JOY IN THIS MOMENT

I recently discovered that kids eat free on Tuesday nights at Denny’s, so for the past two weeks, I’ve taken the girls there and we’ve had such a delightful time eating out and enjoying each other. With Wes on 3-11, I often lack motivation to cook a nice meal for just the three of us, and I also get lonely. So I thought this would be a great thing to do with the girls- enjoy a hot meal and each other’s company out in public. I hope to keep it a tradition if we’re able. Sometimes we read books while we wait for our food, and other times the girls play with figurines, sometimes I play and sometimes I just sit back and watch them amazed by their sweetness, cuteness, and creativity. It’s teaching them manners and how to behave in public. And it’s teaching me to slow down and enjoy them. We shared many laughs together tonight and I think it’s safe to say, we are all going to bed with our cup full.

When Wes and I first got married I proposed the idea of getting away 3 times a year, even if it was just for one night. For each of our birthdays and for our anniversary. Each celebration perfectly spaced by 4 months. And for the most part, we've kept to that and it's been wonderful. We've been to a few bed and breakfasts in Gettysburg, New Holland, and the Finger Lakes. A hotel in a nearby town, camping close to home, Vermont with friends, and a night away for a wedding in Lancaster. I feel so blessed for having each of those opportunities. This little tradition has been pivotal in our marriage and purposefully creates time for us to have fun and relax. We laugh, we eat, we play. It's wonderful. For my birthday, Wes suggested just staying home and doing things around town. So we found a time my inlaws could watch the girls and made it happen. It was delightful and I feel so refreshed. We went out to lunch, napped, went for a hike, went to a book sale, went out to dinne...

Yesterday was a bad day. It started out good...I had time to shower and have a long quiet time with Jesus before Liza woke up. We had a fun morning and she went down for her nap easily. Sophie was feeling better finally, after over a week of being very ill with Salmonella. And I had an eye appt at 10:00. Wes was watching the girls and I got to go by myself. I swung into Walmart quick to grab a few staples and ran into some dear friends I hadn't seen in awhile. That totally blessed my day. I had adult conversations with people at the eye doctor which seemed like a mini vacation, and I got done in time to take the girls to storytime at 11:00. I needed to get gas for Wes's little gas tank so he could mow the lawn, so I was trying to be as quick as possible. A little old lady asked me for help pumping (she had grabbed the diesel pump and couldn't figure out why it wasn't fitting into her car). Sweet dear women. Anyways, amongst pumping and helping her, I must have left my w...