Easter 2010

We had a great Easter and I hope all of you did, too. We met my mom, dad, sister, Cooper and cousin's family at Joe's Crab Shack for a nice lunch. They tried to embarass me by telling the staff it was my birthday which it was NOT--not until Thursday! But I don't embarrass easily and I'm trying to teach Kayti not to get embarrassed so easily so I demonstrated courage by getting up and rolling with it instead of cowering down like a doofus! I had to ride around the restaurant with a cowboy hat and a play horse while everyone else got to sing "Happy Birthday"! Too bad for my family, the place wasn't that crowded!

Then we retreated to my cousin's lovely home to just relax for the day and pass Cooper around!












I confess, I am SO in love with that baby! And he's a good baby, too--just like all of mine were. And I am so proud of my little sister! She is such a good mommy!

Today I am at home with what started out to be a killer headache but has now subsided a little bit--enough for me to hold my head up anyway. I'm going to go lie back down for a little bit while I finish reading some books I found--SAHM I am! These are so right up my alley as I used to belong to quite a few online email loops and message boards and these women remind me so much of myself, some very dear friends I've been blessed to meet through technology and even a few I'd rather forget but truth be told, have taught me something so I guess nothing is ever a total waste. And I'm hear to tell you--God can speak to us through ANYTHING.

One passage in particular that caught my attention was this:

"We are not supposed to have "quiet time". Not at all! We are supposed to have a love relationship with the God of the universe, who adores each of us as individuals. Do you force yourself to spend a certain block of time with [your husband] every day, where you engage in intense sutdy of something somebody else wrote about what he said? Where you deliverately work at memorizing a letter he wrote to you? Where you rattle off a honey-do list of needs you or other people have? How fun would that be for either one of you?

I would imagine when you spend time with your husband, you laugh and talk together, show affection and listen to each otehr. It's not "quiet" at all!

Don't you think God would rather have that sort of natural, spontaneous relationship with you, instead of some regimented, formulaic ritual?

Oh what a relief! I'd never thought of it that way. It's not that I dread my quiet times (well, sometimes I do if I'm being totally honest) or that I hate studying God's Word. But I think sometimes we put TOO much emphasis on making "quiet time" a habit when God wants ALL of us, every day and then we fret on how to balance doing that with all the other demands on us. After reading this, I've determined that Satan was trying to use the very thing we should treasure against us by making us feel guilty when we are unable to accomplish it. No more! I shall now look upon my "quiet times" (when I get them!) as a treat and a treasure, rather than a chore and will continue to have the kind of relationship with my redeemer that I've ALWAYS had--ongoing and mutual throughout each day and night, sharing my thoughts, joys and concerns with Him just like I do others that I love.

So I'm off to read and relax and try to make the rest of my headache go away so I can get up this afternoon and bust my hiney doing all the things that need doing around here so I can get back to my babies tomorrow! I really miss them and HATE HATE HATE missing work, even though sometimes, it's just plain necessary!

Have a blessed week, my dear friends!