Must have!

Oh my goodness...I love these people!!!!  I'm thankful for every day with them - and especially thankful for those days where we get to play together. 

We got to do that for a whole week, too!  We went to Gatlinburg for a week and stayed in a place perfect for us (thanks to a great friend letting us use some of their timeshare points)...kiddie pools, playgrounds, in the mountains with a babbling stream off the balcony, and close to tons of attractions the kids loved :)  Daryl and I had prepared for the week to be an "expedition" rather than "vacation" so to speak, but it really was like a vacation - the kids even slept more than they usually do :)

Most of all, I think we all really enjoyed having Daryl around for breakfast, lunch and dinner - and we ignored the outside world as much as possible (oh, and did I mention I didn't have to clean for any house showings that week because no one was around to mess anything up?!  two thumbs up!). 

Some pics...

The girls even went on a moderately difficult hike with us :)  Way to go!

Sorry, Daryl, had to post it :)  They LOVED Dollywood and survived there until closing with no naps.  Nadia still talks about "da duckies" and "da peegs".  She was constantly saying, "Oh wow...WOW" about lots of things that week!  Anna said, "This carou

The aquarium might have been their favorite.  The tunnels through Shark Lagoon and the Penguin Playhouse were pretty awesome - not gonna lie.  Although Nadia kept saying, "Bick shark bite."  :)  

What a delightful week!

I also got to take the girls (both currently sick - Anna more now than Nadia) to the playground today and we had a blast.  I loved these things about the day:
1) Anna wanted to wear her gingham dress


2) Nadia therefore wanted to wear a purple fancy necklace
3) Anna laughed and laughed and laughed on the swings because she thought she was going so high
4) Nadia climbed up the huge slide at Marilla in the time it took me to help Anna off the swing and was so proud of herself as other parents looked on aghast
5)



Lastly, I can't wait to get my hands on this book (not that I think it will be right on, completely on, but I'm hoping it will be very helpful).

 You can get more from the author on it here but be forewarned, LENGTHY.  Did encourage me though - I am constantly amazed at the wisdom God has blessed us with from godly people around us. 

I could write more, but I'm pretty sure this is plenty lengthy enough :)