Leap Year

Another good week.  I had the honor of hanging with two high schoolers for six days while their parents took a much-needed vacation to Mexico for their 25th wedding anniversary.  We had a great time!  They live about 15 miles out of town, and strangely, I enjoyed the drive back and forth.  They have two super cute dogs - Lucy and Hazel.  Lucy stays indoors, and Hazel stays outdoors.  Lucy is a cuddler, and she's so soft!  The week consisted of pretty much the same routine every day - Make sure the kids make it to school on time, head in to town to do my own stuff til after school, make dinner for the kids, hang, do homework, chat.  It was very relaxing.  And the fact that I was sleeping on a Queen sized memory foam bed didn't hurt.

Robert lead music at The Encounter on Sunday.  I always enjoy listening to his beautiful voice and guitar, and I am very thankful that we can serve and worship the same God together.

Robert has been going to the chiropractor for about a week and a half now.  It stinks that it's a 45 minute drive each way, but it seems to be paying off.  He goes every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.  The treatments will last two months.  Each time he gets an adjustment and spends 15 minutes with four electrodes on while he lays on a "roller bed" that's basically like an industrial shiatsu massager.  Initially his spine was totally messed up.  He had a herniated disc (a.k.a. bulging disc) and a slipped disc.  His vertebrae didn't have much space in them which was causing lots of pressure.  Around his third or fourth lumbar his makes about a 45 degree angle shooting left and goes straight from there.  This was causing lots of pain in his back, left hip, and left knee.  Additionally, his left toes were numb due to a pinched nerve.  Every two months he gets spinal decompression which is supposed to create more space between his vertebrae.  He lays down, and they put a belt around his waste.  The belts has a hook on it, a rope clips onto it.  This rope is hooked up to a machine that pulls and creates tension.  Robert gets 55 pounds of tension.  It goes up and down - 15 pounds, 30 pounds, 55 pounds, 30 pounds, 15 pounds, etc. - for 15 minutes.  He loves it!  Maybe it will make him taller than me.

I started working as a paid nursery worker at church again.  I worked there last year from January-June, but I stopped when I started grad school.  This semester is significantly slower, so I've decided to pick it up again.  Each week I'll work on Wednesday mornings for two and a half hours so a group of moms can have a Bible study.  The rest of my schedule will vary each week.  I'm hoping for about 10 hours a week.

When I bought Robert's certificate for his initial chiropractic adjustment it came with a coupon for a free 60 minute massage from Sozo Salon and Spa.  He got the adjustment.  I got the massage.  I went in yesterday afternoon, and it was great!  She actually massaged me for about 70 minutes, and I even fell asleep for a few minutes during it.

After my massage I stayed in Springfield to wait for my family to come down for dinner.  While I killed time I took Robert's trumpet to Springfield Music.  Robert told me to sell it for anything more than $50.  I got $75!  So great to get rid of it and earn some extra cash!  Also, Robert has been having a lot of success with Craigslist lately and is set to make two different sales Monday when he goes to Springfield for his adjustment.  We still have a guitar stand and prom dress for sale.  Holler if you're interested!

Ray brought down a bunch of Robert's stuff last weekend.  He's moving to Alabama at the beginning of April, so we agreed that it would make more sense for him to bring everything to Bolivar now instead of having him take it to Alabama and then bring it back to Bolivar in May.  I was concerned about where on earth we'd put everything at first.  Robert doesn't have a ton of stuff, but it's not exactly like I have a ton of space of a washer, dryer, and several boxes.  We are so very thankful that Serina gifted us with a washer and dryer.  When she moved to D.C. she moved into an apartment that came with a washer and dryer, so she didn't need the set from her house any longer.  They're only about six years old, so they're very nice.  Anyway, I was thinking, "Am I supposed to just sit these in my bedroom for two months?"  Then it came to me - Jim hasn't had a washer or dryer since he moved into his house in August.  He has hookups and a specific spot allotted for this items.  Bingo!  Jim will be housing the washer and dryer for the next three months, and in return he gets to use them for free for three months.  Win-win!  When Jim moved out in August my parents allowed me to turn it into the wedding room.  Basically, for the last six months it has been my place to work on wedding crafts, store presents, and keep the wedding party's clothing.  That makes the wedding room an excellent place to store Robert's boxes until we move.  After Ray left we went through the boxes, and we were able to pitch quite a bit of it.  Unlike me, Robert does not enjoy organizing, sorting, and purging unwanted items like I do.  He had stuff ranging from grad school through high school - random rocks, tons of papers, sticks, pictures, and so much more.  He kept the special things - the last note he got from his Mamaw, little league pictures, and the like.

This week we sent out our wedding invitations, and the hostesses for our shower sent out our shower invitations.  We're so pumped!  We don't know who, but people have started buying items off of our registry!  This week someone bought (but we haven't received them yet) our flatware, hostess set of flatware, iced tea spoons, a table cloth, cloth napkins, napkin rings, a coffee pot, and an iron.  We get super excited each time we check the registry and see that the number of items purchased has increased and the number of items remaining has decreased.  We're not excited in a "We're greedy and want MORE!" kind of way.  We're excited in a "With each item we picture our new life together.  It's exciting to get the items we registered for six months ago.  We're adults with out own things.  We are so thankful for our wonderful friends that give freely!" kind of way.

My mom bought her mother of the bride dress last weekend.  The dress looks great, and she's stunning!  Also, on Monday I'll be going to Norman's to pick up my bridesmaids' dresses.  Eek!