Monday.

I saw this tweet this morning from Lisa Bevere, one of my favorite women of God ever:

"Is it possible to have a weekend ministry hangover? Just consumed my second mocha and still in a fog..."

I had to laugh/let out a sigh of relief that we weren't the only people who felt like that! You have heard my hangover reference here before, but it's so true. And hard to explain. Sometimes I feel like we (people in the ministry) are a completely different kind of animal compared to the rest of the world of people with jobs. And I guess we are. Not going to try to attempt to get everyone to understand it, because that in itself is hard enough. Pastors already fight a lot of misconceptions and stereotypes about their line of work. (i.e. the famous "but all you do is preach on Sundays and play golf, right??") I guess there are ones out there that would only reinforce this stereotype, but that is far from the world we know. So let's suffice it to say that Monday has become a day of recovery for us, since the weekend is our busiest/hardest part of the week. And it would also suffice to say that we wouldn't be making it right now if not for these sacred, precious Mondays. As Chris has said before from the pulpit, if God Himself took a day of rest after He created everything, then we probably should, too! True for anyone, not just people in the ministry. And I'm going to stop before this becomes a mini-sermon about the importance of rest. But think about it, 'k?

Though this weekend was very tiring with lots going on, it was also wonderful because we had our sweet, sweet friends visiting from Abilene. Unfortunately because there was so much happening, Chris didn't get to join us very much. But I tried to pack in as much fun as we could in the short time they were here. They were joking while they were here that all we did was eat, and that was a little true! Part of a good Houston experience includes eating lots of yummy, amazing food. And we don't even know about all of the famous places yet! However, I don't think the girls would complain too much about that (now would you, ladies??). We did manage to squeeze in a couple of non-eating things, too. And of course they came to church yesterday, which hopefully they enjoyed! It was cool to have spiritual families collide, and nice to have old, familiar faces around in the mix with our new friends. And a bonus is that my house smelled really good and girly all weekend. Here's a few pics from our weekend excursions (wish I would have taken more...I'll have to get the ones they took too!)

One of our first stops, by request, was a cupcake bakery. And Crave did not disappoint. This was after a great lunch at the Canyon Cafe with the fabulous Heather! Thank you Heather (because I know you read this) for your Houston hospitality and vast knowledge of all things Houston! Love it!

I wish you could see these up close...such detail. But I like this pic because you can see in the background you're actually able to see them making everything.

The decor was so clean, retro, and fun. I love the expression of the workers in this pic..."Yeah, another person amazed by the awesomeness of Crave- we get that a lot."

Later that evening it was off to the Miller Outdoor Theater. I stinkin' love that place. I just think it's amazing that everything there is free. We saw this Chinese acrobat team and it was a cool show. Like the good contortionist, do you have bones in your body stuff. That was the biggest crowd I've been in here, and it was without Chris nonetheless! But as you can see I was in very good company. I love all of these faces!!

Cadence is into this whole posing thing lately. Very diva of her.

Objects in the picture may appear further than they are...it always looks like we can't see from the pics but we really could! Would have been cool to be closer, but it was good enough.

No Houston experience is complete without a trip to The Chocolate Bar (at least in my opinion). And just Rice Village in general. We walked off our Brazillian dinner by looking at a few stores, including this one. I love this picture- documenting the chocolate madness with the camera. There was a lot of whipping out the phone this weekend! I would love to see their pics, because I wish you could see these cakes up close. We were all pretty much in heaven.

Love those three ladies. So glad they are in our life. And now I'm off to enjoy the rest of our rest day. I love that it's raining- perfect chillin' weather, and we're choosing to ignore the work that means for us in the pool right now.

Before I leave, in case you missed my facebook status, this is definitely a blog-worthy quote from Addison last night. We were reading the book, You Are Special, by Max Lucado that has puppet like people in it and their creator. We were talking about how the creator guy in the book is kind of like God, and then the following conversation ensued:

Addison: "The only people that made me are God and Mommy."

Chris: "Well son, Daddy had something to do with it but you don't understand that yet."

Addison: "Well I guess you did because you drove Mommy to the hospital."

Another classic Addison moment in the books. Peace out from the Pate house.