Sleeping with bread: reaching for crumbs

It's a picture perfect day outside. The birds are singing, the sky is totally blue and the sun is more August like than it is April like.

The quiet of my Monday should make me feel at rest - this is my day off, but I find myself feeling totally overwhelmed in the area of "Things to do". I was even tempted to head into the office to get a head start on things in the coming week, but to be honest - I know I need the day away. Really I do.

So for the sake of sorting out the last week I'm choosing a specific, Sleeping with Bread question/statement today. Often, I just need pointed in the direction of a start then I'm good to go. So here goes.

For what am I least grateful? Most grateful?

Challenge:
I'm the kind of person who would prefer to have things given to me straight, even if the message is tough to hear. This week I experienced some misaligned info and attitude that I had to spend too much time re-orienting and repairing. I really hate to waste time on such matters, plus the emotional side of such drama wears me out!



Honestly, straight shooting is the only way to go. This would be the biggie this last week in the "least grateful" category.

Juggling:
My little guy and girl were home sick last week for a few days with a stomach bug. Not so sick that they could not care for each other while I was working (after the first day), but sick enough to cause me some hectic rescheduling of work plans. So working I worked from home on day one, and was able to have them to look after each other on the other day. My not so little ones are growing up fast!

Creative Play:
A big mural art project came together fairly well last week - except for my misjudgment on how much "wonder under" I needed to complete it. So two trips to the fabric department, many hours of ironing, and one more week of applying fabric paint with the kids who are working on the project and we will be home free! I promise, pictures are coming soon of the finished project.



For those of you who are not familiar with "Wonder under" for art/craft projects here is an explanation:
Wonder Under - Regular weight paper-backed fusible web for use on medium to lightweight fabrics. Wonder Under is a fusible adhesive which is applied to a release paper. Wonder Under bonds fabric to fabric, or any porous surface, including wood and cardboard. It is faster and easier to use than glue.


I am very grateful for Wonder under, when it works. :)

Awards:
I had the great honor of honoring a lovely 30-year veteran Sunday School teacher from my church on Friday evening. Another local church, Blackwell Chapel, organized an awards banquet for Christian Educators. I have to admit, I was not totally honest with Judy when I invited her to the banquet. I simply told her it was a dinner for Christian Educators and I thought she might like to attend. I failed to tell her that she was one of the several people being honored at this event. I figured I'd just let that part be a surprise. And it was!


I'm so grateful to Judy, and the Sunday School teachers like her who faithfully give their time and heart to their students each week. Without the Judys of the world, Sunday School would never even get started. Thanks for all you do, Judy!

Sharing:
This Sunday I had the opportunity to share at the contemporary service about some of the ideas in my Grape Jelly Jars post. It was my first official "sermon" with a group of adults and kids at my church. I hope it was applicable to all who listened.

Memories:
With all the thoughts about Sunday School teachers this last week, I remembered one of my favorites when I was about five years old. Her name was Winnie Cartwright. My memories of her revolve around her name, as a child I thought she was somehow related to winnie the pooh with a name like that. I also recall a picture she had in her classroom. It was the image many church classrooms had I'm sure. It was the painting of Jesus sitting outdoors with children represented from all over the world.



One Sunday, I went straight up to Winnie and said, "Winnie, I had a dream about the Jesus picture this week." She smiled and asked me, "That is interesting, what was the dream about?" "I dreamed that I was outside with Jesus and all the kids were there too, but I was the one that got to sit on his lap!"

Winnie did not scold me for being the center of attention in my dream, I was only 5 after all. She simply replied, " That is a great dream. And you know what? Jesus wants all of us to be as close to him as possible. I want to be that child too!"

I'm grateful for Winnie and her gentle way of sharing Jesus with me. I'm thankful that she encouraged me to dream my dreams. I'm thankful that all the crumbs of this week are more than enough to keep me going, living, growing and dreaming.

So for now, even in my long list of 'to dos', I can expectantly dreams and think of the bread for the week to come.