Anticipation

Three long-anticipated events are happening in the next month. The first and most eagerly anticpated is a three week visit from Craig. His two brothers and we parents all plan to be at the airport to greet him when he arrives Tuesday morning. Eric is willing to give up sleep after working graveyard that night, and Nick is willing to give up school! At first I didn't think Nick should miss school. (I am a school attendance secretary, so I think a kid should be in school every single day unless he's throwing up or has a temperature of over 100.) But my dear sister-in-law Anisa told me today I should let him go - what will a day out of school matter 10 years from now? It gave me a different perspective and I realized the airport trip was more important.

While Craig is here, we are having a big family reunion to celebrate my dad's 80th birthday. My aunts and uncles from Nebraska, brothers from Canada and Alabama, married neices/nephews and their families from Canada and California as well as local extended family will converge on my parents place for a weekend. It will be great fun!

Then the first weekend of October (a few days after Craig heads back to Germany) is our church women's retreat. My Aunt Margie is flying out from Nebraska to be our speaker and I am SO looking forward to having her! I have been the MC at this retreat forever, and I also have the opportunity to share the story of how God has worked the past year in restoring our prodigal.

Part of the anticipation means preparation...Today I made three meals for the freezer, two batches of zucchini bread for the freezer, a batch of Craig's favorite peanut butter cookies to bake later, and a full batch of monster cookies. The dough is in the freezer and will be baked for each event separately!

I just realized all that cooking and baking is my way of "killing the fatted calf"!