It is Spring Break so I finally have time to catch up on my blog! February went by in a fast blur. It was full of a lot of joy and heartbreak and so much to be thankful for.
We started the month with the annual Daddy Daughter Date Night
Sophie loves dancing with her Daddy!
JC and I went to see Paddington on our date.
Mom came that Friday to participate in the Valentine's Day Grandparent Cook off in Sophie's class.
She stayed for Valentine's Day and we got to have a special Valentine breakfast.
We spent Valentine's evening at the carnival and rodeo.
It was during this weekend that we suddenly lost our dear friend, Robert. He was an amazing man who served our family in countless ways. He passed away on Friday and on Saturday I received a singing Valentine telegram from him. Such a sweet blessing.
In the midst of the sorrow of losing 3 dear members of our congregation I was given the gift of watching my husband care for the people of our church with such compassion and wisdom. A friend once commented to me that I was lucky to get to see my husband work. Not many people get to witness their spouses in their element on the job, but I get to see it every week. We have often said that if we truly understood what the other did all day we would have a lot more compassion and empathy for one another. The nature of both of our jobs is to give to others all day long and by the end to sometimes have little left for each other. But I realized this month that while I carry the burdens of 22 little ones and give most of what I have to them all day and the rest to my own 2 at the end of the day, for Taylor that is multiplied. He carries with him the burden of hundreds, their needs and their hurts. He does it out of love, not obligation, but it can take a toll on him some weeks.
The amazing thing is that we are loved by a church who knows Taylor and sees it. They meet our needs in a hundred different ways all the time. This month our sweet friends the Maedgens let us have a weekend at their beautiful ranch to rest and get away from it all. We loved every minute of it!
S'mores!
Taylor bought the kids a BB gun and they loved it!
Sophie was quite a good shot.
Their favorite part was driving the golf carts around.
They did some art work too.
We enjoyed just being together. We rested a lot and I even read an entire book.
That was our February. Throw in a few ice days and that pretty much sums it all up.
