Better Writer Day 25

Happy Monday! I hope you had an awesome weekend! Today's writing assignment is to write about our weekend, which is nice because I wanted to share some pics anyway, and then choose one part that sticks out and elaborate on it.

Our weekend was full of spending time together as a family...Friday and Saturday long easy days. I had several cookie orders to finish up and deliver on Saturday, and then at Remy's request went for a 'nature walk'. It was a great way to spend a gorgeous afternoon. We haven't spent much time exploring any outdoor areas near our home (we're not what you would call 'woodsy' people, by any means!), so a friend recommended a trail and we just went for it. Later in the day we shared dinner with some friends. Sunday was a long day, as we had to be at church bright and early for worship practice, breakfast, an egg hunt and then the service, of course. But Easter is always worth the extra effort~ we had an amazing time of revelling in and worshipping a Risen Savior!! So thankful for the freedom that is found in an empty tomb!

We found a beaver dam!!

 Taking a walk outside on Saturday was just what our family needed. I think we are so insulated, literally and figuratively, that we just needed to get out and breath... Some of Remy's Easter goodies included a bug box and binoculars, and both littles got a magnifying glass, so Remy The Explorer was ready to get out and make some discoveries. We packed up a lunch and then hit the trail.

The beaver dam was our first discovery, and this was an amazing find to everyone. We hoped to see some beavers, but Remy was convinced that they were hiding underneath the bridge. We stopped long enough for him to draw a picture of the dam in his journal and then kept moving. The binoculars revealed all sorts of amazing sights, and stopping to eat lunch on a bench was a welcome rest for little legs at a halfway point.

Catching Bugs

We made lots of 'good finds', climbing over logs, sitting on stumps, turning over logs to collect centipedes and worms... but I think the most rewarding thing for me was just spending time without any of the world pressing in. Time kind of stood still while we were out there. The kids played well together and also got nice and worn out! We brought home a bug box full of living things, which we spent an even longer part of the afternoon at home just observing. It really is the simple things, isn't it?

Thanking Him this morning for a full weekend well spent~ time with family and friends celebrating the biggest day of the year!!

Better Writer Day 20~ The Well

Happy Monday, sweet friends! We had a wonderful, if not crazy weekend. I'm baking cookies like some kind of machine- I've been selling them to raise money for my trip to Africa this summer. So far I've made about 12 dozen, with almost that many more to make this week in time for Easter. I am so thankful for His provision for my trip and that I can be raising funds by doing something I love so much!

Today's Better Writer Assignment is to focus on filling up the well... reading to refresh your brain and excite your perspective'. I am usually reading two or three books at a time, so this one isn't a huge challenge for me. Right now I'm reading 'You're Already Amazing' along with the Bloom/(in)courage Book Study, 'Beginner's Guide to Spiritual Warfare', and then 'Teach Them Diligently'. I know it sounds ambitious, but I like some variety. And I don't necessarily read each one each day... just as the mood strikes.

The second part of today's challenge is to blog about a favorite book. When asked this question, I can give an answer with zero hesitation. In fact, I'm certain that I've posted about it before. The book that has most changed me, one that I have and will continue to read with regularity is Shane Claiborne's 'The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical'. I was given this book by a friend when we were living in Tennessee. In it Shane dares to ask the question 'What if Jesus meant what He said?', and at the time, that question is what my heart was begging an answer to. It still does.

I had been burned by churches. I had seen leaders and ministries fail. I had see so-called Jesus followers overlook the least of these, stepping over the beautiful sun-worn faces of the homeless to get into their flashy church buildings. If Jesus meant what He said, and I've always believed that He did, then why was I so isolated from the very ones He was calling me to love? This book rocked me to my core. Shane challenged me to run, not walk, into the arms of Jesus, which probably looked a lot more like the sweet addicted man on the corner than it did the executive.

I really think that this book was the beginning of my journey into what our church now calls being a 'fully-devoted follower' of Jesus. I couldn't ignore the things He said. I couldn't any longer pick and choose which ways of the cross I wanted to carry and which I could conveniently compartmentalize away for those 'crazy hippies'. I want to be the 'crazy hippie'!! I come back time and time again to this book because I don't ever what to forget that my roots have to be firmly grounded in the ways and words of Jesus, a homeless traveller on His way Home.

"Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me." Matthew 25:32

Better Writer Day 15~ And Then I

Happy Monday! We're getting back to (if we can call it that) normal here after spring break. Remy went back to school, somewhat begrudgingly, and I am thankful to get back into a routine. We have been enjoying some amazing weather here in Illinois... Spring has arrived! I hope you had a great weekend!

Today's Better Writer Challenge is to write about a process. A tutorial, how-to, recipe, whatever... but to avoid the boring 'and then I' approach. Monday is the perfect day for this because Monday is cleaning day in our house. My absolute favorite day! (Yes, I'm one of those...)

You see, I have this sweet, chattering shadow. "Mondays are made for cleaning!" sounds off my little curly-haired shadow. "You're right! And this is the day the Lord has made." "For cleaning!", she chimes in. We spray matching blue microfiber cloths with lemon-fragranced spray and play Follow the Leader... over tables and under chairs, fingers around wooden legs and "Whee!!!" hands slide down stair rails. Under pictures and over shelves. Teaching tenderness of cloth around circled glass rims of hurricanes, all the while singing "We're the cleaner girls" to the tune of Strawberry Shortcake.

Soon we stand in the doorway and survey our citrus-scented success. It is a grand one. And my perfectionist tendencies must be laid aside, not allowing myself to swipe the smudges that she misses. Because it is truly about the process sometimes and not the final product. My heart is warm, knowing that she is learning that keeping a home is about how you make the home-dwellers feel.

Our task culminates in a chocolate chip cookie on the couch. Snuggles and crumbs abound while we take pride in our work. This is also why the next lesson is that vacuuming comes last.

"A house is built by wisdom, and it is established by understanding; by knowledge the rooms are filled with every precious and beautiful treasure." Proverbs 24:3-4