Things I've Loved This Week...

Family fun! 

We had some gift certificates for Chuckster's and finally went there as a family! It was a fun, fun night!
**I just remembered...I got 2- count 'em, 2!- holes in one! And I didn't even cheat!  :)  **

These pretty blue flowers Jonah picked for me.

It was actually cool enough to wear my big fuzzy robe- I'll spare you a picture of that, ha!, but it felt wonderful.

Replacing the summer things on my mantel for some fall ones.

Here is a full view- honestly I love how it looks in person, but it seems kind of pitiful and horribly out of scale in the photos. Oh well, I love it! So simple yet a great pop of color.

Discovering just how knowledgeable the young men in this house are about all of the princesses! And how willing they are to engage in fairy tales galore with Isabelle. Priceless.

Remembering to read a passage of Scripture during each breakfast "shift"- maybe I will finally get some more verses memorized after all that reading! Today there was a pretty major brawl going on, and after we talked about it, I asked them (the boys) to bow their heads so we could pray about it. My parents love the Lord, but this is not something we did growing up; but I want it to be something my children do instinctively, as naturally as breathing. God totally and completely transformed each of us in those moments...amazing!

Seeing (and feeling) God's hand at work in really, really big ways and smaller, more intimate and special ways. Life can be so, so hard sometimes! What would I do without the One who knows me more than any other ever could or will?

Some things were, rather, unexpected...such as:

Buying brand new rear tires for my van (and deciding to walk across the street to the Olive Garden for lunch while the work was being done- it was the quietest lunch I've had all year!) and then trading that van in less than 24 hours later, and THEN watching this out the window this morning...

(more on that later, but this is the "new" car being hauled away, just so you know)

Getting a call from the school nurse- I know, I know. That's never good, right?- to come pick up Jonah because he has chicken pox. So I promptly asked her to check out Caleb while I drove in, and sure enough, he was sitting alongside big itchy brother when I got there. Ethan, too, stayed home on this dreary, rainy day. Lots and lots of red spots and dots!

I tried to make the best of it. :)

After I may have had Isabelle eat off the same spoon as a brother, the doctor and I decided that this is most likely NOT chicken pox. But they'll still be out tomorrow I think. There goes my plan to have friends over for tea. That's OK- I just want my guys to feel better.

This makes me very mindful of parents whose children are facing downright ugly illnesses with their precious children, and I'm so thankful for our general good health.

Updated 9/8...
Though we didn't forget to celebrate our 3rd anniversary of being reunited as a family of 6, I did forget to mention it above. I can't even begin to put into words that feeling of coming home that night three years ago! (The photos on my sidebar are links which explain in more detail what I'm referring to if you'd like to read about it.)