A Wonderful Weekend

This has been one busy but wonderful weekend. Our friends Barry and Diane watched the kids for us while we Christmas-shopped (and wrapped and hid) gifts for the kids. That's Rachel with Luci, above. Rachel pretty much babysat Luci all by herself, according to Diane. Thanks, Rachel! And thank thanks to our good friends B&D.

John and I went out to eat at this wonderful little Italian place here in town before hitting the stores. It was so nice to be a grown-up in a grown-up kind of place, and not wipe up spills or sticky hands. John and I had nearly an hour at our meal, then the fun began. We went to several stores, and found most of what was on our list. It was a quick 3 hours of shopping. It almost counted for exercise, since we were nearly jogging through some of the stores. John was sweet and held out his arm for me to hold, but I suspect that he was just trying to make me keep up with him. It took another hour to drive home, unload the car and then get out to B&D's house. I wrapped and hid presents while John picked up kids. They had no clue that we'd gotten anything. (hee hee hee--evil laugh!)

The best part of shopping (well, the second-best part, since the best part was just spending time together) was that this year the kids have gifts that Daddy chose just for them. The other two Christmases when John was on military trips, everything was picked out by me and had Daddy's name on them. This time, the gifts really are from Daddy.

At church, a special prayer was said for us as John's trip begins. Our good friend Kelly led this, and I was glad that he didn't say anything that made me cry. He can make you laugh and cry all at once.

Heath and Shanna and their girls joined us for worship and lunch. We had a long lunch and a good visit. It was such a good day today! (I'm sorry I didn't think to bring my camera to lunch. The girls were so cute playing together, and Sara was a hoot--she has a great belly-laugh!)

Bryan and JT have gotten along wonderfully all weekend. Such a good weekend!