More Girls!

I always wanted more girls. When Shulamith was born, she was only our second child, so I had no idea she would be our one and only daughter. I figured that since we already had one of each, we'd surely have some more of each, right?

Wrong.

We have been blessed with four amazing sons; I could spend this entire post raving about any one of them, but yeah, I always thought it would be fun to have some more girls as well. When it became clear that wouldn't happen, I remember telling Shulamith not to worry because one day her brothers would marry, and then we'd have lots more girls. Back then, that day seemed far into the future, but now, that day is here (well, it has begun, at least. It will be a while still, I hope, before the younger three bring us more girls).

This past weekend, Shulamith and I flew to Indiana to visit Luke and meet his fiance, Désirée and her 3-year-old daughter, Evelyn. In many ways, I felt like I already knew Désirée; we had spoken on the phone, visited on Skype, and sent numerous emails back and forth. Still, it's always good when you can meet someone in real life, and it was a delightful weekend in every way. Let me point out some highlights.

Désirée graciously offered her home to us, so we wouldn't need to rent a motel. Little did we know that she meant not just her home, but her bed! We slept in her comfortable bed, while she slept on an air mattress, which might have been okay, except it had sustained serious injury and deflated progressively through the course of each night, leaving Désirée to sleep essentially on the hard floor. Poor Désirée!

Another highlight was taking engagement pictures. I am a terrible photographer (I told you we'd discover other things I can't do), so my job was to spot Shulamith (read: stand with arms extended below Shulamith, prepared to catch her if she happened to fall while attempting to capture the perfect shot of Désirée and Luke sitting on a ledge of rocks. She didn't fall (whew!), and we got some lovely photos.

Oh, and speaking of the many things I'm not good at, let's add Skip-Bo to the list. Okay, let's be honest; I'm not good at any game, well except maybe cribbage, but that's really the only one. My one and only prior experience playing Skip-Bo was over a year ago when Lindsey and I went to Texas to visit Celeste. And they totally cheated. Totally. So how was I supposed to learn to play a game when my two best friends were cheating the entire time? Exactly.

Add to that the fact that I'm just not good at games. My learning curve is ridiculously steep. When I play games, I sometimes wonder if I'm mentally challenged and people are just too afraid to tell me. Shulamith, on the other hand, picks up games instantly and nearly always wins. Désirée generously, but oh so naively, offered to be my partner in Skip-Bo. I'm pretty sure she'll never make that mistake again. She had heard I'm a bit competitive, and so is she, so she thought we'd make a good team. Little did she know that teaming up with me means almost certain defeat. Sorry, Désirée! You can be Luke's partner next time. I promise.

Perhaps the best highlight of our weekend was getting to play with little Evelyn. Shulamith and I both love children, and this little girl is quite adorable. She showed us her toys, played hide-and-seek with us, and told us many important things. She is very smart.

I always wanted more girls. And now I get two at the same time.

W00t! (Yes, Gerald, those are zeros not O's. You can relax.)