Little Lords and Ladies Newsletter (with Online Only Coupon!)

Howdy! Brian here. I haven't written a blog entry in a newsletter for a while ;-) There's sooo much happening, and Ms. Shannon (our store manager) keeps me in check so I don't write volumes of drivel and nonsense!

Where to start? When we last left our [handsome] hero of hand-me-downs, the [charming] owner of LLaL was dreaming of store expansion [with hottub, LEGO room, 8 screen Dolby movie theater] and was workin' with Fairfax County Gov't. 8 months, 14835 emails, and 2,041,403 what-ifs later the dust has settled... Who knew that current County ordinances aren't really all the rules - there are 30 years of rule interpretations one has to take into consideration as well... Bottom line: we had to [sniff] nix the cafe, community room, and [ginormous] play area concepts for now. If we can save $15,000 we can try again, but we're really trying to save y'all money so that may take a while...

The store continues to grow, and we continue to be blessed :-) The growth is a double-edged sword: we keep addin' more barters to help us get cool stuff to the floor faster, and more consignors keep droppin' stuff off!!! Some days, to be honest, it feels overwhelming and we're always behind the 8 ball. So, we have to quite literally "stop the flow" in November and May to try and keep up with the incoming dropoffs. I don't know of any other store that tries to do as much as we do for our consignors :-) We don't require ironing, hangers, mostly no limits (except the baby stuff), don't charge consignor fees, don't require appointments, and more. So we're still lookin' for moms who want to work for store credit, employee discounts, and "first dibs" (especially anyone who can help us price items into the computer - we'll teach you!) as our Barters have been an INCREDIBLE help to us (and to you - they keep our prices LOW LOW LOW!!!). Just stop in and ask about it :-)

And Charlene still amazes me :-) After 15 years of marriage, the woman raises two wonderful boys, is best friend to her mom, puts up with my absent-minded professor persona, runs LLaL, and is one of the most studious/seeking Christians I know. My dad once told me the measure of a strong man is not in his muscles but in his tongue, and after 15 [!!!] years of marriage to a Words of Affirmation woman there's nary a day that goes by I'm not on bended knee asking for more wisdom and strength to be a better [stronger] man. Men might seem to rule the world, but it's really women who run it. And believe you me, the world is better for it!

Just looking at my two [beautiful, fun, caring, loving, respectul (most of the time!), best buddies, happy] boys sleeping upstairs right now is proof of that.

Being a store owner hard? You bet. Being a dad daunting? Definitely. Being a husband work? Without doubt or hesitation the hardest (and most rewarding) endeavor of my Life. But in perspective, a close family to us had their 4 year old boy diagnosed with Crones, a life-long, often painful, and malevolent disease from which there is no cure.

There are days where it's hard not to be mad at God. And there are days were I really, really don't want to go to work or drop off bins for my LEGO rental service at midnight on a Thursday. And those are the days that even the strongest of men need to go upstairs and gaze upon the stunningly lovely form of his sleeping wife and two boys slumbering in peace away from this exhausting world - and ask the Big Man Upstairs for even more wisdom, more strength - recognizing you have, in fact, so much growing to do that it's no less than miraculous you can even function as an adult being the infantile, spoiled boy playing in a very grownup world.