Even the Dust, He Knows

I started back to work on Friday.  It was a good day.  We had Shane's mom and one of our sweet high school students here to be with all four children.  But heading in to work wasn't without its stress.  Change is always hard, and especially for me when it means leaving the kids.

I don't work that much, just a day a week.  And I was only there about 5 hours on Friday.  So only missed one feeding with Blaise.  Sometimes when I think about my friends who work a lot more, I feel badly for even talking about work.  But it's the same thing when one of my friends who has, say, only 2 children tells me how overwhelmed she is then says, "I feel so bad venting to you cause you have 4!"  I always tell them not to feel bad.  It's all relative.  And what overwhelms one of us might not overwhelm the other.  Hopefully we're all trying to support one another and not compare.

This was also a big week for us because Shane preached on Sunday.  We are in the midst of a series on prayer and Shane taught through Psalm 139 on praying in response to the wisdom of God;  He knows all things and He knows us.  One of the examples Shane used was that God knows all things, even at a micro level.  You know when the sun shines through the window and you see all those dust particles? he said.  God knows and governs the path of each dust particle.  And not only those here on earth but throughout the universe.

So this week as I was dealing with the stress of going back to work, the Lord kept bringing that illustration to mind (Shane had talked me through the details of his message earlier in the week).  I couldn't shake the truth that our God knew and would govern the details of both home and work.  So grateful we can trust His wisdom.

It was sweet to hear Shane preach on Father's Day.  I left Blaise in the nursery for the first time (he was such a good boy to be happy the whole time and wait till the service was over to need to eat again) so I got to be in the entire service for the first time in 2 months!

Shane did a wonderful job and his message is up on the Harvest website.  We are blessed to have heard from several people that what he said deeply ministered to them.  And I am grateful that God redeemed several personal experiences we have had as Shane shared how God brought light to some of our darkest times.  There is such purpose in pain when it draws others to the Lord.

We are so proud to be wife and daughter and sons of this man!

Last night we were super tired from the long weekend.  We had done some random things on Friday night, including Silas getting to go on a mock backyard campout (see Natalie's blog for cute pics!).  Then Saturday, Shane and Blaise and I went to a wedding.  So by Sunday night we were ready to just rest and be together.  We went on a family walk after having dinner outside.

Today Shane was home so we pulled out our pool for the first time this summer.  The kids had a blast, especially when we put the slide into it!  They had such fun that we went out again after naps and had dinner poolside...