Howler-lujah!

Josie will always be my miracle sister. I like to believe that I prayed her here (because I did). I'm not sure how much my mom appreciated this little miracle at the time (no offense, Josie) because, you see, my older sister was getting ready to be a teenage mother right about the same time (my sister had her baby, Amy, in November; Josie arrived in April). So maybe it was a bit of a stressful time, but it was also a beautiful time, and I think I speak for everyone when I say we're all glad she's taking this wild journey with us. 

She texted me a few days ago to let me know that she was sending me a package (or two). She's a very generous and thoughtful gift-giver (a skill I appreciate...and have thus far been unable to cultivate). 

Her packages arrived today and it made for a very wonderful mail day! 

One package was delivered to the front door, which Alexander happily retrieved. Andrew asked him to leave the package in his office (I think everyone was playing Minecraft at that exact moment (I'm so glad the semester is almost over because it means Andrew's able to take a little more downtime than he normally does)) but instead Alexander carried the box around and begged various people to read parts of the package to him (I was upstairs writing, but listening in on what was happening downstairs).

"What does this say?" he asked.

"It says Black Lantern."

"Oh! We got a black lantern!"

"No. It's not a black lantern. It just says Black Lantern."

"Oh. What does this say?"

"It says it's for mom."

"Oh! Mom got a black lantern!"

"No! She didn't! It just says Black Lantern! We don't know what it is!"

"Go put it in my office, baby," Andrew reminded him.

"Okay," Alexander said, and exited the room...

We all ran to find him a few minutes later when we heard the sounds of a box being cut open. I rushed down the stairs, Andrew raced down the hall, and we converged in the dining room, where Alexander was happily opening the Black Lantern package. 

"That's for Mom," Andrew said. "I thought I asked you to put it in my office."

"I wanted to open it," Alexander said. 

And he had opened it. He pulled the flaps aside and peeked inside.

"Not a lantern," he said—with great disappointment—and walked away.

Inside was a hat for Benjamin, which Josie had picked out to "fit his vibe" (something that's very important to him these days). It's kind of forest-ranger-y and Benjamin was very excited about it. He very nearly wore it to bed!

You can see his ring in this picture, too (because it's not lost!)

When I texted Josie to tell her the hat arrived she told me that the other package she'd sent should be here, too, so I went out to the mailbox and found a beautiful packet of pysanky supplies. Josie does amazing psyanky and I'd mentioned to her that we might want to try it one day, so she went ahead and sent us some tools. Now we just have to get brave and try it!

Josie's timing couldn't have been better because we needed a good mail day at our house. Josie, making miracles since 1994!