chicago.

This past weekend, my mom, sister and I spent Friday and Saturday enjoying Chicago! I can't say that the weather necessarily cooperated with us, but despite the wind, rain, clouds and cold weather on Friday, we managed to have ourselves a fabulous time and Saturday's sunshine was a perfect ending to the weekend.

We spent a good 3 hours at IKEA, walked and walked and walked at the Woodfield Mall, browsed Borders, found some great jeans at Old Navy, ate pizza for supper and Panera for breakfast, went back to IKEA for a second helping, went back to Woodfield Mall for a second helping there too, drove for miles to find an Arby's on the way home (curly fries never tasted so good!), and made it back with lots of great finds.

But, more than the stores and the shopping and the good food and the surprisingly comfortable hotel beds, what I'm most thankful for is the beautiful family that I have. The weekend trip was a gift from my dad out of a bonus he received at work. What an example of selflessly blessing others out of the ways you have been blessed. And, on top of that, I got to spend the weekend with the two most special women in my life - my mom and my sister. They are inspiring women in more ways than one and I am truly blessed to call them my family. They are godly and selfless and loving and fun and beautiful just they way they were made. Really.

Now, I'm not sure that M*A*S*H is the best place to learn all of life's lessons, but Colonel Potter sure got it right with this one when he said:

"I don't care how poor a man is.
If he has family, he is rich."