An enjoyable day

What a great day today was. The weather was incredible. Yesterday the incredible heat and humidity finally broke and today it stayed below 80 degrees with a beautiful breeze. J was really into activities and engaging with me today. It started when he got up and wanted to read his two favorite books of the moment. The first is The Farm Book where not only does it tell the story about life for a family on the farm, every picture has things to count! We counted cows, ducks, chickens, cats, horses and pigs. Then we read Ballyhoo Bay. These are both books we got from our library sale for $25 cents each. I love it when we get so much use out of a cheap find. After breakfast, we watched some of a couple videos. The first one was called Mighty Machines. In it are segments on different machines and what they do. We watched the fire house, a street sweeper and garbage trucks. I think he liked the garbage trucks the most. Whenever the garbage man comes to the house, he runs to the window to watch them and sometimes we go outside to get a closer look. He seemed to follow along as they showed the garbage going from the houses all the way to the dump and what happens there and in between. The other video we watched was Miracle of Mozart; Numbers and Shapes. He really loved the numbers but not so interested in the shapes. Then he wanted to put together the fire truck puzzle which we did in a past Tot School. He got out the pieces but then needed me to come and do the puzzle with him since he needs my hints and can't link the pieces together yet.

After lunch, we went outside to enjoy the gorgeous day. Most of the time we just played with bubbles. We ended up going in the garage since it was so windy it was hard for J to catch them and pop them which he likes to do. He brought out his bubble mower and I filled it up and off he went. Then he wanted to ride his little car. He hasn't used these two things in a long time. I would push him up the little hill in our driveway and I taught him to lift his legs up so he could roll down the hill. We went back and forth several times but then it was time for his nap.

Ahhh! I've been really challenged with having a daily quiet time the last week. It has been hit or miss. J's schedule keeps changing around and now there's really not a time I'm totally alone while J naps (since J is going down later and daddy gets home). I was able to spend some time today, but not as much as I wanted. I didn't get a chance to have a good prayer time. I seem to pray in spurts throughout the day. A person will suddenly be in my mind and I'll say a prayer for them or a situation comes up that I'll pray about. I continue to read Beth Moore's book To Live is Christ. Today I was in Acts 13 where Paul goes on his first missionary journey. He goes with Barnabas. Verses 2 and 3: While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." ³So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. Beth says that the first church in Antioch is such a wonderful example for us; the followers there have a willingness to give, to receive the word, to preach and teach. She shares that the leaders of the church in Antioch were constantly ready to hear from God. They fasted and prayed before sending off Paul and Barnabas on their journey. This is the heart that I am after, the constant readiness to hear from the Lord. I find though I need to continue to fight off distractions that get in the way of that and the general busy-ness of our culture. I want to take time to just sit before Him. Psalm 46:10 Be still and know that I am God. Yet I find it hard sometimes to do that, to just sit. So that is something I'm going to pursue. I find it so healthy when I'm able to slow down like that and just rest before the Lord. Beth continues that verse 11 records the first miracle that we see God perform through Peter. It has to do with a sorcerer who opposes them when the proconsul (governor) sent for them so he could hear the word of God. The sorcerer is struck blind by Paul and the proconsul is amazed and believes. Verse 12: When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord. Beth shares that the Lord wants to amaze us with the wisdom of his word. He wants to show us how relevant he is and widen our vision. I want a heart that is ready to receive all that He has for me.

After J woke up from his nap, we had a pretty tame evening. We worked out at the Y. J started crying when I dropped him off. He did this at church too so he seems a little more sensitive lately to me leaving him. It's funny the phases they enter and leave and enter again. Then he didn't want to leave when I picked him up! He told me he was having fun playing with a little boy. They were playing with dinosaurs. We then watched daddy playing basketball for a little bit. J wanted to get a couple basketballs and we went to the kids basket. They have a huge mat three feet high and J wanted me to toss him onto it and then he wanted me to jump onto it. We were rolling around on the mat and jumping on and off and laughing like crazy. He didn't want to leave that either. At home, it was time for a bath and then sleep.