A normal Sunday afternoon?

5:36 p.m. Today's project was to enjoy a normal Sunday afternoon, just like Steve and I had enjoyed (minus the kids, of course) for decades. Our habit was to run a quick errand after church, like today when we got gas and picked up two 39 cent tacos for 42 cents, using a free coupon, and enjoyed them at home.

I turned on "Spirit," the contemporary Christian music station on DirecTV, checked in on the computer, then went out to the garden to water and harvest the last few vegetables at the end of this summer 's growing season. "To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven," Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 3:1. Soon we will be plowing under compost and dead vines, letting the soil build up with the huge bag of potting soil we have ready, and then we'll plant another winter garden. We did have one major surprise out there, however. I looked at a rogue, out-of-season broccoli plant, and whoa! There was a huge floret right in the center! Steve is enjoying it right now with his dinner.

Part of our Sunday afternoon routine was Heidi helping me clip coupons from the newspaper, which she did from elementary age through college when she came home on weekends. Now that she spends Sundays teaching 5th/6th grade at late service, and has teaching plans to prepare for her own classroom, as well as afternoon outings with her fiance, I'm on my own. No worries--that's the way it should be!

There was another missing element, I realized as I clipped and sorted: NFL football! The season opener was today, and back when the boys were home,there were never any questions asked--the game would be on! If Sean, Kriss, or Heidi hadn't turned on the game, Steven, our defensive tackle, bodybuilder and all-around athlete, would have. Steve joined them on the family room couch for snacks and relaxation. So I turned on thegame, for little more than sentimental reasons. But one Sunday p.m. football game would barely scratch the surface had Steven been here. We used to watch SoCal high school game highlights after coming home from Steven's King High School games--both home and away--until the wee hours. Then college football, my personal favorite, would dominate the tv all day Saturday. Heather could hardly manage to slip a Turner classic movie in between! Listening to the plays, famous names, calls and commentators made me miss Steven less. Our family sports fans come by it naturally--as a high school athlete myself, I never missed a home game, either the Redlands High Terriers or the UCLA Bruins in the 60's and 70's.

My husband lay down on the couch for a nap as I fielded text messages from Steven. He is really struggling as the economy caused his gym clientele to shrink; his rent is due, and there doesn't appear to be a more economical housing choice locally. He is also still piecing together funds for school. As yet another loan fell through, I let him know how hard I had prayed for his dad to stay employed until Steven could graduate from school. But that was not God's timing for the effects of early-onset Alzheimers that keep radiating out in ever-widening circles of sadness for all of us. We seek the Lord first, not as a last resort, but as our best hope in everything!

As the youngest and the last one still in school, Steven has been hit the hardest, because we cannot help him in any but the smallest ways like we helped the older ones.Yet this is the kid who shines with the joy of the Lord at all times, and he trusts that God will give him an answer for every single need he has.

As my "normal" Sunday afternoon turned a bit sorrowful, I remember prisoner Paul's exhortation in Philippians 4:4: "Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, 'Rejoice.' "

Let me continue to pray and rejoice, too!