We're back in action after a very busy few days.
It all started with a rip-roaring good time at Book Club Thursday evening, where there was great food a-plenty and great friends that had me laughing so hard I cried. The verdict is in: I love Book Club. Also, if you haven't read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, I highly recommend you find yourself a copy, some chocolate, and a cozy couch and start reading STAT. An Oreo Blizzard wouldn't hurt the overall experience either.
I don't know how I didn't snap a few pictures of my fellow bookies- I must have been too busy laughing. =)
Friday morning we woke up to attend Newbie's very last swimming lesson. I was so happy to be putting on our swimsuits at 8:30 in the morning for the last time while there is snow on the ground. Newbie adores swimming lessons, and he had a blast. He's the only kid in the class who literally screams with joy and excitement throughout the entire thirty minutes of the lesson. It's so fun to watch him. We had G-Mama and Grandad come as our film crew so we could finally have a few pictures of Newbie's new favorite past time. Tomorrow we start a Music Exploration class in lieu of swimming lessons as long as enough littles have signed up. If there aren't enough kids enrolled, we might have to sign up for swimming lessons again....Lord, please, please let there be enough kids enrolled in Music Exploration. Amen.
After lessons, Newbie swam around for a while showing off all his skills...
Newbie graduated from the "Shrimp" class with flying colors, and the next time we sign up for classes (hopefully next year and not next week!), he'll be in the...wait for it...."Polly Wog" or perhaps even the "Guppy" class. That's my boy!
After swim lessons, I went home to pack my bags for an overnight women's retreat. I met up with a few girlfriends, and we hit up Macaroni Grill before heading to the retreat where we stayed in a nice hotel and met with Jesus for some encouragement and a refreshing dose of the Holy Spirit. It was like drinking a glass of ice cold pink lemonade with a cute straw on a hot summer day....or like getting some time away in the midst of diapers and laundry and bills to be reminded that God is good all the time and that He loves us no matter how many pairs of dirty socks didn't get washed this week or how many dinners we burned or how many times we've failed at being the women- wives, mothers, daughters, friends- that we want to be. I was reminded that as followers of Jesus, it is our responsibility to carry the reputation of Christ, and sometimes in the midst of that challenge, a girl just needs to hear that she is LOVED. No matter what. Accepted. No matter what. Adored. No matter what. And all by the God who sees all the icky stuff hidden under the rugs and in the deepest corners of our hearts. We are Loved. I walked away challenged and refreshed and encouraged, and it was good.
Number one on my priority list following the retreat: Carve out time to spend quiet time with God each day- no matter what. It's one of those things that I kick myself for not doing more often, and I'm tired of kicking. So we're going to just do it. I think God made morning naps specifically so Mama could get in some quiet time with Him and be filled with love and encouragement before hitting the dishes and the laundry and the bills and the diapers and all the other stuff. I'm just sayin'. =)
In other news, Newbie officially started saying "Da-Da" last week! Woohoo! He now is fully capable of calling for BOTH of his parents at the top of his lungs at 4 o'clock in the morning....and there was great rejoicing. It was a lot easier for the Hubs to lie in bed when Newbie was calling for Mamamamamama-MA to change his diaper, but now Daddy-O is on the team and has been officially called off the bench by the MVP himself. He's always been so helpful with Newbie, but now he's really in the game since Newbie calls specifically for him...and he is loving it! It is so fun to hear Newbie call us by name. As far as the next words I think we'll hear coming from him, it is a toss up between "Opie" and "Ba-ba" because they are both at the top of his "things I REALLY love" list. So we'll have to wait and see...
Now for some house-keeping: In the past week Newbie has just gotten busier and busier, and my guess is he won't be slowing down anytime soon! To keep up with my little man I'm going to have to cut back a little bit on the blog posts. It's hard to spend a chunk of time posting and keep Newbie out of the DVD's and dog bowl at the same time. Ha! I'm still hoping to post about every other day, I just didn't want you worrying about us if you don't hear from us as often has usual. =)
Last but not least....I can't remember if I posted about my V is for VICTORY over Boris last week, but THAT HAPPENED. And it was awesome. Except then I got busy with Book Club and swimming lessons, and the women's retreat, and I haven't done an ounce of laundry since the defeat. And the beat goes on. So that's where I'm headed- to stop Boris off at the pass before he begins another powerful siege of my bedroom and my sanity.
Hope you all have a wonderful week and know that you are LOVED!
