Last week was very full.

On Monday, I blogged about two different church members who had both had heart attacks and were in two different ICUs -- one in Fort Worth, one in Oklahoma City. Wes was able to be with them both on Monday but shifted his full focus to OKC on Tuesday when our member there showed no signs of brain activity. Throughout the week, other major organs began shutting down until he was taken off the respirator Saturday and went to be with the Lord. Wes has had plenty of experience in the ICU, like I mentioned before, but this was something else entirely. He spent literally every waking hour with this man's precious wife, holding one of his hands while she held the other, listening to her stories about him. Every night he came home unable to even sleep, saying that every time he closed his eyes he could see our friend lying there, so very different than he had been. In so many ways, last week seemed agonizingly slow. The family lived at the hospital, Wes spent all of his daylight hours there, and time crawled as everyone here in Duncan waited for news. In so many other ways, last week went by too quickly. How is it even possible that a week ago -- just seven short days ago -- this very same man was praying for the offering during our Sunday morning service, healthy and with no idea what was about to happen? How could life end so quickly?

We know that death is not the end. Wes did an excellent exposition on 2 Corinthians 5 on Sunday morning, focusing on how we are not at home when we're in these earthly bodies and that we should long for the day when we are at home in the Lord. I know this. And I understand this. But it doesn't change the heartbreak, not for our friend who is surely worshiping the Lord in the fullness of His glory right now... but for his very young widow, his father, his son, the many loved ones who have experienced this especially difficult week.

That's been the main concern around here for the past week. We tried our best to help Wes however we could, and lots of people ended up helping us out, too. One of our friends, Lisa, brought her mini-van to us so that we would have a car while Wes was out of town with ours. Wes's family ended up taking the three of us (Ana, Emma, and me) out for ice cream on Ana's birthday, a feat I'm not sure I could have managed on my own. (It's possible that I could have, but both girls would have been covered from head to toe in ice cream by the time we were done. You need four hands to help them keep their scoops on the cones, y'all.) We felt very blessed knowing that there were people we could call for help and could count on when we were on our own so much last week.

Now for a happier story, as this blog is getting increasingly depressing. One of the ways we tried to help Wes was by going up to the hospital with him on Thursday, spending the mid-morning and early afternoon in the waiting room there, then taking him to the zoo for a few hours before he went back to spend the rest of the evening at the hospital. A few hours of doing something entirely different was helpful. Plus, we got to the zoo just in time for the afternoon feedings, which was a treat. This was the best zoo trip we've ever had at the OKC zoo because all of the animals were up and energetic, getting ready for their food. The monkeys were particularly communicative, and an orangutan even played peekaboo with the girls behind his glass window. The girls were thrilled and spent thirty minutes running from monkey to monkey, being watched on all sides. Em kept screaming, "MONKEY!" at them, and Ana kept telling them, "Monkey, this is my Mommy, and this is my Papi." Yes, she was introducing us to all of the monkeys. Ha! Ana also brought along her toddler camera and took about forty pictures of the sky. Well, maybe she managed a picture or two of an animal.... but I highly doubt it with the wild way she swung around that camera while clicking pictures. The "country bears" were also up and about, and Em kept talking about a "dinosaur" that she saw. It took a while for me to figure out that she had seen a gorilla skeleton on display and thought this was another animal. A dinosaur, no less. Perhaps most exciting of all, though, were the elephants. The OKC elephants are currently at the Tulsa Zoo in an attempt to breed. Ana asks where the elephants are every time we go to the zoo, and I always tell her the same thing -- they've gone to get married and will come back to OKC soon with their babies. This information never seems to make sense to her, but it finally hit her this visit apparently, as she has been telling everyone that her favorite part of the zoo was that the elephants were married. I'm hoping that by the time they come back with calves she's forgotten all about the marriage thing and won't be frantic that the mommy elephants have left their husbands. (Or husband, as is likely the case.) Oy.

Friday was Ana's actual birthday. We woke her up and showed her the charm bracelet, which now has a Mickey Mouse charm for this year. Her first birthday, she tried to put the bracelet in her mouth. Her second birthday, she just kind of stared at it. This year, she exclaimed that it was "like Mommy's!," put it on, and began twirling around the living room. She's growing up so fast! Wes left shortly afterwards, so the girls and I spent the rest of the day cleaning up the house and getting everything ready for their birthday party. Wes's family arrived in town that night and helped out SO much. The girls were super excited to see everyone.

Saturday was the day of the party. My parents and Wes's parents arrived a couple of hours early and helped set up the swimming pools in the backyard. Everyone else arrived at noon, and the house was full of family members. Per Ana's request (seeing as how it is her favorite and Emma's favorite), we treated everyone to cheese pizza. I'm not sure anyone else was thrilled by the limited selection, but our girls were in hog heaven. Emma made a mess of her cake (as we expected she would), and Ana requested Teddy Grahams instead of cake (which we didn't expect). To each her own, I guess. After opening presents, all the kids jumped in the pools and played for a long while. Wes's grandmother had gotten the girls one of those huge inflatable pools with a slide, and the kids loved it. Even big kids like Wes, who created such a tidal wave when he came down the slide that our niece, Kendall, flew right off the side of the pool when he hit the water. How we managed to not have any serious accidents in or around that pool is a miracle in and of itself, y'all.

We concluded a very busy Saturday with dinner and a visit to the hotel where everyone was staying so that Ana and Emma could swim there as well. Ana is scared of the water until she's forced to get in it; then, she tolerates it. I think Emma, on the other hand, would fling herself in the deep end if we weren't holding her back. Once she was in the pool, she kept throwing her head back, trying to float like Kendall, except with all the wild kicking and arm-flapping she was doing, it didn't work quite as well. Ha! She had a complete meltdown when we took her out of the pool to go home, which inspired similar meltdowns from various other children in the family. They were all so tired, bless their little hearts.

Sunday was Emma's actual birthday, but seeing as how it was Sunday, we didn't get a chance to show her the charm bracelet until the evening. (She was totally indifferent to it, which I kind of expected.) My parents, Kendall, and our friend, Marilyn, were all still in town and came to church with us, then came to the house for lunch afterwards. My parents took Kendall home when the girls went down for a nap (and I'm told that Kendall napped from my driveway to my parents' driveway, which is quite a nap!), and Marilyn stayed until we had to leave for the evening services. We had such a good time visiting with her and really, really wish that Sallisaw was closer to Duncan so that we could all see each other more than just a few times a year. (Marilyn, for those of you who might remember this, is the same friend who came to Okinawa to visit after Emma was born.) The youth discipleship Bible study went really well, and the Sunday night sermon, which Wes said he was woefully unprepared for, was perhaps one of the better Sunday night sermons he's ever done. (He told me he could stop working so hard if that was the case. Ha!) Ana and Emma were gifted some hair accessories and a package of panties by some families in the church, and Ana walked around the church afterwards, package in hand, telling anyone who would listen that, "I going to wear ALL these panties!" Lovely. Afterwards, we took Emma out for ice cream for her birthday and got to tell someone who asked about our girls' ages that they are three and two years old. Wow. That'll take some getting used to.

Whew! That was our week. I've got a ton of laundry to do, so I should probably start on that. This post probably wasn't the most interesting, but I had to write down all the details of birthday week, lest I forget them in my senile old age. (Meaning, lest I forget them by the end of the day.)

Hope your week is off to a great start!

Around here...

Is it just me, or is this summer slipping by way too quickly? We're closer to the end than to the beginning now, and I still find myself forgetting that it's actually 2009. (Most days, I have trouble thinking past 2006. How can it be 2009?! Already?!)

Speaking of 2006 and 2007, this week is birthday week at the Faulk house. Ana will turn a very mature three years old on Friday, and Emma will turn a very mature two years old on Sunday. They spent the second half of last week with my parents so that we could paint Emma's room (more details on that later), and when I picked them back up, I could have sworn that they had actually aged by months instead of days. Emmy has become super vocal lately... and super bossy. But I think that's just the age. Or two straight years of being pushed around by a big sister. Whatever the reason, she's just not taking it anymore. I told her this morning that she couldn't have any more juice (more than a cup or two gives her tummy trouble), and she evenly and crossly informed me while pointing at the fridge that, "Juice in DARE, Mommy!" Because surely the only reason I was denying her request was because I didn't know where it was, right?

Wes and I had a few days to ourselves last week with the girls out of town. He had a couple of gift cards to Outback that he had been given for Father's Day and apparently thought that the best way to celebrate fatherhood was to go out for a meal without his children. (The last time we were there celebrating his birthday with the girls, they spent the entire time squealing in tiny girl voices that should have shattered every glass in the restaurant. One of them would start, the other would start laughing, they'd both do it, one would stop, the other would start, her sister would laugh, etc, etc. Oy.) We went and saw the Harry Potter movie afterwards, along with everyone in the state of Oklahoma judging from the size of the crowd. I hardly ever feel like movies are worth the money it takes to see them in the theaters, especially when you're packed in like sardines in a can, but this was definitely worth it. Can't wait for the final two movies! If that makes me a total dork, then so be it.

Emma's room makeover was a super quick job, likely because we did almost the exact same makeover a few months ago with Ana. Not that we made huge, glaring mistakes with Ana's room, but we were able to save ourselves a lot of frustration and time because we knew what we were doing this go-round. (Kind of.) It went so quickly that I was able to get some rest... which I ended up needing. I went down to Dallas on Saturday for a baby shower for my sister, met up with my mom while I was there, and brought the girls back home that night. The drive from my sister's house to mine normally takes a little over three hours, but I think it took the Faulkettes five hours. No joke. We stopped in some little tiny town near the state line to eat dinner at Dairy Queen, where Ana hugged a perfect stranger and Emma carried on conversations with the people in the booth next to us. (No naps make for loopier than normal girls, apparently.) I'm pretty sure we stopped at every restroom between Ardmore and Duncan, which is a definite downside to the whole potty trained thing. In between potty breaks Ana kept telling me, "Mommy, I NEED ice cream," and every time we saw a Braum's, she would tell me, "There, Mommy! Ice cream!" I'm surprised we're not still on the road with all of the drama that was going on. Most. Exhausting. Trip. Ever. And that includes the flight from Japan when the girls were tiny babies!

All that said, though, Em sure did seem excited when we (finally) got home on Saturday night and she saw her new room. "Bed, Mommy! Bed!," she kept shouting while pointing at the princess bedspread. It's ironic that she was so into the bed since we've gone into her room every morning since to find that she's slept on the floor. Hmm. We tuck her in and watch her fall asleep in the bed, but she must be getting up in the middle of the night and moving to the floor. The first morning, Ana went into her room and asked, "Emmy, why you not sleep in your bed?" She didn't get an answer and has been telling people ever since that, "I sleep in a big girl bed, and Emmy sleep on the ground!" I'm sure people have wondered about the fairness of that little arrangement, but what can you do?

Wes is at my parents' house tonight, after a long day of traveling to Fort Worth to spend some time with a church member who's in a hospital there. From what I understand, this church member was visiting family members in the DFW area and had to be rushed to the hospital yesterday. While being rushed to the hospital is never fortunate, having this problem in an area rich with hospitals (instead of here in Duncan, where you have to be careflighted out of our hospital for anything major) was very, very fortunate. Wes heard about it all late last night, got set to go out of town this morning, and received a call that another church member had been rushed to the hospital here in town. After spending a morning at our local hospital, Wes then drove down to Fort Worth to spend the afternoon and evening at that hospital and got to my parents' house late tonight, where he's working on sermons before trying to get a few hours of sleep. I'm thinking he's probably tired. I get emotionally drained just hearing about ambulances speeding to the hospital with husbands/fathers/grandfathers in them who are fighting to stay alive. Poor Wes spends a good majority of his pastoral ministry actually in the ICU with the patients, with the families in the waiting rooms, there when the doctors deliver news. I'd just be a blubbering mess. Absolutely no help at all! It makes me thankful for Wes, who always seems to know just what to say, just when to listen, and just how to help out. I'm hoping he gets some rest tonight after such a tough day.

As for me, this has been a good day with the girls. Ana kept telling me that she was "missin' Papi," but at dinnertime, she loudly and joyfully exclaimed that, "There are NO BOYS in the house, Mommy!" She even noted that BC and Reese are girls, too. We celebrated girls' night by having a picnic dinner in the living room and dancing to music from the Backyardigans. Ana found one of those bathtub letters (the kind that stick on the side of the tub) and proudly stuck it on her chest because it was "her letter," ie the first letter of her name. Em found an "E" and did likewise... but wearing a blue E doesn't quite have the same implications as a bright red A now, does it? As long as there are no 17th century Puritans in our corner of Oklahoma, I think we'll be okay.

Hope your week is off to a great start...

Early and Often...

I've heard some pretty stupid things in my day. Most of the time, I'm actually the one saying the stupid things. I can't help it -- I'm not an expert on anything, my opinions are almost always wrong, and I speak before I think. I say stupid things! These past two years, though, I've heard just as much as I've shared, particularly concerning the fact that my two children are only a year apart in age.

Some of you may remember the day that we announced the surprising news that we were going to have another baby. We hadn't intended to get pregnant so soon after having Ana, who was just four months old on that fateful day that we took the pregnancy test. I remember looking at the test, wondering out loud if perhaps my body wasn't still just holding onto some hormones from the Ana pregnancy that would give a positive result. (Nope. I started throwing up soon after and knew, without a doubt, that I was pregnant.) We had just moved to Japan, we were just finding our stride as new parents, and while I wasn't comfortable with jumping right back onto hormonal birth control, I wasn't comfortable with just letting things run their course. We were careful... except for that one time. As it turns out, that one time was just the right time, and nine months later, Emma arrived on the scene, two days after her big sister's first birthday.

Having two children in (almost) one year certainly wasn't ideal. But if I do say so myself, I think it's worked out brilliantly. Emmy is every bit as precious as we imagined she would be and is a constant joy to us with her smiles, her active play around the house, and her giggling statements that "Papa so see-wee!" (Papa so silly. Which he is.) She and Ana are the best of friends, and I totally and completely believe that they will be for many, many years to come. Emma was the perfect addition to our family and came at just the right time. We couldn't be more thrilled with how it all worked out.

But there's just something about my two sweeties that is disconcerting to perfect strangers that we meet. "Are they twins?" Nope. They're a year apart in age. And thus begin the unsolicited opinions. Below are a few of my "favorites."

"Wait...two babies in one year... is that even possible?" (Well, apparently so. You see the proof. And I can indeed confirm that I carried and gave birth to both of these children.)

"Well, y'all didn't waste any time, did you?" (Wes practically jumped in the post-partum hospital bed with me, that beast! No, not really.)

"You really should try birth control." (This was said to me by a man who has four children, all under the age of five. Seriously. He reasoned, though, that since his wife was nursing and only got pregnant when each child was weaned that he was following God's design and thus his family was acceptably spaced out. Yeah, "spaced out" really defined his theology in a lot of ways.)

"You must have your hands full... what a shame." (I do have my hands full. But I would have my hands full with ONE child. And if not with a child, I would have my hands full with a career. Why is it a "shame" to have a full life?)

"You do know how this keeps happening, don't you?" (Why, no! Why don't you explain it to me?)

"Well, it's a good thing you're giving your body a rest now." (Trust me. My body is getting no rest with two toddlers in the house. And if you're talking about some of my organs, that faulty logic means that I should also stop my heart from beating so as to give it a rest, too. The body was made to function, y'all. Having children is NOT a detriment to your health!)

"It's sad that Ana didn't get much time as an only child." (Yes, poor Ana, who has never had to learn to play by herself, who learned early on how to share, who knows that she's not the only person on earth, and who says, practically every day, "You my best friend, Emmy." She's really suffering, y'all.)

"I hope you're done now!" (I have two children. Just two! When did this get to be too many? You would think I'm the mother of twenty with the way people react to my two. Seriously!)

"Why?" (Why did I have children? Or why did I have them so closely together? We were pregnant with Ana by our first anniversary, which was later than we had hoped for but earlier than most people thought was wise. I enjoyed saying at that time, when people told me that we should have waited longer, that, "God blessed us early." When He surprised us with Emma, I amended it to say, "God blessed us early... and often." And I think that's a good response to the "why," don't you?)

I know I've probably blogged on this topic before. It was just brought to my attention again very recently when we received some negative reactions to our girls. And I tend to get irritable when people aren't as in love with my children as I am. I know it was a different world when our grandmas were having ten little ones and managing just fine... but why does society as a whole have such a negative reaction these days to "too many children too close together"?

What do you think?

No More Prison!

So, remember how I said that Emma wouldn't be in her crib as long as Ana was in hers? Turns out I was right. She's not escaping or doing anything dangerous to her safety in the crib... she just looks so miserable behind those bars. I'll wait for hours and hours every morning after Ana wakes up, listening for Emmy to call me and tell me she's awake. And more often than not, I finally have to go in there to see if she's okay, only to find her lying there like a prison inmate stuck in a cell. Why doesn't she call me? I don't know. But if she's big enough to sleep in a toddler bed (which I think she is), then what are we waiting for? Get that girl out of that prison crib and into a bed that SHE can get herself out of when she's awake and ready to face the day!

Anyway, I've been thinking about this for a while, and Wes and I finally put feet to our thoughts when we went out yesterday and bought everything we'll need to do the room makeover. (Yes, I realize that I was writing just a few days ago about how expensive this month is. This was an expected expense, though, so that makes it sting a little less.) I think we have everything now. Toddler bed? Check. Comforter set and sheets? Check. Paint? Check. Curtains? Check. Crafty supplies for making wall hangings? Check. We went with the princess theme (just like with Ana), but we've changed up enough of the individual items that their rooms aren't going to look exactly alike. I'm not sure who was more excited as we shopped -- Emma, who clutched her new bed-in-a-bag to her chest and squealed, or Ana, who kept shouting, "Emma get a big girl room like ME!" (They nearly broke the sound barrier on the way home from getting the paint. Ana was showing Emma how to pat her knees to "make the rocket go," then they'd throw their hands in the air together and scream at the top of their lungs. Then laugh at how great they were. Patting, screaming, laughing. Again and again. We finally figured out that Ana had picked it up from the Little Einsteins and added the extra noise herself. Which would have been a nice touch, had we all not been in an enclosed vehicle where the sound had nowhere to go.)

We're planning on doing the big makeover next week when the girls will be spending a couple of days with Gram and Gramps. We stayed up late last night, painting and putting together the wall hangings, so we're ahead of schedule there. I'm dreading the painting, and I'm going to miss seeing the adorable nursery decor. (Which I picked out way back in 2005, y'all. Those Malawi animals have been around for a while!) But it's going to be well worth it to have Em in a girly room with a big girl bed. She got up in Ana's bed yesterday and just beamed at me when I told her she would soon have one of her very own, just in time for her second birthday. Sweet, sweet girl! I can't wait to see her face when it's all put together and she sees it for the first time...

We have an event at the church tonight, but other than that, today is totally and completely open. Ahhh... a Saturday with nothing on the agenda! Think I'll close this for now so that I can really enjoy it...

Odds and Ends

Just some odds and ends...

- Emma has recently begun to astound and alarm us with her honesty. If we ask Ana if she's done something wrong, she'll get really quiet and pretend that she hasn't heard our question. Which is better than just flat out lying. (I think.) I kind of expected Emma to do the same thing. On Monday, I was cleaning the bathroom while the girls were playing in the living room. I heard a shout, followed by crying from Ana. I came in to see what had happened, and Ana informed me, "Emmy hit me." I looked at Emma and asked, "Emma, did you hit Ana?," expecting silence. Em belted out a, "Yep!" Shocking. This has become a trend. Emma, did you do what I asked you to do? Nope! Emma, did you throw Cheerios everywhere? Yep! Emma, will you come in here so I can brush your teeth? Nope! Emma, did you feed the dog your chicken nugget? Yep! Emma, do you love me? Nope! I can fault her disobedience... but I have to respect her unapologetic honesty.

- Ana got really irritated with Wes the other day. He was talking to me while she was trying to talk to me. She told him, "She's MY Mommy, Papa!" To which Wes replied, "She's MY wife, Ana!" Ana thought on this for a second, then responded with, "No, she's MY wipe, Papa!" As the catcher of all snot, goo, barf, and other such nastiness in the Faulk household, I can affirm that I am indeed Ana's wipe. (On a slightly similar topic, Ana has told us that she does plan on getting married one day. To Emma. We asked Emmy if she wants to live with Ana for the rest of her life, to which she responded, "Nope!" And with that ringing endorsement, I'm sure the suitors will be lining up for Ana's hand any day now.)

- One of the members of our church is a retired pastor... who really isn't retired since he serves as an interim pastor of a local church. (This further proves my theory that pastors never retire. They just can't stay out of the pulpit, y'all.) He and Wes were asked to speak to a class at our seminary this past week, so all of us loaded up in the church van and headed down there. Ana and Emma included. Our "retired" friend graduated from the seminary in 1955, exactly fifty years before I graduated from the seminary. The seminary has changed in appearance since I graduated... so can you even imagine how much it's changed since he was there? He was amazed by all of the new buildings. We were amazed to hear that half of our campus was once a cow pasture. (Seriously, it's like in the middle of Fort Worth. Cow pasture! I can't even imagine!) Anyway, what a blessing to visit with him for the day and hear about God's faithfulness over a lifetime of ministry. We're fortunate to have many men just like him in our congregation, who have years of wisdom to share with us.

- Speaking of wisdom, I'm starting to realize that I have very little. Ha! Wes and I are going through a study together on Calvinism. Now, before you all get your torches and pitchforks ready, it's not a study to persuade students one way or the other concerning Calvinism, but instead it's a BIBLE study, to really examine what Scripture says and how we should approach teachings on the doctrines of grace. That said, I came into the study knowing what I believe. And I still believe what I believed coming into the study. But more than anything, I'm struck by how very little I truly know and understand about who God is and how He thinks and what He purposes. I believe Scripture to be crystal clear on these issues, but I know full well that my understanding of God is so very limited that my finite human mind will NEVER be able to grasp the "whys" of some of the truths of Scripture. Wes would say that's a cop-out, and perhaps it is. Scripture is consistent in showing God to be big and man to be little, and how can the creation ever truly and completely fathom the Creator? I thought I'd be able to better articulate my beliefs through this study, but I find myself even more at a loss to aptly "explain God" when I see what the Scriptures say. That Jesus feller just won't fit in my cute little box, y'all!

- I keep thinking that I hear the motorcycle outside the garage. And I keep getting up and raising the door to find no one there. (Which I'm sure makes me look like a total idiot to our neighbors. Door up. Door down. Door up. Door down.) I've put the girls to bed and am waiting and listening for Wes to get home from a committee meeting. Between our spontaneous, last minute trip to San Antonio last weekend (which was great!), the trip to the seminary this week, and all of the regular workload/preaching/visitation that he normally does, our favorite parson is tuckered out. His girls, too. I loaded up the Faulkettes this morning and got groceries so that we would be fully prepared for a weekend of sitting around and doing nothing. That's right. I plan to do NOTHING this weekend. This will mark the first weekend this summer that we've done that. Can't wait!

- And I think that's it. Hope your weekend is off to a great start!

Life costs money...

... really!

We've been on an epic discovery of sorts here at the Faulk house for many, many seasons now. Life costs money. Lots and lots of money. As you've probably already gathered, we've been a one income family for nearly three years now, and we censor our comments about how expensive life is through the filter of being one income by choice. Would life seem as expensive if I was working? Likely not, so it's our own "fault" that we're not living like the rich and famous. We adjust our spending with that in mind and limit our budget with the intention of staying one income for however long it will be in the best interest of our family. And praise God, the books always even out, we manage to save for the future, and we're not left wanting for anything essential. I know and affirm that it is totally and completely God's doing, as we have had months with hundreds saved when many, many more were spent.

Having said that, I almost lost all of my marbles yesterday over a bottle of Princess gummy vitamins. We took them with us on our recent trip to San Antonio (you know, so our girls can continue to be their picky eater selves), and because I left them in the car in the Texas heat (silly Mommy!), they all melted into one, huge, multicolored glob. All of those poor princesses, swept away in the goo flood, y'all. Not a huge expense, obviously, but still. These little things add up! I was getting all kinds of frantic about this bottle of vitamins because who knows what the new expense will be tomorrow and who knows how many unexpected expenses we'll have and who knows how long we can continue saving and staying out of debt and... yada, yada, yada. Unless you're fabulously wealthy, you've likely felt this way. (And if you ARE fabulously wealthy, would you cut me a ten dollar check? In the memo section, just write "Princess gummy vitamins." Thanks!)

I think this month is just more expensive than most (we pay for six months of car insurance out of this month's paycheck), which makes my outlook rather bleak. God has always been faithful and will always be faithful as we honor Him first and foremost with our lives and our finances. But even as we're doing great and seeing His faithfulness in action... it's easy to get all preoccupied with how expensive life is and how it's getting more and more expensive with each passing day. I nearly hyperventilated when I read how expensive OBU is now (who knows what it will be in fifteen years!!!), and I wonder how even a two income family could ever afford to send one daughter, much less two at the same time, through college. How!?! How is it even possible?!

It's good to know that I don't have to know right now. I know enough. I know that the same God who is able to provide the princess vitamins is the same God who will provide for much bigger expenses down the road. Expenses my overactive little calculator brain hasn't even comprehended yet. Isn't He good, y'all? Good for providing and good for limiting my view on this side of things. Ha!

How about you? How has God proven Himself faithful to you? How is He working in this area of your life?