A Weekend Revisited…

Wow what a weekend.  (!!!)  Here’s a brief recap:

Friday afternoon:

Malinda came over and hung out with us, did a little school work, played on the computer, and spent the evening here with Efrain Jr., while Paul went down to Sun Lakes with the telescope and held a star party for his parents and some of their friends from Fairmont (including a few of his high school teachers).  He did not get home until after 11 (very late for him) and I was already in bed (very early for me).

Saturday morning:

Paul slept in til after six, then had to run to Home Depot to buy some extra blades for his sawzall for the big project of the day:  cutting down our two burned citrus trees in the back yard.  (It would have made more sense to use the chain saw, but it was broken, and just seemed easier to use the handy little sawzall.)  His parents arrived around 8am and we all got to work.

After the trees were cleared, the saddest thing for me was saying goodbye to our admittedly decrepit gazebo.  I have known it was rotting and in very sad shape, but sort of held out a slim hope that we might be able to restore it.  Paul was adamant – it must go.  So everybody got in on the fun in helping to cut it down and haul the pieces to the trailer.

Once the back yard was emptied and the trailer full, Paul and his parents (and Megan) went to the dump, after which the kids went with their grands for an afternoon of roller skating and an overnighter in Sun Lakes.

Saturday afternoon:

Paul and I grabbed a quick salad at Culvers, and then headed up to Bell Road to visit the Ashley Furniture store.  I’d been in last weekend before we left for the ranch, and they were holding their President’s Day Sale.  What a happy surprise to arrive Saturday and find that it was the last day of that sale.  I was able to get an uncommonly good deal on two nightstands for our room (so I can get rid of the upended moving box I’ve been using), plus an end table and sofa table for the living room.  We went from there to the warehouse in south Phoenix, where we had to wait about an hour in line behind all the other folks that were picking up their furniture.

We finally got back home around 3:30.  Since Paul had to assemble the furniture, I decided to take mom and go do a little shopping at Kohls – I have barely any silverware, and thought if there was ever a time when I would replace what has disappeared from my drawers, it would be now when we have a bit of remaining insurance money.  Unfortunately, I was completely unprepared for the high prices they have on their flatware.  Quite bummed, I left that store and drove down the shopping center a little ways to my favorite clothing store, because I need some tops.  40% off everything in the store!!! the signs screamed!  Oh joy, this will be fun!  Not.  After all the shopping I’d already done that afternoon, I was too overwhelmed, and wandered around growing dizzier and more frustrated, and finally walked out with nothing.  I very much need my friend Vicki when I go shopping.  Vicki!  Come down here and help me shop!!!

I was in a very poor frame of mind at the stage, and would have gone home but for the fact that my black boots had fallen apart, and I had nothing to wear on my feet for Sunday, so I absolutely had no choice but to go shoe shopping.

Shoe shopping, you should know, is about as fun as bikini shopping for me.  There simply ARE NO DRESS SHOES FOR MY FEET!!!!!!

I left mother in the van outside Pay-less while I went in, with the admonition to call people and tell them to pray for me, because without a miracle, I would find nothing and be forced to wear my hiking shoes to church.

Well, God heard those prayers, and I did come out with the barest something – a little  ballerina flat type of shoe that at least fit my foot, something like this, but for $29 instead of $640.  One can hardly argue with that sort of shopping prowess, even if they weren’t my ideal shoe.

So when all was said and done, I did not come home completely despondent.  And my tables were all beautifully put together and I have only to buy lamps and then I shall post pictures.  Thanks be to God for sales, for insurance money, and I will also say that with perspective, I realize that God did not intend for me to find either flatware or clothing this weekend, so obviously that joy will be saved for another day.

Sunday morning:

On one of the very few Sunday mornings when mother and I did not need to be at church for choir by 8am, Paul DID have to be there as a sponsor for his catechumen, to prepare for the Rite of Election (part of the RCIA) that was to happen after the homily.  It worked out swimmingly for everyone since I was able to go pick up Malinda and Efrain Jr. and we got there in plenty of time to sit at the back of the front section, with room for Grandma and Grandpa, Jacob and Laurent. Geneva and Megan had been asked by Fr. Lankeit, along with the rest of the Little Flowers of St. Therese, (the special prayer group formed by Fr. Lankeit to pray for vocations in our diocese) to sit up front so he could introduce them and induct a new member into the group. The men’s schola provided gorgeous music throughout the mass, and the Litany of the Saints with which we began, sung by Jay Groft with the whole congregation singing the responses, was profoundly meaningful to me.  (You can hear part of it here starting at the 1minute30second mark – though I think they had to cut it off before the ending due to time constraints.)

Sunday afternoon:

The afternoon here at home was quiet, with lots of play time with Efrain,

a little napping for me (I am trying in vain to kick this doggone cold), and Paul had to leave for the 2pm portion of the Rite of Election.  By a little before 4, the older girls had departed for their choir practice, and Malinda got her gear and the baby together and I took her over to her apartment so she could drop off Efrain Jr. with his daddy, and then she came with me and we attended the 5pm mass.  I am so overjoyed by the signs her spiritual growth and how much she desires to learn, to worship, and to be in the house of God.

Oh, and speaking of spiritual growth, the afternoon ceremony that was held at the cathedral was for all the catechumens in the diocese who are to be baptized at the Easter Vigil this year.  The only people who could enter the building were those with tickets – the catechumens and their individual sponsors.  And the building was overflowing with people!!  What a great sign of God’s working to see that many brand new members coming into God’s family for the first time!  Hallelujah!!

Sunday evening:

Anyway, after evening mass, I was planning to drive Malinda straight home, but because I was talking I drove on autopilot toward our house instead.  So she ended up staying for pizza and didn’t get home till closer to 8:00.  It was all good – a day filled with worship and relaxing and fellowship, just as Sundays ought to be.

The older girls came bubbling in through the door around 20 after 8, bouncing off the walls with the sheer high of quality friend-time, and so apologetic about being late, explaining that they had lost track of time while standing around after youth group, talking with their friends.

That’s an excuse that makes me happy.  (I hadn’t actually noticed that they were late – does that make me a bad mom?)  😀