Good Stuff

Hello, all. I thought maybe I should pop back in here after my little hiatus, let you all know what's been going on in our neck of the woods. I'm happy to report that it has been mostly good.

Saturday I went a little nutty at the grocery store. I think the anxiety I get from being low on food in the house is just one of those remnants from childhood I will never quite get over. I always feel like I've been wrapped in one of Grandma's quilts when my cupboards are full. I know full well that sooner than I'd like they will be empty again, but it feels really good to have concrete evidence that for at least a couple of weeks we will not go hungry. Well, since I had the resources, I stocked up, and now I can't even get it all in the cupboards! I had it (in bags) on the kitchen floor for a day, then the overflow moved to the countertops. I've finally managed to squeeze most of it into crevices here and there. Okay, so maybe I went a little overboard, but it won't go to waste. There are worse things I could spend my money on!

Saturday evening I watched Luther. My therapist has told me several times that I need to watch that movie. We've spent much of our time together talking about faith and religion, about fear and guilt and all of those things that have kept me so tied up in knots all these years. I already knew the story of Martin Luther, of course, but I couldn't have found a better way to spend two hours. When he realized what Christ had done for him, what was now OVER, done, gone ... when he let go of fear and stepped out, following his heart despite the opposition of friends and the church ... when he spoke the Truth with love and boldness, the world noticed. And it hasn't been the same since. All because of one man who believe Jesus' claim to be all that is needed to find peace with God.

Sunday I got to go work with "my" kids again. They are such a kick. I'm sure they give me more than I could ever give them. I'm already starting to feel sad about letting them go to "the big kids" this summer. Anyway, we learned about Samson, and I told them how God knew even before Samson was born that he was going to be something special, that he gave him just what he needed in order to be exactly what God wanted him to be. I taught the kids one of my favorite songs from childhood. It says, "I am a promise. I am a possibility. I am a promise, with a capital P. I am a great, big, bundle of potentiality. And I am learnin' to hear God's voice, and I am tryin' to make the right choices. I'm a promise to be anything God wants me to be." That's my primary goal with these kids. If they take nothing else with them when they leave the preschool program, I want them to know, way down deep in their little hearts, that God loves them unconditionally and that they are special, beyond words. If they take that with them, then I am content.

The picture for this post shows Brendan decorating his "person," our craft for the day. I (thankfully) didn't find out until a couple of days later that I wasn't supposed to put staples in the walls. I put butcher paper all along a couple of walls, and Kaitlyn and her friend Dakota traced each of the kids. Then the kids glued on wiggle eyes and belts and decorated their characters with feathers and sequins and good old fashioned colored markers. They had a blast! Doesn't every kid dream of coloring on the walls?!?

And then I went up to the service. You will never believe who was preaching! (Well, maybe you will, depending on who "you" happen to be.) It was our new pastor, who happens to be a woman! She's not a " women's ministry leader." She's a full fledged pastor, side by side with the men. She's intelligent, confident, articulate. She is fabulous. I am thrilled to the tips of my toes.

There's more, but it's nearly 9:00, and I'm tired. I'm getting up at five o'clock to work on a story that has me in its grasp, and it would be nice to get something close to eight hours of sleep so I think I'll wrap this up for now and come back some time tomorrow. I'll fill you in then on our trip to Safari Sam's with the boys and my lengthy phone chat this morning (at long last!) with my good friend Perri and Mark's remarkable decision during his latest hospital visit (last night). Oh, and I have to fill you in, too, on what my sister Katie and my sister-in-law Joellen did for me this week. But not now. I'm going to go curl up with my body pillow. Goodnight!