Conquered by Love.

Since Easter, our life has been a whirlwind. We all ended up down with the flu, except Samuel. Something about being a grubby little boy keeps you from the real germs I suppose. The flu grabbed ahold of me in a nasty way. It'd been a while since I'd been so ill. Fever for days, terrible body aches, and coughing spasms that produced blood. Gag me! I'm ever so thankful to be well again. While I was down the loves loved me much. The kids cooked, looked after each other, drew me pictures, wrote sweet notes and kept my juice glass full. It was quite humbling.

Upon feeling better, my husband, the love conquering machine, took 7 days off work. His hard earned leave time to be sure and he sent me far South. It's the 2nd time I've made the journey to Mexico. This time I was traveling a la carte.. is that allowed off the menu? Anyway, I was solo, well almost solo. Last year Hazel came with me. This year the 9th baby, lovingly coined B.J., traveled with me. The two of us spent precious time with my dear mom down in Cabo San Lucas. We had so much fun. I relaxed and recovered from the lingering side effects of my flu. It was such a sweet time!

While I was away Jake ran the kids around and made the 15 scheduled appts. already in place on the family calendar. He cared for the wee-est of the bunch. He took apart Humpty Dumpty (our big red van). Then he put it back together again with some much needed new parts saving us more that $1000. He cooked, budgeted, did laundry, cleaned, etc., etc., etc. Need I say more? He was amazing.

I missed my connecting flight home from Houston (we had a problem..) to D.C. Sooooo, he arrived joyfully last Wednesday at the airport to retrieve me and my baggage. There's always a lot of baggage with me. From a sinful heart to a 25 pound molcajete. That night, Wednesday, my sweet family put together a wonderful birthday for me. Complete with lobster, corn on the cob, french fries, fine white wine,  homemade dinner rolls, pizzas, and an Ina Garten chocolatey coffee frosted cake. Go ahead, smack me through the screen. I am spoiled. I won't go into the gifts lest I seem like a complete brat.

I will just say that my heart was absolutely conquered by the love that my family smothered me with. I am theirs, they are mine. I am blessed beyond any measure. Not just because of the people God has put here with me, but because of God's great love for us!