It looks like my idea of bringing the blog back is to post once a month. I suppose it's better than the post once a year approach I was taking, so I feel pretty good about it. I've honestly thought about posting a couple of times in the past few weeks but ultimately decided I had nothing to talk about.
Then today I looked at my picture folder for April and realized I've missed a few very blog worthy moments. In fact, April seems to have been a pretty eventful month around here. Let's begin at the beginning.
Week 1 was Spring Break. We didn't take any fancy trips or go on any wild adventures. The Ocho and I ventured out to the movies one afternoon and spent one beautiful day at the zoo. Otherwise, there was a lot of laying around the house doing nothing. Our trip to the zoo was noteworthy in one regard. Now that she's older, she actually looked at the animals, read about them and engaged me in conversations. We had a great time hanging together and it made me a little more appreciative of the whole growing up thing. Of course, when I took this picture:
And I didn't appreciate it nearly as much anymore.
Week 1 also included Easter. We got all dressed up in our Sunday best
and spent a wonderful morning at church. Afterwards, it was off to Ruby's for dinner where there was no backyard egg hunt. Again, with the growing up. It's really putting a damper on things.
On week 2 we were off on an overnight field trip to Dollywood for their annual Festival of Nations. I had volunteered to chaperon months before and I guess the thought of Dollywood in the spring and an overnight stay in a hotel overshadowed the reality of a bus load of 6th graders and a tedious 5 hour bus ride in my mind. As it turned out, the bus ride wasn't so bad and neither were the 6th graders. We had an amazing time, beautiful weather and rode a few roller coasters in our spare time. All the students were required to attend the shows and then meet some of the performers afterwards and have them autograph their shirts. They would need the signatures to receive class credit. We saw shows featuring performers from India, China, France & Ecuador. My personal favorite, though, was the Zambia Vocal Group. Partly because of their unique sound, partly because of their bold Christian witness and mostly because of their cute backup singers:
Yes, that is the Ocho and her friends. On stage. Singing. With the Zambia Vocal Group. The guys in the group graciously gave the girls their signatures prior to the performance in exchange for the girls singing a song with them during the concert. The guys were so kind and complimentary, even though the girls didn't so much sing as just stand there and giggle.
Week 3 brought my very first 5K. I blame this on the peer pressure of Facebook and the allure of fried chicken. My friend Big Nanny has become involved in a great organization called One Less Ministires which advocates for victims of human trafficking. They were sponsoring a 5K and Big Nanny decided to form a team from our church. It was a classic case of "all my friends are doing it" that got me to sign up. I figured I'd jog a 1/4 of a mile and walk the rest while chatting with my friends. There was also the promise of free Chick Fil A for all participants so, no brainer.
As it turns out, I have a bit of a competitive streak in me. After jogging through the starting line, I passed my friend Robyn as a joke (She actually runs for the fun of it. Weirdo.) But after passing her, I just kept running. And at some point realized she hadn't passed me. Then, I saw my friend Melinda directly in front of me. She runs 5Ks all the time. I made it my goal to keep up with her. And I did! I had to stop and walk a few minutes over the last mile, but for the most part (insert Forrest Gump impression) I. Was. Running. My finishing time was 35:21. I was happy to share the accomplishment with my over-40 peeps Andrea (who finished right after me) & Robyn (who, did NOT finish right after me).
That brings us to week 4. There was a community Barn Dance and Handiman and I took the Ocho and her BFF Mo to the festivities. We all learned some line dances, Handiman and I dusted off our moves from years gone by, and in a tear-inducing moment, he took his daughter on the floor and taught her the two-step.
It was almost more than I could bear.
Week 4 also brought an invitation to the trip of a lifetime for one member of our household. But I'm not gonna talk about that just yet. Let me just say, in May I'm going to have plenty to blog about.
No comments:
Post a Comment