abundant blessings

The Lord is simply raining blessings down on us, as of late.

It began, for me, at our family dedication class. Riley will be dedicated at Wheaton Bible on July 19th, so we attended the prep class this past Thursday night. It was not, in the least, what I expected, not that I had put thought enough into it to expect much. I suppose I thought that Rob Rienow would talk a little about parenting and would walk us through why we were dedicating our little ones. He did do that; however, he also inspired us to fervently pursue God, which-- really-- is the only way we are going to effectively minister to Riley.

Mike and I have prayed together before bed the last few nights, and it's been wonderful. But beyond that, I've been waking up, both throughout the night and early in the morning, in a spirit of prayer and thankfulness. I never thought I'd be excited over a restless night!

God has also allowed us to see, once again, the amazing community of believers and loved ones who surround us. Yesterday, we spent the day at the Greens' house while the men-folk gave Dad G. his birthday present, a day of work in the backyard. Sarah, Mom G. and I went out to Target and Jewel, and we later played with bubbles and balls (and, of course, Kona) in the backyard.

As we were getting ready to leave the Greens', my roommate and wonderful friend, Becky, called me. She informed me that she and her husband, Seth, thought that it was a good night for them to come over and watch Riley. Would Mike and I be up for that?

Would Mike and I be up for that?!? I asked Mike, and his response was more than appropriate: "Are you serious? Ummm... absolutely!" Thus, Mike and I had our first non-special-occasion date night since Riley was born... and all thanks to Becky and Seth. Really... how many people have friends who call them up to request that they babysit? Thank you, thank you, thank you. It was so wonderful, getting to spend some time, just Michael and me.

For our, ha, romantic date, we went to dinner at Corner Bakery (chopped salads-- mmmmm!). Then we walked over to the AMC 30 and watched Transformers 2. Really, I wanted to see UP or (dirty little secret) Star Trek (but only because of Zachary Quinto). However, these two films weren't showing until 8:10 and 8:40. Seriously, I was already pushing way past my bedtime, being out past 8, so Transformers it was. I hardly remember the last time we saw a movie in the theater, and if you're going to see one with special effects, this is a winner. Mike's assessment was that the actors probably put in about two weeks time, and the rest of the movie was guys sitting in front of computers for nine more months. The acting was better than I recall from the first Transformers, but that could have been for two reasons. First, I quite obviously have very little memory of the first movie. I didn't recognize the girl, and another character from the first one made an appearance later in the film. I laughed because I recognized the actor; others laughed because he was a recurring character. I'm still at a loss for his role in the first flick. Second, I think my focus on the acting may have been a little distracted by the awesome and complex "plot" and the editing holes that I usually don't notice or care about. But whatever... it was a great mindless film. We were entertained. And it was a GREAT date night. :)