Jodilightful!

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(Image from ciyh.net.)

In the midst of a joyfully busy season, I have been finding it difficult to focus my heart and mind on the events that really took place that first Easter.

As I consider, I wonder:  if I could peek back in time at that tomb on that glorious Sunday morning, would I be just as surprised as Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to find an angel and an empty tomb?  Do I really believe it all?

Intellectually, I know the answer is yes, and yet, I find a need in my own heart to repeat over and over to myself,  ”This really happened!”   – to rehearse the events, to preach them, to imagine them, until I persuade myself that a man who was God really died and really came back to life.  And that He did it for me.

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul writes this (emphasis mine):

17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

(Read the whole chapter here.)

There are those who believe that Christianity, or any faith, is a crutch.  A nice thought to carry you through a difficult day or a difficult life.   A happy fantasy to stay the minds of the weak.

But a lie is never a nice thought.  A fantasy is never happy.  I have no desire to live under a delusion in order to make my world feel a little bit safer or to ease the pain of life’s burdens.

The gospel is only “good news” if it is true, and, praise God, it is!

Had I been there with the Marys at dawn that Sunday morning, picking up the pieces of devastating defeat and crushed dreams, I would have beheld a real, live, gloriously empty tomb.  I would have seen that it was all real beyond my wildest dreams, and I would have rejoiced!

He has risen indeed!

We are so thankful for our dear friend Megan (and her craftiness!).  Plus the fact that we only see her every few months means we always have somebody’s birthday to celebrate!

(Oops, I do have *four* daughters… I guess you can tell which one hasn’t been that into having her picture taken lately!)

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With so many pictures of the little ones lately, I thought I’d better show off the big girl who holds it all together around here.  My helpful, sweet, seems-a-whole-lot-bigger-than-five-most-of-the-time-but-still-reminds-me-she’s-little-every-once-in-a-while Pippa.  I love you!

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January 23rd 2006 - 5 days till due date and still smiling! (Do you love these PJ's my aunt sent me? Because every pregnant woman needs one-piece pajamas with matching slippers!)

January 28th is a date that will be forever etched in my memory.  Four years ago today (you know, at least roughly) I was supposed to have a baby.  It was Romilly’s due date.  And each year I marvel at what a long time it is from this date until the actual date of her arrival.

Due date.  What a funny old term.  It had worked out okay with Pippa.  They told me she’d come on September the 5th (or so) and lo and behold, on September 5th I was in labor, though she wasn’t born until the next day.  There wasn’t time for me to get philosophical about the whole thing.

On January 28th, 2006, I went into due date mode.  I had nothing planned but to sit at home and will contractions to begin.  Little did I know I would still go to church two more times *without* a new baby, and field days and days of  ”Are you in labor yet?” type phone calls.  Little did I know the visit from my in-laws to meet our two-week-old baby would actually commence two days after she was born.  No, I was going to go into labor any second.  Any… second…

I want you all to pay attention to this moment in time.  Take note of what you are doing right now.  Of the circumstances of your life.  I want you all to remember this post and this day in your life when I come back in a while and tell you that it is, in fact, Romilly’s birthday, a long, long time from right now.  I will tell you this, I haven’t even decided what day we’re having her party yet.  It’s not even on my imminent to-do list.

Well, I couldn’t pass this one up.  I Heart Faces is celebrating its first birthday with a photo competition simply titled, “Best Face”, and I happen to live with *the* five best faces God’s ever made (you know, *I* think).  It was just hard to pick one.

This was the girl who cooperated today, though, and it seems like her baby sister’s been stealing the bloggy limelight a little lately anyway.  Here’s Beatrix, just being her sweet self.

I was *not* going to do this week’s I Heart Faces Challenge… until I saw this photo, which was just asking to be tweaked to the specifications, don’t you think?  So, yeah, my ten-month-old can’t really write on her own forehead, but she does really eat crayons.  The smudges above her eye, around her mouth and *on her tongue*?  Totally not doctored.  Sad, but true.

Trouble!

I am submitting this photo into the I Heart Faces logo photo contest. By entering, I am granting I Heart Faces LLC permission to consider my photo for use in the marketing and promotion of their website.

For more totally adorable and creative I Heart Faces contest entries, click here.

I’m not usually one for making New Year’s resolutions.  Sure, I’d love to lose that stubborn 15 lbs or so that’s evaded my post-baby-shape-up efforts for the last two babies, but why should January 1st be a better day to do that than any other?  Especially when I have a whole kitchen full of leftover stocking candy!

But there is one resolution that the Lord has been asking me to make for about three years now, and I think it’s time I stop putting Him off.

It all began with this blog post.  The faithful ladies at Girltalk have long been singing the praises of rising early in order to better serve your family, and I have long been sticking my fingers in my ears and La-la-la-la-la-ing at them in my head.

Surely they didn’t mean me.  I mean, for six years straight now I’ve either been pregnant or had a nursing baby waking me up at all hours.  Surely I wouldn’t be any use to anyone at 6 o’clock in the morning.

But now I am out of excuses.  June’s been sleeping blissfully through until about 7 each morning for months now, and there is no new little one on the way.  It’s time.

So…

Beginning Monday morning, I resolve to wake up with Trevor each morning (usually at about 6) and (this is the crucial part that I’m not doing already…) stay awake after he leaves for work to prepare for my day.   It’s big, and even as I type this I hate the very thought of giving up my extra hour of sleep in the morning, but I know this is something God is asking me to do, at least for a trial period.  Of, say, a year.

I will not be a true 5 AM Club member*, but I do believe it will be a step in the right direction, and that God will use it to make me a better wife and mother.  *Deep breaths.*

Proverbs 31, excerpt (emphasis mine):

10 An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. …15 She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. …27 She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. 28 Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: 29 “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.” 30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. 31 Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.

*This offer excludes weekends, and morning after nights in which I have been awakened more than twice by children needing to go potty, throw up or otherwise be rascals in the middle of the night.

Oh, and Happy New Year!

Hope your Christmas was as filled with sweet moments as ours was.

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