Journal: Disappointed

Outside: FINALLY....Spring has arrived!!
Vacation: Didn't happen. The night before we were to leave, the van died on the way home from Mass....was that some kind of message?? Apparently so, our mechanic wasn't open for 2 days and then after it was fixed.... the next day, the price to replace the fuel pump was even more than we had saved up for the vacation.
We were planning on spending 3 nights in Colorado Springs, we hoped to go to Garden of the Gods, Focus on the Family bookstore, Poor Richard's and It'z Pizza and a few local parks. Oh well, as it turned out, the weather for our drive home would have been treacherous. The hardest thing about it was looking at the kids right after coasting to a side street to try and restart the van and telling them we probably won't be able to go to Colorado. Eli hung his head and I could see streams of tears sliding down his cheeks, he tried to wipe them away so I wouldn't see, but it about broke my heart. He's my fellow vacation adventurer, we both LOVE to travel...probably more than we should;)

The Kids: Noah is starting his own Nerf repair company....it won't be super profitable, but I hope he learns some accounting, budgeting, advertising, and entrepreneurial skills.

Jonah: will be graduating from 8th grade and starting high school next year....at home.

Hannah: has been raking in the money for doing online research studies...she's made over $200 in the last year.
 
Eli: We couldn't really afford to have too many fun splurges since the van repairs were so much, but we took the kids out to eat....which is rare. We went to Hometown Buffet on Thursday night which happens to be Kid's Night, they give out balloons and cotton candy. I told Eli to grab a plate and help himself, and he asked me what he could have and I told him anything he wanted, you should have seen his face....he was so happy he started hopping up and down and giggling. I whispered to Don that alone was worth the $57.

Gregory: Has been Mr. grumpy pants, I think he must be harvesting his upper chompers.

My Birthday: I must be some kind of super athlete or something, because, while nursing Gregory, I sprained my neck....my Physical Therapist, called it an "acute sprain", isn't that the sweetest?? I tell you what, it hurts. That is to date, the strangest birthday I have had.

Don's Sleep: Don has been kind of wandering around in a daze from lack of sleep, so the Dr. had him do a home sleep study and guess what??? He has sleep apnea, so he will be fitted for a c-pap machine next week, hopefully, we will ALL get a better night's sleep. It has been confirmed, we are o.l.d.

In the Kitchen: nothing exciting...Don and I have been enjoying Mocha Frappe's.

Praying: For Bishop Jackels and his new appointment and for our future Bishop, for the people of Boston and Texas, for my SIL, for Noah who will be confirmed in May. We received our annual traveling image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, if we would have been on vacation, we would have had to pass her to the next family on the list. I was able to take the blessed image to a friend's house to pray the rosary with her for her mother who was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.

Finding Joy:  in God's providence...even though we didn't get to go on vacation, we were so thankful, the van died before we left...and now it's fixed, our blooming few flowers in the front yard, in my family...for better and worse;)