A Birthday Party

Today was Abigail's birthday party and I have so many things to be grateful for. This whole day has been such a blessing and a great memory in the making.

I feel grateful for the nice weather- that brightened the day and mood, that let the kids all play outside, and just made the day that much more special for Abbie.

I am grateful for so much help. I must say that I stayed pretty stress free getting ready for the party because of all of the help that was given. I have definitely gotten better at delegating over the years, and I really needed it today, because there was no way I could have done everything my self (which is what I used to think I had to always do). Jenna and Kevan were such great helpers even while they were visiting and playing with kids. Jill started helping from the moment she arrived, and Drew pulled through as my knight in shining armor once again, doing all of the random tasks I asked of him.

I am blessed for all of Abbie's friends that could come. As more and more friends and family were unavailable I wasn't sure how many could make it and how much fun Abbie would have when she hoped her friends could come. But, many were able to come- some who even altered their plans or made it work with their schedule, and I am so grateful for that. I really think it ended up being just the perfect amount, and it was so cool to look out and see so many kids having fun in the play area and just having a good time.

I am grateful for Abigail. This party and day were really all about her and celebrating her and I think that she really felt that. Abbie loves singing Happy Birthday to herself- all year round. And she loves making birthday cakes out of legos or blocks or whatever she can imagine and so today, in celebration of her and her birthday it was so neat to see her sing to herself with friends and family gathered around and know that this was the real deal. She was so happy. As we sang Happy Birthday and she was singing to herself, I just felt extremely overwhelmed with love for her and the brightness that she adds to our life. She's sometimes a little spitfire, but we love her so much and it was so gratifying to see her be so happy. I think this was definitely one of those moments of joy that I wrote about a few weeks ago. I think I will remember it forever. We love you Abbie, you are such a blessing to us!

Drew's Work

Today was such a fun day. Drew spent the afternoon with us and visiting family to go to the zoo and Chuck E Cheese and the weather was so nice. In the midst of all of our fun, though, Drew's work was doing some laying off. For such a small, close-knit company, any job cuts are noticed and I know tensions at his work were high today for many. I know that life is uncertain and even the more stable things like work or home or life itself can all be taken away without notice, but I feel extra blessed today for Drew, who is such a hard worker, excellent provider, and great husband and father. We are blessed for his secure job, and for the education and skills that we both have that can be drawn on in a crisis. I kept thinking of all of the people who had to go home today without a job on Monday and how hard that would be, and I feel so blessed for the opportunity of work itself and for the faith we have that this is where we are meant to be at this time.

Cardboard!

I've been trying to get everything ready for our upcoming busy weekend, and today I needed to go get some cardboard to build Abigail's cardboard castle for her birthday party. I want to get most of the party prep stuff done before Jenna, Kevan, Zariah, and Jill all come this weekend, but my list is pretty big and I was just hoping that everything would go smoothly. Today, it did. I was quite anxious about having to go try to find large cardboard pieces around town by myself, but the first place I went had plenty of large, dry, and mostly easy-access cardboard. That was a huge blessing to me. My other errands ran smoothly as well and I was in a great mood and ready to get the party ready all because of cardboard, which was a blessing and little answer to a little prayer that made a big difference in my day.

Daddy Time at the Park

Drew has been working so hard on building our fence (which I am so excited for!), but it has taken away some of his Daddy time from the girls, and it is beginning to really weigh on them. Abigail sometimes just looks at me and says, "I want my DaDa" and it is so sweet because they really do love him so much. So, today we changed our Monday schedule a little so that Drew and the girls could have some good daddy-daughter time during his lunch break. He met us at a park near his work and they played and played while I ran some errands. I feel so blessed today, not only for such a wonderful husband who's also a great dad, but for a job and schedule that allows him to meet up with his girls during his busy day.

Some Friends Over

Today I feel very blessed to spend some time with friends and family. We had some friends over for dinner and games and it was so fun. Drew and I have been trying to get a better schedule of inviting our friends over to our home, but things always seem to come up or I just keep waiting for one more project to be finished before they come etc., but it was so great to just do it. There are quite a few people that I've been wanting to get to know better and have over, and today I feel blessed and motivated to just set a date and stick to it. So often in life I find myself thinking of all the things I 'should' do, and somehow they end up being the things that I never really do. Instead I'm going to think that they are the things I 'am doing' and just start doing them. I feel blessed for a great evening and some good motivation.