I'm Back!

Okay, maybe just for a little bit. But, one more reason I love, love, love my friend, Stephie, is that she is letting me use her laptop today while she is at work (and Travis gets a little credit for letting me too!). And, look at this - ????????"""""""";;;;;;'''''''' - I've almost forgotten what those symbols mean. In fact, I find myself ignoring those keys since they have been of no use to me for the last couple of months - creating such bad habits that are now a bit hard to overcome.

It has been a VERY long weekend, full of emotional highs and emotional lows. Women of Faith had some excellent messages - Nichole Nordeman is just AMAZING and the comedian speaker they had new this year had me laughing uncontollably. (Her tribute to the underwire bra sung to Josh Grobin's "You Raise Me Up" will never be forgotten!) It was an experience, however, not without some "growing time" - things people had to work through, and I think, because of that, it was especially hard on me. I don't think it is appropriate to expand further, but perhaps, one of these days I will dedicate a post to some reasons why I've seen things unfold lately. "Our Ladies" at Applebees after Friday night's conference.
This is what happens when a bunch of women have to attend an early conference and then find out that they can't bring their drinks inside......

On Saturday and Sunday, we entertained the Riley Family and celebrated Leona's birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEONA!!!!!!). It is always such a joy to see the cousins playing together and loving every minute of it. For about 4 hours on Saturday, Brayden and Mikayla had both cousins together (thanks again, Leona for watching them all!) and I think it was very close to Heaven for my kiddos. I will post more pics when I have my computer back (the pic above was emailed to me so I could download it). I am very pleased that we already have a date set for a future post-Christmas gathering so the time apart from the family all-together won't feel so long. The cousins playing at Papa's Pizza on Saturday night-
What a beautiful couple - Uncle Jeff and Aunt Laura
John, and sister-in-law, Mary Beth
Leona's 3 sons.....that's a couch-full of trouble, for sure!
Happy Birthday Grandma!

Mikayla is begging for computer time, but I am not ready to give it up. Emails to check, send, bank accounts to look it (and frown at!), perhaps Christmas presents to research, weather to look up - ahhh, I am so computer-addicted! So, with all of that to do, I will cut it at this point and get to work--