Sunday

It was a good day to have Linda's Chicken Corn Soup for dinner. With homemade biscuits and a salad made with nothing but baby greens, apples and some delicious, nutty-tasting mystery cheese I got from Wegman's but forgot to write the name of on the storage container; it was all so wintry and satisfying. Evan ate 4 biscuits, a leaf each of lettuce and spinach, and about a half cup of soup and we called it good. We were all there together. And that matters.

Now it's a good evening to have some Aztec Spice Sipping Chocolate from Dove. My beautiful mug from the thrift store (one man's trash really is another woman's treasure, because I adore this mug) feels warm in my hand and the cinnamon and hot pepper warm my whole insides in the pleasantest way while I try to think of what I want to write.

All my people here (all two of them-ha!) are asleep so they can wake up at 2 am for a wild Mormon Superbowl Party. No, really, they are, and yes, people are coming over. With food. See, we keep the Sabbath in a reverent and conservative way, so we don't watch sports or regular programming on Sundays. It's our day of rest from all things ordinary, and even the Superbowl falls into that category, at least until the Lord's day is done, Ravens or no Ravens. We give Him one out of seven and it's really lovely to have a day of peace and renewal. If you're really curious about my beliefs about the Sabbath, you can watch this or listen to this.

In the end, it's fun to have these early Monday football parties, I guess because we're all odd together. I'm proud of my kids for that tradition of thinking for themselves. They all go into a sort of cone of silence just before the game starts so no news from FB or texts from friends will ruin it, and in just a few hours, they'll experience it with all the fun and freshness of everyone else.

So, in this quiet house I await our weekly visit from the missionaries who serve in our congregation. Both of these fine young men have been out on their missions about the same amount of time as our Sam, and I cannot even describe the joy I feel in their association. It is a gift to be able to get a real-time view into what Sam's life is like right now and feel in person of the same kind of goodness and enthusiasm for just serving and trying to help people that Sam expresses in his letters. Our local missionaries come to use our computer and compile their statistics and reports from other missionaries for the week. It's lovely to see two very young men take on real leadership and responsibility.

Also in this quiet house, I am making my plan for the week, which includes the addition of three of my favorite humans on the planet, Sheely, Xavier and Preston. I get to be a mommy/auntie/grandma substitute while their actual parents are out of town. I'm SO excited! I can't wait for all the crazy times-the getting up and getting to school times, the homework and trampoline times, the cozy reading of story times, some video game times, etc..

I love them so dearly and like I've said about 600 times before, I feel like if I can do this, it satisfies my hope that all my family so far away will also have friends nearby who will love their kids like I would.

Earlier in the week I got to hang out with their tiny baby brothers and that was a happy day. I was able to feed, change and lull to sleep two 4-month olds. I was pretty dang proud of myself and I thought I couldn't admire their mother more, but I was wrong. She's a star of the highest magnitude.

And so to bed after a lovely, quiet day. Tomorrow will start with a longish run with a friend, then I'll get rooms ready for kids, do some knitting, do some photo work, and then welcome the young guests home after school.

And here we get to the meat of why taking Sunday off from real life is a good idea. I actually feel ready for Monday, with a very full week ahead of me. I feel like I can face it with some grace and patience, and that's a good feeling.