Well, folks, Clint has taken a turn for the worse and he has spent the entire Saturday in bed. Literally hurting all over... I have never seen him this sick! Poor guy... so you may be reading right now and wondering why I have entitled this post, "Thankful..." Of corse I am not thankful that he is sick and I hope and pray that he is well soon... but in everything there is a bright side, so I guess it all hit me today. I had just finished a long saturday by myself. Prepared and fed all 3 meals for all the boys singlehandedly (ok, with a little help from Little Caesar tonite, but cut me some slack!), I had played more games of Cosmic Catch and Hi-Ho-Cherry-O that I could even count, worked 5 puzzles, read more than 20 books, jumped on the trampoline, pitched baseball, fetched a baseball, been pegged in the head with a baseball, played at the park, bathed all 4 little boys in a bubble bath, read 4 chapters in the magic tree house, listened to 4 of the sweetest prayers, and kissed 4 precious cheecks as I tucked them in bed tonite. It was a really fun Saturday and I did it all by myself. It wasnt the first time that I had done it all by myself by any means, but it was the first time in a long time that we had not been together as a family at all during the day. I have always known that I am "spoiled" with Clint as a husband and daddy to my boys. He wanted to be an involved dad from the start, so he has bathed the boys and got them ready for bed from the time that micah was a month old. He has always been super helpful with everything.... but sometimes I get in that habit, or the RUT if you will, and I forget to appreciate how blessed I really am... Since I was sick first, then Coby, then Clint, we have not gone anywhere as a family (not even the drive thru) in an entire week... and for the Best Family, who is always on the go, that is a really strange feeling. Clint and I have not really had much of a conversation since last weekend. I realized tonite as I was going thru deciding what movie I wanted to watch how lonely I feel. I miss the chaos.... the crazy, exciting, fun, busy lifestyle that we live... maybe because we do it all together... but I miss our family time! And so I shed a few tears as I type beside Clint as he snores away because I am ashamed that it took a week of all of us being sick as dogs for me to slow down enough to be THANKFUL for all that I have... for the choas that these 4 precious boys bring to me every day... and for the incredible man that God has given me to be my companion, my "chaos-partner," and my best friend....
Random thoughts, I know, but I never have been good at this "deep-thoughts blogging" :o)
Happy Birthday, Best!
Just for the record, and to make peace at home, Clint is NOT a bad driver... he traded his little white honda for a toyota 4 runner a while back and it is a stick shift. The boys love learning about the gears and watching him drive it. He may "pretend" to be a nascar driver at times... shifting gears quickly and showing them how it all works, but really, he has not had many speeding tickets and only one fender bender in college (2 days after we bought my new Ford Explorer!) But generally he gets everyone where they need to be, on time, and in one piece!
I know I look less than thrilled to be kissing this husband of mine, but really I think I was kinda screaming with my mouth closed while we kissed. If only you could have seen the look of horror on my face in the previous pictures! Someone asked us if we were newly-weds! hehe!! Seriously, though... it all got me thinking about how our life is many times like a roller coaster... we have the highs of fun family vacations and proud moments as parents and then the lows of cleaning up the poo-poo that Bryson left as a trail to the potty and then tried to be a helper and clean it up himself... resulting in a really sweet little 2 year old covered in poop. yukk. But I do know that there is NO ONE that I would rather ride this roller coaster-life with than my favorite husband, Clint Best!! 
Now... 2008
This picture was taken right before the Casting Crowns concert. Clint said it was his favorite birthday present ever! :o) We left kids with my parents and headed out for some "adult only" time! It was so great to have the break and enjoy each others conversation and the concert was INCREDIBLE!! It was so uplifting, touching, powerful, fun, awesome. They are such a talented group, and their songs are so powerful. I cried (more than once) as I sang along to several of them. Each member of the band prayed for part of the audience and it was so heartfelt and so uplifting to be in the middle of the loonies in downtown austin.... in a packed Frank Erwin Center.... singing such incredible praise songs! We cant wait for them to come back to Austin!
