Dear Weekend: Cramming it all in

Dear Friday,
Sorry I didn't get around to posting a blog today. I was super duper busy getting ready for the weekend.

Dear Worn Out Women retreat,
What a fun time! A bunch of women from church rode on a big church bus (i.e. old school bus) an hour away and got to spend a night at a gorgeous camp near Bloomington. Most people slept (or not) in the main building - which was a GORGEOUS log cabin, complete with many taxidermied animals on the walls - but MIL, my two aunts-in-law, and I slept in this tiny cabin across the lawn from the. Let's just say that I shared a twin bed with one of my aunts-in-law (we slept head to toe, like Charlie Bucket's grandparents in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory), and MIL shared a futon with my other aunt-in-law. We were served delicious food and heard from a wonderful speaker. Lots of laughs and tears and fellowship.

Dear Evansville surprise for MIL,
It worked! MIL's birthday was last Monday. We celebrated that day, but the REAL celebration was this weekend. Only MIL didn't know that. She and FIL were going to Evansville to see a band called The Devonshires on Saturday night. Little did she know that Big Daddy, my sis- and bro-in-law, and I were going to be there to celebrate with her (it was FIL's idea). After a lot of behind-the-scenes planning, lying creative storytelling, and secret-keeping over the past few weeks, the four of us rode down together to Evansville on Saturday afternoon and got all set up at a table with a great view of where the band would be performing. When MIL and FIL arrived, we started singing "Happy Birthday" at the top of our lungs so MIL would hear us. She finally spotted us, and was totally floored that we were there. We had a great time at the show, celebrating and partying. Score a big W for us!

Dear sleep,
I miss you.