My birthday

was a month and two days ago. That day was the beginning of a string of very trying times for our family, personal and extended. Today I was blessed to finally take a few hours out with my beloved to celebrate #46 in our usual manner.

We start with confession and today, considering the past few weeks, it was more of a balm than usual. We had our beloved priest, whom the family has grown closer to over the years and who, as DH says, "is cut from a different cloth than the new guys." Amen. It's hard to find a priest who can bring the Bible and Shakespeare to bear in a meaningful way during confession. He is one-of-a-kind and we are blessed, at least for now, that he is our one.

Newly clean souls, we drove off to my favorite local joint to indulge in some drinks and de fruits de mer.

Looking down to see this

and across to see this

then heading home to share the last episode of Underdog with our pj-clad little people...

well, that's just about as blessed as one girl can get. Happy birthday to me :0)