Grace on a Thursday: Blog? What blog?

Um, have you noticed that I haven't posted since last Thursday?

Sista, I need some big, generous grace today for not being around here much. Not reading much, interacting much....all things I want to do, but things that I've had to put on the back burner for a time. That always happens to me this time of year. Every extracurricular activity has it's end of the year carnival/project/class play/award ceremony/field trip/banquet. We've been doing lots of those.

And to top it off, BOTH my kids' birthdays are within the next 4 weekends. So April/May sorta kills me. It is all great and super fun. Just busy with stuff that can't really be skipped. You know what I mean? I skip a lot of stuff we get invited to for the sake of simplifying our schedules on a regular basis. But this time of year is full of un-skippable stuff. Right?

So this poor little blog has been seriously neglected. I wanted to thank you for sticking around, though. I really loved the conversation that got started up by this post, on honoring a Sabbath day. Really great comments and input from you all. You inspire me, seriously. You encourage and exhort me in the ways of the Word, and I love that. No, I need that.

So in my blog-absence, here's a bit of what I've been up to.

A couple fun projects to keep myself sane, since I haven't been writing (which is my first choice of ways to stay sane).

A neighbor was getting rid of this amazing 5-panel wooden folding screen with chippy paint. Um. Yes please. I asked for it and he promptly carried it into my garage. Free. Awesome. Cannot wait to paint it.

Thrifted happiness.
New drapes for my bedroom.($20)
Cast iron wedge pan. ($2)
Frames for wrapping with fabric. (3 for $16)
Harajuku skinny jeans for my girl. ($1.50)

Lengthening my new drapes with a little teal chenille I had on hand. (I like the sound of that.)

More May-Sanity-Preservation: Starbucks Frappuccino 1/2 price happy hour is going on right now. I may have wandered for 15 minutes in a pet store, listening to all the locations in my house that could accommodate a hamster cage, just so I could get to Starbucks after happy hour started. If the cost of this drink starts with a $1, I'm in. My girl had to try the new chocolate cookie Frap too.

And like I said, we've been doing a lot of end-of-the-year business.

Awana award ceremony with my silly guy.

Closing performance of Annie with my little grubby pretend orphan.

Grammy and Papa in town to see their little orphan too, and then take her to get a strawberry Nutella crepe afterwards.

Chaperoning the first grade field trip to an aquarium. On a big bus. Three kids to a bench. 1 hour ride. Whoa. That's love.

I think he thought this giant taxidermied penguin looked tough.

Fish faces. This guy is so sweet. He also knows really a lot of details about the weapons each Star Wars character owns. I do, now, too. Because that was a long ride.

The trip reminded me how much I love to hang out with this precious guy, one on one, and really appreciate how amazing he is. (It also reminded me that I am old and have motion issues.)


Look at his birthday invites. I absolutely could not resist this print-it-yourself mini comic book download I found on etsy here. She inserts your image, personalizes them however you want, and then you print, cut, and assemble. So perfect for my young jedi!!

So I've been doing a lot of this. Capturing my babies in their sweet moments of glory. Planning for their special days. Listening to all their desires and dreams for their celebrations. And appreciating the gifts they are to me. Precious, precious gifts from God.  

So no deep spiritual analysis here today. Just living my life, loving on my babes, trying to maintain my house and laundry in light of the busyness, and feeling thankful for each of you and the ways in which you model faith, love, and Godly living to me.

Hopefully, I'll get to write more soon. Hugs.