Mother's Day

Eventually, Emily walked in to see Sarah sitting alone on the floor, looking up at her, holding a card in her hand. I think that distracted her from the candlelight dinner right in front of her.

Days earlier, I was on the phone planning a girly-date with one of her friends for her. She would meet this friend for coffee and fried ice cream, and then spend a few hours talking or doing whatever they wanted without a husband or a baby to worry about. This would be fun for her, I knew, but it also got her out of the house long enough for me to cook her dinner.

Plans made, I sat tight and told Emily that something awesome was going to happen on Mother's Day. Saturday night, I wished her well as she went off to mentor some younger girls across town, and then snuck out behind her to the grocery store. Sarah was supposed to be in bed, so she enjoyed a few extra minutes of fun!

The real challenge came when I realized that she would see these groceries in the refrigerator if I took them home! Never fear- the church kitchen came in quite handy. Yet another reason it's nice to live near your church!

I often make breakfast for Emily on Sunday mornings, but this time I got creative with the shaping of the pancakes and had a nice surprise message waiting for her when she finished her shower:

We chowed down on that, and I left for church. Everything was working out perfectly, and Emily was all set to enjoy her time out with a friend. Once we had lunch and she left, Sarah and I snuck out again to pick up the groceries. Then we worked hard together to get some dinner cooked for her.

But sometimes Sarah played and explored in the dress Grandma Vicky made her:

Eventually, Emily came back to the scene I described earlier: Sarah sitting alone on the floor with a card in her hand. Once she got a chance to read it, I popped out and said hello to her. The table looked about like this:

The three of us had a nice dinner of pan-seared chicken, grilled asparagus, and mashed red and yellow potatoes. IBC root beer was the drink of choice, and strawberries awaited us for dessert. But of course we had to get a family picture before we dug into it!

After we were full beyond belief, Emily and Sarah went outside to play in the lawn while I did the dishes. Then we enjoyed the rest of the evening together.

I had a great time sneaking around and putting it all together. I call it a success, not because it went perfectly (it didn't) but because Emily got some sense of the treasure she is to our home. I hope she never loses sight of that.