Updates and a Triumphant Return !

First of all I want to thank all of you for your words of encouragement and prayer, these last few weeks have been insane (that may be an understatement). Well, this week has been MUCH MUCH better !!! Aodhan's surgery went well, but we struggled for a week with a fever (close to 104 degrees ) that we could not seem to get to break. Well this week has been much better, no sign of fever, and other than Aodhan being a little more tired than usual, he is pretty much back to normal. Jim had been having some issues at work, that have resolved (at least for this week ) He has been home before sunset all week, though not much before, but hey it is better than the 9-10 pm nights we had been having, although I know as I am typing this he will get one of those late crappy calls tonight just to prove me wrong. We also were dealing with some car issues, that with a little help, Jim was able to take care of, so our van is back up and running !!! It has been a pretty amazing week, and I must say I am feeling much better about life in general ! I feel as if everywhere I turn I am seeing God's blessings, not just in my family, but in several other people's lives as well !

So, with the week going just about as well as could be expected, Family Fun Day made its triumphant return yesterday (for those of you who do not know what that means I have an older post that will explain all of the awesome details) !!!! Jim needed to be in Chicago to meet with his lawyer for a traffic matter at 5pm, so what better excuse would I need than that to spend the day in the city I LOVE !!!!! We gathered the kids up early yesterday morning, ate a very unhealthy breakfast in the car, and headed to our hometown!!! Jim was unable to get his voter's registration changed before the deadline, so we began the day with a short stop for Jim to vote early !!!! I know this may not seem like family fun to some people, but in our house, it is not an option - You have to vote!!! It was awesome to show the kids just how important it is ! Jim and I had a great political discussion in the car on the way to the city and explained some of the process and details to the kids - I feel like we are pretty open and honest with them on the issues ! When we arrived at the polling place, Jim took the kids with him and walked them through the entire process (even Keiran was excited afterward, and Aodhan decided to announce to the entire poling place who Dad voted for, while Mackenzie who understood a little more the process of casting your ballot secretly, tried to refute what her brother was telling the world, thinking this would trick everyone into not knowing who he voted for ! ) It was awesome to watch and to begin to instill in them a sense of civic responsibility !

After voting, we headed to Navy Pier, to the Chicago Children's Museum - the kids had an amazing time - and so did Jim and I! Although, it was much too rainy to walk around outside on the pier and the ferris wheel was shut down because of the weather we still had a great time. We then headed to one of the kids favorite places to eat in the city, Rainforest Cafe! We had a great early dinner (and found out that on Wednesdays the kids eat for 1.99 - which made dinner that much more enjoyable ! Jim talked to his lawyer and we headed home, just in time for StuCo small groups.

It was a pretty amazing day, and has been a wonderful week thus far (minus the migraine that I have been fighting through for the last few days), I am praying that the storm is over and that this can start to be what most of my weeks are like - I know that there will be rough days, but I just can't take them one after another ! I NEED more weeks like this !