In which Cupid has his day . . . or "Ladies first"

This is just to thank a few people--not that they'll read this, but I am grateful to them anyway!

1. My pastor: he played "Cupid" so to speak this Valentine's Day Sunday at church. The girls had gifts for the guys to show our appreciation to our guys, and the guys had flowers for the girls, and Pastor knew about both of them. He told us to be ready at announcements time and allowed Es to announce from the platform that we were grateful to the guys for who they are and what they do for us and their attitude of service to God. Then, he let the guys have their time to give us the flowers they had ready for us. I think he must have had a great time being the one who knew what girls and guys had planned for each other =)

2. The girls: they worked together preparing the candy leis and the shirts for the guys this year. Es headed up the project and ended up shouldering even more of it than she had originally planned on because I was out in CA to be with my family after Dad's hospital stay with a blood clot in his lung.

3. The guys at church: they thought of the girls of the church and honored us with flowers this Valentine's Day. They even strung ribbon through the itty-bitty holes in the tags they printed for the flowers! That took time and effort! I can't speak for anyone but myself, but I hope that they realize how special they made me feel by remembering us on Valentine's Day Sunday and by the ways that they take notice of us and go out of their way to make our lives a little easier and safer on a weekly and daily basis.

Brake Job

I did it! I changed the front brake pads on our minivan on Monday! I have to admit I was wondering if I really could do it: Dad's done it before, and he was going to walk me through it, but I wondered anyways. Dad asked Uncle Gene on Saturday if he thought I could do it. Uncle Gene's thought: "Does she like getting her hands dirty?" Um . . . not usually. But if I have to, I'll get them good and dirty and take pride in it.

I got them good and dirty--brake dust gets everywhere!--and was quite proud of it! I also wrenched my back a little. But I did most of the work myself and the van no longer squeaks as we drive it. And I have a basic understanding of how the brakes work now with new words added to my working vocabulary--words like "brake pads" and "brake shoes" and "calipers" (though I still don't totally know what those are) and "lug wrench" (I think I knew that one before but forgot it). And I found that spinning a lug wrench is great fun and ever so much easier than taking off or putting on all the bolts by hand.

Funny how doing something so unusual and monumental makes life seem do-able. I had been wondering how I was going to accomplish anything of value this week and feeling very sleepy. After changing the brakes, anything seemed possible and I was ready to tackle the rest of the week. I'd do it again today if Dad was ready to be my partner in crime again =) But hopefully we won't need to change them again for 1-2 years.