Rambling Weekend Recap

On Friday night, Daniel was ordained and set in as a pastor here at our local church. To say it was a special and significant evening would be a huge understatement. At this point I feel rather at a loss for words to summarize the night, but I will say that it is an amazing thing to witness what God does through and with human vessels. Daniel is a gift from the Lord to the Body and he is the real deal, all the time.

Daniel's parents, his brother and sister-in-law and 2 nephews, his uncle (who was our pastor in Pittsburgh) and aunt, and two couples that are very dear friends of ours (along with some of their children) all came up for the weekend from Pittsburgh to celebrate with us. There were some college alumni who also drove in, as well as a pastor and some of his family from the Rochester area. On Saturday we had an open house of sorts so that we could have a better chance of visiting with everyone, and that was a lot of fun. It led into an evening of game-playing and pizza-making (thanks, Daniel and Matt!) at our house and I've gotta say, if you've never played a game with Tim Ross, you've missed out on a really good time. The guy's hilarious.

Both Daniel and I were so blessed by the incredibly generous gifts we received Friday evening. I knew (Daniel didn't!) beforehand about the significant gift of money for a new guitar that our church family collected and the amazing Steelers tickets good friends of ours arranged and coordinated to give Daniel, but I didn't know about the beautiful dishes and flowers, that's for sure. This weekend was better than Christmas! Wow.

Today we said good-bye to the last of our out-of-town guests, and my mother-in-law was one of the departing visitors. We are going to miss her a lot this week. It dawned on me today that I'm actually going to have to start doing the dishes again! It was a great ten days with her and I am so grateful for all her help and companionship as I adjust to being a mother of five.

Speaking of being a mother of five, Claire is three whole weeks old today. These newborn days are slipping like sand between my fingers. I know everyone says it goes faster every time, but that's because it's true! I am completely undone by it and, yes, rather sad. The other day I found myself holding her close and just wishing I could somehow bottle the feel, the smell, the newness up to be enjoyed in later years. Just stay little, my girl... please?

And, for the record, Claire is still being a dream baby in the sleep department. She rarely wakes up more than once during the night and has even occasionally slept right through until morning. I'm still pinching myself because, trust me, this is nothing I'm doing and 100% that she is an absolute peach. There are some fussier times during the days and lots of cluster-feedings in the evenings, but I honestly am glad for that because otherwise she would probably be so easy that I wouldn't have the excuse to sit and snuggle her as much as I'd like!

Well, that's that for my rambling weekend recap. Daniel is at a meeting this evening and his computer is here, so I thought I would take advantage and do some catch-up. Hopefully I will get some pictures posted soon. I am especially thinking of new photos of Claire, as well as a few snapshots of my amazing new diaper bag and the dishes I was given on Friday evening.