Ending the week on a much higher note . . .

Thanks for all your encouragement--my week definitely ended on a better note! The biggest praise is that my cousin "Pilot" and his girlfriend were able to come. He landed back at his base at 1:00 on Friday, and Sarah met him there, and they left about 3:30. We were so glad to see them Friday night! What a huge answer to lots of prayer! We have really enjoyed meeting Sarah. The boys all think she's just super, since she played pinochle with Nathan and Luke and "pirates" with Caleb and Jonathan. Tonight we had a barbeque over at the L's house. They recently got a chiminea (spelling? one of those little fireplaces that can sit on the deck, LOL), and the kids had a wonderful time after dinner roasting marshmallows and making s'mores outside. There was also a serious ping pong and air hockey tournament going on downstairs. It was a nice time of visiting, although we probably stayed much too late and will pay the price tomorrow in the form of very grumpy kids. Ah well!

Another positive note is that we did purchase a set of bunk beds on Thursday night. This set was located in Maryland, so we had an hour drive to get there. Bob and I went after dinner, since the lady worked. We took both minivans, which ended up to be a very good thing. What we should have done was also taken my dad, LOL. It was a set with a twin on top/full on bottom, just like I wanted, and there is a desk on one end. The set included 2 dressers as well, which we sorely needed, so it was a very good deal for us. The only slight hitch was that all this furniture barely fit into the minivans. We were seriously sweating and working to get everything in, and we almost gave it all up figuring we'd have to make a second trip. But we persevered, and miracuously it all did fit. Bob had to wedge himself in his van, though, since we had to move his seat all the way up. Good thing it was a short trip . . . LOL. The lady also lived in an apartment, so we had to traipse up and down stairs and across a courtyard. Whew--I am glad I am not a professional mover! We are waiting until some of the company leaves before attempting to reassemble all of this. If we are successful, I will post pictures. So if you never see any pictures, feel free to ask me about what happened . . . . . . .

The other wonderful thing that happened is that I received a package from my friend Johanna, and it contained 6 tubes of the now-discontinued "Dr. Burt's lavender and mint toothpaste" that does not have sodium laurel sulfate! When she was up in Maryland visiting, she was in a store and saw these tubes. She thought they were what I had lamented about, so she called me to confirm and then bought them all! What a friend! I was so excited! Thank you, Johanna!

So although we are still so sad that Dan, Melinda, and Emily couldn't be here, things did improve. And speaking of improving, I talked to Melinda this afternoon, and it sounds like she is doing a lot better too. She still can't lift anything over 5 pounds, which rules out lifting Emily, their 5 month old, so her mom is still there to help out. She is also still having some problems with food, so hopefully those will resolve themselves soon, and she'll be better than new!