Today is our 11th wedding anniversary. I can’t believe we’ve been married for 11 years! It’s been great. We’ve experienced so many things together, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.
Here’s a video I made 2 years ago on our anniversary.
One of Nathan’s favorite shows is Spongebob Squarepants, so when we saw this outfit on sale, we had to buy it for Ben.
This morning, I decided to spend a little time with boy #1 and take him to the free movie at the theater. Happy Feet was showing, so I thought it would be fun to hang out with him. Little did I know that this excursion would cost me $100.
As I pulled into the parking lot, I must have run over a gigantic piece of metal, and it stuck into the tire. I could hear it hitting the ground as I drove to find a spot. It wasn’t a nail. No, it was much larger than that. But I wasn’t going to let it ruin my time with Nathan.
We went into the theater and bought popcorn. The small popcorn and coke was $9. Happy Feet started a little late, and the boy asked me if we could go bye-bye about an hour into it. Since it cost us nothing to get in, we left early.
I tried to go to the mall to see if the Sears could fix my tire cheaply, but they wanted $89 to put on a new tire. Then, I went to the Goodyear place, and they wanted $94. So, I finally went to a trusted tire guy, and it cost $78 for a new tire.
Janell came to meet us (it was me and Nathan by ourselves), and we went to McDonald’s for lunch ($9). Finally, the car was finished, and we went home.
The free movie wasn’t really free. It cost us an entire morning and about $100. Next time, we’ll just go to the park.
Yesterday, we had t-ball practice. It was hot, the kids were tired, and hardly anybody really wanted to be running around in the heat playing tball. Even though Nathan has made significant progress in his skills, yesterday was not a great day for him at practice.
Before I continue, you have to understand that I always bribe reward him with a Slurpee after t-ball practice if he’s a good boy.
Unfortunately, yesterday, he was in rare form, hitting other people and generally disobeying. He wasn’t horrible, but he wasn’t obeying with all of his heart and soul and mind, either.
So, we got into the car after practice, and I asked him if he thought he deserved a Slurpee. I asked what he had done during practice, and then I asked him to tell me if he thought he should get a Slurpee or not. He said he didn’t deserve one but he really wanted one. I agreed with him that he didn’t deserve it.
I stopped at the 7-eleven anyway. As we were getting out of the car, I told Nathan he didn’t deserve a Slurpee, and he busted out in tears, saying, “But I really want one.” He thought he wasn’t going to get one. I told him that sometimes we get stuff we don’t deserve.
I resisted teaching him more about the concept of grace, because I’m not sure how much he really understand, but it’s exactly that kind of love that the Father has for us. He gives us things we don’t deserve all the time. It’s His grace that is amazing. It is His love for us despite our lack of love for Him that makes Him a great God.
I hope that Nathan learned something from our little trip to 7-Eleven, and I hope he will understand more about our gracious God in the future.
Here’s some more video of Ben’s first day. It’s a montage of clips from the first 24 hours of our time at the hospital. Enjoy!
