My time

I was very blessed last weekend to go to the NPC Women's Retreat in downtown Chicago. I was with some very good friends, heard a great message and had a great time. We stayed in a nice hotel right off Michigan Avenue with access to great restaurants and shopping. My friend Chris and I had an amazing dinner at Bandera and shopped at Gap. I treated myself to a new spring coat. Check it out!

Dallas and Griffin got to spend some quality time together. Griffin was feeling sick most of the weekend so the extent of their outings was to Toys R Us to get a new video game for his DS. (Thanks Aunt Laura for the GC.)

It does everyone good to have some time apart. Fortunately for me, I leave tomorrow for Texas! Two weekends in a row away!

Cathi

There's nothing to say

It's -2 degrees outside and it's too cold to think!

One quick thing about temperatures. I was talking to my sister Barbara, on the phone tonight. She was walking from her class to her car and said it was "so cold" outside. She almost said it laughingly because she knew she was talking to ME in CHICAGO! So I went immediately to weather.com and looked up the current local temp for Austin, Texas. It was 42 degrees and "felt like" 39 degrees. What I wouldn't give for a night like that!

At least it's pretty outside and the sun was shining all day!

Cathi

A day of service

This morning I had the privilege of accompanying the jr. high youth group from our church to a service project. When I was getting ready to leave the house at 8:15 this morning, the thermometer in the kitchen read -4 degrees outside. BUT, the sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, so it was great to venture out. I met them at a large warehouse in Naperville to participate in Feed My Starving Children. This is an amazing ministry. Please click the link to learn more and see how you might be able to help.

There were 23 volunteers from our church. We were briefed on our duties and watched a short video explaining where these meals were going and what it meant to the children who receive them.

We were set up in assembly line fashion. I was working with 3 jr. high boys on my line. One boy scooped out the "chicken" which was a powdery mixture of chicken flavoring mixed with 20 vitamins and minerals, then a scoop of dehydrated veggies, then the next boy scooped in a mug of soy and a mug of rice. Myself and another boy alternated holding a small plastic bag under the funnel and catching the mixture. Once we had it in our bag, we weighed it on a small scale and either added or subtracted rice to make it between 380 to 400 grams. Then it was passed on to another adult who was responsible for sealing the bag and placing it with the boxer.

We worked for about 2 hours and prepared 25 boxes of mixture. This will feed 15 children for ONE FULL YEAR. When we were done, the staff of FMSC prepared a batch of the mixture for us. I didn't have any, however, I heard it was very good and tasted like Rice-A-Roni.

I was amazed at how diligent these young people worked. They were nice, polite and pleasant. Many of them didn't want to leave when our time was up. And neither did I.

Cathi

What's New?

Absolutely nothing. That's why I haven't written in a week. We pretty much stick to a routine that's well, rather boring. I am so thankful I get to stay at home with Griffin and wouldn't trade it for anything, however, we sometimes get in a rut. M-W-F at our house consist of getting up, having a quick breakfast then out the door to the gym. I workout and shower there while Griffin has a blast in the play area. Then it's home for lunch and back out the door to his pre-school. I usually shop or come back home to do some chores while he's there. We get home by 3:20 and patiently wait to Dallas to arrive home by 6:15 or so. We always check on our Webkinz (Billy and Elliot) and usually play several games. I get dinner started while Griffin tunes into his favorite shows (Sponge Bob, Pokemon). Griffin and I are both so happy to see Dallas walk through the door. T-TH are similar but Griffin doesn't have school. We have bible study at our church and go to the gym on Thursdays and on Tuesdays it's Mighty Mights (sports camp) and story time at the library. We try to have a friend over about one day a week and have a "date" with each other for lunch once a week. So, that's us in a nutshell. We may be dull, but we're happy!

The Weather

I am always commenting about how cold it is up here. Well, I wanted to go on the record to say, "It's NOT cold today, in early January, in Chicago. It's SIXTY-FIVE DEGREES!" Yesterday, we washed 3 cars, planted three trees in the backyard and Griffin rode his bike in the neighborhood. We did all these things with only a long sleeved shirt and pants on! How's that for nice weather. We don't have a speck of snow left (unless you count the HUGE mounds at the mall parking lot that will be there until April) and the ice is all melted on the ponds. I believe we broke the record high temp yesterday by SIX degrees. I'm not going to get too excited because I know this won't last long.

Cathi

A day with friends

Griffin and I had a great day. We met our friends Amy, Madison, Caleb and Christian at Lifetime Fitness. Amy and I took a CORE class then did a cardio workout. It was so fun to have someone to talk with and the time went by fast! Griffin and Madison played together in the play area. And the boys (10 months old) were in the baby area. We left the gym and stopped by for some lunch and took it back to their house. We had lunch, put the boys down for a nap and Griffin and Madison played together. Amy and I actually sat on the couch, drank some tea and talked. It was wonderful. I guess I should mention that we were interrupted about every 2 minutes by Madison and/or Griffin coming in the room to complain about something the other one had done. It was almost comical how much they complained about the littlest things.

I'm thankful I am able to stay at home with Griffin and fill our time with fun days like this!

Cathi