All things in perspective

This has been a difficult weekend. I know it is Monday, but the events of the weekend are not finished. The death of our dear friends' precious baby boy has caused me to do a great deal of thinking and reevaluating for the past 3 days. I have heard it said that Death is the great equalizer. I would also add that it puts all things into perspective.

I have spent the last few weeks moaning and groaning about many things. Even while I was doing all that moaning and groaning, I knew each individual thing was minor and petty...all together, though, they seemed overwhelming. Now, none of it matters. I feel guilty for wasting so much time grumbling instead of enjoying life.

I am grateful for my precious son. He needs my time and energy much more than the dishes or the laundry. I make a pledge to stop what I am doing when he wants me to read or play with him. There will be plenty of time for the mundane things of life later--they are not going to go away.

God does not promise us tomorrow. He only promises us that He will help us through our trials. Tomorrow may never come. Live today as if it won't.

Welcome Baby Violet--God is so good!

Our good friends had their baby this morning, God is so wonderful. The baby came on her own, no inducing needed. While I was thinking about the past few years and my pregnancy with Zachary, I realized that God has truly been with us. Every time we have needed something, it has been there. When we needed someone to take care of Zachary when he was a baby, Julie stepped in as an answer to prayer. When she could no longer take care of him after Jared was born, Beth was right there--another prayer answered. I am truly grateful. We have always had family here to support us and take care of Zach when we wanted or needed a little time. When I get discouraged and wonder what it is that God has planned for me, I need to remember the times when he so smoothly and quickly answered prayer at just the right time.

Fall decorating

Those of you who truly know me know that I rarely decorate except for Christmas. This year, I decided to decorate for fall (with the intention of changing the decorations for each season...). Basically, I had to justify my recent Southern Living at Home purchases. The album I just posted has pictures of my endeavors.

Dallas World Aquarium

OK, I realize I should have been blogging all summer, but I haven't. I just read a friend's blog (thanks for posting Laura) and got inspired...

We went to the Dallas World Aquarium with the Dubcaks today. Zachary was excited about our outing--not about the fish and animals, but that we were going to get to ride the TRAIN!! He is still a train nut, and now he has ridden on 2 trains.

After riding the TRE and DART, we still had to walk to the Aquarium. We were lucky that a man saw the lost look on our faces and pointed us in the right direction. The line was extremely long when we got there, so we went to eat at Spaghetti Warehouse for lunch..YUMMY.

When we got back to the aquarium, the line was much shorter so we got in line and waited until our turn. The animals along the path kept our attention until we got to the window. A sign on the window warned us that there would be 450 school children at the facility. We were thinking that since it was well after noon, the students would probably be long gone. Nope. There were kiddos EVERYWHERE! We still got to see everything, it was just crowded. Zachary loved seeing the penguins and flamingos (Baby Einstein prepared us for those!!), and he loved the monkeys, too.

Lesson learned...call and make sure there are not 450 school children scheduled on the same day!

Zach fell asleep during the train ride home, so he is playing in his room instead of taking a nap. Maybe he will sleep well tonight...

Poor sick baby

Although I appreciate the nap I got to take this afternoon, the reason I got to take it is that Zachary is sick. He slept for around 2 hours (so did I). He rarely takes naps for me on the weekend. He still has a few days left on his antibiotic, so...as much as I enjoyed the opportunity to take a nap, I am ready to have my little boy back at full health!

stick a fork in me...

'cause I'm done! I turned in my final assignment tonight (19 hours early, by the way). Now I just have to wait for grades to be posted, TWU to acknowledge that I have graduated, and the State of Texas to certify me as a school librarian.

Wow--time flies!

I cannot believe it has been 6 months since I last posted. Zachary is at Nana's house and I am supposed to be finishing my projects, but instead...

I will post some pictures of Zachary next week. For now, I really should get back to those projects. Only 2 more to go. Only 3 days to go. Graduation is NEXT FRIDAY!!!