Left Behind

I wanted to be at our adoption agency's picnic in Nashville over the weekend meeting people I already feel like I know through blogs. But since we were just in Nashville two weeks ago, it didn't work out for me to return. So, I was left behind here at home and this is what I was doing instead.

We celebrated my nephew Lane's birthday...
The kids had a grand old time being with their cousins. Jack prayed before we went in that he would be tall enough to drive a go-kart by himself. Guess what...
God answers prayer!

We had a special tea with Grandma and some of her friends on Friday. What a lovely experience with delightful ladies. Such a fun thing for us to do "just the girls"...
And we would have totally missed out on it if I had not been left behind.

It was SAIL camp this week for Emma. SAIL stands for Strings Alliance in Lincoln. Em gets to play the violin this year and she spent every morning this week learning how at SAIL camp. You know how I love a good theme and they carried it all the way through with the teachers wearing sailor hats and each classroom having a different fish name. Bill and I were bummed though, that they never used "Come Sail Away" by Styx to inspire their campers. What were they thinking?! Special thanks to cousin Timmy and Aunt Georgie for providing the violin making all of this possible...
The week ended with a concert on Saturday. I thought all those beginners on violins, violas, bass, and cellos would be painful to endure so I didn't even bother bringing a video camera. Boy was I wrong! They sounded great. Like, really great. And when they played "There is No Place Like Nebraska" they had us eating out of their hands. Especially the violinist who belongs to me...
Had I gone to the picnic, I would have missed this special occasion.

I also would have missed Rachel's garage sale. I have sworn that I will never, no never, have another garage sale. But I figured it would not be against my lifelong ban to put a few things in my friends sale. The great news is that I convinced Bill to put our nappy Christmas tree in the sale. The bad, though not surprising, news is that even for the low, low price of $5 no one bought the eyesore. Still, I made a whopping $35. It was disappointing because I was so sure that I was going to make enough money to buy a treadmill. Bill is probably relieved that I didn't make the money to buy something that would just end up in a garage sale in a year after sitting unused in our basement. In the end, had I gone to Nashville, I would be $35 poorer right now.

So though I hate missing out on things, I will joyfully experience the AGCI picnic through the blogs of those who were there. And I will be glad that this weekend I may have felt a little left behind, but I was right where I was supposed to be. HOME.