the heavens declare

I spent today and will spend tomorrow writing our summer Bible study curriculum. It is late in the game, but the curriculum arrived terribly late, was terribly disappointing and necessitated a rewrite. It's a really exciting project though...I love lesson planning, and I love using my imagination as I figure out how to best communicate the reality of our God and how knowing him changes everything in how we live our life in this world and the next.

The theme we chose is from 2nd Corinthians 5:17, focusing on the New Creation we are when we are in Christ Jesus. It's going to be good stuff and I'm so excited. The second day is all about God's creativity in creating the wonders that surround us and the scripture above gave me the chills as I worked it into the teaching lesson for each camper to hear all summer long.

I'd love for you to keep me in your prayers as I work on this project. I really pray that these days of writing can be Holy Spirit days, where I get to be a vessel, and God chooses the words and themes and focus points that he wants his campers to hear each day of the summer ahead.

a favorite website

Well, I went to work yesterday at 10:15, (two and some hours late) stayed for less than an hour and came back home to crawl into bed. Then I woke up and layed low with my laptop for a while and I came across this favorite site...ready for a revisit.

Now I don't know these girls (although I can think of a few role models from my past who might have just fit in with this group in the early 90's). I found this picture on http://www.awkwardfamilyphotos.com/ and it was a pure delight to my sicky day. Take a moment to click over to this site. It will make you laugh out loud.

I'm feeling much better today. I got LOTS of encouraging emails and comments yesterday...thank you, thank you, thank you. And I already have a lost-and-found sleeping bag rolled out on the floor for my lunch break nap. Hooray for naptime!

my get-up-and-go has gotten-up-and-gone

and I'm left wondering if it is okay to be so very unproductive.

I remember my sister calling me a few weeks ago complaining that she didn't have anything to show for her last 13 weeks. And I reminded her gently that she actually had a little 13 week life growing inside of her and two daughters (ages 2 and 4) that she is raising each day that might count as "something to show for." But I think what she meant was nothing above and beyond just getting by and making it from day to day.

Well, sister, let me tell you what. I've been thinking about that conversation a lot this past week, because I am so dog tired lately, so utterly exhausted, that I believe just getting to work should earn me a gold star. And then staying until 5 is basically reason enough to throw a parade. And by parade I mean, drive myself home to nap/snack/and watch tv until it is 9:00 with the last float of that parade throwing my head onto my pillow for my beloved bedtime.

But this is so hard to actually be okay with...vegging like this each evening. I'm a doer. I make to-do lists, and then I get things done. But this just isn't working lately. I have had a project on our table for over a month. Each time we need the table and have to move the entire thing Rory will kindly comment and question, "this is really going to be great. when do you hope to finish it?" And the truth is, it has been number one on my to-do list every night and every weekend for the past four weeks. But somehow when I get home, I just fall into the couch and have trouble climbing back out.

Annika's frustration makes sense to me now. On one level I do want to say, "Becca, you're 11 weeks preggers. Just sit on that couch and take a load off." But that other voice of, "Becca, look alive! Remember when you used to do stuff with your life?!!" is very, very active. And it's just hard to find the grace to veg in that second voice.

I'm banking on finding my steam again come week 14. That's what I read in a book somewhere, and I'm really hoping it just finds me one morning and gets me out of bed and says, "hey! here's your mojo! let's finish some projects today!"

Until then, you can find me snug on my couch watching Dancing with the Stars (can't get enough...drama, drama, kate-you-poor-thing, drama), Lost (this show is currently knocking my socks off. Unbelievable.), Modern Family (start this show at the beginning so you get to know the characters and then watch out. I laugh loud in this show, and that's saying a lot because I'm a silent laugher) and The Food Network (all shows, every show. I love food lately...and by lately I mean for the last 29 years)

black lace

Every year I can count on my mom telling me how much she LOVES this time of the year, when the trees are just budding and how when the sun is setting, the trees turn black and lacy. Right now, Nebraska at dusk is covered in black lace and it is gorgeous. I took this picture on Friday night driving to camp for our summer leadership retreat and felt so excited that spring is here and summer is coming.

Then, when I drove back to camp on Saturday morning, I had to stop at the exact same tree, that had magically blossomed overnight. Spring is definitely here.

On a related note (well, just related to spring and newness of life...), I almost hit a mama robin this morning. She saw my car and went to fly away, but her belly was so huge, she could hardly lift off. And it made me pause, because I've got some bigger days to come, and this mama robin's inability to move this morning was a sobering sight. I silently hoped that she might just fly right to her nest and lay those eggs and feel better real soon.

donald miller this week...

I read Donald Miller's blog every day. He's got good stuff to say and I really love how he writes.

This week he posted excerpts from a book he is re-releasing with some new material called 'Father Fiction.' If you're kicking back with your computer today and looking for some compelling stuff to chew on, I'd recommend going back to Monday's post and starting there.

But yesterday he posted a provocative post on choosing your friends, and if you only have time for one reading, read this one. I appreciated what he wrote, and then I really appreciated the comments others wrote after reading his post. Just thought I'd pass it along.