One of THOSE Days

So today N wakes up and is sick. Sinus stuff, feels like a cold is coming on. Praying the rest of us can steer clear of it. He decided to stay home today. But since he was parked behind me in the driveway, I just took his truck. I don’t like driving it. It’s too big. Or I'm too small. My feet seriously can't touch the floor and that's with the seat moved down to the best position possible. I feel like I'm driving a semi. But I didn’t really feel like re-parking on the street, so I just grabbed his keys and took the boys to school. Bubby has a meltdown and won’t go to even his favorite teacher who he lunges for every morning. I leave him behind in tears. Monkey has a meltdown because I only packed regular pancakes and not the chocolate chip pancakes. I forgot the boxes of baby clothes I promised Monkey’s teacher for her new grand-nephew and we’re out of checks, so I have to go to the bank to get a money order to pay for this week’s tuition.

Can I go back home and start this day over?

As I drive into my parking spot at work, I hit the car next to me. It’s just a scratch, but it’s a 2 foot long deep scratch and the lady will probably have to get her whole rear quarter panel replaced. (Probably because the truck is too big and I have a hard time judging how much space I need.) To top it off, we just bought the truck from N’s mother and the insurance isn’t even transferred over to our name yet. So whatever we do, it’ll be cash out of pocket, because I don’t want it to go on her insurance.

I think I want to run away to Australia.

Small Group Girls' Weekend 2010

The wives from our Small Group at church have been planning a girls' weekend for over a month now. We made arrangements to head out of town to Galveston, sans children, husbands, and chores. Unfortunately, there were a few travel, health, and other obstacles preventing everyone from making it. But those that did, had an AWESOME time!

The beach house was perfect. We each had our own room, we had plenty of food, and we were about a 3 minute walk from the beach. A drive into town was only about 8 minutes, so we also went shopping and toured the city a bit. But we realized about an hour into settling in that it didn't really matter where we were, we could have a great time anywhere just chatting and enjoying our friendships. We didn't have diaper or potty-training duty for four whole days!

So what do you do when you're on a beach vacation and it's pouring rain outside?



You watch movies and chat. And eat. And eat. It's amazing how many conversations you can finish and how many hot meals can be eaten when there aren't any little ones around!



It rained HARD from Thursday night until early Saturday morning. It finally slowed to a drizzle on Saturday morning so we were able to go on some shell hunts and enjoy the surf and sand.





There were a lot of Portuguese Man-O-War that were washed up on shore after the previous night's storm.



Lola and Tito, some local Boxers, entertained us on one of our walks.



I just loved this. Have no idea why, but it spoke to me.



Some of the beach front homes are still hurting to be remembered from Hurricane Ike. This is about two blocks from the W's home.



Every girl's vacation dream: a place you can throw back a beer and get a tattoo while you're waiting for your new car security system to be installed. If it takes too long you can roll away in a scooter.



A gorgeous historic home a few blocks from The Strand.



See the blue step? That's how high the water was with the storm surge from Ike.



The Galveston Fishing Pier on the sea wall is still in need of repair. (Click link to see pictures from before Ike.)



Fabulous Threesome. It's off-centered on purpose. See the view in the background? We can see the waves as we're sitting on the sofa in the living room.



LH's second job: Abercrombie model.




Homeward bound road trip staples: Sonic Happy Hour and a stop at Buc-ee's in Madisonville. (If you haven't heard of Buc-ee's, it's The Ultimate truck stop. Ever.)



The sweetest little Welcome Committee I can imagine! (Bubby hadn't crawled to the front door yet.)



JJ and LH, thank you for being amazing road trip buddies! I had a FABULOUS time and am already looking forward to next year's trip.

Early Mother's Day

This past Saturday we had a garage sale. We're finally following some of Dave Ramsey's advice and purging/selling stuff we don't use. We didn't make as much as we hoped, but we did get rid of a lot of JUNK!

Afterward, we needed to get Monkey a new pair of shoes. But nature called in the form of four growling bellies, so we stopped at a local gluten-free taco joint first. I was exhausted and (unbeknownst at the time), dehydrated and sunburned, so the seat on the patio was a welcome one. The sun was setting, the breeze was blowing, and the boys were in spectacular moods. Maybe it was the margarita, but I had one of those slow motion moments that life throws you every now and then. I had a very deep awareness in the warm sunlight and raucous boyish giggles that I was immensely blessed and that despite any struggles we're facing, that God is Good.

So we don't have the money we want, nor do I have the secular job that feeds my spirit, nor do I drive the sexiest car or have the perfect pre-pregnancy body filling out the latest trendy clothes. But I have a dedicated husband and two beautiful boys that make me laugh and fill my need to be needed. N and I have struggled with a few things lately and have had to work hard to just live Life. But at that very moment in that little patio, I had a very keen sense that my Heavenly Father was right there with us...loving us, supporting us, laughing with us, and providing for us.

Even though it wasn't officially Mother's Day, it didn't matter. God was celebrating with me and the little family He's provided me. It was beautiful.