A Whirlwind Of A Weekend.

Saturday evening found most of the *over 18* single girls of our church at a very nice dinner, pretty dresses and all. Most of the time all the girls are so busy with school and work that the chance to get together and hang out doesn't happen too often, so I planned a banquet to couple (ha! ~ no pun intended!) up with Valentine's Day and everyone really had a good time. It's not too often that we get to wear formal dresses, and each girl really went all out! Some of the girls were a little hesitant as to where the individual portraits were going to wind up at (visions of eharmony.com popped into a few girls' minds:oD), but I told them I was going to print the pictures out and frame them for the girls, and the girls only:o). This wasn't intended to be a matchmaking opportunity by way of photographs;o).

(Sarah and Sarah catching up...)

(We played Psychology and Katie, Dawn, and Sarah were the ones who had to figure out the "secret" to the game... It was a laughter-filled 45 minutes with these three blondies before Sarah finally figured out the trick;D)

Everyone had a blast and the mom of two of the girls came to give a devotional on (what else?!?) singleness. But it was a good reminder that a single person can focus completely on the Lord and care for the things of the Lord. Mrs. Garcia also pointed out that both singleness and marriage are gifts from God, and that gifts are to be valued and used. Three of the girls sang a song called "Lord, Here's My Isaac" which talks about Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son in order to be counted faithful. It was such a blessed evening, and we've already decided to go to the other extreme next time: jean skirts and pizza:o). We're girls who love to eat, so of course there's always gonna be a central theme of food when we get together:op.



As if it wasn't crazy enough planning and preparing for the banquet, my sister-in-law's baby shower was on Sunday so that made this past weekend a very action-packed two days!



This is the *other* Ann in the family, although she has dropped the "e" off the end of her name in order to make it less (?) confusing. Ann and I both have the same first and middle names, our dads have the same name, we interviewed for the same nanny job (although there was a two year gap between the time I went to when she went) and when my brother first introduced us, we had our hair done the exact same way!!! I think Ann belongs in our family;o). Whenever someone says "Anne", we both automatically turn towards the voice... it proves to be interesting at times! It's also weird to answer the phone and hear, "Hi Anne, this is Ann." But we love her and are very glad that Baby Ethan makes his grand debut in a month! Judging by the shower, he will be very warm (blankets), a drooler (bibs), and will be the best read-to little kid around (books)!



It's always a sad day when I tell a family member good-bye, as was the case today. Our Florida birds flew home this afternoon, scooting out of the way of a snowstorm just in time:o).

(As you can see, Bayley was eyeing my birthday cake and not the camera! Oh, and yes we still do have our Christmas tree up, but that was for my sister's benefit:o))

(A very dearly-loved sister!)

I have a wonderful relationship with all my brothers and sisters, but I always cherish the time I spend with this sister in particular for I know that I won't see her for a couple of months. Lord willing, I plan on flying down in June to help her with the new baby girl before I head off for a missions trip in the summer. I'll be missing the *big* family reunion when they come back up in July, but that's the way it is sometimes and so I just deal with it:). It was really nice to have them up here for two weeks.... but by the end of the trip, Michelle was ready to go! Bayley is your typical full-of-lots-of-energy-and-only-sleeps-to-build-back-up-that-energy kid and that was a little rough on his mommy! Thankfully there were a couple of uncles up here that could wrestle with him and toss him around:o).

With all that said and done, I think I'm ready for a snow day tomorrow... I need to refuel my energy!