Life is change.

Good afternoon folks :)

I'm just sitting here in my office (ignoring the ugly paint I chose for the walls), enjoying my music (currently Stephen Curtis Chapman's I Will Be Here).

Church was great this morning. We're watching a video series called "When Life Hurts Most". It's awesome. It's a 4 week (or was it 3) series that we'll be watching. Can't wait to see the rest. We continue to all melt happily into this church family..and for the first time in a long time, actually REALLY look forward to going to church. That's a nice change after getting lost in the massive abyss of a huge church for so many years. But, sometimes we go through phases where we need/want to just go to church, have our time and go home without anyone noticing. And, that is fine, too. To everything there is a season.

Today we are enjoying a quiet day with the kids. We're smoking jerky and a london broil and maybe a few other things should we get the itch. I made some guacamole which I will try not to gorge on later, but you know me. Ash has her meeting later from 3-5:30, but other than that we're just having fun catching up!

Last night Dave & Amber invited us over for dinner and board games. I was stunned. Sat silent on the phone for a second and then asked Dave to repeat the invite b/c I wasn't sure I understood what he was saying. Our relationship with each other has dwindled to nothing more than seeing each other at the kids' birthday parties & a phone call here or there from Dave and emails from Amber showing us pics of the kiddos. Have I mentioned we live 2 mintutes from each other? Life just gets busy, I suppose...or something. Anyway, we had a really great time and enjoyed hearing their new stories and seeing the 2 little kiddos (the older 2, Cody & Andrew, weren't there, but we see them regularly b/c they live down the street part time with their Dad). Had lots of laughs and great food. Dave made a delish meatloaf and some fantastic mashed potatoes with chives. We brought over some potato rolls and ice cream. Amber had made some chocolate zucchini coconut brownies with frosting earlier in the week so we put the ice cream on those. It was DELISH!! Although, I ate it too fast (who, me?) and got an ice cream headache. Oh well..details. Ash was out flocking with her Teen Bible Quiz team from 8 to around 11:30, they dropped her back off at Dave n Amber's and then we wrapped up Risk and went home. And by wrapping up Risk, I mean I knocked all of my dudes over & told Chris that they had all contracted leprosy and died and so I thought he probably won. Amber was cool with that, so we called it quits. We'd been playing for 3 hours..that's long enough!

Been revamping my playlist again. Finally found some songs I'd been wanting for a long time but they didn't have. Now they are here! Woohoo :)

You may be wondering if anything else has happened with Buerre (Mom's dog) since my chase the other night. Well, you'll be happy to know that she's been a little angel. She is either sitting here by me or cuddling with Ash or laying in her bed. She now jumps into my lap so I can brush her hair. In fact, last night after I dropped Ash off for her night of flocking I came home to let the dogs out real quick and accidentally opened the garage door, not remembering they were all in there. Immediately I started punchin on the garage door opener remote thingy trying to get it to shut before Buerre escaped and made me run again. Lord knows I hate running. The good thing would have been that all the neighbors were still out when I was pulling up so at least I would have had a lot of help chasing her down! But anyway, she squeezed out of the door just as it was shutting..I shoved the car into park (only half way into the driveway) and jumped out of the car..she was starting to bolt but Sadie ran down and got her (I love my Sadie) and brought her back (she only went barely into the street this time) and I was able to call them all to me and grab her w/o any incident. AHH..."Thank you JESUS," I said.

Well, I'm gonna wrap this up. Have a beautiful weekend. You are loved more than you'll ever know by the Heavenly Father, and me too! ((hugs))

Oh, and welcome home Gramma Jo! I'm so glad you had a great time, and that you made it back safe & sound. Thanks for taking me with you through pictures and story. It was just the break I needed at the end of my busy days. I'm ever so thankful for you and all you've brought to my life. :)