Dinner with Captain America

Tomorrow is my wedding anniversary.

My husband and I had planned a date night tonight. We were dropping off the kids at a "Parents Night Out" event at the nZone . We knew we had time to go to a local Kabob house (my favorite) and see a movie. Both of us were very excited and had planned to do something together as a family on our actual anniversary.

A celebration if you will.

Unfortunately, as life would have it, our son became very ill with a croupy cough and high fever. I knew it was serious when he refused to eat breakfast and told me how miserable he was. I mean, really? This boy of ours never misses a meal or snack time AND he's always up and ready to face the day. So I kept him home and skipped my physical therapy appointment...and cancelled our evening plans. Am I disappointed?  Of course I am but we'll plan again and it will be nice to be out with my hubby to celebrate us.

But for now in place of dinner out with my husband, we had pizza and wings outside while he was smoking meat on the grill/smoker. In place of a grown up movie with my man, I'm watching Captain America with our boy who is just as obsessed with Marvel comics as his mom.

I couldn't be happier.

Tonight is a reminder of what has transpired since Mark and I exchanged vows eleven years ago. I married my best friend and we now have a little family. I am so fortunate and we are extremely blessed. I can't think of a better way to celebrate an anniversary than to be reminded. There is no better gift for me.

Tomorrow Mark and I will enjoy dinner and a movie together but for now...

 Captain America waits! 

Test this, test that...

I have been absent for the past few days because I have been spending my days treating my sore spots after being rear ended last week. I have been monitoring my symptoms closely and I've gone to the doctor AND physical therapy.

I believe I'm going to be fine. However that doesn't stop the testing and testing and testing and testing and... do this exercise and do this stretch and do that exercise and do a cold compress and do a warm compress...and do it every two hours. AND call this doctor and that doctor for more testing because "you may have some nerve damage"...etc, etc.

Oh goodness gracious.

Sooooo...I decided to do some testing of my own. And that testing would be over things that I enjoy. I took pictures for the blog via my phone. The reason I'm testing is because I have taken pictures previously and didn't like the way they looked in a blog post. I've used my phone camera directly, the blogger app camera, and the Instagram app.

Believe me. This post is more just for me so I can feel more comfortable to post pictures from my phone in the future.  I mean how could this "photographer" share snapshots that the reader can't even make out what it is?

Oh the humanity!!!

So for now, a test. Here are the pictures of our milkweed in full bloom. Goodness how I wish there was a smell-a-vision app because these smell AMAZING!

I'm a bunny. You're a bunny too.

What I love so much about my walks to school with the boy and girl is that there is always an opportunity to learn about the amazing wonder of nature that surrounds us. We also use that time to pray and worship, being reminded to give thanks for the numerous things we have.

This morning on our walk we saw a large rabbit chasing a little bunny which ultimately ran across the street to get away.  I knew what was happening and my immediate reaction was to make light of it by giving them voices in order to explain to our children the process in nature when babies are weaned.

Momma rabbit - "You're done. Get out!"

baby bunny - "okayyyyyyyy!"


Harsh, I know...and very real. If the baby rabbits are not pushed out and away from their nest, the adult male may kill them.  The little ones have to find their new feeding areas away from the claimed territories and hope to survive the ready predators.

But look at what my girl did.

"Mommy, I don't think you're right. I don't think that is what she is doing at all."

"Really? What then?"


"I think she wants her baby bunny to explore this whole great big world. She knows it will be scary but she is still telling the baby to go. She is excited for him but still loves him. That's why she went all the way to the edge of the sidewalk. She wanted to make sure her baby was ok to cross the street."

Now isn't that something?  That is the perspective of a child who is confident in the knowledge that someone cares and loves her very much.  So why is it that I immediately made a negative spin on the very same incident the three of us observed?  It is plainly clear that the end result was the same -- mommy rabbit was sending off baby bunny.

Aren't I also a person who claims to know that I'm cared for and loved very much? Was I somehow projecting how I think God may feel about me? Maybe. Maybe not. One thing I know for sure is that Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Mt 18:17)

Perhaps our problem as adults is not that we believe God doesn't love us, it's that we believe God doesn't want us. We turn our backs and refuse to enter into a relationship where all He wants is the best for us -- no matter what that might look like to the rest of the world looking on.  Sometimes He is simply going to the edge of the sidewalk and telling us we will be ok...we just have to step out in faith and cross that street.

Encourage some"bunny" today. You never know your words may be exactly what they need to hear.

Blessings for your day,