Mother's Day Weekend

Well, even with the rain it was a good Mother's Day Weekend!

On Saturday I got up and Trent and I went to his favorite store - RURAL KING - in Niles (it's a farm type store) and we got all kinds of stuff for landscaping, and he bought me a really nice glider to sit in out by the river. I almost bought 3 baby ducks (they had them there for only $2 each). I think it would be so cool to have your own pet ducks, plus we live on the river, so that seems to make sense to have pet ducks. I had them all picked out, when I started running my decision through the "is this going to simplify my life" filter. When I started picturing us up at Silver Lake every other weekend taking a dog, a cat, and 3 ducks - I started thinking, this IS NOT going to simplify my life. When I pictured them grown up and flying away and me being heart broken, I thought - this IS NOT going to simplify my life! So, I left Rural King WITHOUT the adorable baby ducks (I'm so proud of myself). I think Trent was relieved too!

On Saturday night I got to spend the evening with my Mom, my mother in law Emma, my sister in law Ann, and my Aunt Dani at a Mother's Day Celebration at my Mom's church. I had the incredible privilege to be the guest speaker for about 50 women of all ages. Now keep in mind, this is my first real "gig" - so it was a totally new experience for me. I was a little apprehensive all day, but when I got there and I had a podium and a mike and everything, I got really nervous (I'm much more relaxed sitting on the floor). My Mom gave me a wonderful introduction and made me sound better than I really am (every guest speaker should have their Mom introduce them) and once I started, the nerves went away and God just calmed me and took over.

All in all I think the talk went really well - I got a lot of positive feedback and I felt good about it when it was over. There were a lot of people there that are not "church goers", so I kept that in mind and kept everything really simple and encouraging. I talked about how women spend a good part of their life focusing on what they "aren't", rather than what they "are", and I encouraged them to embrace the beautiful way that God created them and run with it, to not get bogged down with the "I am nots" and focus on the "I ams". There were tears, so I'm thinking that's probably a good thing! Public speaking is definitely not something I love to do, but I believe that God has called me to speak life into girls and women, so I am trusting him and getting out of my comfort zone and letting him do what he wants with me!

Sunday afternoon Trent fixed me breakfast and Cody put my glider together. It was very cute because Cody's never done anything like that before, and he was so determined to do it all himself, and he did! He worked so hard and it came out beautiful - he did a great job!

Then I went to Lifeline and got to hang out with my other kids - it was a great Mother's Day weekend!