Inquiring minds will want to know

I haven't posted in over a week and I know it. How do I know? Because I've been told...several times. And certain inquiring minds (that would be my sister) want to know. So grap a cup of joe and a comfy chair and let me fill you in on the past week...or so.... It's probably been one of the busiest weeks of the past 6 months. Two (er three) birthdays, baby dedication, a shop hop, meetings, and warfare. About the warfare...well that's for the end of this post...if you last that long!This is a greeter in training! My husband's "job" on Sunday mornings is to greet everyone and hand out bulletins. He's training the grandmunchkins and this adorable little one is taking the job seriously. She's not into hugging the people yet though.

DEDICATION!!! Our three youngest grandmunchkins were dedicated yesterday. The free flowing tears did not help the head cold in the slightest. Their great grandmother said it well: We prayed for these little ones, their health, the pregnancy, their birth, their time in the NICU, and then to see them up there, so healthy, being dedicated to the Lord, I was about to start in actually "boo hoo" out loud. Her comment started the tears again! (as an aside, W is being held by Uncle Z...Daddy didn't know how long he'd be up there holding two squirmy boys and enlisted Uncle Z to hold W)

Before W, B, and R were dedicated, their Papa had been requested to sing. He has a beautiful voice and plays the guitar well. He took the request seriously and decided to sing a new version of "Jesus Loves Me". He wrote the last two verses himself specifically for these precious little grandmunchkins. He promised to give us copies of the words and I'll post them when I get them. But before he sang the non traditional version, he had J and S sing the traditional version, accapella, for their cousins. Oh my...they sounded as good as they looked! .......excuse me....had to dry the tears again.....

I waited a long time to be a granny and God blessed me abundantly more than I could ask or think.

A week ago we celebrated S's birthday. 21!!!
This is what she looked like when we brought her home 11.5 years ago at the age of 10. Innocent, full of vim and vigor, no language but she could communicate! You know, we came home the same, full of vim and vigor to raise this child, innocent of what lay ahead, and at the low end of the spectrum in sign language. In some ways nothing has changed, and yet, the blinders God allowed to cover our eyes have been lifted little by little allowing us to see. See more the past than the future. I have said many many times I am glad God kept us innocent of what was ahead when we adopted S because had we known we may have told Him no and missed out on one of the biggest blessings of our lives. We learned to trust Him a little more through S I think. The future is still hazy for her and for us but He has not let us fall yet so we'll trust Him for her future. Her past was so dismal and though I don't understand why I am so glad God gave her future to us.
Woo Hoo! It's the Guild Shop Hop! 55 knitters on a luxury bus with a bathroom going to 6 yarn shops on the east side of the city. My family wanted to have me commited. Especially when I came home and said I had FUN! Met new people, inhaled, touched, drooled over yarn. Overspent my budget. Ahh yes, it was a good day for me and I'm signing up next year! I brought home my tour payment in free goodies so basically the trip was free! I went with a list of projects I wanted to buy yarn for. I did not get yarn for everything on the list but the yarn I did buy was for projects on the list. (does that make any sense?)

These books/patterns were NOT on the list. They just are to help ease the buggling yarn stash that is quickly approaching SABLE (stash acquistion beyond life expectancy). I had seen the Enchanted Garden in a magazine and wanted to see the inside before I bought it. Ok, saw the inside and had to buy it. I saw the American Afghan done up in one yarn store and bought the book. And my seat mate was making the Japanese Vine scarf and it was so pretty that when I saw the pattern I bought it.

I bought this for the One Shawl to Rule Them All KAL on Ravelry. All of the yarn shops gave 20-30% off and handpainted yarn at 20% off for the Woodland shawl couldn't be beat. Apparently other knitters thought the same and we picked the bin of this clean...not one skein left. But we were all making different things.

AND this yarn was 30% off. I purposely went for a color I am not normally drawn to and got enough for a sweater for mhwa! I'm normally drawn to blues, reds, purples, so green will be a nice addition.

There were other purchases for sweaters for grandmunchkins and lace socks for me and I won in the raffle a pattern and sock yarn so I came home with a fix to last awhile.

It was a good thing I had the yarn fix because when I arrived home, my family arrived home from a day at the beach to celebrate our sons' 29th birthdays. Not a picture taken but I hope they enjoyed the steak, salad, and pie! They then proceeded to educate me on the basketball finals and Nascar and fight over the TV remote alternating between the basketball finals and Nascar. They may be identical twins and usually their tastes are similar but not when it comes to Nascar!

Ok, this post is mighty long and I promised the warfare explanation. Five grandmunchkins with colds against me...who do you think lost? ME!!! It's hard to post, much less take care of home and hearth when one's head is bursting, throbbing, hurting and when one is coughing and can't talk. I am much better today (4 days later) thanks to Sudafed Sinus and tea and soup and a shop hop but now without further ado...pass the kleenex!