More depth in my time with God

It is weird now to not have our cat Rio around anymore. I keep having "phantom cat" experiences where I'll think I hear her meow, or I'll think I see her out of the corner of my eye but it's our other cat Buca. It's been strange that way. Our other cat, Buca, seems unfazed by it. I think he is enjoying being able to soak up all the attention and sleep in our bed. He's definitely kept me company while I adjust to Rio being gone.

Today at breakfast, french toast was on the menu for Julian. He was about to start eating but saw daddy eating a waffle so that's what he wanted. When he didn't get it he started crying and was going for a few minutes but then just stopped and got back to eating. We all watched Elmo ABC's and sang some of the songs and Julian really seemed to like that. We also did some coloring which is becoming another one of Julian's favorite things to do.

At breakfast, I read a bit more of the "Quiet Rest" book. It was really good today talking about what she called "devotionless devotions". She speaks of times that we meet with the Lord but our hearts are just not in it and it ends up more of a routine. It is so true when she says, "I must make a conscious, deliberate daily choice to sit at His feet, to listen to His word, to receive His love, to let Him change me and to pour out my heart's devotion to Him." This is the kind of time alone with the Lord that I would like to have. Right now, I do enjoy my time of reading, studying and prayer, but I'm looking for more depth. I guess I'd say more devotion. I took some time to pray about that and asked God to bring this about.

David continues grieving for his son Absalom in 2Samuel 19 today. His commander Joab spoke harshly to him that his mourning was humiliating to the men who went out and just risked their lives for David. Joab told him to go to his men which he did. Some of them had been won over to Absalom and David won the hearts of the men and returned to Jerusalem as king. The man who had cursed David just before the battle now comes to ask for his forgiveness. There is still unrest among the men as squabbles arise between the men of Israel and the men of Judah.

While daddy watched the UW Badgers get beat in the March Madness basketball tournament, Julian and I enjoyed some time at the park. He had to take his Elmo book with him so I put it in his little car trunk when we got there. Today, Julian met a little friend on the jungle gym stairs area and spent most of his time there. He met a little girl who was maybe around 12-16 months old and he called her baby. We went down the slide without knowing the bottom was all wet so my bottom got all wet. It was cold too! Must have been from the melted snow.

We went to church this afternoon and our friends from France joined us. The main theme today from Luke was Jesus as the ultimate seeker. I had never thought of him this way, it was interesting. He described how valuable we are to the Lord, he will stop at nothing in his pursuit of a relationship with us. It was refreshing to remember, it's not just us who pursue God, he is continually pursuing us. We picked up Julian from the nursery and she said that he was talking a lot and loved saying hi to everybody. Our french friends invited us to their house for a BBQ since it was nice out (sunny but not overly warm). We were outside with the kids for a bit walking around the yard. We were looking at some plantings in one area and Julian said "make mudpies". He remembered this from a book I read to him a couple times. Good memory! They had a whole box of kitchen play things and toy food that he loved playing with. He got upset and cried a couple times like when he wanted to go upstairs with the kids but I couldn't tell right away what he was wanting. We skipped tonight's bath since we got home a bit past his bed time. We were getting out of the car and he was asking to go to the park again. He can't get enough of it I guess. He still wanted a couple books read to him and would've had more but I told him we'll wait until morning.