Day 71- Birthday Weekend

My birthday weekend is over, and it has completely solidified within me that I am where I am supposed to be for so many reasons.

First, we took in a stray. No, not an animal... a person. Lol. A friend of NG's from high school is down on his luck and we took him in for a few days to help him get on his feet. It reminded me of the time that there was the huge earthquake in Haiti and I wanted to adopt a couple of children from there. I knew it would never happen, but I mentioned it to OG (old guy) because there was an ache in my heart over not being able to help others in need. He thought it was a stupid idea. Really, I shouldn't have been surprised. He had never been a 'sharer'. He would give things away and he could be generous, but he didn't like to share things that were 'his' ... his house, his car, his life, ... you know, anything that anybody might 'mess up'.

Anyway, my point is that this is filling a similar space for me. I feel like we are giving back, changing someone's life, just by opening our home. In return, we are also teaching our children lessons about how we treat others and help our friends.

Secondly, we went out alone during the day and had a little bit of fun. Eating, talking, shopping, just enjoying each other. It didn't have to be a big party or anything... just the fact that he took time for me on my birthday was important and meaningful to me.

After that, we had A LOT more fun. A few people joined us and we started playing Pictionary. After the girls totally whipped the boys' butts, we switched to skip-bo and then went down to watch a movie. We ended up not sleeping until 5am. I haven't stayed up that late in forever! Lots of fun.

There has been a lot of teamwork this weekend as well. Closets are being filled, the house is taking shape, kids are learning a routine. I wake up here in the mornings and never wish that I was anywhere else.

P.S. I would like to thank our local school district for ending my birthday celebration with a final big "hurray" by sending all of my children back to school today for 6 hours. You guys rock!