A Gift

Last Saturday, we had planned on going to the Fair with the girls, but after doing a budget review, we decided it might not be the best choice. I was pretty bummed about it, and as lame as that may sound, that's just how I felt. :) The Fair is a tradition in our family, and I have so many memories of going with my family as a child, with friends in high school, with my nannying charges, with Keith after we were newly married, and then with our own children. Just walking in brings back thoughts of animals, (how can it not, with the smells wafting around??) Dairy Wives milkshakes, Fair food, rides that make you excited and sick at the same time...but are still worth it, and of course, the commercial building (where you will have so many people vying for your attention that you have to make the excuse that you're headed straight for the bathroom.) This is why, on Friday night, I had some time with God to surrender my feelings of frustration and disappointment. No judging, people! We all have our "thing(s)." Anyway, after praying through things, I felt a lot of peace, knowing that God would provide my comfort & contentment.
Saturday morning we got up and started doing chores around the house (because what better way to replace a day of fun than with a day of chores?!) I was checking our accounts online to balance everything out, and I noticed something strange--the automatic deposit of Keith's Monday paycheck was already in our account! Logically, there was no reason for this--Monday was not a holiday, the payday didn't fall on a Sunday (and even if it had, the deposit would have come through on Friday.), and it is AUTOMATIC, so it couldn't have been user error! Our only explanation was that God was giving our family a gift--something that maybe wouldn't seem important or that big of a deal to others, but that was great news to us. We knew it was our "go-ahead" from the Lord, encouraging us even in activity like this. I found such joy in knowing that God cared about this for me, and that He enabled us to do it when we couldn't see any way to go on our own. God is so amazing! I love that He loves us so much that He cares about the details!
The Fair was wonderful, with all of the aforementioned activities. Hannah was super excited when we told her we were going to the fair, and we took the bus as we'd done in years past.


Hannah and I went on one ride together, which she thoroughly enjoyed, giggling hysterically the entire time. I giggled for about the first 5 times around, and then I started feeling...the nausea. Fortunately, those rides do not last long, so after 5 or 6 more times around, the ride was over and I wobbled & swayed to the exit. Here's one of the more fun points:


The girls both seemed to enjoy the animals the best, as they each talked to, pointed at, and touched most of them. Gemma walked a fair amount, too, which was different than last year when she rode in the Moby and slept the majority of the time! :)

This goat was particularly friendly, jumping up on the gate every time a new person came to visit. (Not sure what I'm doing with my mouth there--probably trying to imitate how goats chew, which I find fascinating. :)) Also, note Gemma's overalls--I may have prompted that...

Here's Hannah trying to let the goats out. (Seriously--they should have locks on those; I was picturing a goat stampede...)

Note the boots--those were Hannah's choice, with NO prompting from me. How did she know those would fit right in?!

The best picture came during lunch time, when Keith decided on something special for him & the girls to share:

That is a whole turkey leg, slow-roasted in hickory. It was SO good, and other than a few bites that I took, Keith and the girls finished it off to the bone. I bet that thing weighed at least a pound! You should have seen some of the looks Hannah got when she was chowing down (especially before Keith was sitting next to her and was obviously sharing.)

While waiting for Keith to get back from the Dairy Wives counter, we found this bouncy house in the kid's area. Again, this was one of the highlights for Hannah--and us--as it was free and she could go in as many times as she wanted!


All in all, it was a wonderful afternoon at the Fair, and both girls slept VERY hard that night. It was great to see the joy on their faces as they experienced another great year! Until next year...