I’m taking a break from the simplicity series.  I’ve been thinking about it and realized I’ve been avoiding blogging because of it.  Which would obviously be the opposite of the point of doing a series.  There is just so much content to sift through in my brain that when I would have a chance to sit down with my thoughts, it would be the last thing I wanted to do.

Then.  Just this morning our pastor talked about a false simplicity – one that turns complex things into simple, check-lists to do.  I have such legalistic tendencies in my heart – both prideful, self-righteous ones and prideful, insecure ones.  I really want to avoid both and felt like I was teetering the line a bit lately.

So a break.  It’ll be nice.  When the urge to blog about the fam or a God lesson or a story from work hits, I’ll not feel the need to write a thesis first before I share.

So about the fam.  Caden and Dan are at the first of two birthday parties today.  I am tagging in for the second one.  So until they get back for the 30 minutes in between parties, and while the baby (toddler) sleeps, I have a quiet house.

Speaking of house…we are set to close on buying one in 6 days!  What?  I know, fast.  We’re 6 months ahead of our schedule to start getting serious about buying.  But one we had our eye on went down another big amount and so we put our offer on the table.  And 3 weeks later here we are!

There are lots of little details I’ll refrain from publicly blabbing about that have fallen into place in this whole situation.  And I’m not freaking out, which is from God.

But I do have to admit, I am so bi-polar about it all.  I’m excited about lots in the new place.  Namely, we’ll have room to move around.  But, man, am I gonna miss our neighbors.  Or as my group leader would say, “with new life there’s always death.”  Or, more accurately, as Jesus would say.  And that’s all I have to say about that.

In other news, we had our first parent-teacher conference a couple weeks ago and it went great!  Caden is improving so much in everything from sitting still to tracing letters.  We’ve seen big improvements in his ability to focus on one thing at a time, too.  Such a big kid.  I’m so proud of him.

Caleb is a big kid, too.  He’s getting like 6 teeth at once and is still an easy-going little man.  I’ve really been enjoying time alone with him in the afternoons.

God continues to teach me things in our prayer study.  Last week focused on God’s authority right after a Sunday sermon on authority.  I love when God does that.  It makes me know I need to pay attention.

I love our friends.  Our community has been such a blessing to us lately for lots of different reasons.  Sometimes I get this idea in my head about what a community “should” look like.  Then in the middle of my idealistic frustration, someone in my reality-of-a-community will bless my socks off and I’ll be mayor of humble-ville.  I really like that place.  I need to keep my hiney in it.

We are loving learning with others in the training program at our church.  A new quote that’s had me pondering is, “All true acts of leadership are acts of suffering.”  We talked about a posture and behavior of selflessness, how our leadership needs to be for others.  But the biggest leadership temptation is self-promotion.  Our pastor said the best way to combat it is by surrounding yourself with people who really speak the truth to you.  And if you have a marriage partner that isn’t overly impressed with you, that’s a good thing.  I must say, Dan’s good for me in that way.  He’s never bought any of my bull.  I’m the better for it.

And that concludes this brain dump.  Hope you’re having a good Sunday!