Lessons Learned

Well Spring Break has ended and it's back to school and work and schedules. With the exception of late risings on Monday, the week got off to a pretty good start and has been a really good week. The girls returned to receiving report cards which illustrated some excellent effort over the last quarter. This mom is really proud of her brood. So now we are in the final stretch and home plate is in full view.

While the girls were in school learning lessons, Emma taught me a couple of lessons this week at home. One of them is that maybe we need to actually demonstrate how to rest around here. Following lunch, I told her to lay down for a nap to which she replied, "Why?". I said, "because you need the rest." She responded by saying, " I don't need rest, I'm not sick." I thought to myself, "uh-oh" clearly there is a problem here. That got me to thinking about our need for margins and rest in our lives. Then I began to think about how I expect the girls to do things that I, myself am not doing. I was reminded that if I expect them to do things especially those pertaining to faith and character building then I am going to have to model that for them. I have to do more than just talk and/or lecture about what we should do and give them a real, present example of what it means to be a faithful follower of Christ. And because I need help doing this, I will go to the source and ask for His help. Everyday.

I will borrow a prayer from yesterday's devotion (Prov 31 First 5):

Lord,
Place a guard on my heart and mind to protect me from sinful thoughts and emotions. Let no weapon formed against me (physically, mentally, emotional or spiritually) prosper and let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to You. Help me to choose your will over my own today. Amen.

Because, after all, it all starts with the heart.

Around Here

Well this week is Spring Break around here. All of the girls are home and my husband managed to take a short break as well so the gang is all here. It has been a great week filled with memory making that I hope all will hold dear in their hearts for times yet to come. For me it was especially special and remarkable though not marked by any big or extravagant trips because this is the last Spring Break that the girls will spend together. Our oldest is a Senior this year and next year this time, she will be away at college. I have treasured the moments this week as I know that this ends one chapter of our story. Don't get me wrong, I do look forward to the new chapter that will be written in this wonderful book of our life but it will be a little bittersweet. I encouraged all of them to really spend time with each other this week, to put the devices away for a while and just be present, because these moments will not return and they need to make the most of them now. I guess they actually listened with the help of a little device schedule that I put in place for the week because some memories were made. Take a look.

Now I've got memories to make. Make today a great one and make some of your own!

Beautiful

I was fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of a beautiful sky last evening as the sun set for the day. I was even more blessed to have the unusual opportunity to capture some of the images. I really love this one and thought I would share. Our God is the most amazing artist!