Pictured above: Halloween on the mantle. I'm going light on deco this year, but couldn't let the season pass without a nod to my favorite ever holiday.
This morning, when I woke up for the 439th time (cuz insomnia is apparently my new bestie), I felt bad. As in sick. My head ached. I felt a bit shivery. And I felt a general malaise that screamed, "STAY IN BED." But I really couldn't because Becca was speaking in church today. I told Sterling that I would go to the first hour, but then he would need to bring me home after that. But I managed to muddle through all three hours.
Of course today would be the day that I signed up to feed the missionaries. I totally forgot until one of them stopped me in the hall. Ummmmm...."Yes, of course, see you at 5." Then I had to perk up and start rearranging dinner in my mind. What was going to be a VERY CASUAL affair (like maybe cereal) needed to be beefed up in a big way.
Here's the good part: When we got home from church everyone congregated in the kitchen and pitched in. Jordan put together Mediterranean Chicken in the crockpot, I started some homemade rolls, Maddie and Parker set the table, Becca baked a cake, and Sterling kept the dishes going. This meant I went from near sobbing (cuz I felt sick, remember?) to cheery gratefulness. (Well, maybe light on the cheery -- but definitely grateful). And then...right before the missionaries arrived I spied Parker tidying the living room...folding a quilt and laying it over the back of the couch. And I thought, "These people I love are good people."
And then I didn't feel near so bad that I couldn't have the chocolate cake.
How about that? Love from action rather than food....that's an Oprah discussion for sure.
Happy Sunday to you out there. It's dark and stormy here. Tons of rain. Maybe the drought is ending...
What a wonderful family.
Posted by: Tracy Meier | October 09, 2011 at 07:10 PM
Mediterranean chicken in the crockpot sounds fabulous! I used to cook big homemade meals for the missionaries. But one evening, I too had forgotten they were coming, so I quickly called Pizza Hut and ordered two super supremes, made a green salad, and served ice cream with chocolate sauce from a squirt bottle. My homecooked meals never got such raves. So, from then on when the missionaries came to the Ellis' they knew it would be pizza. I sent the leftovers home with them. Something else they loved was an envelope at the back door with a $20 bill and a note. What two All American boys wouldn't like to have a big mac and fries??? However, when I was a teenager, I loved to have the missionaries over for dinner. They were usually cute. In our day, they came home with us after sunday school for lunch and we took them back for sacrament meeting. How things change!
Posted by: rebecca ellis | October 11, 2011 at 05:08 PM