"Target Always Bees Open"

Those are the profound, heart-felt words of a four year old who has been Target-deprived for 3 months. I mean, what kind of mother am I??
Actually, his mother has been Target-deprived. Not to mention Starbucks-deprived.
But all that changed as of July 3. We landed in Ft. Lauderdale, and my heroic dad loaded us up and drove us more than 4 hours to my parents' house.
For the next week and a half, they proceeded to spoil us rotten. I mean, only if you count eating cotton candy and pop tarts for breakfast (the kids, not me, I had Starbucks), my not doing a single dish or cooking a meal, swimming at the pool, eating my mom's yummy food and my dad's famous biscuits, etc. as spoiling.
Not to mention that we got to visit friends, see everyone at church and stock up on a very extensive list of supplies!
The kids did amazingly well on their achievement tests (I was so proud of them), and they handled the vaccinations like pros, too.
The only downside was saying good-bye. It was really much harder this time, because we don't know when we'll be back. I'm just going to stay in denial about that.
Anyways, at the end of our little vacation, we had a handsome, sweet, LONELY Steve O. waiting for us at the airport. The way the kids screamed, "DADDY!" and hurled themselves into his arms made me bawl. It is so good to be back together and know that this is where we belong. For all the sweet family and friends we miss so much, and for all the fun things we got to do, we know this is where God wants our family, and there is such peace in that. Only He could do that in our hearts.
In the meantime, thank you to all the people who loved on us and encouraged us while we were there. We love you right back.