Fruit Inspection

I was in my quiet time this morning, finishing up my Loving Well journal booklet. In her study, Beth Moore describes 4 types of people we must learn to love in our lives: Joy, Testy, Foe, and Far. I’m not going into the details of each one in this post. But one question related to our “Joys”. She asked about the people that bring me joy in my life. I made my list, and my sister made the cut! :)

Next she asked me to look at the list of names and think of something I could do for each of those people to encourage them or be a joy to them as well. Nothing really came to mind at the time, but I prayed and asked God to reveal to me anything I could do for my “Joys”.

Then at breakfast Savannah says we should go see Aunt Jessica. “We haven’t been to her apartment in a while”, she says. And she’s right. We haven’t.

So I get to thinking about my dear sister who is totally a joy in my life. What can I do for her, I wonder? She’s been very sick lately. Her Crohn’s has been acting up and she’s not happy with her doctor. They can’t find out what is causing the problem, even though she has been put through a gamut of tests that none of us would ever volunteer for!

It didn’t take me long to think of something I could do for her. I called my mom and asked her to get creative and try to get my sister to drop off the key to her apartment on her way to work. Then I finished up my morning routine, packed the kids in the car, and headed to mom’s.

She had the key, so I dropped Emery off with my parents and took Savannah to Kroger where we bought some groceries and then headed to Aunt Jessica’s. The plan was to spruce up her apartment, fill her fridge full of yummy meals and snacks, and bake her some goodies. Savannah wanted to get her a “thank you” card (not sure why she kept calling it that…it was just a “we love you” card), and I picked up a nice bouquet of flowers to put in her bedroom.

Some people would think I’m crazy for all the fun I had at my sister’s apartment today. But I love to clean y’all!!! I brought all my cleaning supplies, mop, and even my Dyson. I washed all her bedding and quilts and towels. Cleaned out her closet and reorganized it! Yay….Organizing!!!! Whoo-hoo! She had a bunch of clothes for Goodwill, so I packed them up in my truck for her. My mom came over towards the end and helped me finish up before Jess got home from work.

And it was perfect timing. Just as I was packing up my supplies she pulled into the parking lot. I’m not sure she really knew what to say. I hoped she didn’t think I thought she was a slob or her house was messy. I just wanted to help out. To make her feel special. I know how she hates to clean and do laundry, and not only doesn’t it bother me…but I actually LIKE it! Wierd, I know.

Aunt Jessica, you are such a joy to me and my family. We love you so much and hate that you are struggling right now. I don’t always know the words to say when I see you. And I don’t know how much you want to talk about it. I hope you know that today was my way of showing you how much you mean to me. You’ve helped me out in so many ways through the years. What I did today was just a drop in the bucket in comparison. We are all praying that you feel better soon!!! Love You!!!