What a week!

I read something a few weeks ago about being busy versus full... Busy was described as frantic, stressed, weary - Full is satisfying, fruitful, joy with serving. Busy gets distracted by many things - Full is receiving, trusting God as the provider and source. Busy takes control of my time and energy, while Full renews my strength and comes from a life in the Spirit. Busy gets results - Full brings rewards... I think I could say that we had a very "Full" week last week. Maybe a little busy but definitely full! Tutoring is in full swing for me (end of the year and exam crunch) and it was end of the year stuff for the homeschool program last week. I spent several days last week gone all day and most of the evening from my home... I LOVE my home - I am even more especially thankful for it after having been "homeless" for 3 months last year (very dear friends let us rent their home while we looked for a home to buy after selling our previous home, but it was not able to be much of a home - it was very temporary). This past weekend actually marked our 1 year anniversary of owning this home - May 9, 2008 was a very happy day for us indeed! So, we had one of those weeks where there was alot going on, and I have to say that I was almost (just a little) grateful for a little sinus surgery, so that I had a reason that I HAD to stay home for a few days!

Here's some of our Full week:

My dear friend Jen

I have been blessed with a very wonderful friend...I think it's been about 10 years now?... After living with them for a few months (many years ago, once again when we were in between houses!) and having a miscarriage during that time, Jason and Jen truly became our precious friends. We have walked through alot of "life" together. My heart hurts for all their family is enduring now, so I cherish even more so my time with her. Wednesday night at Bible Study we had a sorta-surprise birthday party for her. Yeah, didn't think it would be much of a surprise (she had an idea) but it was still fun. And we started a new Beth Moore study (Esther) which I am super excited about.

Thursday night Chris had the Athletic Banquet at school, so when he got home, I headed over to Jen's to celebrate her real birthday, since Jason wasn't due home till the following day. It was kind of nice to have a girls night after a busy (I mean, full) week (and a slightly emotional week after learning about all of Dad's cancer stuff). So we, along with Lindsey, Jen's wonderful sister, dove into a chocolate chip cookie cake (yummy!) and watched the movie Bride Wars (great chick flic!). (Sorry Jen, unfortunately there's no "air brush" on my computer to add some make-up on us!)

Friday morning was oh-so sweet. Cole's class had their Muffins with Mom (to celebrate Mother's Day). Cole has been talking about this for several weeks and was up bright and early, because of course, he was super excited about it. We had muffins and fruit (Cole served me breakfast), received gifts our child had made for us, and then the class sang several songs. Boy, I don't know how Mrs. Cline manages 16 little five and six year olds... Kindergarten teachers truly are special.

Friday night Nana and Papa came... Poor Papa, he had a biopsy on Friday morning and wasn't feeling up to par just yet. The kids were so excited to see them, and he was such a good sport, even though he felt crummy. Thankfully, he and Nana were able to get to bed pretty early, while Chris and I stayed up to finish this (thank you honey! I know you wanted to go to bed but you were a great assistant!)

Ansley's dance recital was on Saturday morning. While I think she enjoyed taking the ballet and tap this year, it wasn't her favorite (and don't think she's meant to be a professional dancer!). But I do have to say she sure looked cute in her little outfit and up on stage.

Chris and I got tickled at this...she is such a "stop and smell the roses" type child and sometimes gets out in lala land. Her class was lined up to come back on stage at the end with all the different classes, and she was still standing there, twirling her flower and looking around while her class filed on to the stage. The lady who was helping is motioning on the side of the picture to tell her to "come on!". :-)

And finally, while I'm going for the longest post ever... Luke's birthday party was that afternoon (and sort of Ansley's - we will celebrate hers later this month with a few of her little girl friends but the family brought her presents too). Luke was so tired by the time we got to the cake (it was past nap time for him), so we didn't get much enthusiasm from him.

The poor child...we FORGOT to let him open his presents...after eating cake, Chris put him down for his nap. So then we woke him up early (he did get a good nap in and needed to be woken up so he would go to bed at a decent hour, but he was a little dazed when opening his presents!).