This morning my boys were the best of friends. Most days they alternate between being good buddies and evil tormentors. This morning I came into the family room, after getting ready for school, to find all of my dining room chairs lined up facing each other. We are talking about 8 heavy chairs for these two little rascals to move. They covered the seats with throw pillows and Caleb was standing atop them like the king of Pillow Mountain.

My entrance into the room was met with a chorus of “Ohhhhs.” (That would be a groaning “oh”, not a “we’re so happy to see you, Mom, and Oh, by the way, you look particularly beautiful today!”) They were quite certain I was going to announce that it was time to start school. (They would have been correct!) That’s when Caleb piped up, “Mom, we can’t do school today. We are playing the Lone Ranger. Ben’s the Lone Ranger and I’m Taco.”

What’s a mom to do with that kind of information? My heart melted and I caved. I offered them 40 minutes to play, while Kadi and I started in on her school work. They were thrilled. Every time the timer was about to go off, I’d check on LR and Taco. Once they were saving the life of a baby, who they agreed to care for until he was 15. Another time they were “sleeping under the stars” in my living room. (The chairs took up the entire family room, so to make room for the 2 full-size blankets and extra pillows, they took over another space.) Guess, what. Ben and Caleb will be doing 2 days of school work on Monday…and none of us are going to care.

Yesterday was my 39th birthday. As the big 4-0- looms only one year away now, I spent some time thinking about my many blessings. Among the top of them are my faith, my family, my friends, and my ministry. I was delighted to be serenaded by 5 members of one set of family friends wishing me a happy birthday. I also went to supper with friends the night before my big day, which was a treat. My husband made me a cake from scratch, picked up Chinese for supper, and we surprised the kids with the “Cars” movie. Blessed is the woman who has Lone Rangers and Tacos in her life! I guess that’s me…blessed!