Daddy-man and I had last weekend all to ourselves! My parents offered to take the kiddos from Friday afternoon to Monday morning since my dad had to work the 4th, and they wouldn’t be able to come up (they come to Tucson every weekend for church). They usually take the three older kids for a visit every now and then, but this was the first time they’ve taken the babies, too! Minion 1 and Minion 2 are finally starting to creep out of all that baby fussiness, and they are a little easier to handle (sometimes!). And let’s face it, Twinkle is an angel-baby and, therefore, practically sinless :)
So I drove the kids to meet my dad at the junction (where I-10 and Hwy 30 meet), and we switched vehicles. So not only did I not have the kids all weekend, I didn’t even have to drive a minivan! Wow!! It’s been a looooooong time since that’s last happened. I cruised home in the truck with University of Oregon paraphenalia all over, and when I made a stop for a few groceries, I had a momentary panic attack when I thought I must have left the kids in the car. But it passed, and I headed home.
Daddy-man and I went out to eat at Red Lobster: YUM! At one point the waiter (excuse me, seafood expert) came out to tell us that Daddy-man’s trout had committed suicide by jumping off the plate just before they brought out our dinner. It really wasn’t a problem for us as we were in no hurry, but the manager came out to apologize and didn’t charge us for the trout!
Saturday morning, Daddy-man had Men’s Prayer Breakfast so I thought I’d have a leisurely morning before leaving for soul-winning at 9:30. I wanted to remember what it was like to take my time to make a delicious smoothie for breakfast, get a little reading in, and actually iron the top I wanted to wear that day. Of course, when I got up at about 8, I looked at the clock to discover it was actually 9:06- so much for leisure…
We had a great morning soul-winning- a lot of our teenagers went out, and I had two of the girls in my group. After that, we had a church leadership meeting, and we were invited out to lunch with our Children’s Ministries Director and his wife (also good friends). After lunch we went to visit one of our deacons who just had major surgery. That was a real joy to me because I don’t often get to make visits- something about inviting 6 kids into someone else’s home…
We intended for Saturday evening to be a quiet night at home, but we got a phone call from the couple we went to lunch with, and they had tickets to the circus that they couldn’t use and asked if we wanted them. We went, along with their daughter (she’s my age) and really enjoyed the show. Barnum & Bailey’s Circus was an incredible improvement over the little rinky-dink one we took the kids to a few years ago. Here’s a pic of us:
And here’s a pic of Deana and I with our clown noses:
The next day was church. I woke up on time today (yea!), but when I pulled my top out of the dryer, I found a tear in the seam, so I had to do a quick patch job (not too bad, if I do say so myself). We had a retired pastor that just moved to the area visit us, and we were blessed to be able to invite him and his wife to lunch. It’s always a joy to get to glean a bit of experience and wisdom from those that have faithfully served in full-time ministry! We enjoyed a quiet afternoon- meaning, Daddy-man napped, and I (not a napper) read and surfed the web. That evening at church we had a surprise missionary- a young couple from West Coast Baptist College on their way to El Salvador. They were a great couple! They will do a great work for God in El Salvador, and I really pray we can be a part of it. I am almost in love with this family! We took them for ice cream after the service Sunday night.
I didn’t forget, though, that it was Independence Day! We climbed up on the roof to watch the fireworks at A Mountain, and Deana and her parents climbed up as well. We didn’t get down till almost 11!
And there you have it. I met my parents at the junction Monday morning, and brought everyone home. Daddy-man went into the office, but I asked to him to be home when we got back because I figured the kids would be pretty wound up! And boy were they!!
I won’t post about their adventures for time’s sake, but I was already tired within 30 minutes of them being home! But I missed them, especially the babies since I’m never not with them! Daddy-man and I were ready for them to come back home, but it really was a wonderfully relaxing, calm weekend on our own. So thanks Mom and Dad! We love you, and now we have definite proof that you love us, too!
