"I'm not a doggie, I'm a friend!"

Since the last time I wrote, I have finished one book, read through a second, and started a third. I finished The Summer of the Great Grandmother by Madeleine L'Engle on Thursday evening, as Adria was practicing the hymns for our wedding on the Parsonage's piano. I was pretty sick this weekend, which left me plenty of time to read Giving Birth by Catherine Taylor, which has only fueled my conviction that midwives and home births are awesome. And tonight I started The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, which has been sitting on my bookshelf for a few months, but which I was inspired to finally pick up after watching most of Food, Inc. on Thursday night. So, that is a snapshot of my current reading life...My reading life, which I obsess over in the same way that some people obsess over their sex lives, their food lives, or their dating lives.

A lot has been going on recently. Thursday I got my permanent crown put on by Dr. Wong. At this point I am so weary of all my dental woes and slightly overwhelmed by my mounting dental debt, that I usually sit in the dentist's chair staring at the bland artwork and feeling utterly sorry for myself. I always force myself to pull out of it, and to be thankful that I live in the 21st century where we can do complex procedures like root canals and crowns painlessly instead of having a sore tooth yanked out by the local barber after a strong, but mostly ineffective, shot of whiskey. I am also thankful that I live in America with its (mostly) state of the art dental practitioners, clean clinics, and impeccable care. Lastly, I am thankful to have been blessed enough to be able to afford the dental care my mouth has needed this past year. That is something that should never be taken for granted.

Thursday night I went to the midnight showing of Alice in Wonderland with Adria and some of her friends. This was exciting because most midnight showings are contagiously fun, and I enjoyed myself. The most serendipitous event of the night was the guy in the coffee shop who agreed to pop the two bags of microwave popcorn that I happened to have in my purse. Free movie popcorn!

Friday brought about the much anticipated meeting between Sean and Claire and Nicholas (the two kids I babysit for during the week). I've been talking Sean's ear off about them since August, so it seemed high time that he finally meet these two unreasonably adorable kids. We played a lot, went for a walk, picked dandelions and sent their little seeds flying into the wind...At one point Sean responded to something Claire said by saying, "Ok, dawg..." (a frequent refrain of his) to which Claire responded quite solemnly, "I'm not a doggie...I'm a friend." Sean immediately amended his statement to, "Ok, friend!"

Friday night I babysat the three Moothart boys, the oldest of whom Sean and I teach in preschool Sunday School at our church. As I was putting the boys to bed, Jonathan, who's been in class with Sean and I for the past three weeks, told me, "I really like your dad." For a second my mind was blank, before I realized that he though Sean was my dad! Before I could say anything, he added, "Yeah, I like how he colors." I thought this was very observant of him, because Sean does put incredible effort into his coloring pages each week, and then brings them home and hangs them on the fridge in his apartment.

I spent all Friday night playing games with Jason, Dan, and Lewis. We had so much fun...played Banana Grams, Quiddler, more Banana Grams, and Hearts...and made some of Jason's famous, delicious homemade guacamole, that I swear is the best in the world.

On Saturday morning at 8:00 I got a text from Jaclynn inviting me to come with her to try on wedding dresses in Fullerton in an hour. Not many things will pull me from my warm, cozy bed early on a Saturday morning, but getting to watch my roommate from freshman year and dear friend try on wedding dresses is one of them! I hopped out of bed and made it to The Dresser in Fullerton by 9:00, where I met up with Jac, her mom Shelli, and Darren's mom, Marisa. We watched Jaclynn try on dresses for the next hour, and when she made her decision and went to the back of the store to purchase the dress, we watched all the other girls trying on their dresses...I could've sat there all day!

Saturday afternoon Sean and I went to our first premarital counseling session with Father David, and a mentoring couple named Monica and Matthew. I am always slightly apprehensive about counseling sessions, they can be so unpredictable, uncomfortable, and downright painful. But talking with them was so wonderful and peaceful and they all possess so much wisdom that it was just a delight, and an hour and a half flew by.

Sunday I spent all day in bed sick, except for when Sean took me to Berry Cool for some frozen yogurt for my throat. As of this morning I was sufficiently recovered to babysit C. and N., which was, as always, a pure pleasure. And now I am listening to Sean snore, as I write this at his desk, and he sleeps in his bed. I am praying that he will stop snoring by the time we get married. Oh dear.