one week later...

ok, didn't really mean to leave anybody hanging for a week... not that you're the most voracious blog readers, but i did just up and disappear without warning, so - sorry about that.

and i'm back. i didn't really go anywhere - just got busy and quiet. such is life. so i thought i'd do a bit of a catch-up post. here we go:

• matt is suffering from some serious short-timer's disease at work. he's down to three work days left, and then it's on to the next chapter of life. i'm excited for him. and for us. (i am, however, mourning the loss of his free afternoons. the 5am-1pm schedule meant that he could do my grocery shopping. *sigh*)
  
• sunday was our monthly Special Sunday event with the kids. every month, we do an event that is normal Kids Church, but kicked up a notch - usually with a theme, a give-away or a prize. sunday was our "Snow Storm". the kids wore hats or scarves for a treat; had a "snowball" (newspaper) fight; and enjoyed "hot" cocoa (chocolate milk, with marshmellows). totally fun, and definitely had some buzz around it as they desperately tried to figure out how i'd do snowballs.
  
• this saturday, i'm having a bunch of the girls over to my house for an "art party". speaking my language, baby.
  
• our 3rd anniversary is coming up. can you believe it? i can't. (not sure what to get him. the traditional gifts say glass, crystal or leather... hmmm.) we're taking that weekend off and going to sequim, which is on the north side of the olympic peninsula. it should make for beautiful scenery, and there's lots of nature-y stuff to do out there. i'm looking forward to a little get-away.
  
• sunday will be my first sunday "off" since i took this position with the church in january. our church participates in an annual "church in the park" event, which means no Kids Church. as much as i love kids church, everybody needs a break now and then, and i'm frothing at the mouth in anticipation of adult contact.
  
• truly a child of my generation, i grew up watching the simpsons. i "fell away" for a few years when my mom wouldn't let me watch because i'd picked up a little of bart's less-obnoxious vocabulary (i remember a big "to-do" being made over the word "rad". whatever.) anyway, matt and i enjoy it from time to time, and it's especially funny because we get the adult humor that we missed as kids. and now the movie's out. i probably wouldn't be so interested if they hadn't gone all-out with their marketing - including turning our local 7-11 into a kwik-e-mart complete with products like Buzz Cola, Squishees and Krusty Flakes cereal - which just shows that marketing works. we went ahead and bought tickets for opening night - friday, our usual date night. then we remembered that we have a birthday party to go to that night. bummer.
  
• last saturday, matt put his teaching gift to use and addressed about 30 of the men in our church at the monthly men's breakfast. he worked hard preparing his message, and apparently rocked the house. he's the first to admit that he's not a natural-born speaker, and has a fear of public speaking, but he really felt God calling him to do this. he put together a very motivating message, which was very well received. i'm extremely proud of him.

ok, that's all for me. maybe a photo tomorrow.