Surrounded

Yes, by children at any given moment.

But also by wonderful friends who have overwhelmed me.
Emily's daddy watched mine and his all morning Saturday so that I could go shopping with Jennifer. And he got them to take a nap--that doesn't happen in our house.
And Jennifer drove. And it is hard to express how meaningful sitting in a car and riding without playing stewardess is. Really.
And, my Valentine's gift from Emily? My first ever hug from her. I think it helped that mine were asleep, and we got to just hang out for a few minutes.


And then on Sunday afternoon, Nancy and Jim had a wonderful party for us. Even Benjamin smiled once or twice.

And Alida, looked at a camera and smiled without something goofy on her face or a round of tickling. She may have been overwhelmed by the princess garb that Nancy had made for her.

I was overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness.

Here we are making pictures of our Valentines that we made for daddy by the Valentine tree so that they can be shipped off to Patric.

Simply surrounded.

Thank you.