Leap Year

Today is Leap Day/Year! Until today, Mike and I had never celebrated a leap year birthday before.  Today is our friend Egren's 9th birthday (or 36 "normal" years)!!!  I wonder what it must be like to only "really" celebrate your actual birthday every four years ... but I digress.  Since his birthday only happens every four years, Fr. Francis & co. wanted to do something special for him.  So we all surprised him but showing up to his dinner with Fr. Francis at Maggianno's in Woodland Hills.  Mike and I bought him a giant "9" balloon just so everyone knew exactly how old he was =).  Dinner was great -- it's always nice to spend time with friends in Christ.  We've really missed Fr. Francis as well and just being around him makes me feel better =).  Zoe was amazing during dinner.  She was pretty well-behaved and was entertaining the entire table (Natasha, Michi, Sarah, Vanessa, Fr. Francis, Mike Mesa and Fr. Francis) ... she was cracking me up!  It's so awesome that we can take her out to places like this (even if it's way past her bedtime) and she's able to adjust and make the most of it (good sign).  

We've only known Egren for a few years and it's been great getting to know him more and more.  He's one of the funniest and sweetest guys I know and words can't express how proud we are of him to take on this journey towards priesthood.  We took turns going around the table and telling Egren what's he's taught us the past 4 years ... I didn't really get a chance to go since Zoe was running around, but if I did, I would have said Egren has taught me to have BALLS.  He taught me that it's ok if you don't quite know all the answers and that taking a step in a direction that is so scary is worth it.  It's so ballsy of him to quit his high paying job and walk away from his life to pursue priesthood.  And while he may not fully know if being a priest is what he'll really end up being, I admire him so much for at least giving it a try.  Balls, I tell ya, balls!  

We ended up getting home past 11 pm and Zoe knocked out.  She didn't even wake up when I took her out of the carseat and into the house.  I didn't have the heart to change her into her jammies since she was already sleeping so soundly, so I just put her in her crib and called it a night.