Last weekend, I had the awesome opportunity to “get away” for three days to the Gospel Coalition National Women’s Conference with good friends Erin, Teresa, Monica, Katie Y.,  and Hannah.  The theme of the conference was “Here is Our God,” and it was about God’s revelation of Himself throughout Scripture.  The weekend was a really encouraging time of excellent teaching and fun fellowship.  I haven’t been able to find the talks posted yet, but when I do, I’ll try to post links to my favorites.  John Piper, D.A. Carson, and Kathleen Nielson were among them.  Tim and the kids did great while I was away, although there was less fruit and veggie consumption than usual.

I am posting a picture of us girls from the conference along with a few random shots of the kids: 1. Lucy playing dress-up in clothes just a little too small, using scotch tape to prevent wardrobe malfunction and ensuing immodesty, 2.  Tyler’s favorite place to hang out, 3.  Lu and Connor dressed in Tim’s and my Gator sweatshirts being silly.

Erin, Monica, Katie, Teresa, Mel

Love it!

Always looking for a snack 🙂

Gator fans!

So the “momentous occasion” that I blogged about last time is now in the past.  And it was all a bit crazy.  I considered labeling this post “Center for Disease (out of) Control,” because part of this story centers on my children’s health.  So here goes…(Feel free to skip over the text and just look at the pics…I’m writing this out so that I can laugh about it someday.)

Timeline:

• Monday afternoon: Darling husband flies to Michigan on business
• Tuesday morning: Lucy complains of an itchy spot on her hand.  Apply Benadryl cream.
• Tuesday evening: I take the children to prayer meeting where I notice that Lucy’s left cheek is covered in angry, itchy hives.  Get home and dose her with Benadryl.
• Wednesday morning: Lucy wakes me up and her entire face is completely swollen with hives.  (Seriously, you know that blueberry scene in Willy Wonka?  It was like that, only it was her head turning into a giant tomato.)  Take her to dr. Diagnosis: major systemic allergic reaction to something.  Treatment: oral steroid and Benadryl.
• Wednesday evening: Tim’s parents and youngest brother John arrive.  I cook dinner for everybody and we talk until bed.
• Thursday morning: Connor wakes up with hives all over his face and itchy bumps on his back.  Tim comes home from MI.  Menfolk go golfing, Mom V. keeps Tyler, and I take both C and L to dr. again.  Diagnosis:  viral hives.  Treatment:  Benadryl.
• Friday morning:  I wake up with itchy bumps on my face (groan!).  Menfolk go golfing. I take Mom V. and kids bowling.  (Connor and Tyler both threw the ball themselves, and Lucy used the ramp.)  Lucy has ballet recital dress rehearsal.  We have grilled cheeseburgers for supper.  My parents arrive.  Settlers of Catan til the wee hours.
• Saturday morning:  Menfolk go golfing….again!  I take my mom and mom-in-law and children to the retired horse farm to feed the horses.  Home for lunch and rest.  Lucy’s first ballet recital at 6PM.  (The recital was beautiful and well-done overall.  Lucy was so sweet in her costume, and she followed her teacher so well.  Both Tim and I were in tears watching our little girl on the big stage.  It was really special to have all the grandparents and Uncle John there for that.)
• Sunday:  Church in the morning.  Lunch at our house.  Cake and singing for Tim’s 34th birthday.  All our company leaves to go home.

It was a blessing to have our family here together, and I am so thankful to my parents and my in-laws for taking the time and effort to come and spend time with us and support Lucy at her recital.  I didn’t mention this in my timeline, but there was also lots of game playing with the kids.  They love games!  Favorites include Uno, Monopoloy Deal, Monopoly, Memory, and poker.)  The hives issue (which now seems to be a hookworm problem–double uggh!) made me slightly more stressed out than I would normally be, and I have to admit to having some Martha moments, but it all worked out.  Thanks to everyone for showing grace to me.   Here are some pics from the weekend.  I will post a video of the recital when I get the DVD.

Yes, my little narcoleptic is at it again, but this time she was drugged up on Benadryl

Playing tiddlywinks with Papa, Uncle John, and Daddy

Playing legos with Papa

Playing Monopoly Deal with Papa...can you tell this family loves games?!

Not excited about getting his picture taken

Happy girl despite the hives and itchies

Thanks, Mom, for taking some pictures of me with my children!

The beans with Grandma V.

Grandma reading stories

Connor had more Monopoly buddies than usual

Tyler feeding the pony

Love the high ponytail!

Connor has become quite the pro

Dress rehearsal pic

Mom V. took this from the balcony of the auditorium..waiting for the show to start

after the show with the other flowers and helper Miss Leah

The whole crew

So this weekend, something huge is happening.  Yes, Lucy’s ballet recital is on Sat. evening, but that’s not it.  Are you ready?  Both Tim’s parents and my parents are coming here for the recital.  This is huge because all of us have not been together since Connor’s dedication when he was five months old–and he’s almost seven now!  I’m really excited to have both sets of parents/grandparents here together.  It will be a wonderful time of fellowship and celebration.  God has truly been so good to our family!

To that end, I have been working hard at cleaning up my house.  Confession: housekeeping is not one of my gifts.  It’s not that I’m a total slob, I just seem to have a high tolerance for chaos and disorganization.  Not so for my husband, but he is gracious and patient with me (thanks, honey!).  One of my tasks has been to unpack some things that I brought back from my parents’ house, specifically my grandmother’s china that she left me.  Well, when there are beans in the house, keeping things clean and tidy is a near impossibility.  One mother’s description of her house was that it looked like the bottom of a toaster, an apt description of my house indeed.  I am trying not to put too much emphasis on outward appearance while at the same time not allowing everything to go to rack and ruin–tough balance!  My darling hub reminded me to consider what things actually have eternal weight when I am trying to figure out whether to clean out the microwave or play a game with the kids.

All that to say, I’m going to go back to cleaning while the kiddies are abed–and I’ll post more after this fun weekend has ended.  Enjoy this pic that illustrates my point about cleaning with kids. 🙂

Lucy helping me unpack china while Tyler swims in the detritus 🙂

For Memorial Day Weekend this year, we traveled down to visit my folks in S. FL.  It was a great visit filled with swimming, a treasure hunt, worship at N. Ft. Myers Pres., time with friends, and a day at the beach.  Tim was able to work down there, so we spent some extra days in addition to the long weekend.

While we were there (thanks to my mom’s excellent and loving childcare–Thanks, Mom!), I had the fun opportunity to go to a bunch of yard sales around town.  I found some great stuff for the family (board games like Monopoly and Battleship to keep at my parents’, beach chairs, and a yankee candle) and some things for re-selling on Ebay.  Yes, for those of you who don’t know, I have found it to be quite diverting (not to mention lucrative at times) to find other people’s junk and re-sell it.  My friend Marianne got me into it–she’s awesome at it!  Of course, having 3 smallish beans at home limits my time to do this, so it’s really just a hobby.  Also I love the time spent with friends roaming about town and going to these sales.  Maybe sometime I’ll do a post with pictures about the items I’ve found and sold.  For now, here are a few pics of our time there.

Connor's new favorite game--look out, Uncle John!

Getting my hair done by Lucy in the pool...the mask is for protection 🙂

Digging for lost pirate treasure in the backyard with Grumpa

Opening the treasure chest--who knew pirates hid American dollars?!

Connor, Caleb, Samantha, Lucy

Tim and Rich (Rich, would you like me to make this into a wallet for you? 😉

Mini-man

Autumn, Lu, and Samantha

The boys--Connor, Caleb, Nathan, Tyler, and Andrew

The Worley water-slide