Our Kind of Place

I'm like every other girl. I love to be romanced, wined and dined occasionally, but truth be known, occasional is the key word. My husband knows me so well. He knows that the things that really get to my heart are the unexpected flowers and sweet cards. I still have a valentine (that's right a real valentine- like the one's we gave in first grade) that he put in the bathroom of our first house that said "To my beautiful wife" in his writing. I leave it in my make- up bag especially for times when I don't feel beautiful.

The wining and dining is nice sometimes. I do like to get dressed up and go out for a big, expensive dinner every once in a while. But the things that Eric and I love to do the most have nothing to do with getting all dressed up or spending ridiculous amounts of money (I know what you are thinking... clearly we like to do that, we had three kids in 3 1/2 years, but that's not where I'm going with this). When we were dating we had a place that we coined "our place."
It was a place called Hunter's Pub. We even had a booth there that if it was available we'd always sit at. Whenever we're home and have a chance to go there we do. Needless to say, we miss our dates there... well, we miss our dates period.

Last Tuesday, our usual samll group night, Eric had to work late as it's the end of the fiscal year for his company, so we decided to do the unthinkable and skip group in order to have a much needed date. For us, it was about taking advantage of our amazing sitter who was already coming to stay with the kids and getting in some time away from our house without our kids. There is a place that is new around here that we'd been wanting to try for a while. Pauley's Pub. Our kind of place! Of course, nothing will ever replace Hunter's, due in large part to pure nostalgia, but Pauley's was a close second. Both Hunter's and Pauley's are places that are not fancy. In fact, they are just what they say they are, Pubs.

So, I'll say it again, occasionally, I love to go get romanced at a nice restaurant and drink wine or a cosmo and eat expensive food, but on an ordinary day, give me my favorite jeans to wear, a pub and a couple beers. Just remember to bring me flowers unexpectedly.

Carnival for a Cure

Here's the report:
Last Friday was the event we had all been working toward and praying about for many months. The Cystinosis Carnival for a Cure. This was a benefit that was organized by an individual who, though I've said it many times, is so talented and stinkin' organized! When it all came together, I realized even more that the person that takes on the organization of an event of this size better have her stuff together and no one does more than my friend Amber. Nice going Amber!

The event was a huge success. The grand total at the end of it all was over $16,000. For a first time benefit I would say that's pretty good. We set the bar high for coming years though! I'm certain we'll rise to the challenge year after year. In the heat of all the organizing, planning and putting together of things for the carnival, I found that it was easy to lose site of our real purpose: helping find a cure for these two little lives who we love so much (and the many others affected by this disease). As we were setting up for the event and the tension was raising as we grew closer to start time, Alexis and Evan walked into the gym and my heart softened. I thought, "Look how beautiful these two kids are. This is for them. It's not about what the tables look like or how perfect the signs are, it's about these two." God was so present Friday night. I know that everyone involved would agree that He showed up in ways we couldn't have guessed he would. People from all over came out to support and love this amazing family and if you looked around it was pretty clear that everyone was having a great time.

What a privledge to be a part of something so significant.