feeling full

Yeah, I lied.


I honestly meant to blog all about the pumpkin patch but I'm not even exaggerating when I say I haven't had time.  We've had lots of work to do recently and by lots I mean more OT opportunities than I can reasonably take advantage of.  It's so frustrating because I'm 100% certain that when I have a boring stretch (I will have a boring stretch sometime, right?  Right??) there will be no extra work to be found.


Such is life, my friends.


Anyway, I log in for work in a big eight minutes but wanted to drop a line about my day.


Because everyone's schedules have been so pitiful and apparently we didn't get the memo that we're kind've old and should therefore be bored, I've been having lunches and brunches all spread out since the first of September.  While this is a little bit shameful it's also BIG FUN.  


This morning I met up with two of  my people and had a wonderful couple of hours just being together and catching up the tiniest bit.  We went to IHOP and I might or might not have eaten half an omelet and a few lot of bites of pancake.  With syrup.  And a Pepsi.  

(Of course a Pepsi.) 


(I should own stock in Pepsi.)


...They brought me sweet little gifts that were just what I needed in the way my people know how to do, and they filled up my heart just by being them.


I can only pray I half fill them up in the same way.  


I'm so very blessed!


Only two minutes left - gotta get to work...Happy Thursday :)

bittersweet. mostly sweet.

Yesterday one of my very dearest turned 50 years old.

Today her baby girl gets on a plane with her hubby to love Jesus in another place.

A place not at all close to here.

Not even a little bit.

I might be crying just a little on the inside...

my heart wrapped up in a photo

Happy Wednesday :)

well today was fun.

My Baby!  and her baby!

We hugged a lot of necks and had fancy cupcakes.

And I took mainly no pictures.

Today is Donita's birthday and she doesn't like anyone to make a fuss, so we fussed often.  and loud.  and then we fussed a little bit more.

Good friends ignore friends who request fusslessness.  

We had I-talian for dinner and it was yumm-o.

I observed that you know it's a good dinner when you feel a little bit disappointed when your plate is empty.

(The fancy cupcakes helped.)

not the fancy cupcakes

We also drove all the way to Baltimore with only one stop, if you don't count that quick stop on the side of the road to switch drivers while Peanut hollered loudly.

He might have hollered quite a bit, i.e. nearly all of the last hour of the drive, but I'll never tell.

The bride is stunning and the groom is nearly as adorable as he was when he was waist-high and had to be reminded to go the the Little Boy's Room.  

True story:  I love him even more now :)

Now it's 11:14 in the p-m and I'm so sleepy I might have staggered from the car.  What can I say?  

(Nothing.  I can say nothing that won't make me sound a little on the pitiful side.)  

For this reason there will be neither editing nor spellchecking, 

so whatever we get, we get.

I'll try to take a couple of pictures of that stunning bride and adorable groom for you tomorrow but no promises.  You might remember my track record.

Happy Friday!

p.s.  The nuptials will be held outside at 4:00 p.m.  It is projected to be two-thousand degrees at that time.  Your kind prayers will be appreciated.  I've heard beautiful brides tend to get warm in voluminous wedding gowns...

favorite reads: "the truth of the matter"

Today we're heading home, back to unscrubbed floors and dusty tables. 

Back to the empty refrigerator and mile-long to-do list.

Back to my people (Oh how I do  love them!)

...and if I have anything to say about it, back to a hearty hug from my sweet Mary just as soon as can be arranged.

This week's favorite read was written by my friend/daughter-figure/role model Mary.  

She has some stuff going on.   

Hard stuff.

It isn't the first time, and quite possibly won't be the last.

There's a lot of hard stuff to be had, after all.

But even with the hard, she has a lovely faith that leaves me looking on in awe and determination.

I wanna be just like her when I grow up.

nate

You see the cutie-pie in the middle?

That's our Nathan. 


He's serving our country in the military and is heading overseas (again) for a while. 


Would you join me in praying for him and all of the other young men & women who will be going with him?


Thanks y'all, I really appreciate it.


He's very important to us...We love him! 

Five-Minute Friday: Community

I'm having dinner with my friend tonight.  I've known her since I was quite possibly a size 2 with no lines on my face and a shockingly optimistic view of how life was going to unfold.  We had little girls who were preschoolers and a little girl (me!) and a little boy (her!) who were a couple of years younger than that.  Which means they were babies.  Literally.  If my Kate was four then my Kari was two.  

TWO!

Anyway, that's a long time to have a friend.

And she isn't the only friend I've had longer than I kept that alleged unlined face.  I know I've mentioned it before, but I have the somewhat unusual blessing of having a handful of friends who have known me through all the awkward and heartbreaking and bliss.

They know my favorite treat when I'm frazzled, and how to pray for me without me having to say it out loud.  They know where my heart lies and understand when I'm very quiet for a very long time.


We have giggled and cried and cracked wise in ways that no one else would find amusing.   We've embarrassed our children, and supported our children, and then embarrassed them some more.

We've celebrated, and mourned, and shopped, and prayed, & celebrated some more :)

I can see them every day and have new things to talk about and I can neglect them for weeks and weeks - and weeks - on end and pick up our conversation right where we left off.

For the life of me I can't imagine how I would have survived without them, and I'm so thankful that my community of people is so completely my norm,

that I don't even have to try.

Happy (Five-Minute) Friday!

random acts

Photo by Kari

So it's been a weird week for me, and right in the middle of all the busy and loud and unsettling I received a package in the mail.

I thought it was my (in)RL 2012 t-shirt that I've been waiting for.*

(I should interject right here:  I love me a good event t-shirt.  I currently wear them approximately five days a week, and 90% of them belonged to various boys in my life before they grew too cool for them.  No lie.)

(*I would also like to note that I ended this sentence with a preposition, and it's bothering me, but I don't want to restructure.  Let's face it, "...t-shirt for which I have been waiting" is a little on the formal side.)

(Let's move on, shall we?)



Back to my package - it was not my long-awaited t-shirt, but was in fact a fun, little out-of-the-blue care package full of all manner of girlie things that made my heart smile and sing, and maybe leak just a couple of tears.


I'm pretty sure my friend would be surprised at how much her thoughtful gesture meant to me.  It didn't contain anything of great monetary value, and I can just hear her saying "it was nothing, just a blah, blah, blah...but I'm thinking we'd be wise to remember how very much a simple card or gesture can mean to the people we care about,

even those friends who don't seem to need such attention ;)


I have a lot on my mind today that has no business on the worldwideweb, but I wanted to share that I'm so terribly thankful for the beautiful ways I'm loved every day.


...and also to leave you with some homework, ha! 


You know that someone who is on your heart today?

Tell 'em. 


You'll make their day :)



Happy Thursday!

in which mary was supposed to make a goofy face

...but didn't.

Mess with me girl, and I'll bide my time and I will find you...

...and post your scrunched-up eyes on the worldwideweb.



(Unfortunately it's impossible to be truly goofy with that beautiful smile)



But still.

Mess with me...worldwideweb.




Happy Wednesday :)

If Only I Had A Picture of the Actual Bride...

 

 

 

 

Happy Tuesday!

So What Have Y'all Been Up to this Weekend?

  

When This Shot Was Snapped...

 

...the mere child on the right was unmarried and living with her mama, and the whippersnapper on the left was also unhitched and very excited about nursing school. 

Now that one on the right has a hubby and is increasingly great with child.

(and no longer lives with her mama) 

And the cutie on the left is GETTING MARRIED Saturday.

(Sadly she also will no longer live with her mama.)

But still.  GETTING MARRIED!

I love 'em both loads and bunches.

Happy Wednesday!

And I Had Chick-Fil-A Twice!

  

So I'm thinking Monday was quite a bit of really nice :)


Of course first I had to finish up another night of strange dreams involving random dinner guests and unbalanced food preparation timeliness.  Thanksgiving dinner has not been pretty in my dreams, folks. 

(Does anybody else think that it's weird to dream about random dinner guests and poor planning?) 

(Again I ask regarding dreamy subject matter...WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?)



...But after that, Monday was quite a bit of really nice.


Miss Audrey called me and chattered on a for a while about lots of things I couldn't quite follow via speaker phone, but that was okay.  I enjoyed her company as I put on some eye liner, and brushed my teeth, and made my bed, etc. etc.  After catching up with Kate I headed to the mall to get busy tackling some of Tana's DETAILS for her girl's Big Day this weekend. 

(Fortunately, we moms mercifully forget just how many of THE DETAILS there are when putting together a matrimonial Big Day.) 

She and D insisted I try on approximately 8 or 37 - I can't really remember - dresses for me to wear to said impending nuptials.  They were so sweet and encouraging and all that good stuff, but when all is said and done I suspect they were mostly afraid to see the Old Navy skirt I kept threatening to wear ;) 

Whatever their fears, I care not because I have a brand new LBD and it's cute and fancy and also girly.

So it's all good.


Of course now I have to figure out shoes, and jewelry, and a wrap, and a bag...

sigh



After they had me outfitted for the aforementioned festivities we really got serious about the list and managed to knock out at least a couple of inches of it.  I'm not gonna lie.  It's a relief to merely be one of the MOB's support team and not the actual MOB.  It is a tough job, this giving away your daughter while running around like a crazy person purchasing things like markers and Cheez-Its.


A few hours, a quick salad, and one Happy Hour Sonic Strawberry Limeade later it was time for us to part ways.  ((sad))  I then wandered around for another hour or so trying on shoes that I hoped wouldn't render me uncomfortable, and eventually landed right back at my own front door.

(sans shoes, but of course).


All of that activity was followed by a few hours of, you guessed it, my job.


Oh!  and also Sheri brought me more CFA for dinner and it made me so happy I shared shower cake with her.  Which in turn made her quite happy.


Oh!  and also it was like, I don't know, somewhere in the 70s and sunny and completely beautiful.  Which made everyone around me happy.



See?  I told ya.  Quite a bit of really nice.


Happy Tuesday!