Today I’m going to attend the wedding celebration for Job Nicholas and Ashley Harrington. Job is number nine of the grandchildren of Lee and Johnnia Holder. Looking back through a few messages and photos this morning, I realize that his growing up was largely during the tougher years when his parents were helping to take care of aged parents on both sides of the family. Job’s parents were truly in the sandwich generation. As per the photo with Job and his mama, we tried to keep on playing, but we were pretty tired.
I love this kid! Without detailing the sacrifices he willingly has made through the years, I will say he became proficient at mowing way too many acres to be trying to do it on small riding mowers and even at times with a push mower. But I did not ever hear him complain. With the rest of the crew, in his turn, he ate scores of meals at Waffle House, traveled through many-a-night, and walked faithfully by the man with the cane (and later, the walker) into the building at the Jacksonville church.
He watched lots of Bama games with Pie-Daddy and he was always one of the guys who could talk about football, in loud tones, with his grandfather. He was therapeutic for the patriarch we all were trying to keep up with. And he made our singing times better. What a great tenor!
And then came the next generation. Job quickly became Ezra’s favorite cousin. The reason was obvious. Job took time with Ezra. I’ll always be grateful for Job being willing to make large expenditures of time with Ezra at family gatherings. Ezra’s first question, whenever he learned about any family event was and is “Can I sit by Job?” Ezra is 11 now, and, like Job, he loves, to fish. I hope there’s some bass fishing in their future together.
Job and Ashley
He’s getting married today. He’s recently moved to Austin, Texas to work with World Video Bible School…doing what he loves to do. He finds creative ways to connect more people, through technology, to the saving gospel. I know he and Ashley (the perfect one for Job) will spend their lives bringing glory to God.
I love that kid!
I need this study. I say that each year. Perhaps I need the studies each year because there is, of necessity, an address of my own weaknesses in the work as it progresses. I just know that, when it is finished, it’s full of what I need, practically, to be better for Him. But the funny thing is, the Word of the Spirit is so powerful that it cannot convict me without also reaching others–even others whose needs may seem very different from mine.
The last of the lists is from the first and original of the grandkids. Ezra made me a mammy. He made up the name “Mammy”, as I was originally thinking about Marmie, like the beloved Marmie in Little Women. But Ezra came into the world, big and loud and perfect and that’s the way I love him. My love is big and loud and with my whole heart. His list was the last to be read as we celebrated Mother’s Day and he kept saying “Oh, I shoulda’ put that!” during the other readings. Meanwhile, Eliza Jane, 6, began to cry during the reading of Ezra’s list, because she thought “…you like everyone else’s list better than mine.”
She’s the middle child in her family. She’s not as demanding as her older brother or as loud and funny as her younger sister. She’s the one who says “That’s okay. She can have it,” or “Let him go first.” She usually remembers to say “thank-you.” But she cries when her feelings are hurt. Yesterday at the optometrist, she cried because she has to have glasses, while her brother, excitedly (and that’s an understated term) picked out his frames for glasses that he was not destined (after the exam) to need (or buy). She’s the one who comes over twice a week to do phonics and math with me. We have bonded over dyslexia, among many other things. She has a high IQ, centered in a brain that is a-typically figured. And all of that makes her wonderful. But the most wonderful thing about her is her determination to love God and go to heaven, She has a weekly date with Papa for breakfast and she orders the exact same thing every week. She takes piano lessons and loves every kind of card or board game, as well as the trampoline. She loves tiny little collections of toys and bracelets and charms and she loves very soft stuffed animals. She’s hoping for a canopy for her bed one day and room darkening curtains. She’s a mess. Here’s her Mother’s Day “Mammy list”. I will treasure it. (I also love how she put in tiny little letters at the end “Oh, and Papa is good, too.” That’s how she lives her life…ever thoughtful and inclusive.)
