A day's happenings

Let me set the humorous scene that had me smiling a few minutes ago on Haywood.....

Dinner has just wrapped up, Abby is frantically eating yet another helping of salad, Isaac has begun cleaning off the table and sings to Abby, "What's so great about SAL-AD??" Caleb is asking if he is supposed to "throw his fork away," Nathan is UNDER the table hugging the dog and whispering to him nose to nose, Anna is in her jammies and in Joel's arm eating the remains of Joel's food, and last but not least BOTH parents have just taken medicine for a headache! Ahhh life is grand! The best part about all of this is that yes they are all worth every headache and yes we do have ice cream to enjoy when the kiddos have gone to bed. (yes butterscotch too, tho my cravings have led me in another direction.....:-)

Life is what you make of it, plain and simple.

Today we were able to spend a whopping 5 full hours all to ourselves thanks to our sweet college babysitter whom gave us a day out of her Winter break. I was up at 7 and THAT my friends is pure excitement. Make mental note that it will not be repeated any time soon. (Another encouraging plug for my domestic engineer friends out there.) We went to breakfast, went to the thrift store, went to the mall and even the sewing store to catch a peek at a new sewing machine. It was good to talk and talk and talk and just sit with only the hum of the engine to be heard. Recently we have been discussing our pasts and our meeting hence the previous post. All in all we are thankful for the Lord's hand in our lives in various areas especially my own. Not growing up in a Christian environment, being allowed to date very early in school, being exposed to alcohol and drugs before Jr. High, all reminded us, me particularly that the Lord had a special plan for my life, and that gave this stay-at-home Mom a completely wonderful feeling. The Lord preserved me, for Joel, for His work, for my kids and for those I have some sort of influence on. (Yes there are some....and keep them in prayer.)

Today I also got to peek at a ring that Hubby and I have visited twice, just waiting, praying and wondering about for our 10th anniversary. Now I know that there are some of you whom I just HAPPENED to run into lately who have told me that they would NEVER in a million years remove their engagement ring and (GASP) heaven forbid they would certainly never think to put it on the other hand to keep wearing it...... and (SHRIEK) NO WAY JOSE would they ever get a new ring to wear!! Well for you I.Am.Thrilled.Estatic.Overjoyed. Because...I AM going to do those things, with my Husbands blessing and approval. And it was his idea......AND I am tickled because we have sealed the deal on this beautiful ring and it will make it's grand appearance on a day to be announced at a very special occasion in the near future. That was sooo fun and I am so excited. The arrival of another blessing prevents us from taking our planned 10th anniversary excursion to a much warmer destination, but tho we will still be somewhere close to home, the ring will be a wonderful gift! You will have to ask Joel what he already received for our anniversary...

Tomorrow we go private. Glad actually. It will be like our own little circle of friends and I for one will feel more confident about writing knowing that I am not just sending out our silly family stories and happenings into the great cosmic void for someone in Rwanda to gawk at. So without further ado... Welcome to the club! :-)