treasured time

Tonight, my dad came up to hang out for a little while.

He couldn't leave until after work, so we decided to go out to dinner and he just met us at the restaurant. We went to Don Pancho's. There's a guy that comes out every Monday and Saturday and hosts trivia. It's really fun, even if you don't win.

So the Shellabarger's came out too. I've mentioned them before. They have an 8 year old, Ashlyn and a 4 year old, Ian. Theona LOVES them.

So they had a great time, we got to hang out with my dad and then he surprised us by paying for all of our meals.

We were in first place with the trivia before the last question. It always gets us! The question was: Which war caused the need for standardized clothing sizes? The answer: the Civil War. We guessed World War II.

In less than 24 hours, Loren has to report in. They usually sit around for 8 hours or so waiting to leave. So time like this that we spend as a family is so precious.

Jason, Loren's friend that was with us with his family, has to be traveling to Afghanistan on his birthday! Monica got him a nerf gun to bring with him. Something fun to do when they're working so hard.

I'm so grateful that God put that family in our path. Most of the guys Loren works with, well, he just doesn't get along with a lot of people. So having someone like Jason with him will keep him sane and grounded. He can make Loren laugh and vice versa.

And Theona can't get enough of Ian and Ashlyn. They play SO well together. No fighting or teasing. And Monica and I don't have to search for topics to talk about.

I realized tonight that Theona and Kaden will be the same age distance as Ashlyn and Ian. Seeing them together reassures me that Theona and Kaden will have so much fun together.

It'll be about 4 months until Loren comes home on mid-tour. Then 11 months until he's home for good. Kaden will be almost one year old. Theona will be getting ready for kindergarten! Wow. It really puts it into perspective. I can't even fathom how many changes we'll go through in that time. How much we'll experience without Loren.

I know it'll be hard, but honestly, I'll have so much to distract me. And I'll look back on that time and it'll seem like 1 minute compared to the rest of our lives.