Nice endings.

Today's schedule:

9:00am Mass for the HDO; The Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

10:15am Elizabeth Prayer Group meeting until 12:30pm

12:30pm Go home, change the baby's diaper and head out again.

1:00pm Meet Steve for a quick bite after he had dropped off Child #1, #2, and #3 with their grandparents and had been to the appliance store to pick up our fridge, freezer, two washing machines, two driers, two pedestals and attempted to pick up a trash compacter.

1:20pm Head to Home Depot for three hours to pick out 3 pedestal sinks, 3 vanities, 5 toilets, 5 toilet seats, 1 framed mirror, 11 flush mounts, 1 fixture, 1 bar and 1 kitchen and 1 wash sink, two shower rods and a ceiling medallion in a pear tree. Just seeing if you were still reading.

4:00ish leave Home Depot with the van, a borrowed truck and trailer full of aforementioned stuff, and go pick up children 1-3. #4 and I are a packaged deal these days.

5:15 Arrive home with children #2 and #4 (Daddy took #1 and #3 out to the house to drop off all the goods in the garage since installation will begin in less than a week.) Throw together dinner while nursing (yes, that's right) #4 and giving #2 a bath.

6:00pm-8:20pm Eat dinner, light a candle, read another story from our Advent book, play a game, put clothing away, clean house, get kids' jammies, brush teeth, give kisses, say prayers, tuck kids into bed.

8:20-8:50pm Open a bottle of wine, pour one glass for me and one glass for Steve. Sit and have adult conversation with big words and everything. For one half hour. 

8:50-11:00pm Feed the baby one last time and put him down, say goodbye to Steve, drive up to the chapel to sit for two hours. In silence. Prayerful silence. In front of the Blessed Sacrement. For the local Prayer Vigil for Life.

11:00 Come home and give Steve a kiss after I pass the baton so that he can go sit in the chapel until 1:00am. He's the night owl of the two of us, God bless him. 

All in all, if you ask me, we have our priorities straight today. Not all the time. Not every day. But this day? We started it right and we ended it right. 

1)Prayer

2)Person

3)Partner

4)Parent

5)Provider

And it feels good.