Sorrow, Loss, Gratitude, Tea and Food!

How is that for a title?
Not meal planning this week- well today for that matter- we just flew back in from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.  Ben's mom unexpectedly passed away one week ago and we have been shocked, devastated, grieving and processing.
A few things that have hit me from this week-

*This was the sunrise I captured on the morning of the funeral*

**An obvious one- we are not guaranteed tomorrow- we live like we are, but in reality our days are numbered and we never know when God may bring us home. We know Ben's mom loved Jesus and know she is perfectly free and whole in heaven.  In her perspective, she went to sleep and got to wake up in heaven.  I mean, it doesn't get any better than that!! But, us left behind on this earth, it is hard.
Job 14:5
5 A man’s days are numbered. You know the number of his months. He cannot live longer than the time You have set. 

In light of this, I would encourage you to seek the truth and know what you believe because there is an urgency to this decision, even though we think we have all of the time in the world! Would love to chat about this if you want! 

**LOTS of thoughts of our "legacy" we leave behind us and what do you want your legacy to be?  Still thinking through this- it was neat to hear what everyone had to share about my mother-in-law.  Main things- she faithfully read her Bible every morning and her children saw that every day, she prayed for everyone and everything, and she was grateful. 
THE HARDEST moment for me was on Tuesday (she had passed away early Monday morning) receiving a "thank you" card from her in the mail. Yes, she must have mailed it Saturday and it was bittersweet to receive this note after she was gone BUT I love that gift from her. She was grateful and she would let you know quickly how grateful she was. 

I want to be like this! 

**Tea-She loved tea and whenever I went to their house, there was PLENTY as evidenced by this picture when I was helping cleaning out the cabinets...

Another recent favorite moment was when they came to visit last Thanksgiving and we took Eve to a cute tea room in Woodstock- such great memories. She would sit and play tea with Eve a TON and got Eve a tea set as well. 

**Food**So, this is a given for me : ) But, the first day we found out.  My sweet friend Allison brought us dinner. Yes, I could have cooked food or we could have gone out but what a gift to get a yummy meal from a friend who was praying and wanted to care for us.  I love me some kombucha and she got me that too, which spoke volumes to me! 

When we got back, two friends brought us dinner as well.  Y'all, so grateful....YOU WILL BE getting thank you cards from me ; ) 

Fixin's for tacos! 

Spaghetti and meatballs (wine obviously) and I spiralized some zucchini noodles real quick...

**Last thing- another huge area I am grateful for is that we stayed at Ben's childhood BFF's parent's house- they cared for us so well and besides providing a place for us to stay, fed us breakfast every morning- these are some pecan sticky buns.....

And below is sausage and scrapple----people, have you had scrapple? There is pork snout in there, Luke tried it. I couldn't do it. It is a Pennsylvania thing? Regardless, they cared for us well. 

That's all for me this week.  How can you care for others around you this week? With food, a thank you note, a text, etc...??

Next week, back to meal planning. 

Below is Eve with the flowers our church had at the church in Pennsylvania when we got there. All the heart eyes.