God!

It's been a pretty rough week around here. I burned my right hand on a pot. I burned my left finger on a project. I had a crown put on my emergency root canal and two broken fillings repaired. Maeve cut a tooth which has caused her to struggle with daytime naps. And, to top it off, my knee has not been doing well. I'm not quite sure what is wrong, but I feel pretty unsteady and scared. Things that were easy are suddenly hard again. I'm headed to the doctor next week.

But tonight, after dinner, Noah asked if he could go outside. He didn't have shoes on, so I told him he could only go on the porch. He ran outside and started yelling to the sky. We got part of it on camera, because we were so stunned. The original went something like this:


Noah:
God? God are you up in the sky?
God, my mommy has a boo boo on her knee and it hurts again. Can you fix it? Please?
God, please help my mommy.
It's me, Noah.
Thanks a lot,
Love you! Bye Bye!

I started to sob immediately. This child is such a gift from God.

Getting ready for Easter

We are very busy around here getting ready for Easter.  Holidays are a much bigger deal with children! Noah's preschool had an Easter party and the kids each brought an egg carton filled with 12 eggs.  The kids each had to fill their own carton after the eggs were hidden.  Brilliant.  No fighting, no fast kids get all the eggs.  Then they had a little party afterwards and Maeve tried to steal some eggs, sly girl.

We spent some time at home dying eggs and enjoying different things to do with the dye and wax crayons.  We tied rubber bands on some, wrote secret words on others and tried to tye dye some of them.

 

We watched an animated version of the Easter story for Preschoolers and that was much more difficult than I had anticipated.  Noah asked 8 million questions about why they crucified Jesus, why Judas betrayed him, why he was flogged, etc.  I just kept thinking how much easier Christmas was!  But, I know that eventually he will understand what it all means and then I will be grateful I didn't hide the story from him. 

Noah's school also had picture day last week so we got Maeve and Noah adorable matching outfits for Easter and their pictures.  I'll post better outfit photos on Easter, but here is a sneak peek of out cute they looked!!!

  

 

It was amazing at our Wednesday night elementary club to see how many children had NEVER heard the resurrection story.  As we taught the lesson, the children were in AWE and it was amazing to see them make those connections.  We are very excited for Easter Sunday and proclaiming the resurrection with our family and we just hope our children will grow to know the amazing power of this event!

You can't see it but....

We had an awful day yesterday.  My super sleeper just could not relax all day.  She was awake practically all day because she could not relax enough to go to sleep.   Today we went to the grocery store and she was miserable which is unlike her.  When I carted her in the house I just swiped my finger in her mouth and there it was... our first tooth.  It has broken the gum, but isn't through completely.  Yay Maevey!!!

On Retreat...and home again

I forgot just how much time I used to spend on retreats.  In high school, I led 4 retreats a year and then had 2 or 3 more planning retreats for those other weekends.  That didn't include any other mission trips or events.  When I led my first group we were ALWAYS away on ski trips, beach trips, retreats, you name it!

As you well know, children slow things down a bit and it is hard to leave them.  And when I was a solo pastor, I felt that it would be hard to go on retreat because then there would still be the regular responsibilities to tend to in addition to planning a retreat. 

Well, the women's ministry at Oxford Pres goes on an annual retreat at a catholic convent in Reading.  I was hesitant to go because I didn't want to be away that long, but after some talking I ended up volunteering to lead some bible studies. 

What I found was more amazing than I imagined.  I really missed retreats. 

I missed being away, secluded, in nature with God.
I missed being silly and sweet and sincere.
I missed crying happy tears at other people's stories.
I missed contemplative walks and talks. 

I led the Bible Study on the book of Ruth -- a woman who was left empty and alone but remained faithful and how God redeemed her from her anguish.  It was a powerful weekend for so many of the women there as we wrote letters to our past selves, present selves, future selves, and love letters to our God.  It felt so amazing to pour out my soul through the pen and paper. 

And the crazyness of retreats!  The first night our door was taped shut, our light switches taped, our shower taped.  We passed the trick on to others.  We hid each others shoes and taped toilet seats down, we moved furniture in front of doors and had pillow fights.  We stayed up until the wee hours of the night sharing our journeys. 

I even took a 4 hour nap.

I was giddy by the time we were done.  I was skipping through the halls and hugging people tight.  It was exactly what I needed.

Of course, I went to pick up Noah from my mom's house and we stopped for lunch.  About 3/4 of the way home he began to cry in pain and vomit all over himself and the car.  So I spent my first minutes home bathing a pukey child and cleaning digested french fries out of the upholstery!  Welcome back to reality, Stephanie!!!

It was worth it, puke and all.  And this morning in worship, one of the women said to me, "you know, we could do a fall retreat too, are you interested?"

Wonder