I have been waiting for this day for a long time

...the day I can take Samuel to the gym with me! Since he turned six months old yesterday (can you believe it?), he's allowed in the gym nursery. That will make a big difference in my life. When I'm working out, I have so much more energy and feel so much more motivated. And the fact that now I can drop both boys off (for no extra charge!!) is an added bonus. Sometimes we go back and forth about having a gym membership. It costs more than we would like to pay. Of course if something costs more than free, we think it's too expensive. =) But we have both seen major advantages to working out, so for now, we're still members. And Saturday morning Zumba can't be beat!

What's been going on...

On Friday, I went to Isaiah's Mother's Day tea. It was very sweet. The teacher had each child seat his or her mom. Then they sang us a song, gave us the gifts they made, and served us angel food cake with strawberries. They made a box with a picture of mom and kid on the top. Inside the box was a hand necklace. The teachers had traced each child's hand on a shrinky-dink, shrunk it down , then made it into a necklace. Very cute!

On Saturday my sister-in-law, Claire, graduated from La Roche College with her bachelor's in Psychology. We had a great time and are so proud of her!

On Sunday, we had church. Then my piano students had a recital. It's always a fun time to celebrate how hard they've worked over the year. I have to admit, though, I much prefer teaching to performing! On Sunday afternoon and evening Isaiah stayed at Dan's parents' house, so we had some peace and quiet around the house.

Yesterday, we all went to North Park. Dan ran while Isaiah played on the playground by the boat house. Sam and I just hung out and watched Isaiah play. We went down the slide once or twice. He's just dying to get in on the action!

So there's a little update on the last few days. Have a good one!

Forgiveness

"Forgiveness gives you the freedom to move on."

Claire's graduation speaker said this during his commencement address. It's simple and profound at the same time. I thought there was a lot of wisdom in that statement, and have found it to be true in my own life. Just thought I would pass that along.

How embarassing

All I can say is that I got to the car after eating out for lunch and had this in my hand. I didn't mean to do it, and I plan on returning it if I remember.

Yesterday: A day filled with so many surprises...

Surprise #1

My aunt from Greenville, PA called around noon and said she and my uncle were in the area and wondered if they could stop by. Now, they're two of the nicest people in the world, so of course I said yes. They ended up getting there around 2:00 and leaving around 6:00. This worked out very well, because I needed someone to watch the boys while I taught some piano lessons because Dan is at the church's district conference. I had someone lined up to watch them, but that person had some problems that morning and could have made it, but it worked out better for her that I ended up not needing her. So Isaiah and Samuel got to play with Aunt Janet and Uncle Todd while I taught piano lessons.

Surprise #2

I get home around 5:30 and hear the bath running. Unusual. There are only two reasons you give a kid an unscheduled bath: 1) The kid is cranky/bored as anything 2) The kid had something all over them past the point of being cleaned with baby wipes.

It turns out Isaiah had diarrhea really bad during his nap, didn't make it to the bathroom, and made a big mess all over his bed. Somehow in the course of cleaning up, poo got all over the toilet, bathtub, shower curtain, and maybe some other places I don't know about. So I felt bad that they had such a mess to clean up! Oh, I left out one little detail. It was their anniversary, which is why they were both off work. At least it will be a memorable one, right?

Surprise #3

I got to go to the evening service at the church's district conference and see a lot of good friends the we usually only see at camp. I talked to a wonderful guy named Gary Means for a while. He's getting up there in years, but he does a wonderful children's ministry with chalk drawings. He's the nicest, most caring guy. I remember being a little kid at summer camp and his wife, Marty, leading songs for the kids' services and Gary doing awesome chalk drawings. Then he would turn on the black light and the drawings looked totally different! They both obviously love Jesus and children. Anyway, he made a big impression on me.

So that was my surprising day yesterday.