What a week. There were so many times throughout that I thought about sitting down and writing blog posts, but time slipped away, people needed me, and so I didn’t get to a lot of things, but it has been a good week.

By contrast, the next week looks too short for the amount of work that is in it. Editing deadlines, a weekend writers retreat, and the normal to-do list seems pretty overwhelming. However, as my Mom reminded me this morning, God has given me enough hours in this day to accomplish everything He wanted me to. I need to focus on the things that God is calling me to do, not the things that feel like the most important.

On Saturday of last week, our family had a wonderful fellowship at our house. I didn’t take any pictures, but I was blessed to hang out with some people from our church, members of my siblings Frisbee group, and friends that had traveled two hours to be with us.

Sunday-Tuesday, Mom and I took a trip to New Braunfels, Texas. It was some much needed down time for both of us. We both came away feeling rested and peaceful. It was a time of sweet fellowship.

Work consumed a lot of my time last week. I not only had the privilege of continuing my job as a home-health aide, but I was also able to help out with the books at the thrift store that I worked at earlier this year. Again, I didn’t get pictures of either of these things, but I was blessed to do them.

The big news of the week? Well, I now have covers for the next two Kate’s Case Files books (see a cover reveal coming on May first), and I was given an opportunity to get Kindle Unlimited for only $1.99 for three months. I’m so excited about reading so many books that have been on my to-read list for a long time. I’ve already read two short stories by K.M. Weiland and Monster by Mirriam Neal (more about that on Wednesday).

This Sunday was my day of rest. I was reminded of the importance of taking a day of rest every week, stopping all work, and giving our minds and hearts a break. I was reminded because I almost felt like I should work. However, when I nearly broke down crying simply because all the effect of a weeks’ worth of emotion slammed into me, I was reminded why we take that day of rest.  We need to stop, to take time to be still so that we can hear God, our hearts rest, and we are better prepared to face the week ahead.

How has your week been?

Who knew so many of you would want to know about my childhood? When I did that poll in February, that is what people wanted to know about. I must have done a good job making my life sound interesting on my blog. For the next few weeks, I will share weekly posts about my childhood. But my story begins before I was born. It starts even before my parents met. Because honestly, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for God bringing both of my parents to Himself.

Neither of my parents grew up in church. Their parents were nice people, who worked to create good, safe homes for their children. Yet, both my parents knew something was missing from their lives.

My Dad had a friend in high school that was a Christian. My dad had questions and a heart to find God, cultivated by many outdoor excursions he had though the Boy Scouts. This friend had the answers. One day, he gave Dad a tape (old technology) that had a gospel message. My dad accepted Christ.

My mom had a far more dramatic experience. She had a hunger for God since she had a cousin who died in a car accident when she was in her early teens, but couldn’t find answers. She did know that what she wanted to do was to be a wife and mom, something that her teachers always berated her for (ah, the sixties). When she moved to college, she met and married a man and had my beautiful and talented older sister Nicole. The marriage was not going well, but God used a friend to bring mom to church. Here, she found people who cared for others and loved each other. She asked this guy there what made them different. He and his friend took mom to lunch and explained the gospel. My mom found what her heart had been seeking, and she accepted it that day.

After her conversion, her marriage became horrible. Her husband was unfaithful and abusive. However, Mom felt very strongly that she was supposed to stay. One day she came to find her the apartment empty of everything except for divorce papers on the table. Her husband had left her for another woman.

Over the next few years, God worked in both my parents’ lives, moving them both to Dallas, healing my Mom’s heart, and preparing my Dad. Funny thing is, when they met, neither of them were very interested in marriage. They became friends as my Dad spent time with Nicole as part of a program at church for single-parent kids. Through that friendship and the counsel of friends, God moved my parents toward the understanding that He had called them together.

My parents married on July 1, 1989. Later that year, my Dad adopted Nicole so that she was legally his daughter. On June 30, 1990, I was born. I was actually premature and spent the first three days of my life in a hospital. Wasn’t I cute?


And so, my life began…

Well, now that I have finished my temporary job at the thrift store, I'm getting back to writing. Here is what I'm working on right now.

Easter and spring always make me joyful. There have been times when happiness wasn't at the front, but joy has always been in the season. There is something about celebrating the resurrection of Jesus as the trees that have looked dead for months burst forth in fresh green leaves. In Texas, the roadsides are covered with wildflowers and everyone is taking pictures in the bluebonnets.

I needed the reminder this year that all things will be made new.

I'll be honest. I'm tired. I'm weary. I feel like my emotional and physical energy have been pushed toward my limit for far too long. My head might know that this is not true, that life is getting easier and I'm becoming stronger. However, there are times when I just want to lay on my pillow and weep, sleep, and spend the next day in bed doing nothing. I want to know that tasks are being accomplished without me. I want to know that the things I'm struggling with will be miraculously dealt with.  I want the pain and suffering around me to stop. Easter reminded me that I should long for those things.

C.S. Lewis said that if we find ourselves with longings this world cannot satisfy, then it was obvious that we were made for another world. All the longings that I have are normal because sin has corrupted this world. This isn’t how it was supposed to be. The good news Easter reminds us of is that it won’t always be this way.

On Good Friday, I was blessed to celebrate Easter together. All my siblings and I got to take this fun picture:

Our family had an awesome time together on Easter. My brother, who is working nights, was unable to join us as he was sleeping.

Together, we remembered Christ sacrificial death and resurrection. Death and sin were trampled. They no longer have the same power. Christ stands in victory, and one day soon, there will be an end to it. I may be weary now, but I know that it won't last.