Stock Rooms, Dead Batteries and Overflowing Toilets

Another full, but good, weekend has come and gone . . .

Friday we experienced an unprecedented event: the kids and I left the house about 8:30, stopped by Grandma's to say hi and then headed to a mall about an hour's drive from here to meet my sister Hannah and almost-2-yr-old niece Esther. They played hard in the new kids' area and we all ate lunch in the food court. . . and nothing disastrous happened! The only disturbing events were 1)When Hannah got up from lunch to use the bathroom, I looked over at the little play area in the food court and NONE of the older three were anywhere to be seen (About 2 panic-stricken minutes later, she came out of the bathroom with all three of them trailing behind her), and 2)when a sales associate in Children's Place infomed us that these same 3 children were wreaking havoc in the stock room. However, we did manage to find some incredible deals (apparently, while our munchkins were busy ransacking the stock room) in the meantime, and I bought Rach & Zekers each 2 pairs of flip-flops at Old Navy. Zekers in particular was really pumped about "my new camouflage flip-flops." He carried them around all day in a special bag the cashier had given him.

The ride home was really precious, too. Karis was in her seat for about 1.5 minutes before she succumbed to her sleepiness; Zekers lasted about 10, and Rachel, who swore she wasn't tired and didn't need a nap because she'd had one 2 days before, was asleep about 15 minutes into the trip home. I'm surprised we didn't hit someone on the way home, as often as I kept looking into the back seat. I couldn't help myself.

Saturday Danny stayed with the muchkins while I went to a 4-hour meeting at the church, and he left shortly after I got home for a marriage counseling appointment. In the evening, Danny's mom, dad (who Danny respectfully refers to as "Homes"), and sister & her family came over to celebrate Danny's and his Dad's birthdays. Mmmm . . . stromboli, lemon cake, and lots of good conversation made for a memorable evening. And the Christian bookstore actually called during the afternoon to say the book I had ordered for his birthday (Above all Earthly Powers) was finally in - great timing!

Sunday I had much more fun than I expected! I was filling in for several people back in the nursery - registration, and infants/toddlers during first service. It was just Zekers, Kari Bou and their friend Noah. I had no idea playing with cars and trains for 90 minutes could be such fun. We also had a pretend picnic with plastic food (it's less calories that way, I guess!). I also like doing registration for second service and getting to talk with the children's church teachers before the kids all come back. . . and I even got to go into the service eventually and hear most of Danny's message. I always leave church with a bizarre mixture of feelings from the message: so proud of Danny I'm ready to burst, and convicted by teaching from God's Word. Maybe God will overlook the first because of the second . .. :-)

After church, I had a brief meeting, so Danny took the kiddos home for lunch. Following the meeting I left the church and got into his truck to head home. It refused to start. In fact, I evidently did something wrong while trying to start it, because the battery also went dead - and I realized the church doors were, in fact, locked, leaving me stranded in the parking lot. A little nervous, and very cold, I fortunately discovered my cell phone in my coat pocket and called Danny. This had to be God's providence, seeing that I rarely have my cell phone on me when I actually need it. So he came and rescued me from the freezing cold and we all went home to eat lunch. Danny left again to meet with a couple of girls who want to be baptized and I spent a very enjoyable afternoon making peanut butter/chocolate bars and reading! (A review is forthcoming)

When he came home, we woke up three sleepy munchkins and headed back to church for a "newcomers' class" Danny is teaching. I'm looking forward to the next 3 classes - we had a great time. The only mishap occured at about 7:30, when Rachel clogged the mini toilet (I won't go into detail), and Kari Bou & Vaughn (16 mo. & 12 mo., respectively) decided it would be fun to play in said toilet as it overflowed. Sarah, the babysitter, came and got me after she'd already mopped most of it up with paper towels. And I wasn't too worried about Kari Bou, who's played in (and eaten) worse.

So there it is, our weekend in a (very large) nutshell!