Good Stories

I've totally forgotten to tell you all about God's amazing provision while I was in AR for the holidays! We had an impromptu girls' day out because Hope needed a nicer coat for church. We went to this store called Belk and spent quite a bit of time just browsing around. It was a fun day! Hope found a black pea coat that was very nice and on sale. We went to the register -- and (if I'm remembering correctly) this $400 coat rang up for $11!!! All of us, including the clerk, were shocked and couldn't believe it. Of course, my aunt and I went straight back to the coats to find more like it. Out of all those coats, there was ONE left. In MY size. And I didn't have a nice heavy coat for middle-of-winter church services. We went to a different register to buy the coat for me. It rang up at $110. (Correct me on the numbers, Momma.) We explained to the clerk at that register what happened over at the other one with Hope's coat. She got VERY snippy and ugly. I was pretty shocked again. So we went back to the original register. And it rang up at $110. The manager was called over, and I think what happened was that the wrong tag had been scanned. But the manager said, "You got yourself a good deal on a coat!" because she was not going to make us return the $11 one. My mom bought both coats so I could have one with the reasoning that she was planning on spending that much on just Hope's coat. So I got a very nice black pea coat for free that only cost my mom $11. WOW! Now I just need to sew the two buttons that have fallen off back on. I assure you, though, this coat is high quality (orginally $400 means it'd better be). I just think the buttons were not sewn on as tightly as I need them to be. In this pic, it shows nicely with the scarf my older sis' knitted for me for Christmas. :-)



Judah was NOT a messy eater. He still hates to have dirty hands. He also hates toe jam. He hates Elijah's toe jam. He'll try to hand me specks that are bothering him...when I can't see anything on his fingers. Elijah? Different kid, different story. He is getting better about not smearing quite as much now.



Elijah's hair is starting to grow more on top (save for that tiny bald spot where Judah gave him a hair cut). After his bath, it gets very curly on top! Guess who he gets that from. ;-) I love his expression in the second pic. What caption would you give it? The flash on our camera distracts him from smiling and produces these kind of expressions.



Guess what! Matt got contacts! He was handsome before, but he's oh-so-handsome now. It is so wonderful to be reminded that he doesn't have just brown eyes. It's amazing how much glasses can hide the nuances of someone's eyes. They are quite green around the outside and medium brown on the inside. Very cool. And very mine.



They love to hang out together! Just today, the three of us were sitting on my bed having fun. Judah will hug and lay all over Elijah, and Elijah always tries to grab at and swat Judah...both laughing all the while.



We had an impromptu Groundhog Day Party because Nathan and Tara celebrate the small holidays. We had several people over for Tara's chocolate fondue and the movie Groundhog Day. It was lots of tasty fun -- but I managed to NOT watch the whole movie. Hey, I had to bake for the Superbowl party the next day. ;-) I might make it my goal in life to never watch Groundhog Day all the way through. I've never heard good things about that movie. And hey, once you've seen one of the "days," you've seen it all, right?



And this is what I baked for the Superbowl party. I made them once before for Paul & Tracie's wedding, only those were topped with strawberries. Since strawberries are ridiculously expensive here for the quality (and just in general), I opted to try making chocolate shapes on wax paper. I've tried it before but failed miserably. It worked this time! I made footballs, helments, NY's, and NE's. They were SO tasty! I want some more...right now. But they are long gone. :-(



Hope you enjoyed storytime!