My Busy Weekend in a Nutshell

Or why it was so hard to get up this morning.

I'm not going to start at the very beginning, even though a song from one of my favorite movies suggests that is a very good place to start. I'm starting nearer the end, because it is the very best part, and I don't want you to get bored and stop reading before then.

We had a baptismal service last night at church. 15 people got frozen, I mean baptized (there was a problem with the water heater), by our pastoral intern. Two more were baptized by their father. There was a wide range of ages among the people getting baptized, from children & teenagers to young adults and not so young adults. It is always exciting and encouraging to hear the testimonies, and celebrate with those making a public declaration of their faith. It's heartwarming to see the friends & family members standing up taking pictures, and hearing the applause and cheering. When the children were baptized, their young friends came up to the front to watch. A few laughs ensued after seeing and hearing the reactions when a person entered the water. There was an opportunity for fellowship and eating delicious desserts afterward.

Because of our attending the baptismal service, I didn't have time to do what I usually do on Sunday evening: prepare for the coming school week. I got a few school related things done, but also had to take care of my daughter who started feeling sick on the way home from the service, and do some things I didn't have time to do on Saturday. I had a lot more I needed to do, but I was tired.

I came up with a grandiose plan. I was going to go to bed early, get plenty of sleep, wake up before the girls, and get a lot of things done in the quiet morning.

The best laid plans of mice and men, often go astray.

Time for some back story (like in the movies). This past weekend showed promise. I slept in for a whole hour! There were was one less scheduled activity than usual. I had planned quick trip to town, and back home to get some things accomplished, before heading off to a rock & mineral club Christmas party with dh. The trip to town ended up being more complicated than I had hoped. Due to circumstances beyond my control (meaning family members with their own agendas), I got a late start. Due to a cashier error at a store I visited on Friday and didn't discover until Saturday morning,I had to go to another, farther away, bigger town with more traffic, to complete my errands. Of course, while in the other town, I had to stop at the ice cream shoppe where my dd works to let her know about some plans we made after she left for work, and have a molten lava chocolate cake (her description of it last week made me have to try it), made by her own hands. Then a traffic tie up meant getting home fairly late. I had hoped for a brief nap before getting ready for the evening, but had too many other pressing tasks to attend to.

We had to meet a friend (hi, if you are reading this), who was going to take two of our daughters to a youth group Christmas party, but all of us got a late start and ending up being late to the meeting spot. But we all got to our intended destinations and had a great time. It was too late to do much when we got home.

Sunday morning was per usual. Get up, shower, wake the girls up, get ready for church, attend church, participate in great praise & worship, listen to a great sermon, fellowship with friends, go home, eat lunch, and grab a nap (shorter than usual) before heading off to church for the baptismal service.

Flash forward to the present: I think I'm back to where I started, which wasn't the very beginning you may recall. I didn't get to bed quite as early as I planned. Then, as usually happens when I try to go to bed early, I couldn't get to sleep. Add to that the usual nocturnal awakenings and inability to go back to sleep quickly, and I slept later than planned. I woke up in just enough time to wake up the girl who needed to get up early. So much for my plans.

That was my busy weekend in a nutshell (more like a coconut shell really) and why it was so hard to get up this morning. Then instead of doing school prep, I sat down and wrote this blog. Well, I think that on-line journaling (which is essentially what a blog is) isn't a waste of time. And I did start doing laundry, and ate breakfast. So not a totally unproductive start to the day.

For all of you who stuck it out and reached this point, here is your reward. It is a gem from our Sunday sermon (not necessarily related to this post - but I thought it was good to remember):

I Peter 3:15-16 For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.

If you like this blog, recognized yourself in it, recognized the song and/or movie reference, or just read the blog, please comment!