Monday, November 23, 2009

Prepare to be surprised


That's what Dan says. You know, Dan in Real Life. Ah, Dan, he is always right!

Actually, my husband is always right, but more about that later.

This past week was a blur, we (by we, I mean Karis and me) fell into a nice groove with some lunch dates and even got out to a book club discussion. Oh my was it wonderful to talk about a book in good company on a cozy evening!

I spent parts of Thursday and Friday preparing for what I thought was a youth group girls' sleepover/going away party for one of our dear girls that I thought I was planning. Oh yes, I shot off e-mails to coordinate food and to make sure I knew who all was coming. I ran to Sam's Club for breakfast goodies and snacks for the guys' game night that was happening at our house concurrently. I spent the week feeling the invigoration that comes from doing things that you love, and also anticipating the events (read: I couldn't wait to PARTY. I love a good party, especially a good girl party!). Friday afternoon came and I packed up the car to go to the sleepover destination (a youth grouper's amazing house!) while Trevor changed Karis . . . and off Karis and I went to get there early to help set up for the taco bar that the girls and some of the moms would enjoy to kick off the night of fun and honoring Megan (said farewell party gal). I got there and the gorgeous hostesses had already set everything up, streamers and bowls of pink m & m's, fun dishes to assemble the food. I thought, "How sweet of them to go all out for Megan!"

I went to use the restroom right before dinner, and when I came out they were all standing around the table just staring at me. I assumed they were just waiting for me to pray, so I apologized and said, "Okay, let's pray so we can eat!" And they came back with, "Surprise! We turned it into a baby shower!" To which I just laughed as in, "ha ha, that's funny." And they said, "No, we're serious!" And sure enough, in the 2 minutes that I was in the bathroom they had placed a diaper cake on the center of the table, whipped out a corsage made out of baby socks (so cute!) and placed gifts by my chair. WHAT?!? I have never been so surprised in my life, I still can't believe it happened! It's humbling and beautiful to receive such love, these girls and moms had been planning the event for some time (you know, the event I thought I was planning), and had pulled Trevor into it too. They played my favorite music (Dan in Real Life Soundtrack, of course), we had dinner and cake and ice cream and then Megan and I took turns opening gifts. The sweetest thing was when the girls all went downstairs "to work on some things" after dinner while the moms dished out cake . . . they were down there writing out the most precious cards. The party continued with some hilarious games, including "baby catch phrase" and "baby pictionary". A riot to be sure, the laughter was raucous and some of the drawings for pictionary were too. Those girls all give me great hope for raising a daughter in this world. More on that later. Anyways, what a memorable evening and I can hardly wait to one day show Karis the pictures and tell her the stories of how people lavished love on her as a baby.

This weekend we also took part in a tradition I've been doing since college days: Operation Christmas Child. The only difference about this year is the number of boxes I was able to pack: in 90 minutes I packed about 1 1/2 boxes. The rest of the time was spent holding Karis and feeding Karis. If I'm being very honest, many of those minutes were also spent talking to people - including a gal I recognized from my previous employer, she had done contract work and I think I only met her once there. Crazy!

One last weekend story begs to be told. I mean, you all need to know why Trevor is alwaysright. We had another date on Sunday afternoon. I was less traumatized about leaving Karis this time, but apparently still slightly traumatized because I spent most of the date very crabby (or maybe I was crabby because we started the date talking about our finances and then another part talking about Christmas shopping, and then most of the parts were spent in malls which are rarely the happiest of places for me). Sounds like a long date with so many parts, doesn't it? So anyways, per tradition of our dates we went to a fancy mall to spend some gift certificates we had. We proceeded to get some coffee from the Good Earth Cafe that tasted like hot water (read: increase crabby-ness, I am admittedly a coffee snob and feel some kind of right to have really good coffee whenever I pay money for it). Then we went to JC Penny's (because of a great coupon that had to be used by that day - which is another topic altogether, the need to spend to save). So I thought we could find some gifts for our dads . . . and Trevor said, "Oh, we should get them _______". I wish I could write what the item is because it would make so much more sense when I tell you that my response was, "That's a horrible idea. They're like $40 and they don't even sell them here!" Crabby, crabby, crabby. I huffily decided I really needed a redemptive cup of coffee from Caribou so we rounded a corner to go down the escalator, and what would be RIGHT THERE but the item Trevor suggested. Not only did they have it, it was on a crazy good sale. Crabby-ness started to abate as I almost laughed and told Trevor I owe him an apology. He said, "Yes, you do. And I think you should get down on your knees." So I did. I got down on my knees in the middle of JC Penney and apologized for telling him he doesn't have good ideas. And I really was sorry. And I really do like our dates. For some reason the best stories are manufactured in JC Penneys. Weird.

The redemptive coffee was delicious, and I was quite satisfied at having spent money to save money on some stellar gifts. We were both very excited to pick up Karis, and both very thankful for those couple hours together. I am especially thankful for Trevor who loves me so genuinely that he doesn't resent my crabby-ness. Thank you, Trevor.

We of course have so much for which to give thanks . . . I pray you all have a beautiful celebration wherever you are. We'll be back in NoDak, thankful to be with our families!



Here's my funny honey . . . hours and hours of entertainment this girl is!

The party gals . . . Megan graciously shared her party with me (please notice the adorable corsage made out of baby socks!)

I love these girls (and their moms too!)


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