they are becoming!  Thank you, Jesus, for the opportunity to be a mom.  Thank you for Christina and Kimberly and for the time I’ve had with them.  I pray for them daily.

I pray as they soar.  I pray they keep their eyes on you, Jesus, reach for the stars, determine to achieve what appears impossible, and reach down to help others on their climb. 

I’m sure that’s just the misty rain in my face… or are those bits of joyful tears? 

Parade is done, rain begins to fall, and we wait in the van for the cadets to change into civies for the trip home.

“Freedom!” yelps the stranger with a bag; “Mom, no pictures,” but she smiles anyway.

Now I get to hear their challenges, thrills, new experiences, friends, and new goals they’ve faced and discovered on the long ride home.  Homecomings.  I am beginning to understand my parents’ tears on our Christmas surprise (when almost all of us showed up together!)…

Type at you next time,

~Nancy Tart

Danger in Daylight

February 19, 2018

Danger in Daylight

I like to notice things, but sometimes, especially when I’m watching something more important (taking Lucas to the potty) I miss big things.

Today we went to a local park to meet some friends and enjoy the afternoon.

We had been there about an hour or so when the girls finished with their kites and skates and Lucas was purposefully tumbling on his swing-car which led Mom to decide it was time to put some things away.  Jillian and I took my computer, the swing-car, the  kites, and the skates back to the van and put them away.  I answered a text.   3:42pm.

20180219_160624.jpg

We went back to play on the swings.  (Here, Christina, Anastasia, and Lucas all can fit on one swing!)

Less than ten minutes later our friends drove up.  This mom would notice a couple parked next to her and think they looked out of place because they were staring. (Most moms are used to people staring at them because of silly things like Child A has no shoes and you make them stop in the van and put them on, Child B brought his temporary pet lizard and you toss a prayer of thanks that it didn’t escape in the van, or Child C is crying because someone else got out of the van first.  It’s life.)  She didn’t think much of it then.

A Frozen Treat Vendor showed up.  He blocked the view to the cars with his open air vehicle.  I wondered how he could keep treats frozen with no shades and open windows in front and back; but then upright freezers don’t allow heat to escape too quickly.  Lucas needing to potty interrupted my thoughts.  Several other families were playing in the playground too.  Our kids were running around together.  We mothers periodically were having panic attacks as our toddlers would disappear from sight behind a large slide.

When I walked back, there was a small crowd of people behind the Treat Vendor’s jalopy.  They weren’t buying ice cream or whatever he was selling.  They were on their phones.  My friend asks, “have you seen my baby?” (aka toddler super silent slipper-awayer) so we looked for him.  I walked around the Treat Vendor.  No baby, but three busted vehicle windows.  Panic about the baby surged inside – we had to find him!   I hear “I found him!” and then find out what’s going on at the cars.  It seems a black vehicle with a couple in the front and a younger man in the back stopped behind two vehicles, slipped between them, busted the windows, and grabbed bookbags and purses.  They attacked three vehicles and fled.  The police showed and filed their report.  We started canceling cards and the other things adults do when they lose a wallet.

Christina’s bookbag didn’t have anything they wanted, unless they plan on selling a college history book and biology lab book – new that’s $385 but used less than $100 for both.  What it did have were irreplaceable sentimental items: her Bible, her current journal, her “Faith Book” (a Sunday School project that she’s carried around for a few years with written prayers and answers), various Civil Air Patrol memorabilia with special personal meaning.  They took her ID, library card, and 2 months of college notes (the whole semester, they had just come from school) too, but we can replace those.  She bought that backpack years ago on sale but know the reason they took it was because they watched her walk to the car and put it up (full retail would have been $65 new).  They had taken two expensive purses from other cars.  It was her camel-back (holds 1 liter of water) backpack for CAP that she spent many hours working to earn money for.

We looked in the garbage bins hoping maybe they threw it away.  We looked all along the road.  Since they have her ID, I keep praying they will drop the unwanted stuff at our door instead of toss it away.  We WANT her Bible, journals, Faith book, and two 10-cent notebooks with two months of class notes!  That is what we can’t replace.

I have to look for the good: No one was hurt (doesn’t count our cut fingers and booties cleaning glass and driving home in it), they emptied my bank account at two locations with heavy surveillance which may help catch them, I didn’t have “hidden stash cash” in my wallet like I used to carry, they left the little girls’ schoolbook bag even though it was a second hand computer bag, we enjoyed some fun company, Christina has a second camel-back backpack for CAP, and God has this situation in hand.

That’s my “deep breath” to calm.  Writing (typing) calms me.  Despite the huge earthly probability that it won’t happen; we’re still praying and believing that Christina can get her Bible, journals, and faith book back.  Please believe with us.

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

 

Trip Planning

Ever wondered what kind of things Moms think about when they are planning to get in a vehicle? Length of trip doesn’t matter!

December 28, 2017

Trip Planning

We have to be at a distant location at a specific window of time on a specific day.  Easy enough, right?  Wrong!  Everything in our house is a sporadic adventure! 

Mom: It’s only an hour and two minute drive.

Christina: Then we leave at 8am.

(We are not supposed to arrive at said location until after 11am.)

Mom: Oh, no.  If we leave by 10, we go right by Grandma’s, pick her up, get lost, make 5 potty stops, and still have enough time to get you there.

Christina: Ahhhh! *facepalm*

(I think my teenager loves me.)

Seriously, I have learned a few things about planning trips with toddlers, teenagers, and husbands:

  • Plan to leave at least a half hour before you need to go (this allows for shoes tossed into the pond, a preteen sleepwalking back to bed four times, finishing any last-minute chore like making the list, and misplacing your keys which are already in the running vehicle)
  • Always pack like you will be gone for a week (diapers, wipes, four spare shirts, at least as many pants as diapers, spare shirts for anyone who may be carrying said baby, carrots and apples so you don’t get trapped by fast-food hunger, and 2 or 3 cases of bottled water should do it)
  • Whatever you do, plan 10 minutes extra to turn around (you forgot something you can’t leave home without – like baby’s special blanket, your toddler’s choice toy, your preteen’s library card, your sanity, or your husband’s totally non-standard phone charger)
  • Remember your wallet! (and make sure some toddler didn’t remove your license because he loves to play with mommy’s picture – that will be the day you will be pulled over for a faulty brake light or an oddly rocking vehicle)
  • Count heads (the children, toddler in carseat, hubby, take the dogs back inside, catch toddler who turned into carseat Houdini, now missing two! Oh yeah, hubby is unlocking the door for one who forgot to go potty)
  • Enjoy your 5 minute shopping trip! (or your entire day of travel)

Bonus fact: Music calms savage beasts and makes your vehicle a noisy dance-while-in-seatbelts rocking machine. Maybe DC Talk, Skillet, and Capital Kings are a bit rocky, but everyone dances to Deadmau5 and Disney.  As long as you have your license, roll down the windows, crank up the music, put on shades, and enjoy the ride!

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

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