By request

My dear friend Amy says it's time for a new post, and I suppose she's right. Not sure what's new. We're enjoying more outside time, despite our allergies. Thank you, Jesus, for Claritin. Yesterday was Ella's last day of preschool, which I can hardly believe. Tomorrow we will have a program and picnic at the school. This girl LOVES school, and I'm afraid we're in for a long summer. We have many conversations E: "Where are we going today?" M: "We get to stay home today, and you can play with your toys." E:"But where are we going?" M:"Nowhere today." E:"When Daddy comes home from work, will he stay with Natalie so we can go somewhere?" I'm going to have to learn to be very proactive with activities for these two, so I can continue to get some work done during the days. (Hint, hint: suggestions welcome!)

In other news, our small group is just completing a study on James. I've really enjoyed it, even though James is at times painfully convicting. I want to focus less on the day-to-day blah, blah blah of all the "stuff" I have to do in order to blah blah blah, and concentrate more on spending everyday and every activity with God. I think life can be much simpler than I make it. I want to raise my children with God's love, do my work with God's joy, and generally live my life in God's peace. Doing things for yourself with your own energy gets tiring. One passage in particular that smacked me in the face this morning was James 5:13-15 from The Message:
13-15Are you hurting? Pray. Do you feel great? Sing. Are you sick? Call the church leaders together to pray and anoint you with oil in the name of the Master. Believing-prayer will heal you, and Jesus will put you on your feet. And if you've sinned, you'll be forgiven—healed inside and out.