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A Day of Rest

Wes has been off since Friday morning and it's been wonderful. After a year of almost no weekends off, a 3 day weekend has been so refreshing and also so restful. He's been working on building a retaining wall and fire pit in the backyard but other than that, we've not really worked on anything. Yesterday was especially restful and wonderful. We were supposed to have the Nicosia's over for dinner but Olivia is sick. I was so bummed because I was really looking forward to that time with them. Since we had plenty of food for dinner, we decided to invite Ambri and Dane and kids over to eat and then we took the boat out for a bit. The kids just had the best time playing with each other, laughing, going on the boat, and making memories. I feel so blessed to have family so close by and have kids so close in age to Ambri's. It's just built-in life-long friends and it's been so fun watching them grow in their friendship as they grow older.

After they left, Wes built a fire and we sat by it for awhile, talking and enjoying one another. Wes said "it's been such a great day" and I was so happy to hear he enjoyed it as much as I did. Sophie always gets wound up from being around people so she was still talking on the monitor and needing me several times because her "panda fell off the bed" and she had to go to the bathroom and she had to tell me she needed a sip of her water (which is right by her bed, but she just wanted me to come upstairs so she could tell me that). Anyways, after about the fourth trip up to her room, I thought I would bring her by the fire for a few minutes and let her enjoy the stars, the crickets, and the flames. Wes cuddled her on his lap and whispered in her ear "I didn't think I could love this much, as much as I love you." Then I took her back upstairs and kissed her goodnight and sang "Jesus Loves Me" at her request. She talked for about another 20 minutes but I'm so thankful she went to bed with her heart full of our love and her Heavenly Father's love.

My parents always engrained in us the importance of taking a sabbath and having a day of rest. I have wonderful memories of all napping in the living room, watching a movie we taped on VHS the night before, eating popcorn, having friends over after church, going out for lunch, playing board games together, etc. When I went to college I made this my own. The Lord showed me that "Man was not made for the Sabbath but the Sabbath was made for man" Mark 2:27. So in college I started using my Sunday's as a day of rest. I didn't study, I didn't do homework. I went home to visit my family or invited people over to my place, or took walks, or went to Barnes N Nobles for a date with Jesus. And the Lord blessed me in so many ways. I felt better, less stressed, more rested, and I did better in school! I've tried to keep a Sabbath set in our week but this past year our schedule was just a mess. Now that Wes will always have at least two days off in a row, my plan is to have the first day be a work/project/catch-up day and then the second day as a day of rest with intentional family/friends time.

I feel rested, refreshed, and my heart is full. Thank you Lord for making the Sabbath for me!






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