01 January 2012

Beginning with a Bug

It seems my dear gentlemen have shared a bug with me... not the first or worst critter I've encountered over the years, but one that has me confined to the house nonetheless. Happy New Year! I do believe this little gift actually started with my eldest who doesn't even live here anymore but kindly shared with a brother during a brief visit to retrieve some of Frankie's things after Michael was good enough to dogsit while we spent a few days in Minneapolis. In spite of my frequent and thorough hand scrubbings, I managed to pick up this new little friend from his brother (whose name shall not be named since he informed me yesterday that it was terribly rude and embarrassing to tell other people that he is sick).

As I sit here in the lovely silence, my perfectly prepared Young Women lesson wasting in the corner, I have a few hours to reflect while the rest of the gang is off to church. I realize that I am blessed to get to spend so much time with my family during this winter break. We've shared many great experiences together these last couple of weeks (the bug not included). There was a rousing game of Apples to Apples Sour Edition with Grammy, fun with Mario on the Wii, sharing different musical favorites across many genres, and finding loads of laughter along the way, which is one of the best gifts of family life from my perspective. We baked cookies for Santa, had our annual Christmas Club fun, and got to be all together both Christmas Eve and Christmas morning...all seven of us. We shared an electrifying adventure at the Bakken Museum, including joining hands to form a complete circuit while we got shocked all together. Then we spent a few days looking for the perfect new puppy and are currently fostering an adorable potential candidate named Charlie. We've once again navigated the Mall of America (this time with a handy new phone app to keep us moving in the right direction), watched a few great movies, and created a new family chore plan. Tomorrow we will take advantage of a great deal for new gym memberships and hopefully spend some more time playing together. When they get home from church, I will get to hear what they learned today and maybe I can salvage part of my lesson for Family Home Evening tomorrow night.

In spite of the bug, I feel so blessed today. That's a wonderful way to begin the new year. I can't wait to see what else 2012 has in store!


1 comment:

Piepee said...

Hope your better soon. Charlie is adorable.

If you think my hands are full, you should see my heart!

If you think my hands are full, you should see my heart!