It's the Busiest Time of the Year!

       Oh my goodness what a weekend it has been. I keep thinking that things are going to get better before they get worse. I love the holiday season but sometimes the constant go, go, go that it brings with it can really wear a person out.
       This weekend we kicked off our holiday season with four, yes four Halloween/Fall Festivals. Two of them were school carnivals and they were packed. The girlies loved every second of them even with the zoo that they were. They both loved playing all of the carnival games that were set up. P-nut was especially proficient at the ring toss games, and won some pretty amazing prizes. AJ was great at the skill games like bowling. Face painting was another favorite as were the balloon animals. Today we went to a kids party for my husbands squadron. That was an adventure to say the least they had it set up half inside and half outside on the lawn. The automatic sprinklers kept turning on, soaking all of the kids in their Halloween costumes and causing mass panic. Tonight was interesting, it was time for the Junior High Youth at my church to have a costume party and carve pumpkins. Surprisingly enough it was not nearly as scary as it sounded. The Youth were great, there were no problems, and the pumpkins turned out great.
       Next weekend we have more Halloween plans including a birthday party which should be lots of fun. Then some Trick-or-Treating on Monday night. After Halloween the festivities really start. I am hosting Thanksgiving this year for the first time all by myself and it is starting to panic me a little, so I am sure you will be hearing all about that as time goes on.
       Time for bed with a good book and a nice tall icy glass of water. Night all.

Thoughtful Weekend

This weekend was a very busy one, and it made me think, a lot. It made me realize how very blessed I was to grow up in the family that I did and how good I had it to be surrounded by women who taught me how to be a good woman and who built me up and gave me the tools to have a wonderful sense of self-worth.

My female neighbors and I had one goal this weekend. To show a beautiful young woman how very special she is and how much she is loved. This girl has a Mom who doesn't appreciate her for all of the amazing things that she is and who spends her time tearing her daughter down by insulting her. It breaks my heart. This girl (I'll call Ann) is beautiful, incredibly smart, amazing at any sport you put in front of her. She is thoughtful and kind to everyone she meets and has a heart as big and the sky. I can't imagine not loving her or telling her this. Her Mom only doesn't tell her this she tells her the exact opposite. I wonder how any mother can treat her daughter the way that she does.

So Saturday was all about Ann, we took her to lunch, got our nails done and went to the mall. We talked about what was important to her, we told her how much we loved her, we laughed with her and hugged her. It was a perfect day. The most amazing thing about doing things for Ann is that I always feel so fulfilled after I do. I feel happier every time she smiles and I carry that feeling around for days. I hope that the love that we show her starts to make its way into the inner parts of her heart that has been so injured by her Mom and that slowly she will start to see herself the same way that we all see her.

Spiritual Sunday

Today we went to church but the story is oh so much more complicated than that. So of course I'll share, I do so love sharing. :-)

It all starts last night when AJ was WIDE AWAKE at 11pm, thank you afternoon nap. There is a reason why I have banned my 5 year old from taking afternoon naps, when she sleeps in the afternoon she wakes up way grumpy and then never goes to bed.

DH was up half the night getting sick with what the girls have had for the last three weeks. So when we woke up this morning there was a lot of doubt that we were going to church at all. DH went to the ER because he was having a really hard time breathing.

Well AJ woke up on time, and the ER was super fast (just a virus, wait it out, etc) so DH texted as he was leaving and said be ready to go in 10 min. When he sent this message we were all still in jammies, the girls had eaten but I hadn't. He wanted to go to the early service that we usually don't get to. So Super Mom kicked into high gear. I got both girls dressed, myself dressed and foundation done before he walking in the door. I got the girls hair done in 2 min flat (for both of them) And ran out the door. I finished my make-up in the car and we made it to church with exactly 30 seconds to spare!

As I was walking into the sanctuary the Pastor stopped me and asked if DH and I would like to officially join the church during the service. They had a group of people joining and he knew that we were interested so asked us to join them. I was SO glad that I had taken my make-up bag in the car with me, nothing like standing in front of 200 people half ready for the day.

The sermon was very good, and incredibly informative, Pastor D is going through the 7 days between Palm Sunday and Easter one day per Sunday for the season of Lent, it has been great so far.

So that's my story about Spiritual Sunday, we went to church, but let me tell you that was a huge accomplishment.