A Traditional St. Patty's Day Dinner

St. Patty's Day A traditional St. Patrick's Day dinner includes beef flautas, refried beans and sopitos right? Well, it does if you're in our family. It's our tradition and though it might be a bit odd I'm sure it will catch on like wildfire across the States. We started it by accident one year when we lived in McCleary. Well, technically we were "living" in Aberdeen because Rob's employer had just moved us and we were still in a hotel there while we house hunted. Very near the hotel was a Mazatlan restaurant and for some reason we decided to eat there that St. Patty's Day. We did it again the next year and twice in a row makes a tradition right? Last year we actually made a true traditional Irish meal complete with corned beef and cabbage, soda bread and champ (mashed spuds with green onions and other yummy stuff) and that was decent, everything turned out alright, especially the champ - yum! But this year I asked Rob "are we doing Mexican?" and he said "that's what I've been thinking" and we both laughed so I have a feeling that our accidental tradition is going to stick. We also decided that come Cinco de Mayo we'll go out for Chinese.

Me I have been planning and running around like mad for a couple of weeks now because today was a very special day for my MOPS group. It was our Tea and Treasures meeting and that means that the table leaders, which I am one of, got to dress up all the tables, plan a special gift for our gals, and some of us got to give our testimony. I was one blessed to speak so all my planning included writing my testimony as well. It wasn't my first time but that sure can put your heart through the wringer and it can be such a blessing. It's hard to decide what to include and what to leave out when you only have about ten minutes to speak. I trusted God to give me the right words and I know that I affected at least one person because one of the moms from another table approached me afterward in tears and asked for help in receiving healing in one of the areas of my life that I spoke about. If she was the only one who received something for her life from my testimony out of everyone there then it was worth it and praise God for giving me the right words! After getting home from the meeting it felt so strange to come home and just sit with the kids and have a leisurely lunch instead of writing, making my gifts, running errands and all that.

Gabe Unfortunately I have to report that we have sickness back in the house. The last few days Rob has been coughing and Gabe's rough cough has returned and tonight he, Gabe, has a fever again. At dinner he just sat there and when I asked if he just wanted to go to bed he started to cry and said yes, he didn't feel good. Poor little guy, it broke my heart. When is this ever going to end!?!

Rob It has been fabulous to have Rob home again!!! The kids have really enjoyed it as well but I can't say enough about how nice it is to have his presence and his help around the house. Tonight we had an appointment after Rob got home and on the way there Gabe suddenly spouted "wow, Daddy went to work this morning AND he came home today!" I guess that sums up how strange it is that Rob has been home with us for more than a day or two. He has one more, short trip planned for next week and that will be the last before my due date (which is April 21 if you need a reminder - or didn't know yet).

Zion I guess since I went off on the rest of us it would be unfair to leave out Lil' Miss Zion. What new can I say about my crazy girl? While I was out last week shopping for supplies for my MOPS gift she fell in love with a stuffed tiger. I broke down and got it for her. I couldn't help it, she was sitting in the shopping cart rocking it, stroking it, kissing it. Turns out she didn't put the tiger down for the next three days. She loves her stuffies but this was a new turn even for her. I could hardly wrench it out of her hands to get her strapped into her carseat and she kept it in her chubby little hands no matter what we did. Even now, more than a week later she still wants to carry it around much of the time. I'm totally breaking my own rule about this. We've always been strict that the most special blankies and lovies stay in the kids' bed with a few exceptions of coming out of their room but never leave the house that way we don't have to risk losing them. I'm must be getting soft.