Anniversary Dinner

We were treated to a lovely anniversary dinner last night. R. and K. made chicken, spinach salad (they even made the dressing!), garlic bread, and a scrumptious chocolate raspberry cake for dessert!

Here are some pictures from the night:

The kids around the dinner table, waiting for the adults to join them!

R. and K. holding the cake they made. The red in the middle of the center heart says "14", indicating the number of years we have been married.

I'm almost back to blogland....oh, and Happy Anniversary to us!

No, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, though many times during this past month it might have seemed an attractive option! No, instead I have either been ill or attending to ill members of my family for the past month. We set a new family record in August -- at least one out of the five of us was ill ever day ! Some days we hit four out of five! It was not pretty. It was actually depressing and miserable.

And, added to the stress of seemingly perpetual illness were other incidental stressors such as taking care of and potty training a very active puppy, starting up homeschooling with 4 kids, preparing for my September speaking engagements, and the duties associated with functioning as the vice-chairman of the search committee at church. It was enough to push me over the edge. I felt like I was hanging on by a thread, and that thread was God's sustaining grace. My mantra was "Lord, give me enough grace to do what I need to do in the next hour." It was, obviously, a mantra I had to repeat often!

Despite the chaos and stress of the last month, I actually have blog posts which are ready to be written. Frankly, I just haven't had the time to sit down and unpack them so that I can share them. They are coming though. I just need a chunk of time and space to be alone before I can write anything of substance. So, hopefully, within a week or so I will have something up.

On a completely different note.............

Today is my and JT's 14th wedding anniversary. I am thankful to God for the incredible man I married 14 years ago today. He, more than any other human being, has incarnated the love and grace of Jesus Christ to me. I am in large part the person I am today because of my relationship with him. I am truly thankful for my husband and my marriage.

Friends from So. Cal are visiting this week and their eldest daughter (and my goddaughter), K., and my eldest daughter, R., are busy (as I type this) cooking a surprise anniversary dinner, complete with dessert, for us this evening. They already cooked us breakfast this morning :)

It has been a good day, and I have much for which to be thankful.