Takin' It Easy

Oh, how I love me some sunshine.

This past sunny Friday afternoon the kids and I did something we rarely do.

We hung out.

I know, I know. How abnormal is THAT, you're asking yourself. Very. Usually the minute we walk in the door after school I am barking out orders. Take a shower! Do you homework! Pick up your rooms! Choose tomorrow's clothes! No T.V.! Read your books!

Usually I'm zooming around the kitchen emptying the dishwasher, making lunches for the next day, signing school folders, folding laundry so the kids have clean underwear for the next day, and attempting to prepare something that resembles a healthy dinner.

Bossy mommy? Maybe. Task-oriented? Perhaps. But, this all works for us and the kids' strict 7pm bedtime.

But not Friday. Friday when we got home we went out to the back patio. It started with the 3 little Indians just jabbing these pinwheels into the rock-ridden ground we call flower beds here in the Hill Country. Gotta love the Dollar Tree.




Our small task morphed into a major goof-off session on the patio.
Goldfish, wine, and all.



Priya grabbed her camera (as usual), and the photo sessions began. It helped that we had "High School Musical 2--Nonstop Dance Party" blaring from the patio speakers. Definitely inspired us to strike a pose.

My pretty girl.



Priya got a hold of the camera, and, being the shutterbug that she is, she began non-stop picture-taking. Snap, snap, snap, snap, snap....



Who knows what got into me (maybe it was the Pinot Grigio...), but at one point I felt a cartwheel was in order.



Then I decided to bust a move. Priya just kept on shooting.



I tell ya what--after the last month I've had, cutting loose like this was like a cool drink of water. The Walk to Emmaus begins this Thursday, and all of the planning since October is about to come to fruition. God is in control, for sure, but I think He did call me to this leadership role with the sole purpose of having me learn to lean on Him a bit more...not just for the Walk but for everything in my life. I can only pray that on Sunday, March 29th--when the weekend is over-- He will be smiling down on all of us...thinking, "Well done, good and faithful servants."

As I sat on the patio (and did cartwheels and busted a geriatric move) I remembered two powerful posts that have stuck with me this week. Both Catherine and Heather prompted us to ask ourselves who we are more like...Mary or Martha. If you don't know this story in the bible, Mary is a woman who took the time to sit and just "be" when Jesus came to visit. Her sister, Martha, chose to do all the busy little tasks she thought needed to be tended to when Jesus entered their home.

I am a Martha. Plain and simple. Sometimes I choose it. Sometimes it's just the way it has to be given my current season of life. I don't always like it. But, often it's something that cannot be helped.

Friday, however, I am happy to report that I was a Mary. I didn't worry about bedtimes, baths, homework, or the house chores that are still undone. I didn't freak out about all of the Emmaus details that were weighing on me that day. The kids and I laughed, acted silly, laughed some more, relaxed, breathed in the fresh hill country Spring air, soaked in some rays, and enjoyed one another.

Yes, it was only one day. Since then I've been consumed with finalizing plans for the big weekend. But, hopefully, I'll recall how good it felt to just hang out and do it more often. Hopefully I'll revisit that state of mind known as living in the moment. Hopefully I have begun to form a habit that will become more familiar to me after the Walk weekend has come and gone.

For I cannot imagine anything but good coming from more time spent just takin' it easy.

My New Favorite Song

Instead of feelin' low, get high on everything that you love...
It's silly to pretend that you have something you don't own...
Instead of feelin' sad, be happy there's a God above...
Instead of feelin' cold, let sunshine into your heart.

Happy Weekend!

I Can See Clearly Now

Spring Break has come and gone. I'm ready for it to be over, frankly. It was cold and rainy for a better part of the week, and the gloominess was getting a little too much to bear. Don't get me wrong. We certainly needed the rain. And, I'm so grateful for the rain.

But, I'm a girl who needs her sunshine.

The rain has stopped (for now) and I can finally climb out of the drizzly, hazy fog I was in last week and merge into the normalcy and security that I call "a schedule!"

Man, I love schedules.

Don't get me wrong. It was fabulous to wake up whenever we wanted to. To stay in jammies all day long. To not look at the clock or worry about being anywhere. But, by day 3 of the break, the rain and COLD temps had arrived. We were housebound. And, we started to go a little stir crazy. Maybe me even more so than the kids.

Before it got chilly, the kids painted their pots and planted their seeds. It was SPRING BREAK after all...and their silly mommy thought that these seeds stood a chance of surviving after they were planted. Oops. Turns out I may have been wrong. Wouldn't be the first time. We had fun anyway.






Wednesday I MADE myself take them out and about...to run some errands and visit the book store. We were starting to get antsy being inside the house.

Thursday and Friday is was just plain icky out. I couldn't motivate myself to do anything but stay in jammies till 4pm and plead with the 3 little Indians to entertain themselves.

So they used up an entire camera battery taking funny pictures of themselves. This one was my favorite.



I found time to hang these wonderfully fun prints over the break...courtesy of the lovely Kal. The kids absolutely love these new additions to our play room.




And, these gorgeous creations arrived courtesy of another talented "Friend and Blogger Whom I've Never Even Met." She made me cry with these hand-made creations of love....made especially for this.


Of course, "Mommy Guilt" was running rampant throughout me this week...the need for the kids to entertain themselves stems from the fact that the Walk to Emmaus God has called me to lead is now LESS. THAN. TWO. WEEKS. AWAY.

As they say in Texas...holy guacamole.

I was a busy beaver this week tending to teeny, tiny details of the weekend to come...both creatively and electronically via the computer. I'm beyond excited for what God has in store for us all beginning March 26th.

Today we spent most of the day at church and then at a farewell lunch/retirement program for our beloved pastor. While we've been at the church for nearly 3 years now...I only got to know the pastor in the last few months. Throughout the reception many, many family and friends professed their gratitude to him for touching their lives and influencing them in how to live the life as a child of God.

I bawled through both services...listening to his amazing sermon twice. His departure reminded me that no matter how long you know someone...you have the power to impact them. It may be negatively or positively...but you will impact every single person you come in contact with.

And, we must treat everyone we meet with love. The same love that Christ shows us.

Whether those people light up our lives or drive us absolutely bonkers.

It's a choice.

I don't know about you...but I want to be that person that shines brightly with the light of Christ and makes a person feel good to be around.

I'm not always that way. Ok. I'm not that way A LOT. I'm moody. Grumpy. Tired sometimes. Short-tempered. Yes, I'm definitely a work in progress. But, as the rain has cleared...I can see clearly now that this is definitely a goal to work towards with a little more diligence.

Ladies Night

**click to enlarge any picture**

Last week our monthly Girls Night Out (GNO) group ventured where we had never gone before.

Roller skating.

I hadn't been that excited about an outing in a long time. Turns out that none of us had lost our touch. I even managed a few turns around the rink backwards. Definitely a repeat GNO.

Melody and I made our own pom-poms for the occasion.



And then she posed with a dude who really got into the roller skating attire. When I asked him if I could take his picture, he skated off the rink and posed enthusiastically with Melody.

Good thing there wasn't a "couples" skate or Melody might have been in trouble.



Ahhh. The memories of roller rink in the 80s. Turns out the place probably hasn't changed very much. Still smells like feet. And the joint still has door-less bathrooms. Had to stick our roller skates out while we went to the bathroom so no one would catch a glimpse. I didn't drink a lot of water on purpose.




It's a terrible picture (not of us, of course, but due to the strobe lighting), but here are the roller-derby divas. The music got better as the night went on, but by that time we were losing our momentum and yawning incessantly. We're such party animals.


It was a successful evening since no one injured themselves. And, I don't know about the other girls, but I'm looking forward to another skating adventure soon.

Oh, what a night.