Four Hundred!

This is my four hundredth post. Four hundredth! I love that Blogger has a counter on the dashboard so I can see just how much time I've wasted in front of the computer blogging. But can it really be considered a waste when the results are extensive records of all the cute things my toddlers have done since birth? I started this blog when Ana was eight weeks old, and let's face it -- babies don't do anything cute in those first two months. (Unless you consider staying up all night and having major poo blowouts cute. Which I don't.) So, I didn't miss anything. It's all been blogged. Right here! And with that, I feel okay about the fact that I've written four hundred blog posts...

We had a whirlwind weekend. Wes and I went down to Texas on Friday for a three day conference on family-integrated worship. We're totally on board with the idea that parents are biblically called to be the primary disciplers of their children, that there is a created order within the family, and that as a church, we need to move away from non-substance programs and focus on intentional disciple-making. That said, we were the most liberal thinkers at this gathering. Which wasn't a bad thing, as it challenged us to rethink what we just naturally believe, to begin to envision ways to move our family and our church towards more intentional discipleship, and to learn from other believers. I'm not sure we bought into everything that was being taught, but we came away with some more tools for our ministry tool belts, which is the whole point of going to these kinds of conferences. We were also able to spend some time in Houston, which was a thrill for us now that we live in a small town. I took Wes to UH's campus to see what had changed, and on my way there, I managed to get in a few gridlock traffic jams and ended up lost in the ghetto. Ahhh... just like old times. (The campus itself had actually changed a lot. I guess that happens when you've been away for eight years, huh?)

After the conference concluded yesterday, we drove up to Waco, where Wes's mother and grandmother had driven up to meet us so that we could be reunited with our girls. I think Ana and Emma were surprised to see us, and I can only assume that they thought we were gone for good. And seemed to be okay with that. In any event, they were still excited when we took them out of their car seats and covered them in kisses. They filled us in the rest of the afternoon on all that they had experienced in our absence.

Ana: "I got a boo boo, but Coach put medicine on it, and it was a piece of cake!" (???)

Emma: "No Angus... Siddy Belle." (She apparently preferred Sadie Belle the dachshund to Angus the bulldog. Poor Siddy, who did NOT prefer all of the poking and petting that came with being preferred.)

Ana: "We went trick or trickin and got treats. And choc-oh-luts."

Emma: "SHAMU!" (I'm pretty sure there was a Sea World visit.)

Ana: "I go with MaryBeth! She a hemp-fire." (Lest you think Wes's former youth minister let his daughter dress up as a questionable substance, she was actually a vampire.)

Emma: "Leave it!" (Angus knows this command, but BC does not. This doesn't stop Em from yelling it over and over again, much to BC's confusion.)

The real conversation gem came late last night when we pulled into Duncan, Wes calculating that all four Faulks had traveled some nine hundred miles during the past week and Ana proclaiming with a yawn, "I gonna get a good night's sleep tonight!" And she did. We ALL did.

The girls and I ran some errands this morning and ended with a trip to grocery store. It was every bit as nutty as I expected it would be, especially given the fact that I've been away from the girls for a week and am just now re-adjusting to "constant vigilance" mode. Em had a meltdown on the cookie aisle and Ana very nearly ended up getting frostbite from a carton of egg rolls (or so her squalling about it would have indicated), but we're all home now, the laundry is started, and life is easing back into our everyday normal. So very, very nice!

I'm already behind on the NaNoWriMo. Does it count if I've already written a couple of thousand words in my head? You know, on my mental tape recorder? It doesn't? You mean, I have to actually WRITE it somewhere? Oh, well, then. Like I said, I'm already behind. But there are no travel plans in our immediate future (at least not until Thanksgiving), so I have some time to catch up. Woo-hoo!

Well, I need to go get some lunch fixed for the girls, who are immersed in a Goofy cartoon. I think they're still a bit exhausted, as evidenced by the way that they came in from the grocery store and plopped themselves in their chairs like a couple of little old ladies. And now, they're giggling like they have some inside joke going on. I tell you, this is what they're going to look like in eighty years. Mark my words, y'all!

Hope your week is off to a great start!