Wonderful Busy-Ness

The craziness has begun again and does not promise to let up until the wedding is over. I would be lying if I said we weren't having a great time, though. Friday night was spent at Kayla's sister and brother-in-law's (Jill and Jared) house, playing Wii. On their gigantic movie-theater screen in their media room. Our Miis were bigger than us. It was so much fun! The family Kevin is marrying into is fantastic and we're having a great time getting to know each other. My Dad and Kayla's Dad are now BFFs and we have been threatening to buy them one of those necklaces that breaks in two pieces so they can each have one. Saturday was spent wine tasting all over northwest Oregon, choosing wines for the rehearsal dinner. Believe it or not, even with a $10/bottle corking fee, it's still cheaper for them to bring their own wine than to purchase it at the restaurant. Go figure. For those of you who don't know this, Oregon's Willamette Valley is considered in wine circles to be the new Napa, so there are lots of great wineries and wines to choose from.

Sunday was spent at church, grocery shopping and then taking the kids to a friend's birthday party at 'Pump it Up'. Then Mark and I played Wii after the kids crashed and burned early from all the jumping around and cake eating.

Monday was a low-key day, and if I remember correctly, I didn't even take a shower. We played and laughed and had dinner as a family. Tuesday I had a Women's Ministry Team meeting to plan our next event and we even had a couple of new women join us, which was fun (Hi, Katie!). Wednesday Kevin and Kayla had invited Mark and I to go participate in a Pub Quiz at a local pub where a friend of my brother's works. This was my first Pub Quiz but definitely not my last! Kevin, Kayla, Jill, Jared and Mark and I played as a team against about 60 other people. Everyone pays $3 to participate and the winning team gets the pot. The quiz takes a couple of hours and it's made up of different rounds of trivia including video clips, audio clues and a bingo round. Anyone who knows me knows that this totally floats my boat. I love games, I love trivia and my head is so full of useless information it's scary. Mostly pop culture. Our team did fairly well for our first time, coming in 6th out of 12 teams. A lot of the teams we were competing against are hardcore and participate weekly (at least) in the Pub Quiz, so there is no shame in coming in right in the middle considering we were newbies. The most fun of the night was just getting to know Jill and Jared some more, they are such fun, nice people (Kayla, thank you for having such great relatives!).

Last night was Bible study again and it did not disappoint, as usual. I do not know what I would do without my women. I am so grateful that God created us for community, because I would never want to have to walk this road alone. Having other women who are either going through what I am going through or who have already gone through it is such a valuable tool in this Christian life. To be able to pray for others and be prayed for, to be able to encourage others and be encouraged and to be able to laugh our heads off is so necessary. Thank you, Lord!

Tonight will be a quiet night at home with the family again, resting up for the weekend ahead. Tomorrow is a very important day of shopping for the wedding with my Aunt and my Mom. Though we already have some parts of our outfits, tomorrow will be spent completing our ensembles with whatever pieces we are still missing. I will also be doing some birthday shopping for a little boy I know who is turning 2 soon. Sunday we have church and a BBQ with our old small group and then Monday will be some kind of BBQ/Wii playing/Swimming Pool/Sandbox/etc, etc with my family.

Then it starts all over again! Seriously!

I love it, though. I really do. I am so blessed to have such amazing family and friends. We have so much fun together and learn from each other. I think of people who don't have the people around them that I do and I count my blessings. When God gave me my friends, family and church family, He gave with two overflowing hands. I pray that I am always a good steward of them and am half the blessing to them that they are to me.