It was bound to happen....

Well, it really is no surprise that I stained my favorite t-shirt this week. It's bound to happen when you absolutely live in something. I should have known not to dye Easter eggs in this shirt! Now I'm limited to my long-sleeve billboard shirt even though it's warm outside and spring has clearly arrived here (see photo of the tree right outside my front window above.) Is it a frivolous use of my money to buy ANOTHER shirt (Brian don't answer that), even though the money will go to a good cause? Hmmm? Crazy Love didn't address such specifics. Maybe the Bible has something on going overboard on a particular topic... must get back to you on that one.

We did have fun dying the eggs though. Even though they turned out a little less than gorgeous.

I did NOT predict that my parents would surprise me with a visit yesterday. I was sitting on the window seat in the kitchen watching the kids play when the back door opened and it was my Mama! I was so happy to see her. I didn't know they were going to stop in Nashville on their way home from visiting our family in Alabama. They were going to my brother's baseball game (he coaches in a neighboring county) and spending the night at a resort here, but they didn't tell me. So it was a very nice treat for me and the kiddos to have them for a couple of hours. A welcome diversion right in the middle of Spring Break week. And they brought Webkinz for Liam and Connor, which was perfect timing because they had JUST asked for them this week when they discovered that their other Webkinz had expired. Thanks Meme and Pepaw!

The other thing that I could have predicted this week? I "lost" two followers on my blog. Maybe it's a total coincidence that I blog about my faith and try to dispel some long-held myths and two folks sign off on the same week. I don't want to be one of those paranoid people who think everything is connected to some perceived injustice. However, I can't help but wonder. Maybe they just tired of my ranting. Maybe they just didn't find the content interesting. Maybe they are struggling with conviction regarding orphans and couldn't stand the constant barrage of pleas. I don't know. I just know they are gone without so much as a good-bye and it seems very coincidental that I mention Catholicism, in an environment where I know Catholics to be highly misunderstood, and they slip away in silence. Jesus said it would be this way if we followed Him, though, so I am not concerned. I will continue to spill what's on my heart and He will continue to use it as He will. It's hard, though, not to want 5,000,000 followers. It's hard not to be a little excited when you see someone else has decided they "like" what you're saying enough to officially say it. But, that's the danger and the trap of popularity, it can so easily become about ME and not Him, so I am not going to fret about it. I just noticed it and noted the odd timing and thought it was worth mentioning. Because I think He wants us to be loving one another, not trying to find reasons to disagree over how it "looks."

One thing I did NOT predict was how well my THREE kiddos would get along. That's Maggie for giving Jack a much needed vacation from little siblings. She came up this week for a meeting and took Jack home with her for a little break of his own. And she also bought me two pairs of shoes and new purse while she was here, after taking ALL of us (our family and Brian's sister's family) out to dinner. Thanks Maggie! But the other three left behind are having a very unusually perfect week of cooperation and love. It's a perfect storm, the stars must be aligned or God has taken mercy on me in my allergenic/head-ache ridden state and my children have been the picture of sibling love and cooperation. This only happens once in every mother's lifetime, so I feel very sure I should mark the date on my calendar and remember it every year with some sort of pilgrimage or burnt offering!

Maybe it's the power of the sunglasses. You know, the new glasses that Jack just HAD to go to the mall (bleck) to buy and then all the kids just HAD to spend their OWN money to have a pair too... well, maybe I paid for Meg's, but the rest of the kids definitely paid me back for their $7 worth of cool! Nothing says Spring Break at home like watching TV in your new shades!

But even super heroes need their rest. A long day of perfect harmony takes it's toll, even on Super Man. That, I could have definitely predicted!

Matthew 28:6

"He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay."