Fallen Off the Face of the Earth

Really, I've not fallen off the face of the earth. It's just been an insane few weeks with work, and with Emma still not sleeping through the night, I've had a hard time trying to carve out moments to sit and blog.

Our camps brochure finally came out on Friday afternoon, but there was a significant piece of info we didn't know to include when it went to print. So, I needed to "stuff" over a thousand brochures with a postcard-sized insert....by Saturday evening. Jon and I were supposed to go to a dinner theater on Friday night -- for our second date in a week -- but we heard the show really wasn't very good and actually was rather lewd. We decided to give our certificate away to another staff couple and planned to do something else...since we already had a babysitter lined up for Emma. Well, Scott ended up coming down with a cold and Jon was invited to a game of Risk, so he went there and I spent 3 hours stuffing brochures and only got 3 out of 7 boxes done!!! Jon spent over 5 hours stuffing the last 4 boxes on Saturday.

Saturday I helped lead a 3-hour seminar for the district and then went across the parking lot to officiate a wedding. Mmm...I dropped one of the rings during the ceremony!!! This was my fourth wedding, and all of the couples I've worked with have desired to have short ceremonies. This wasn't the SHORTEST, but it WAS less than 20 minutes long. The photographer took 5 times as long afterward, and I had to stick around the entire time....I had to set chairs back in place before the evening service, and he set up all if his stuff exactly where the chairs needed to go. I finally go home around 3:00, starving and met by a hungry baby. I did get a tiny nap before having to return to the church, but I don't think I could call it restorative.

After church we went to a cool restaurant for dinner, called "The Noodle Company." Jon had been there once before, but it was my first time. It was a winner! I'm certain we'll go back again. I'm so tired of all the chains that are all alike -- Applebees, Fridays, Red Robin -- so this was a breath of fresh air. Emma slept through almost the entire meal. On the way home we were entertained by a lightening storm, then got pounded by some heavy rain. We love storms like that!

Yesterday was another full day -- at church all morning, running errands with Jon in the afternoon, then at a funeral viewing (the son of one of my Zambia team members took his life last Wednesday night). I had two "sweet Emma" moments that each had to end too soon. In the morning, right before I had to leave for church, Jon went to shower and I sat down in the rocking chair with Em. She fell asleep in my arms...head resting on my shoulder. I honestly could have sat there rocking with her all day! Then, shortly before having to head to the funeral home, I fed Em and she fell asleep immediately after eating. I had her on our bed, and so I just leaned back and laid down with her sleeping on my chest. Does one ever tire of such experiences?

I took today off but had a funeral to attend and had a scheduled phone call in the afternoon. Nap? What's that? Oh, how I long for one. Not just a 15-minute "power" nap...those don't exist for me. Anything less than 2 hours is a royal disappointment. Emma went to bed just a short time ago...and I'm heading there shortly. Just wanted to give an update on our happening.