Catch Up

I thought that I'd play a little catch up tonight.  With my Dad being in the hospital and so much of my mind being wrapped up in how he's doing, it's been difficult to focus on the fact that life is still moving on around me.  Moving along with it has felt a bit like being in a fog at times, but I'm thankful for the good things that grab my focus and remind me of the good things that are happening around me.

One fun thing that happened yesterday was getting together with a great group of girls and going wedding dress shopping.  

My beautiful friend Amber is getting married this summer, so while she was home, she gathered together a few of her available friends and went to a bridal shop, in search of the perfect gown.

It was fun to be together with so many beautiful friends.

And while lots of opinions swirled around, we all agreed that it was fun to see our beautiful friend trying on different kinds of wedding dresses and narrowing down her selections towards the goal of finding her perfect dress.

Weddings are fun, and dress shopping with these awesome girls was also very fun. 

Then, this afternoon, I got to hang with these wonderful kids at Kids Club.

We talked about trusting in God with all of our hearts.

So, although messy, it only seemed fitting to use our activity time to make homemade play dough.

We then shaped our dough carefully into hearts.

We added a little (or in some cases a lot of) glitter, and then tied our verse Proverbs 3:5 onto the heart with a little ribbon.  I told the kids that they could hang it somewhere and always be reminded that God wants us to trust him with all of our hearts.  

We accomplished our task, with the help of all of the amazing leaders that come to Kids Club.

And then we played with the extra play dough.  What started out as flour, salt and water turned into snakes, sharks and all sorts of moldable creatures.  It was a fun time for creating.  

After Kids Club, Ellee and Daddy had Date Night.  She insisted on wearing her fancy shoes, and Daddy sported a pretty handsome tie.  Ellee and Jer share such a special bond, and I'm so thankful for the fun times that they are able to have together.

Their date night reminded me of the times that I was in elementary school.  There were some years that my Dad had to work 2nd or 3rd shift, so we didn't see him as much as we would have liked to.  I was always very proud of the fact that he was working hard to support our family.  However, there were certain days that he would adjust his sleeping schedule and come and pick me up from school to go out to lunch with him.  He also did this with my sisters on different days.  These were such special times for me.  First, it was fun to miss a little school and secondly, I adored my Dad, just as my daughter adores her daddy, and cherished spending this time just with him.  

Speaking of my Dad, he was moved out of the ICU today, which seems to be a good sign.  My Mom shared that he was eating a little more and sitting up as well.  He did have another round of dialysis.  And though it seems like we continue to get varied opinions, one of the dialysis doctors told my Mom that it could be anywhere from 4-6 weeks where his kidneys could kick in.  Granted, we would love to see a quick recovery, but it's nice to know that there is a bit of a longer time frame with everything.  Thanks again, to so many who are praying for my Dad and our family.  Those prayers are deeply cherished and we know that God is continually helping our family throughout this time.