Normal(ish)(er)

This week started off with a bang. I mean, not so much a bang but a Sunday.

Sunday is typically my favorite day of the week.  I love my job. I love worshipping with my church Sunday morning.  I love all my little people and their snuggles. I love my volunteers. I love a good Sunday afternoon nap for as long as I don't have people to keep me awake (gotta see the bright side, yes?) and I especially love my small group.

So why such a bang? Well, here's the thing.  This was my first Sunday back after my absence.  So I knew it would be different.  I am a people person if there ever was one but I knew it would take another level of emotional stability to handle all the support others would give.

And I was right. It was hard. And good.

This book I'm reading was a good reminder as I walked the halls. I am human (no surprise right?? Anyone who's met me knows I am flawed:)). I need Jesus. But I, like all humans, also need people. I need touch. And to be seen. And heard. And I need to allow people to minister and bring joy to me just as I get joy and God's grace and goodness from being able to minister to others.

So as I sat on the side of the aisle at communion with big prayers and my loud singing (as always), people streamed down the aisle with a pat or a hug.  As overwhelmed as I was, I just accepted their graces and was humbled by their love and let the tears stream. Tears as heavy as the people rushing down the aisle to receive the body as the most precious form of grace.

I do truly believe people are full of love and I got to hold it deeply within me. Through tiny, sticky hugs and the little one who fell asleep in my arms (he was under 30 pounds in case my doctor is reading this) and the quick "I'm sorry for your loss"es and the longer, lingering hugs with teary eyes.

I will say, as much of a people person as I am, it was completely overwhelming and humbling. But it was also good. Moving toward normal is really all I can ask for. And Sunday was a huge step toward normal.

Speaking of normal, this week has been back to regularly scheduled. I am driving (!!!), I led a book discussion (about aforementioned book that I truly believe you should read. I know I don't know who you are if you are reading this but you should read it. If you love Jesus and want to live out his love and you struggle with this, read it), I even made dinner twice this week! Just call me overachiever Jess.

Today I had my two week doctor's appointment. And the biggest news of all: I. CAN. RUN.

You guys. I can run.  I can't tell you what a big deal this is.  I keep my sanity by running.  It calms me. It brings me closer to my man (we run together). It keeps me fit.  I was told I must start super slow but I can run again!  Which is good because I signed up for another marathon.

Yes. Another Marathon. Or should I say the same marathon. Because it's still the St. Jude. And I'll still be raising money. And it will still be in December. And I will still be eating potatoes:). So I'm thankful I can start training again, since I'm less than six months away. Hooray for marathons that help kids.

It's true. Life is (still) moving toward normal. And typing that could not please me more if the words were blinging on a glitter sign above my perfectly comfortable mattress while I slept the sleep of exhausted toddlers.

But seriously. Normal. And then again, life is never normal exactly. E and I are heavy in the midst of planning our next adoption fundraiser. Because we are fully believing God is speeding up the pace of our adoption. And we want to be ready to meet the little mister. Or miss. Or both:).  We'll keep you posted.

Maybe normal is overrated after all:).

That Time We Went to Church In A Blizzard

Let me start by saying I had this post all but done and I added another photo and deleted the whole post. In the words of my husband: harumph.

Here we go again. From scratch.

I never put too much stock in weather forecasts. Sometimes they're right. Sometimes they're wrong. I'd seen the radar and wasn't convinced. So when I woke up Sunday morning to frost on the ground and giant flakes pouring down, I was a little surprised, despite all the warnings.

I had a conversation Friday with the pastor who happened to be preaching Sunday. We lamented how snow often falls Saturday night. He promised he'd be preaching no matter how hard the snow was falling. So after looking out my window, I continued putting on my makeup and getting ready. I did switch my plans from heels to boots. Other than that, things were pretty much going along as normal.

Against objections, I convinced E we should take one car to church. So we both hopped in the Camry and started along the ten minute drive to my work. This is what our drive looked like:

That photo has not been doctored, my friends. This was us at an intersection. And I have no idea which intersection because, well, look at it!

So as E cautiously drove (like a rock star I might add--he wasn't shaken at all by the lack of visibility or the iciness or the roads) I fielded texts, emails, and calls from volunteers.  All of whom (except one--shout out to Heather) were saying, "I can't make it!!" And who could blame em. Please reference above photo.

Then the texts from coworkers started. I was running late but the coworker who'd already gotten there said she was still shaking from the experience.  Um, yeah.  But we arrived a little late and in one piece. At 7:30, my usually bustling church had about 10 people in it. Here's the outside snow:

I hopped into the wing to see if anyone was there and found a few lone, brave souls.  By the time I had done a quick once-over, I got an email saying we would have the 8:00 service but the next two would be canceled. So I rallied some computers for our volunteers to watch our one and only service and we gathered around for a church "snow day" of sorts.

Shout out to my brother's girlfriend. It was her first Sunday to volunteer as a sub in our ministry and at 7:50 she arrived and announced, "So sorry I'm late!" I was shocked to see her in the midst of all the snow and when I told her this, she commented, "Of course I'm here. I'm from Nebraska." Point taken. Come to think of it, another of our volunteers who showed was from Nebraska as well. Anyway, that's dedication. First Sunday to serve, full of snow, show up anyway.  Let me also state she took her front wheel drive car home in the snow, against my protest. Texted me quickly to say she was home. Rock. Star.

Here's where God's providence becomes amazing. We ended up having about 100 people in church yesterday and I had about 10 volunteers show up, out of the 25 scheduled for first service. Talk about awesome.  In fact,  I sent some to church because we didn't need them all.  We opened 3 classrooms and had a snow day.  I got to stick around and feed a baby a bottle so you know it was a good day in my book.

Seriously, though. It was just a wonderful day to build community.  

Once we'd cleared out the wing and turned down a rather kind offer to take a suburban home, E and I trekked back in the Camry. Here's us stopping at Hy Vee to get pizza and Redbox movies. (Side note: The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Big Fan).

Yeah. Eric is just wearing a light jacket. What you can't see is I am wearing his heavy down coat because he said he didn't need it. It came to my knees.

After our grocery stop, we headed back home through the snowstorm. Here are some photos along the way:

I'll say it again: my man did a great job navigating that snow in our little Camry.  But we live in the county. Not the city. And we live on a hill.

So when we turned onto our actual street. We got, how do you say, stuck going up the final hill. So my dashing husband got out, I put the car in low, and he pushed us up the hill and into the driveway. Where I promptly got us stuck sideways in the drive. Exhibit A:

But no one is complaining about that. Because we got home!  I will state as I made dinner that night, E shoveled the driveway and put the car in the garage. Married life. It's the best.

As we made the pizza, I hopped online and watched the service. I am blessed to work at a high tech church where they stream the service and then put the full service in archive to watch at will. See:

It was for sure a fun adventure of a day. But since we've had three snow storms this winter (more than we've had total in our other 5 years in our town) I'd like to think this is the end of the road for the snow. For a while at least. I'm looking forward to killing things in my garden and getting outside with my dogs.

Either way, I'm thankful for our fun blizzard adventure yesterday. And in case you're wondering, official reports say we ended up with nine inches of snow.

The New Plan

You know how sometimes you want to say something but the timing's not right? So then you can't really think of anything else to say because the only thing that comes to mind is the thing you can't say? Kind of like the mole scene in Austin Powers? Yes? That's been me for a while now. The timing is right. So...read on...

Last summer I did something amazing. Fun. Different. Illogical.

Some of you may have read a couple of posts about it...it was a pretty big deal in my life. I became a children's ministry intern for my church's summer program. Some of you may call it VBS. We call it Kids Club. Whatever you call it, I was the oldest intern in the history of our church--most of the other interns were in college. A couple were just graduating from high school. I was 27.  And I loved every second of it. I would work my full-time university job, jump in my car, and zoom to church where I would spend my afternooons and evenings. I got to oversee the fun work of helping kids learn to love Jesus and have a blast while doing it.  I was exhausted every night. And I was thrilled.

So here's the thing--my dad is a pastor. I've seen what it looks like to have ministry as your vocation. But for me, well, I had never, ever thought about full-time ministry. It just didn't occur to me that this might be something I liked, let alone something I might be good at.  In fact, I really just felt lucky they let me be a part of the coolness at all.  The flip side of my dad's vocational ministry was my mom's life of volunteer ministry. She's always worked tirelessly to support my dad and our church as a volunteer.  I kind of thought that would be my life, too--a cheerful volunteer. And it has been my life up til now.

I started serving in the nursery when I was about 12. I loved it but for some reason I never saw it as ministry. Or a career. I just loved babies and I loved my church--they both needed help and I was there to provide the service.  I served in the nursery providing care and activities for children age 0-5 until I left for college.

When I went to college, I found my current congregation and joined about two years later.  Funny enough, I put off becoming a member because "I wouldn't be there that long." Little did I know. Ha!  I began serving in preschool-aged ministry the minute I joined and served until I left. When I returned,  I immediately volunteered to serve again. All this to say, I always loved serving with the younger kiddos and absolutely loved seeing and building the foundations of a relationship with Jesus in those little ones.

But. During Kids Club, for the first time ever, I fell in love with the idea of ministry as a career. I left each day, exhausted and completely excited about what was going on in the lives of not just the kids but the volunteers. And in my life, too.  And I kept thinking how amazing it would be if I really got to do this. This ministry thing. Full time.

It is with the utmost joy that I get to announce I will be joining my church's children's ministry team full time beginning May 1. I will be the Early Childhood Director, overseeing the volunteers, programming, and curriculum for children age 0-5. I feel incredibly humbled and blessed to have the opportunity to serve my church family full time in this role.

Leaving the university I've called home (and work) for about nine years now is bittersweet but I will never really "leave" Mizzou. I mean, Jon Hamm said it best, right? ZOU. Forever. Just, you know, not in a working capacity for me. For now.

Yes, I have a degree in higher education. And I feel that education has served me well. I am very much looking forward to seeing just how much preschool kids and college kids have in common. My guess is they're probably more alike than I imagine. Ha!  In all honesty, though, I really do love college kids and get to be a part of their lives still in different capacities.

It's funny. This whole adoption slow down has been a bummer, to be certain. I will tell you this, though. If I had an infant at home now, like I originally thought I might when this process started, I don't think I would have even considered changing jobs.  But God is so, so sovereign and knows so much more than I do. Lucky for me, he only reveals things to me on a need-to-know basis because I probably couldn't handle it all at once.  I don't have a baby at home right now to shepherd in the Lord . But I have several hundred kids and families to love and share Jesus with instead.  And you know what? It wasn't my plan but for me, for now, it's better.

To those of you who have already shown your support, I say a huge thank-you. To those of you who are just now hearing, please pray for me, my amazing co-workers-to-be, and for the ministry workers at your own church. I know we all need it.  It's completely humbling to think I get to do this, to be a part of this ministry thing.

But.
 
I can't wait.

Height, Love, and Tricerotails

This week was the kind of week where each day passed faster than the next and E and I had enough time each evening to gaze lovingly into each other's eyes, jump in a car, and head to the next event. We are romantics at heart, I tell ya. Despite the intensity of busy-ness, I've also thought it was a great week. Except for Wednesday when I had convinced myself it was Friday and had to realign my thoughts. Pretty much the worst thing that can happen on a Wednesday is when your mind convinces you it's Friday when it's actually only Wednesday.  Unless, of course, you go to work with your side zipper on your dress fully unzipped and don't notice for an hour that your entire body is hanging out. But that would never happen to anyone I know. *ahem*  Two more days of spreadsheets at work were not the awakening I had in mind on this Wednesday but they had to be done regardless. Lucky for me, the spreadsheets came home with me for the weekend too.

Anyway.

Wednesday we got back into the groove with our 4th grade friends and I mean it when I say I missed them. They are darling and their hearts just show me exactly why Jesus calls us to be like little children. But please don't tell them I called them little children. They will be, like, so offended. Gosh! We're back into the book of Mark and they really do listen and try to figure out this whole salvation thing. I feel really lucky to be a part of it because it's for sure the Holy Spirit working through everyday, normal, sinners. I know this because I am the everyday normal sinner trying to convey grace and the difficult concepts of salvation to nine and ten year old girls. Woah.

My favorite part of Wednesday, aside from the lesson when we spent half the time competing with the noise of the adults in classes (we need more space in our church and they moved my group THREE TIMES before we finally landed in the foyer--super loud and not conducive to actually studying the Bible), was the hang-out time we got. We put a beautiful puzzle together and they made me take a picture of them, shining and proud, next to the puzzle. I would show you this picture but I have a firm "no faces of others' children" on my blog. So you'll have to believe me when I say it was adorable how proud they were. They also got to talking about Valentine's Day. Here's how the conversation with me went.

Kids: "Jess, who is your valentine?"
Me: "Well, (glance at Eric lovingly), Mr. Eric is my valentine."
Kids: (look at each other, give weird expressions, and look back at me, a little disgusted) "He CAN'T be your valentine! He's too tall!!"

Now, I don't know when height became a requirement for valentines but I couldn't stop laughing. Best we can figure, they equate height to age and so they think E is much older than me?? Your guess is as good as mine.

Last night we had quite the surprise when dear friends invited us to dinner. They're adopting, too, and it was so lovely to share the worries and frustrations and fun that goes with this calling. And yes, crazy as it may sound, I think it's a calling. To put up with the roller coaster, I think you have to feel called to it.  Anyway, the dinner was lovely and after dinner, their preschoolers decided my pony tail just wasn't jazzy enough for the occasion. So, fully dressed in leotards and tututs, they styled my hair. With three pony tails and a headband. We decided this style needed an official name so after several drafts, we're going with "tricerotails."  Yes? What do you think?

So we're up to today! I was sound asleep at 8:45 when I got two texts asking me if I wanted to go to The Big Game. Of the biggest rivalry west of the Mississippi. Um, how do you say no to that?? So, we are prepping and thanking God (and our friends) for this special blessing. Thanks, friend. You know who you are and you totally made our day:). For those of you who don't live around here, not only are these tickets hard to come by, they are re-selling for hundreds (and in some cases I've heard thousands! WHAT!?) of dollars. So to be offered a chance to go is just amazing. Seriously, ticket fairy, I am blessed.

So we are looking forward to a little bit of lazy and a lot of cheering. I've got my game day gold on. I'm off to clean my house so I won't feel guilty for our night out.

Have a great weekend. And Happy Big Game weekend. Tigers. Superbowl. There's a big game for everyone.

The Week After

After a weekend like last weekend, this week was fairly uneventful. I make it a habit to take a week (or sometimes a month) off from training after a race. It allows me mental and physical recovery. And more sleep.  Which I never argue about.  Anyway. we sort of committed on race day that we'd do a full marathon this spring. We'd been kicking it around for months and the high of a personal victory on race day caused me to temporarily lose my sanity and officially agree to running 26.2 miles this April. Because I hate my life, I guess.  E is a great motivator but sometimes he gets a little overzealous. On the ride home all he wanted to talk about was our running plan for the week. In reality, the only running plan I had for this week was running to the grocery store to restock our fridge. With anything I wanted. So I placated him by letting him talk, having no intentions of actually running at all this week.

I did set my alarm on Monday. I even laid out clothes. But I whined and in the end I won. We slept in the extra hour. By Tuesday, I told him my evil plan: we weren't going to run this week. We were going to take a week off. He protested. He tried to motivate, encourage, complain. But I won. He didn't even attempt persuasion by Thursday.

He does have a calm persistence about him, though, which is one of the reasons I married him. That sounds bad. He only had to ask once, ladies, and three months later, we were husband and wife. So the quality is why I married him--not because he literally was persistent. Anywho, he convinced me today we'd go on a run. In his head, it was a 10 mile run. In my head, it was 7. His head won. Which explains why two hours later I was crouched over at Hobby Lobby begging the cashier to just hand me my receipt so my BFF and I could go get water and make my life seem worth living again. OK, that's a little dramatic. The run itself was not so bad. Good, in fact. It was the whole, "oh I will just jump in the shower and run to get some Christmas gifts without thinking about drinking any water" thing that really got me. But I have an understanding friend who did manage to get me water and didn't complain at all when I was all crouching Jess, hidden stomachache at Hobby Lobby. It worked out. I got two frames for grandparent presents at half off.

If you are wondering if I am seriously going to talk about running for this entire post and if you should just skip it because no one cares, I am officially done. Read on, Sister. The rest of the week's events could be summarized quickly: I worked a lot, some people hit my car (see two posts ago) during the first snow, and we did some fun things. Because I am all about words, I will spell out those fun things.

Wednesday night was Family Christmas Celebration night at our church. E and I have volunteered with it for the past three years and it is just a hoot. Our children's ministry staff is so very creative and knows exactly how to tap into the hearts and minds of kids. I can't wait until our little ones can attend these events because they have the amazing capacity to draw kids in, make them feel whimsical and fun, and still drive home the true meaning of Christmas (or Easter, when it's an Easter event obviously). This year was spy themed. So, of course, we dressed in all black. Luckily, we were given the easiest, best job ever: we managed the dessert tables. This meant two awesome things: 1. we got to greet all the families and see the adorable children and their excitement 2. we got first dibs on all the food. Kind of kidding on the second one. But seriously, tons of great desserts there. The kids learned that Jesus came as a spy in enemy territory to save the enemy (that's us folks). Such a cool way to put it and I had more than one family tell me how much their kids loved it and how it may have been their favorite event ever. I'd say that's a win for sure.

Thursday we spent in our favorite Thursday night position: parked in front of the couch to watch Thursday night TV. I made a pretty delicious dinner (if I do say so myself. Am I allowed to even say that?) and then we just chilled til bedtime. Wow. So needed.

Which brings me to yesterday evening. I got off work just a tad bit early and E surprised me at the dry cleaner. That's an odd sentence but it is 100% true. From the dry cleaner, we went to Starbucks, had some coffee and bought my new favorite Christmas mug (which I plan to use all year) and checked movie times. And then we saw a movie I have been waiting to see for approximately a month.  I have been DYING to see it. I have asked every weekend. Take your guesses. Are you ready, people?

It was...

THE MUPPETS!

Seriously. I love me some Muppets. We carried in our favorite candies (rulebreakers--I know) and laughed our little heads off for the entire movie. It was adorable!! It was cheesy enough to know it was cheesy and it made fun of itself. Every character you can imagine made an appearance. Plus, there were tons of cameos. I laughed all the way through the credits (where they sang my FAVORITE) Muppet song. I am definitely going to have to buy it.

If you are wondering on the content, I would say it's fairly appropriate. There's some violence--punching to be specific--in a couple of scenes. They make reference at one point to a TV show called "Punch Teacher" and then show a kid punch a teacher. And there are some "fart shoes" which make farting noises in a couple of scenes. All in all though, I would say it's fairly child-appropriate. You might need to talk about why punching isn't a good choice.

So yes, if you had any question as to whether or not we were just big kids at heart, worry no longer. It was just the best date night ever! I would say I'm way past my word limit so I am going to rest up for E's work Christmas party. Enjoy your weekend. Go see the Muppets:).

Weekend Past, Weekend Present

  I planned to post a recap of last weekend but I ended up having a ton of great, adoption-related stuff to post about instead.  So, you're getting a twofer. First up...the weekend of celebrations.

Last weekend everyone we knew was celebrating a baby or a wedding. I am learning to set boundaries in life (thank you Drs. Cloud and Townsend) so instead of trying to attend four events, Hubs and I decided to go for two out of four.  

But first, because we are both crazy and the St. Jude half marathon is coming up and we're raising money for the second year, we went for an 8.5 mile run.  By the time we got to my BFF's engagement announcement brunch, the day had already been in full force for several hours. I also thought it might be possible for me to eat ALL EDIBLE THINGS at the brunch. Still, it was lovely and kicked off what is sure to be an exciting and busy engagement time for my friend.  We're already scheming all things bachelorette and I am looking forward to being the co MOH for the first time in my life.  I would love to show you pictures of this blessed event but I was too busy chatting it up and eating, eating, and more eating to take pics.

Just as things were slowing down, Hubs and I headed off to the next event...I actually did take pictures of this one.  Hubs' coworker and our neighbors wed.  Here, the ceremony.

And then, the reception. It was incredibly beautiful but a little cold.  Thus, I had to put on my stocking cap. And then, as ladies know, I couldn't take it off the rest of the evening. I mean, the hair had officially been ruined.  Here is the evidence that I wore a stocking cap for the entirety of the wedding and reception.

Hubs didn't have a hat but he did look quite dashing in his coat. 

We were thoroughly exhausted when we decided to stop by Miss M's (the engagement chica, remember her from two paragraphs ago) to watch the Mizzou game. We quickly gave up on that when we realized we were losing to the Baylor Bears. Yes, sic em indeed. Ugh.

Sunday was officially Orphan Sunday, celebrated around the world.  We celebrated at church, wearing our 147 Million Orphan shirts, beads (just me, not Hubs), and attending the Orphan Sunday Simulcast at church.  Here are some photos of Orphan Sunday, where we prayed for orphans around the world and  was focused on the importance of the church seeking to help orphans around the world and in our own community.

When the simulcast was complete, we ate the most delicious cake EVER (no really! and beautiful!

Then while I cleaned up the cake, Hubs became the jungle gym for all children at the event. I apologize for the blurriness of the photos but the children and the man child were just too fast for me to get good shots of them.  But look at my cute hubs. Isn't he going to be a great dad? Also, I am going to need to get rid of all things breakable in our home.

Yes, I have a feeling in a couple of years, there will never be a calm moment in our home.  Also, I think we will sleep soundly at night. The sleep of exhausted parents.  When we get to sleep, that is.

So moving on to this weekend.  First, it was 11.11.11 on Friday (you probably knew that). The University Bookstore decided to drop 11,111 ping pong balls from the roof of their building. And some of them had prizes on them. It resulted in thousands of people watching and about six people actually getting to touch any ping pong balls. It happened quickly.  And it was kind of anticlimactic.  Here, the best shot:

Friday night we went to trivia night with E's work. We got 4th out of 24 teams.  Hubs proved his knowledge of science fiction and James Bond (although his boss is the true Bond pro. She owns every book). I, in turn, proved my knowledge in musical movies and historical period movies. I am clearly the fun one here. OK maybe not.  We both had the 90s TV in the bag.

Saturday, we went to what may have been the best game of the season. Mizzou had never beat Texas (the #16 team) under our current coach, Coach Pinkel. That all ended Saturday. Good thing, too, because it was our last time to play them. We announced last Sunday we're moving to the SEC.  Lots of opinions on that one but I will say, it will be really fun to play the teams of some of my favorite bloggers. Yeah, it's all about the blogs, baby. But seriously. The SEC contains BooMama, Big Mama, Kelly from Kelly's Korner, and Amanda from Baby Bangs. What more could a girl want? OK that's really odd, I know, since they don't know I am a person. But still. I think it's fun!

The game made me sick at my stomach and it is truly a tragedy that Poor Henry Josey hurt himself so detrimentally. Side note--Mack Brown, you are a class act. What an impressive thing to come pat our hurt hero on the back before the Gator took him off to the training facililty. Anyway, we had to capture the win. So here we are...

 Finally, today was our baptism service at our church. I had never been to a baptism service at our church (aside from baby-sitting during it in college) so it was so fun. Plus, two of my favorite babies (the only two babies in our small group) were dedicated to the Lord through baptism today. I cried at the beauty of so many individuals, families, and children being committed to the Lord. I took a picture of each family. Totally unidentifiable but here are our beauties. We can't wait to watch you grown in the Lord!

 Two weekends both alike in amount of hours but different in every other way.  So fun that each weekend gives us a little different experience. Next weekend is our final home game and we will be sad to see football season go but I'm hoping for a new start next fall.  I mean, it's not been so magical for us this year.

Welp, Kitchen Stadium is calling my name. Y'all have a good day and I'll catch you on the flip side.

Weekend Recap

  We got to spend the weekend with my mom for her 53rd birthday and did a little dreaming of what it will be like for her to be a grandma.  I got her a bag of M&Ms, along with this card:















I found the humor in it, even if no one else did.  Just kidding.  They did.  Mom and I got in our first ever mother/daughter run and had a lovely time!  We left their small town in time to get to church at our place on Sunday.


Church has been so relevant and timely lately as we go through the book of Genesis.  Two weeks ago we discussed putting more trust in God's plans than our own.  This week was no exception, as Shay shared lessons from Jacob wrestling with God.  I find myself drifting into how each sermon affects our adoption and I don't think this is an accident.


We also got to serve in the children's ministry, as we do every Sunday.  For an hour and a half, we share our lives with 15-25 adorable one year olds.  They crack me up, they exhaust me, and they make me excited for a time when I go home with my own little person.  This week we had 20 kids, 4 helpers, and no criers!  It was amazing!




We closed with small group and while this might be the most boring blog post of my life, it wasn't a boring weekend!  We also turned in our first round of paperwork to America World this weekend.  More on that soon. In all, it was a delightfully busy time with family and church family.


Here's to busy weekends!