Wrangler Dani

Fridays generally mean that I’m working longer days than normal and come home ready to fall on the couch, horsey smell and all, and wait for my boots to fall off so I can shower.  This week, however, is Spring Break! So I just went running and am now waiting for my feet to fall off.  Also, in an effort to rebuild my body after a mile SUPER LONG run, I found some Circus Animal cookies in the back of the cupboard and am munching them with great joy.  I might as well not shower, since I’ll need to run all these sprinkles off soon.

But I’m also drinking a Function! That all evens out, right? Right? (I think that the Function people won’t let me buy their drinks if they find out I sip in conjunction with something as unwolesome as several-month-old-made-of-white-flour-frostinged-sprinkled-cookies. Even if they are shaped like lumpy, global-warmed animals.)

Adam and I snuck over to the other side of the tracks last night and visited Drive. (Previously Fuel, our 20s singles ministry at Mariners) I was weirdly nervous and kind of expected a ring-check at the door and/or awkward looks, but it was totally normal and fine. Whew.  It was fun to see everybody (well, not everybody, it is a different group now,) and Rick did an awesome job monitoring the panel, much like the one that spawned the “in the woods” joke many moons ago.  Being back was interesting for us both, I think.  I think we were reminded of what an incredible blessing Fuel was (and is) to our lives, and at the same time were able to rejoice in the freedom of having (for Adam, at least,) handed leadership off to very capable, growing hands who are running with it.  I think everybody needs to experience that kind of community, at least once. Unfortunately, life is made up of seasons, and the beautiful, top-of-our-game, intimate community that we had about a year ago has slowly split off.  But it’s natural and healthy and we still love each other, so I guess that’s what I learned last night, in a very run-on non-nutshell.

The other night we got to meet Asher Stephen Zakaryan for the first time, at a whopping 24-hours-old.  He’s adorable and totally has Kim’s nose and a healthy head of blondish surfer hair.  He’s the son of Brent and Kim, Adam’s cousins, so we think that makes us second cousins? Whatever. We’re totally gonna be Crazy Uncle Adam and Auntie Dani, and why does Auntie Dani have a boy’s name?  I can’t wait to actually get to hold him – when we saw him he was all about MOM, which is completely understandable.  After all, if I’d just spent the last nine months all cozy and warm and in whatever position I liked, and then abruptly got pushed out into the cold world and passed around from arms to arms I’d be a little grumpy too.

Speaking of Crazy Uncle Adam, he and I might go to the ZOO tomorrow! You remember the zoo, and how we both love all the critters and made Ashley crazy with our endless photo shoots? Well, this is our chance to relight the passion for lions and flamingos, and it might even be as cold as Fort Worth tomorrow because the weather hates me and after two blissful days of warmth it’s cold and I will never be tan again.  Someday we’ll need to take our “nephew” Asher to the zoo.  Stuffed monkeys are good, but real monkeys are better.