My favorite things

My house is almost there... the only things I HAVE to do are clean the floors- mop and vacuum, finish the laundry, do a bit of ironing, put all the clothes away and whip up a quick dessert. I also have to run an errand and drop off something by the church, all in a days work I guess.

If I get all of those things done, then I get the most fantastic treat, my girl friends are coming over. Seriously, could I BE more excited? And not only do I get to have some fantastic quality time with them this evening while all the babes are safely tucked away in their beds, but we get to share all of our favorite things!
A couple of weeks ago, I ran across a blog that was talking about a Favorite Things Party they had gone to. Basically, you come to someones house armed with five duplicates of your most favorite thing. You also bring your favorite dish to share with the group. Then you get to give all your friends your favorite thing and explain to them how it's totally rocked your world and they get to do the same thing for you! I couldn't think of anything possibly more fun! And aside from my mom and sister not being there, nearly all of my close girls will be here tonight. I of course, tweaked the rules a bit. Growing up a staunch rule follower, I still am, I like to make things my own before I bend over backward to follow my own rules. So not only are the ladies bringing their favorite things and their favorite dish, but jammies are required, children are mostly home with the daddies for the evening (except for the little ones who will we faun over all night) and I've created some random, ridiculous game that I'm sure the girls will laugh at more than laugh over. But the main point is to be together and to have fun.

Barrett before the Ruch family photo shoot last weekend

I'll try to post pictures tomorrow of the madness, but I completely forgot to mention the most hysterical moment of working on the front tree yesterday. Barrett and I were in the front yard (he loves being outside, at some point everyday he'll bang on the storm door to tell me he's tired of being cooped up in the house) he's in play clothes that don't even match and a light sweatshirt since it was in the 60's when we were outside... gotta love a NC winter! He's following me around and playing with the lights when all of the sudden I realize he's wandered away from my side. I turn around to find him walking toward the street, which isn't a huge deal since we were right in front of the house and he had a good ways to walk to actually get there. Well, he's not the most stable on grass, add in the fact that he's got a cold and is teething so his equilibrium is totally off. Frankly, I'm surprised he doesn't just walk in circles at this point. But, he's walking away from me when he loses his balance and starts to roll down the hill. Remember when you were a kid and you would log roll down the hill in your neighbor's yard, just like that. After three or four rotations he stops himself and gets on all fours. He looks up to me with a bewildered look on his face, covered in wet grass head to toe, trying to decide if he should be scared, mad or happy. All I could do was laugh. I remember from nannying that it's all about the reaction when something bad happens, like when Barrett ran into the wall last night, you just have to look away or laugh. If you react like it hurt, he'll think it hurt. So when he finally stopped and I realized he wasn't hurt I scooped him up and laughed with him. He knew everything was okay and if I'm laughing, he's laughing.

I wonder if that's how our Heavenly Father feels? If after a period of strange happenings when we don't quite know which was is up or how to react in a certain situation, if He longs for us to look for His face. I wonder then, if our reaction to circumstances would be different. I imagine Him smiling back at us, not because He enjoyed watching us tumble down the hill, but more because He can see the other side. He knows how that tumble, no matter how large or small, will affect us. And hopefully, if we can look up to see His face, we'll remember that everything will end up okay. That in the end, He will get all the glory. That we will be grown and challenged and stretched. And when the tumble is over, hopefully, we'll look a little more like Him.