Last night Michael and I were sitting on the front porch, and I commented that I was surprised he was still up, since it was fairly late and he had said he was tired.  Michael replied that yes, he was tired, but he was feeling like it was ok to delay going to bed a little since he didn’t have to get up early the next morning.  I looked at him in surprise, frantically trying to remember what day it was and what the next day was, and then it dawned on me that this was the beginning of Michael’s long weekend!  Thanks to the July 4 holiday, Michael has an extra day off this week.  Of course, this had all been discussed previously, but I had failed to make the connection yesterday.  What a sweet surprise and a wonderful side benefit to being absent-minded!

So this morning Michael “slept in” until 7 a.m. (his alarm usually wakes him at 4:30 a.m.), and then he got up and made coffee.  I know that both of us would like to still be snoozing away, but noisy birds and a chirping baby girl are encouraging us to rise and greet the day.

The house is still very quiet though, since the children are all still sleeping.  Yesterday afternoon we took them to the pool, and then when we got home they played on the trampoline, so they were completely worn out by bedtime.

Speaking of a trampoline… I have to share that yesterday we were given another trampoline!  It’s worn out and used and a little rusty, but it still has life in it, so we went and disassembled it, packed it into the van, brought it home and reassembled it, and have been enjoying it very much!  Our other trampoline was damaged last fall when a few rusty spots on the legs caused them to bend, and we haven’t gotten it fixed yet.  So this was an exciting blessing for all of us.

Since this is Michael’s long weekend, I’m already making a mental list of all the things I hope we can accomplish to make our house look more like a home and less like a cardboard-box warehouse.

Oh, and I think I forgot to tell you that next Monday is Judah’s surgery to remove his appendix.  He is scheduled for the 8 a.m. slot in Peoria, which means leaving here at 5:30 a.m. to get there for prep at 6:30 a.m.  Michael will take him and they will probably spend the night there and come home Tuesday.  I will be very glad to have this all done.

Have a great weekend!