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Monday, February 16, 2009

I know, I know, some of us don’t handle change well. Here you’re minding your own business, just a ‘quick’ look at Jenny’s blog to see what nonsense she’s written about today and Wa-Zammy, you’re met with a whole new look. A funky new layout. Really cutting edge. (I just thought it was pretty and time for a blog wardrobe update).

So, Valentine’s Day – come and gone. Did you enjoy it? Was it good enough for you? Did you have high hopes and were they met and if not, do you need to chat? We had a very Valentine’s/love-themed intensive weekend. It started Friday night at Church. Our Rockstar Priest (as I like to call him), Father Bryan (he is a baby priest – only 33 years old and so very cool) had requested our presence at what he was calling “Marriage Mass” or “Mass of LOVE.” We went on Friday night and renewed our wedding vows along with about 100 other couples. It was wonderful. We celebrated afterwards with a, uh, romantic (?!) family date at Baskin and Robbins.

Saturday was super packed. It started with Mike making heart-shaped pancakes (with Strawberry Syrup, so they were even red). The boys each got a box of John Deere fruit snacks…apparently that’s the 2 ½ and 5 year old boys equivalent of getting diamonds on Valentine’s Day. I spent the morning cleaning toilets, sinks and tub and vacuuming the whole house. Yes, romantic but I was very glad to get it done. Mike worked on the car. (Our ’95 Ford Taurus is just limping along…hmmm, I wonder why!) The highlight of the day was our big Engaged Encounter dinner and dance – “2nd Prom” in the evening. Even my parental units joined in the Promish fun! I thought about finding an old hideous prom dress (not one of mine, of course) complete with puffy sleeves and big-butt-bow, but decided to play it safe with a red top, short black skirt and my sassy black books which, quite frankly, make any outfit magical and divine and oh-so hot. (I’ll hopefully get a copy of a picture to post eventually).

Sunday morning brought one more LOVE-themed activity to us. Father Bryan asked if we would be willing to speak at church about Engaged Encounter – how we help prepare couples for marriage, what we get out of it, etc. So, instead of hanging out in the kid party area in the back like we usually we do, we had to act all composed in the front of the church. Well, we tried. And of course, the one day where all eyes would be on us is the day that Zach decides to throw a tantrum (something about wanting his sticker book and yet not wanting his sticker book). Mike had to take him out literally kicking and screaming (Zach was the screamer, not Mike, just to clarify). Father Bryan even gave me a grin at that – Zach is his BIGGEST fan. We tell Bryan that even if Zach was on his best behavior we wouldn’t be able to sit near him ‘cuz Zach would yell, “Father Bryan! Father Bryan! [Fawver Brwian! Fawver Brwian!]” and run up to give him a high five.

Anyway, thankfully, Zach was settled down (a bit) by the time Mike and I needed to go up to the podium to speak. My parents and brother Chris had come to our church to provide us with some back-up for when we ditched our children to make our brief presentation. Matthew was sitting with friends all cool, calm and collected. When we were up there giving our talk, I happened to look in Matthew’s direction, and I don’t think I’ll ever forget how he looked. He was perched on the end of the pew, sitting so tall and so proud and grinning from ear-to-ear. And, thankfully, we did make him proud. As we were coming back to our seats, he raised his arm up in the air and gave us a big thumbs-up. [Hey, if we can impress him then we know we did well.]

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