SMELLIN COFFEE: Journal Update: Day 8 of 17

I took a break from blogging last night- it was that kinda night!

Instead I watched a few episodes of The Office, ate sushi and chatted with Megan.

Friday was a good day overall, until around 4pm. more about that later..

I met my dear friend Stephanie (from PA in town for a wedding)

for breakfast Friday morning with Autumn and Katie

at Mona's (which was SO yummy)

I got the blueberry flapjacks with a lemon curd whipped cream-

AMAZING!

It was WONDERFUL to sit for a few hours and catch up on each other's lives. I LOVE that Steph is SO easy to talk to and we catch right back up from where we left off the last time we saw each other!

She's pretty awesome! She is the momma to 3 little boys and husband to a youth pastor. We went to high school together and college together and she is definitely one of my best friends for life! It was great seeing Katie and Autumn too- I hate that we are basically in the same town and rarely get together-

I think we need to change that:)

After breakfast, I worked on a cake for a little girls 1st birthday.

Marks parents were SO very sweet and watched the kids Friday so I could get this done. They took them to get pancakes- they all were SO very excited for this! Then they went to a park- more like a conservatory and came home with tales of all the many animals they saw. Then they even went yard sale-ing!They came home with a few "new to them" toys and I am especially excited about the nativity set! I think we will set this up with the Christmas decorations this winter!

Around 3 or so, it all started falling apart! I think everyone is just worn out- they have been having super busy days and staying up late and rarely take naps because of the activities of the day.. so Friday night we were supposed to have dinner with Chad and Mel and Jenny and Brian.. but I decided it would be WAY too much to take them all over with how they were acting- meltdowns every 5 minutes, crying over everything under the sun..and lots of drama!

I picked up a pizza for the kids and I got sushi:) and we were in for the night.

We got to talk to daddy and he made it safely to the orphanage- he says its very farm like and beautiful! They have limited internet access so we havent been able to talk as much since he has been there.

Please continue to pray for them!

Hard to believe we are half way done with this separation-

it has made me appreciate ALL he does around the house to help me with the kids and

shown me how much I really LOVE him and value him as a leader in our home!

I am looking forward to our reunion!!!!

And I will leave you with pictures that Megan took of our family right before Mark left.

They are breathtakingly beautiful...