Two Dates and a Party

Can you believe it?  Two dates in less than 3 weeks!!  It's a record.  It had been absolutely forever since James and I had been out alone~well, if you don't count a trip Christmas shopping, or perhaps another trip to WalMart.  I have built-in help willing to babysit for me.  Why is it still so hard for just the 2 of us to get out the door?  We've had these restaurant gift certificates my mom gave us for over 2 years!  In fact, when we finally went, the lady at the register said, "Huh, I've never seen this kind before."  Pathetic.  We stuffed ourselves at the buffet and had a really great evening.  Before we ate, we went to Home Depot and Lowes and picked out a new vanity, sink top, and faucet for our bathroom.  James went back the next day and got them.  (Now if we can just find time to install them!) 
So, last week, we turned a "had to" shopping excursion into a date, too.  I wanted to get Daniella an outfit for her Groovy Girls for her birthday.  The only place I knew here that sold them was a shop in Dollywood.  So off James and I go.  We have season passes, so we didn't have to pay to get in or park.  We got the outfit, but we also got dessert at the bakery, held hands and walked around, and rode the ferris wheel and the scrambler.  I even bought myself something, which is rare~a beautiful white and blue teapot from Vietnam.  Dollywood is having their Festival of Nations, and they have shows and products from several different countries.  It was a great afternoon.  Too short, but great.  We had to cut it short, because.....guess where we had to go.  Yep.  WalMart. 
Wednesday was Daniella's birthday and my parents came for the day.  We all had a nice day, and she had a fun birthday.  Then Saturday was her very first party with friends.  She had a super time. Three out of the seven invited got to come, plus 2 siblings participated, too, so we had a nice size group. 
The Lord gave us our desires that day.  It was an outside party, and most of the week they were calling for a 30% chance of rain.  By Thursday it was 50%; Friday 60%, and when I got up Saturday morning 90%.  I had prayed and prayed all week that it wouldn't rain, and I have to admit, 90% made me lose the faith I had had all week that the Lord would give us sunshine (or at least no rain).  I continued to pray all morning, while I watched the radar ,and I watched God roll the clouds away~quite literally.  The line headed across Tennessee broke in the middle of the state (north to south).  The rain to the south moved directly east, while the rain in line with us and to the north moved northeast.  It did not rain the first drop at my house the entire day!!!  In fact, we got a little bit sunburned! 
The kids had a ball.  We have a huge fort/swing set that James built for them last spring, plus they played basketball and rode in the electric Jeep.  At the end of the party we had a pinata. 





Resting after the party

Letitia