Catching up on the last several days

I'm so used to the rhythm of daily blogging that it's hard to know where to start. I've been away for a few days enjoying some time with family. We had a nice weekend away down in Illinois visiting my family for Easter. We stayed with my oldest sister and her husband on Saturday. We arrived just in time for some appetizers and snacks before we had an early dinner. We just ordered pizza. My youngest sister came with her husband and kids so the kids really had fun playing together. After dinner, we all took a walk over to the nature preserve by their house. The main part was closed, but you could still walk the paths. While we were walking by a pond, we heard a loud splashing noise and saw something jump out of the water. After the third time this happened, we were able to see it was a beaver! He would come out of the water and then slap it with his tail. We noticed an area that must have been his den piled up with mud, sticks and branches. Julian kept saying "beaver, beaver" he was so excited. On our way back, we stopped by the sandhill cranes and they were making some loud bird calls while we hung out watching them for a while. Julian loved trying to imitate them. He ended up staying up again later than usual since he was not tired and so he could play some more.

Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day. We spent most of the morning on the patio watching the birds coming to the feeder. One of the prettiest ones was a red bellied woodpecker. There were also goldfinches, house finches, cowbirds, blue jays, chickadees, nuthatches and juncos. More variety than we get at home. We love to bird watch. Later in the afternoon, we went to my youngest sister's house and enjoyed a wonderful Easter dinner. This time my other sister's kids were there so Julian got to play with all 4 of his cousins. The ride back was quite an adventure. There was a huge storm with lots of lightning, thunder and even hail. At times it was hard to see the road. Now I really know what white knuckle driving is like.

Monday and Tuesday I woke up really tired. Now it's Wednesday and this tired, draggy feeling has stayed with me. Especially in the morning. Both Monday and Tuesday were days we didn't have any play group activities planned. Our sitter Dave came over so I could go meet with our tax lady. She does a great job and gets our taxes done in under an hour. Julian continues to enjoy playing with the set of cars that I got him. He likes lining them up and then "driving" them around making car noises. We continue to get new books from the library to read and his favorite ones right now are related to the ABC's. It's so fun hearing him sing through the "Julian alphabet" (ABC...H..MOP..QS..WY and Z...now I know...). He's started to learn his numbers too. We were reading an animal tracks book and he'd point to the paw prints and count like 1-2-3-6-8-10. He's also repeating so much of what you say, you really have to be careful about what you say, especially for me when I get angry. Lately, he's been playing more with our cat Buca. Not in the trying to grab his tail way that he used to, but actually talking to him and trying to include him in his games. He'll say "come here Buca" trying to get his attention and Buca tolerates him a bit more now.

Tuesday night we got together with our Life Group and the women met while the men went and met separately. We do this once every couple months and each time it is really good. We're able to open up in a deeper way with one another and this time our focus was on what you worry about. Each of us was able to share things, some of which were heavy, that we're going through. Worries we have as spouses, as workers, as mothers. One of my main worries right now is being mindful and intentional about what I'm modeling for Julian and what my day to day life with him is teaching him. That for me is huge.

Again, today I've been a bit draggy so nothing too exciting to share other than getting a cavity filled at the dentist. I did enjoy my study of Martha and Mary today. It's the last study in this Women of the Bible workbook and then we start reading a book based on Ecclesiastes. Even though I've heard the story of Martha and Mary several times, I am always refreshed by it and take something away from it. When Jesus comes to their home for a meal, Martha puts so much effort into every detail to the point where she gets frustrated with all the work. I was thinking about how she robs herself of intimacy and fellowship with Jesus. Intimacy that Mary, her sister, is enjoying. It makes me stop and think about when I might do that. Be so focused on doing what I think is "good" and get so busy that it crowds out my time with the Lord. Another impactful part of this study was when Jesus was so moved with the grief of Martha, Mary and the Jews (and his own grief) over Lazarus that he too wept. John 11:33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. "Where have you laid him?" he asked. "Come and see, Lord," they replied. Jesus wept. I took this to heart thinking of how moved Jesus must be by my own times of pain and suffering, coming alongside me in my struggles and times of sorrow. That is really comforting to me. How deep is the desire in me to be loved and cared about, and just this thought about Jesus caring that much for me hits me deeply right now. Finally, when Mary anoints Jesus' head with the jar of pure nard and wipes his feet with her hair, this is such a personal show of love and worship. It is so valued by Jesus that he promises right there that this act will be shared for eternity wherever the gospel is preached. Again, I was encouraged by this and inspired to love the Lord with this kind of adoring love.

It's been pretty rainy this week so we've not gotten the chance to enjoy time at the park or playing outside. It's nice watching everything turning green though. My husband and I are on week two of our new eating program. So far I haven't lost anything, but I'm working on eating less and having my stomach shrink so I have less cravings. We're not eating snacks and no food after 7pm. Tonight, we went to the Y and worked out. It was a good workout night with a mix of jogging and walking. My goal is three times a week. Julian did really well in the nursery. They had a couple pictures for me that he colored. The Y-worker teaches preschool and commented on how well Julian is doing with his words, small sentences and colors and said that he's at the 2-1/2 year level. I think the Lord nudged me with a reminder that I have to be careful not to get into the comparing Julian to others habit. That it's not about him being ahead of (or better than) others that is important. I could too easily fall into that I'll admit. Instead I need to focus on being a reflection of what it looks like to have a growing, intimate relationship with the Lord knowing that he learns the most from my actions, not what I say and that if I have that as my focus the rest really falls in line. That's definitely a work in progress! With that, I think I'll sign off. I need to get better sleep so I have more energy for the day so I'm heading off to bed.