Weekends are for fun!

Weekends should be fun, but sometimes we are too busy for our own good.  This weekend was a little more realized. Friday we picked up the girls from my mother's house and grabbed a quick bite to eat at Panera Bread on Brownsboro and Rudy Lane.  The girls were delightfully well-behaved, which does not always happen so we hopped over to RedBox and rented a couple movies and had a great relaxing evening on the couch.

Saturday, we had an easy and lazy morning, then headed out to the Louisville Zoo around 2pm.  Our friends, Brent, Kim and thier daughter, Ava, met us there.  We had a great time, the girls were once again well-behaved so we ended up staying till 6pm.  The past couple of times we have visited the zoo Keegan has been terrified of any and all animals, which makes for a pretty crappy Zoo day. But this time, Keegan was all about the animals, wanted to see every single one, asked questions and even let me take pictures of her with some of the animals.  It was a great day!

After the zoo we invited Brent, Kim, and Ava over for dinner, but warned them that I was planning on trying out a new recipe for dinner.  They were brave and decided to come for dinner anyways. I planned on making a Hot Brown from the Sacred Heart cookbook.  While I was preparing the dish, I got more and more nervous that it was going to turn out terribly, but once it was complete and I brought it to the table, the room got quite and everyone was indulging.  Everyone even had seconds and finished it off... SUCCESS! It was so good, definitely one I will make again.

For over a year now, we have been meaning to go to church... our first step was to try a few churches, see which one we liked and then get the girls baptized.  Well, that got put off a couple of times, but finally while Ryan had some yard work to complete, I decide to take the girls to St. Joesph's in Butchertown with Ryan's Grandmother "GG".  The girls looked adorable in their cute dresses and big bows... Father David even said so after church ;)  The church is amazing, and the priest was great too.  I think we will go back and check it out with Ryan.  Then if we decided to join, we will get the girls Baptized there. Here is a picture of Fiona before church Sunday:

Counting my blessings

I try to remember that I am blessed, very blessed with my family, our health, happiness and more... I know at times that I am sure I can take all of it for granted.  I try not too, but I am sure it happens. Working at Volunteers of America (VOA) has reminded me how lucky we really are to have a house, cars, the necessities to be safe, healthy and happy.  Not everyone has that and it's becoming more and more of a reality today.  I have had the opportunity to meet some really special people and families while working at VOA, many who have touched my heart.  These people are not any different than me or my family, they just have not been as lucky in life and are currently experiencing difficult times... my family could easily be in their shoes, if Ryan and I lost our jobs we too could be needing the help of organizations like Volunteers of America.  This brings me to my point for saying all of this...

The Summer's family (shown above) recently stayed at our Family Emergency Shelter after a series of unfortunate events, but things recently started looking up for them, until a couple days ago.  Rebecca Summers, the mother, unexpectedly passed away in her sleep leaving behind a husband with deteriorating health and six children aged 4 to 18.  This family caught the hearts of so many while staying at the shelter, they are the sweetest, most loving family... who have stayed together through tough times.  The Courier-Journal published an article on the front page of the Metro section today... you can read it HERE.  You can also view a documentary made by Angela Shoemaker below that featured this lovely family before Rebecca's death. 

This is such a sad story and my heart goes out to the family, especially the children. They will need help, so there has been a Memorial account set up at PNC.  You can contribute to the Summers Family Memorial Account at any Greater Louisville PNC bank location.  Every little bit helps. 

Again, I need to make a better effort to count my blessings every single day... you never know when it all could change.