hello to a new season! and i don't mean fall...

The summer has long come & gone. Although here in Florida we are only just now catching glimpses of fall weather. like wearing jeans during the day doesn't make me sweat bullets anymore.

The summer months were definitely a busy & full season. But the biggest chunk of our time has been our transition back into full-time ministry. Yep. No more sales job for matt. And back to single-parent Saturdays & Sundays for me. But this round we are feeling more content in knowing it's where we are meant to be.

It was definitely a process, one that the hand of God was truly evident. I'm always amazed at how perfect His timing is and how He prepares our hearts even if we aren't always aware at that moment.

When we first visited the church back in January, I saw a table in the lobby for the Emerge Leadership Academy and told Matt that it would be perfect for him. He loves playing music, but he is most definitely called to discipleship...mentoring others and discovering & developing their gifts. While I just said it in passing, it planted a seed in both of our hearts. 

Through a crazy list of happenings, here we are again in full-time ministry. Matt is currently a worship leader/band director at our church & the Co-Director of Emerge. It's been an awesome time of being stretched & used, developing new relationships & putting roots down. This place is home and that feels soooo very good. 

Matt leading worship last weekend.

While Matt was more than ready for this transition, I was a bit hesitant. I know the irregular hours, the tightly budgeted lifestyle, and the extra events that come with being on staff at a church. But the Lord has been re-directing my heart back to Him & His people instead of my own selfish desires. I'm finding my middle ground between my ministry being my family & my family being there to do ministry. 

In August I attended a Dare to Be event at our church with Natalie Grant & Charlotte Gambill. It rocked my world & readjusted my perspective to a completely different angle. {If there is an event near you, GO! you won't be disappointed!} While these ladies were here to minister, they had traveled with their families for a little vacation. After all  we do live in a vacation paradise. Charlotte, in speaking to one of her kids, said that we go to church to help fill others up & in that we are filled. While that may sound selfish to some, it was so reassuring to this tired & drained momma. Because when we go to church, I'm corralling, feeding, dressing & buckling in 4 kids by myself. That is exhausting! But knowing that because I go and let the Lord use me, He will renew my strength. And in the mean time I get my heart filled to overflowing with grace. 

So now both Matt & I are walking in a place where we are called to use our gifts for the Lord on a regular basis. What more could we ask for?! When we are faithful with the little, He gives us much...even in time & rest. I feel like the women the Bible talks about in 1 & 2 Kings who have nothing "except a little". And God takes that except & makes it exceptional. 

seriously. read it!

TRUTH: 2 Kings 4:1-7

The woman only had a little oil to give, but out of her obedience & faith she gathered all the oil jars from her neighbors and poured into them. She then sold the oil & was rewarded for her obedience, not just to cover what debts she had, but with extra to live on. Only a gracious God can orchestrate something like that.

Where & how are you trusting God to make your "except" into EXCEPTIONAL?!

psst! stay tuned for a giveaway tomorrow! you won't want to miss this!!

giving up on good adventures: sunday morning church

you know how sometimes there are good things in life that just aren't the best things for your family?!

well recently, we've discovered going to church on sunday mornings isn't the best thing for us.

now, wait a sec!

it's not that we are skipping church altogether. we are just choosing to go on saturday nights instead. and it's been an awesome surprise!

truth: for several years, i went to church out of duty. 

the duty of a good christian woman. the duty of a pastor's wife. 

the duty of a mom trying to raise God-loving little men. 

and that was all fine. 

sometimes i think you have to just get up & go even if you don't want to or feel like it. 

but i longed for more...

now that matt isn't preoccupied on sundays, i thought things would change...until he got asked to play on the worship team. i knew it would only be a matter of time. i just hoped it would take longer i guess. either way, it's happened. in all honesty, him being a part of the worship team is what helped make our shift from sunday morning church-goers, to saturday night church-goers.

when it comes down to the facts, saturday night allows him to be more available to help me with the unloading/loading up of kids. the church also serves a family meal before service. so we meet matt there {as he's gone ahead for practice}, eat dinner together, put the kids in childcare available for the worship team, and then i sit. i sit & unwind. i'm able to prepare my heart before worship. it's been a long time since i've been in a place where i'm ready for what God has in store before service starts.

y'all this was me on mother's day weekend...before church.
awesomeness!

y'all know what i'm talking about right?! the hustle & bustle that seemingly only comes on sunday mornings as you bust out the door, usually running just a little late. yeah, that. and doing that for years by myself with my growing tribe of boys {and my trusty sidekick of a stroller}...it exhausts me to think about it.

but now our sundays leave room for rest & recouping from our saturday family adventures. we hang out, watch cartoons, pick up toys, catch up on laundry & go to our small group. i suppose in essence that our sundays have turned into what most do on saturdays. and coming from a season where we never really had weekends, this is a new experience.

i'd say that now we are in a season of refreshing. and that includes things like worship team childcare. and saturday night dinners & church. and small group meetings. and no more single-parent sundays.

single parent sunday :: at a birthday party

usually our sundays are filled with church and naps. but last week, instead of going to night church, we went to our friend {sawyer}s 3rd birthday party. and what an adventure it was!

for the most part the boys did great. it's a child-proofed house filled with plenty of toys to distract from anything too troublesome except...

the table. {sam} has this  obsession with climbing up on the chairs to get to the table. it's why my table looks like this...

and then there was the kiddie table on the porch full of half eaten cupcakes. after i got done feeding {sam} & {matty} their cupcake, they b-lined for the table of abandoned cupcakes before i could even get up. it was an epic twin tag team battle. i'd get one of their hands cleaned off & pulled away from the table while the other jumped right in...this continually happened for a good couple minutes before i was able to get them both cleaned, cupcakes snatched away & put some place unreachable. wish it would have been captured on video somehow because i'm sure it was hilarious to watch. i then brought them inside and proceeded to chase them & pull everyone's cups/plates/food out of their hands. 

and {gabe} decided to forget he is potty trained. and of course, i didn't have any extra clothes for him. so he ran around in a long sleeve shirt, diaper & his shoes...the majority of the night. he also didn't want to leave the train table & pitched a small fit. then i reminded him that he had trains at home now too. thanks {grammie} & {granpop}!

and {ben} wanted to help open all the birthday presents. he also was playing baseball outside and i nearly got hit in the head by him twice...i'm sure that others had the same experience. sorry 'bout that folks!

needless to say, they were giving me a run for my money. and i decided that it was time to leave when i started to break a sweat from chasing boys & just trying to keep up. and pictures? like i had the time or sense of mind to take pictures. lesson learned...birthday parties require 2 adults to keep up with these boys & all the sugar that comes with a birthday party. 

good thing we sure love that {sawyer} boy and his mom & dad so much! 

and today is the actual birthday... 

HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY SAWS!

single parent sundays :: fresh fall air

bed hogs slept in the middle of my bed all week

when {matt} was sick a few weeks back, i said it would be better to have a sick kid than a sick spouse. well turns out i got my wish...we all minus {ben} & including my parents got the stomach bug last week. karma just kicked my butt! it was terrible. not as bad as when we got it back in march, but still bad. my mom drove up the day i got sick. and my dad dropped by during the weekend...and they still got it. it's the kinda bug that lingers even after you aren't feeling sick. the worst! so we stayed home. inside. for days! did i mention i'm currently in a 2 bedroom condo?! cabin fever is an understatement.

{grammie} & {matty}

on sunday we were all feeling pretty much back to normal, but knowing that my parents had just gotten sick, we didn't want to chance taking this nasty bug onto church. so we stayed home. sure that meant no rushing to get out the door in time or arguments over outfits, but i was still doing it by myself. nothing had changed. the monotony of the week was digging in deep under my skin. thankfully, sunday brought beautiful fall weather here in southeastern virginia & i knew that if i didn't get out of the house we would all pay for it. i dressed my grumpy self & my grumpy tribe of boys and off we went to explore the great outdoors. ok, maybe not so much explore, but a walk to the park.

not sure why, but i feel like they look a lot like me here.

{gabe} wanted a ride back

 and getting out just once just wasn't enough, so we went for another walk later that afternoon. {auntie kate} came to the rescue again and took the little guys & i took the big ones. i tried to make them sit on this bench and act like they loved each other. this is the look i get from {gabe}. ha! shoulda known, we were all still a little on the grumpy side.

and turns out, that both {sam} & {matty} were cutting molars too. no wonder i feel like my hearing has been compromised.  i mean, there's a lot of crying that happens in this house normally we warn all those who dare to enter the door! but put sick AND teething buddies....yeah we reached a whole new level. 

thankfully the majority of us are on the up & up. {matty}s gums are still getting torn to pieces and he is more than sufficiently reminding us of this, but the bug has passed and we are enjoying the 80 degree weather. 

so last week was full of plenty of things to be grumpy about but like i said before, i'm trying to be thankful for something every day...even if it seems that there's nothing but baby puke filling it. and since all the days last week just got jumbled into one, i'll just be generally thankful. that's good enough right?!

• a husband who literally gets his hands dirty to help out at home
• that {ben} made it through without so much as a sneeze
• my husband that takes the day off to watch the kids & take care of me
• that same husband can get more done on his day off at home than i usually can 
• for parents who come to help...and get sick in return but wouldn't have it any other way
• for new windows to open & air out the house
• this amazingly gorgeous fall weather
• the colorful leaves that make looking out my window a little more enjoyable
• checking BIG things of a to-do list
• watching that to-do list get shorter & shorter

single parent sunday :: giving thanks days 4-6

i've been keeping a running daily list of things i'm thankful for on my phone. it's much easier than keeping pen & paper around yet also out of reach of the boys. since i'm just mashing all of these together today i'll keep it brief...

november 4
child care at the YMCA
leftover halloween goodie bags
a call to show the condo

november 5
showing the condo
a clean house
family time
nap time
worked on our christmas card
dinner & coffee with my friends

november 6
waking up with a little bit of sunshine
babies that didn't cry when left in the nursery
teething swabs for uncomfortable
jimmy john's
offer on the condo...even if it's not that great

                                                                              

and since yesterday was sunday...here's my single parent sunday adventure...

the boys woke up at their normal 7:15.

we got fed, dressed & out the door with no major meltdowns.

got to church EARLY.

got everyone to the bathroom & class on time. 

and then it repeated for our second go round for night church.

those experiences are few and far between for us.

 definitely a day i was giving thanks with a grateful heart!

single parent sundays-full weekend edition

my wonderful hard working husband is at it again...digging in & pulling long, hard hours. but instead of being in the studio, he's laying new flooring & tiling the bathrooms at our condo. he was on a role thursday night so i told him he could just stay the night he had friday morning off & get up early to keep working. which meant i had to get all the boys up & out the door by 8:05 to take ben to preschool.

normally not a big deal, just like sunday morning i thought, except that ben was the only one who needed to be fully presentable. and i was doing good...3 boys dressed & diapers changed. and then i pulled {sam} outta bed. what happened next i can't even explain without gagging so i won't. but it was gross. and IT got on the carpet. that's when i knew it was very much like a sunday morning...when everything goes wrong. i rinsed {sam} off & threw some clothes on him to get out the door. we made it just in time.

and then upon our return...{gabe} had the same sort of nasty incident in the car just as we got home. in. the. car! so, with arms full of babies & a toddler who won't walk...we somehow made it up the stairs & straight to the bathroom. *sigh* i was already super tired. and thankfully so were the boys. i put everyone down for a nap and went to get the carseat and wipe down anything in the car that might have a lingering scent.

only minor cuts & frustrations while dismantling the car seat. thankfully it came out completely clean.

that was just friday morning...

the next 36 hours were full of puking and clean up. nasty diapers and clean up. lots of cartoons. and open windows airing out the stinky house.

out of desperation saturday morning, i texted {matt} who was at a men's retreat for church that i really needed some support. there were 4 needy boys with lots of different needs that this momma couldn't meet on her own. of course he didn't get it right away because cell service was few & far between. but once he did, he was on his way home. that man! i love him. he came swooping in with diapers, pedialite & crackers. and look what happens when we just ask for help!

what i perceived to be a never ending single parent weekend was cut short. and although i am not a fan of the reason for it, i'm thankful i do not have to do this parenting alone. i sincerely think that this is what is meant in vows when they say "for better or for worse. in sickness & in health" yes, they are talking about the kids too.

and it's now sunday afternoon and the boys are still fighting this bug but thankfully it's still just {sam} & {gabe}. twins asleep. {gabe} snuggling. {ben} chatting up a storm. and watching football...oh, and loving the cool fall air!

single parent sundays & a whisper found in the loudness

i thought i'd be writing about my solo hike up & down the 3 flights of stairs, but thankfully i have yet to do that. we'll see how long that lasts. fingers crossed! instead i'll share about how i was and am being moved by God's love and assurance. covered in His peace.

things are a whirlwind of chaos in our daily lives. and in that chaos, i find myself easily discouraged or overwhelmed by even the simplest of tasks. and questioning if we jumped the gun in putting our house up for sale. i forget that time that we both {matt} & i heard the Lord calling us out. at the time it was so clear, so loudly clear. and now, it seems more like a lost thought or whisper. we were casually late to church as usual.

and once i finally got into service they were singing "your love never fails" by jesus culture. i already am a fan of this song, but really heard it as a reminder. especially the bridge.

"You make all things work together for my good."

in the midst of doubt & all the insanity that seems to be occupying every space of my life at the moment, i know it is for my good. i know i'm right where i'm suppose to be. and remember that He called me out of the boat. and it is my faith in Him that will sustain me. 

so, if your world seems to be spinning uncontrollably...you too are probably in the right spot. in the past year i have learned and experienced first hand that the Lord does give you more than you can handle. because He wants you to learn to turn to Him. so i'm keeping my eyes & heart focused on the prize ahead and not letting myself most days see or even notice the giant waves & whirlwinds that threaten to overtake me minute by minute.

what whirlwinds or waves of chaos are you battling?! i wanna know so i can stand with you.

if you have a minute or 8...geez long! watch the video of this song. it's jesus culture at a live event...not a cover.

single parent sundays & a baby dedication

during greeting time at church this morning, i spotted a friend getting coffee & a muffin. completely forgetting that she's rather jumpy, i thought i should sneak up & startle her just a bit...bad decision! and because of my bad decision, i got coffee in my mouth & all down the front of my dress. haha! i totally deserved it. and i was also quite thankful it was more on the lukewarm side rather than hot! and then there was the picnic after church...outside...at noon! i got a little hot & sweaty. wrangling 4 kiddos will do that to ya no matter the heat, but we'll just say that the heat was an added bonus affect.

after i got home, watered plants why not, i was already sweaty & put the boys down for their nap, i really had no other option than to shower & change clothes before night church. because tonight just a few short days from the twins 1st birthday we had baby dedication. now i've learned a few things in years past of watching & participating in baby dedications. 

• they can cause unexpected emotions, so don't get caught without a tissue.
• change diapers just before going on stage, kids have been known to have blowouts through theirs & their parents sunday's best.
• no wearing of shirts or dresses that can easily be pulled down especially if the kid is hungry because who wants a wardrobe malfunction on the stage of a church people. 

that being said, i picked my next church outfit carefully. i wore my white linen pants & a black tank. i did wear a necklace that could be used as a distraction if necessary. and thankfully it endured the test of a twin baby dedication. there were no blowouts or wardrobe malfunctions. there were, however, tears flowing. thanks to my wonderful husband, they were from sentiment & laughter. he had me crying because i was laughing too hard. love him for it. and the following is the center of what we talked about:

psalm 127:3-5 the message

"Don't you see that children are God's best gift?
      the fruit of the womb his generous legacy?
   Like a warrior's fistful of arrows
      are the children of a vigorous youth.
   Oh, how blessed are you parents,
      with your quivers full of children!
   Your enemies don't stand a chance against you;
      you'll sweep them right off your doorstep."

our quiver is full. we have dedicated our little arrows to be raised to know the Lord...of course with the help of family & friends. we are blessed beyond measure & are truly grateful for all of you over the past year. here's to many more...

my camera ended up at my in-laws house and of course i have no pictures on my phone either. sorry. i'll post some when i get them. 

single parent sundays & a 4th of july monday

not a recent shot, but the only one of
my "you better stop it now" face

the weekend has come & gone yet again. sunday was but a blur, but thankfully a little slower. i felt like i was able to manage seeing the faces of my boys rather than the chaos that surrounds the day. i've been needing some "me" time lately, so i made it a point to try to carve a little out. and when i say needing, i don't mean just wanting. my tell my husband that my introvert has kicked in and i just need that time to myself. usually i like to wander around and window shop. but because sundays don't really allow for that i did what i could...i went to run an errand instead of staying in service. much to my husband's dislike,yet he still said ok, thanks love!*** my mind needed a break. in a sense it just needed to regenerate it's self. and so it did slowly. i ran my errand and sat in the car until i saw people exiting the building. it's amazing the quietness of the car when there are no children talking/screaming or dvd's or music playing. my frown began to turn upside down...

i grabbed the boys and headed home. i was able to focus on the boys and get lunch in a somewhat normal manner. meal times at our house are crazy as i'm sure many of you know similar circumstances. everyone ate well, then played well & down for naps well. we all got naps. it was completely awesome. in fact, the babies were still sleeping when it was time to go to night church, so we just stayed home. that in itself was pleasant. no waking up children. no rushing off to church. no hungry children. we stayed on our normal schedule. i cleaned and the boys played. we had baths. it was a perfectly normal evening. something this momma truly needed.

today we finished some deep cleaning & house projects and were able to enjoy a picnic this afternoon. {nana roo} offered to watch the babies while we took the big boys. sprinkler. friends. grilling. video games. and more than enough food. it was yet another great day in mama-land. i feel like i have decompressed...my introvert has gone back the hole from which it came and life moves on. because tomorrow, i'm packing up the boys & heading south. {matt} is out of town so i figured i could use the help & {grammie} just happens to have the week off. davidson, nc...here we come! and then i'll need to decompress again next weekend.

if you liked what you read...Go on...be adventurous & be a follower of my blog or Subscribe to adventures with 4 under 4 by Email.

***although i don't usually skip church for mental health days, i found it best in the interest of my family to do so.

single parent sundays-an emotional roller coaster

the day started off fairly well, for us that is... (up!)

my mom was in town & kept the babies at home, so i took just the big boys to church. it's soooo much easier. for one thing, no stroller necessary. :) great word given & a picnic lunch in celebration of father's day. which is where the turn in the day began. i always struggle with holidays on sundays. i mean, it's a family day...but then it's sunday, which for {Matt} means a work day. so i tried to play the "come home with us & have lunch" card, but he felt that he needed and wanted to stay for the lunch. i definitely didn't play my cards right & tried to push my agenda. i mean, really, on father's day {Kristi}, really?! if roles were reversed i would have been out of my mind. thankfully, i married a man who is loving & forgiving. he continually teaches me how to share. so the compromise was we stayed for a little while during the picnic & then went home to have lunch with everyone. and i tried to be on my best behavior and suck up to the amazing father of my children the rest of the day. :) that was part 1... (down!)

part 2 begins after lunch while visiting with my parents, {Auntie Kate} & {Nana Roo}...
{Nana Roo} & {Papa Steve} are in the midst of starting a new business & move...to florida. {Nana Roo} was gone for several weeks and is currently back here continuing to ready her house for the inevitable & yet to be determined moved south. she was telling us about the family that had been to her house on saturday for a 2nd visit and that they were looking at "the other house" that afternoon. we all were hoping for a phone call saying that they would stop by while she was at our house. and sure enough, not 20 mins later, her phone rang. the family didn't love "the other house" and were coming to take a 3rd look!! of course we gathered and said a short but faith-filled prayer they would fall in love with the house & make an offer. about 10:30pm we got a text saying that a verbal offer was made & a contract was coming in the morning. (up! & down once the finality of it sunk in!)

part 3 was "night church" as {Ben} calls it...
i was coordinator for the nursery so i needed to be there about 15 mins earlier than service started. usually that would mean i had to wake boys up from naps, but thankfully they all woke up on their own.  we got an on-time departure in the books thanks to the help of {Auntie Kate} and off we went...into traffic. ugh! so i turned around and went to go another way...even worse traffic!! a normal 15 min car ride turned into 45 minutes. there had been a horrible suburban turned sideways on the bridge accident so we weren't the only ones who were late. everything went smoothly in the nursery that evening, despite being short-handed. and then, during clean up, it happened..."have you seen {Gabe}?" and the panic hit. and before either myself or {Auntie Kate} could move, here came my wonderful husband tightly holding my 2nd born son. he had been found walking into the parking lot. nightmare come true! an unattended 2 yr old wandering amidst a sea of people & somehow makes it outside into the parking lot. insanity. yeah, like i really needed to add that on my bad wife tab of the day, now i'm pushing for mom of the year. plus, it was so humid & sticky and that always makes things worse. (up, then down, then up, then crashing down!)

so much for a nostalgic and loving father's day post, but that's life sometimes. let's say...coming soon...

adventure of single-parent sundays...or not so much

well this sunday was slightly different than most...i played hookie from church. :) my parents were in town, i was in the middle of house projects & {Matt} was leaving town that afternoon. while i had several legit reasons for not going, it really was just a much needed break from the chaos. i even got the chance to sleep in thanks to my parents who got up with the boys! that too was much needed.  i figured it was the most appropriate way to start the summer off. then the big boys and i headed for a swim in the pool. it's so nice having a pool in the backyard as opposed to gathering & loading up to go to the pool. especially since {Gabe} would really rather wander the backyard and get in & out a million times rather than actually being in the pool. it was so hot, we were done in an hour. again thankful for the few steps to the house instead of a jaunt home.

really my day was full of painting. my mom was on grammie-duty and took care of the boys so i could get my lazy booty into gear. its been soooo long since i've been available/ able to do manual labor like that. saying i was exhausted and sore just wouldn't quite do me justice. i was whiny like my 4 year old,  talking like my 2 year old and not making sense to anyone, and walking more like wobbling like my 10 month olds.  a pitiful sight for sure. because i forgot to wear shoes. i don't usually wear shoes around the house because, well, i just don't need them. whoopsy! lesson learned. but...the downstairs bathroom, my bedroom door finally! and the side door all have a fresh, new coat of paint. i was a little too excited to get the projects started so there are no 'before' pictures. but i did get some after pics. thanks to my dad, we got most of the list of projects checked off the list. that's such a great feeling! i mean, really, who doesn't enjoy checking things off the list?!

my weekend projects...my dad's list was much more impressive than this.

MUCH happier space!
used to be white on top with cream/white stripes on the bead board
(hadn't touched it since we moved in)

the side/back entrance door & window frame with a fresh coat of paint.
(don't mind the peach walls, that was 1 item
that didn't get checked off the list)

my bedroom door it's a sliding barn door type and it's fresh coat of paint & new handle.
(again, don't mind the paneling,still more painting to be done...)

so even though this sunday i had help from my parents & i wasn't out adventuring around town by myself with 4 kiddos...there's always an adventure to be had! my sore hands & feet are proof!

adventure of single-parent sundays

the morning began with a debate...over clothes no less. i totally would have expected food, but clothes? i mean really. i usually let the boys wear whatever they want during the week. the typical wardrobe is pj's, shorts & no shirt, or just the little boy undies. but the rule goes, on sundays, mom picks out the clothes. it's not even so much to not have an argument, but just easier for me to not have to search & find something in the morning. i pick their outfits out the night before and lay them out so {Ben} can help get himself ready. 

it was like he knew that i hadn't prepared the night before and just went for it. i grabbed some clothes off the back of the couch that hadn't gotten put away from the day before. don't judge. i tossed him a pair of red shorts to put on. 

the conversation went something like this:

and his response, "mom, this is NOT my favorite color. orange is my favorite color." 

"well you're right buddy. they're red. i like red."

with arms crossed and a humph. i snatched the red shorts outta his hands and tossed him an orange shirt. all was well in the world with the simple switch. 

so when i went to dress {Gabe} i just gave him a motorcycle shirt. i wasn't even gonna go there with a 2 yr old.

2 thoughts:

1. when did i become the mom of a moody teenage girl?

2. can't children come with flashing neon lights above their heads that say "WARNING: ____" moody, hungry, tired, etc. it really would take so much of the stress out of my day. 

{Ben} happy as a clam.
 if he'll always be this happy, i'll let him wear orange everyday!

adventure of single-parent sundays

let me explain this one a bit...
in being a pastor's wife, i did not realize i signed up to be a single parent on sundays. its not that {Matt} isn't willing to help, he just isn't available to. he gets there early for worship practice & set up and has to tear down immediately afterwards to make room for the church that meets in our building directly following our morning service. not really ever an issue til the twins came and now the addition of a second service on sunday evening. i have to get all 4 boys up, ready & to church by myself. i also have to get them from the car inside and to their classes...i get my work out to say the least. its also why i loooove my joovy big caboose. it's long but the only way i can do it by myself. that and the help of a few die hard friends that, when they are there before me, are willing to help with the unload process. then after church is out i load em back up and then home for a quick lunch and nap and repeat the process for church that evening. to say the least, there is bound to be at least 1 adventure...but there's usually more! needless to say, this will be a repeat post. ha!

so the adventure of today was the fact that i forgot my stroller! aka my best friend, The Train, the Ruckel mobile, the beast. you might be wondering how in the world could you forget your second set of arms?!  well my van had a flat tire this week and in order to get to the spare, we unloaded the stroller. and there it set waiting for its weekly church outing and alas, i completely forgot! i opened up my back door and clenched my jaw upon the realization that it was missing. *sigh* so i took 2 trips in with both arms full of buddies. so thankful for my church family who helps in such moments! and the kicker...i never put the stroller back in before "night church" as {Ben} calls it. you have got. to. be. kidding!! and the result of no stroller today, my biceps are burning!