The meaning...

God's moving, but I seem to be left searching for the 'Why?' in the movement at the moment. There have been so many things this week that I've been dealing with that I simply don't know where to start, so I won't. I'm not going to rehash it all. Suffice it to say, God's been testing how broad my shoulders are and my ability to lean solely on Him. If my faith exhibited through my life this week were a class, I'm not sure that I would be passing at this point in time.

I attended a funeral for a colleague this afternoon that was a wonderful celebration of a life lived to the fullest. It was beautiful. I know that Dr. Edwards is in a better place, and is no longer in pain. His life and servant leadership is a model to emulate, and I left wondering if I'll ever "get it" and "get there" and wondered what people would say of my life and witness if something were to happen to me. These things really make you think. Especially in light of the various things I had to deal with this week.

Did I exhibit Christ's love through the various conflicts I dealt with this week? When I consciously thought about it, I tried, but how successful was I? And why should I have to consciously think about it? Shouldn't it be an outpouring of me and my innermost self without the conscious thought?

On other fronts....
Tatum busted both of her lips this afternoon on the concrete as she fell off of the swing while she and Kellen were outside playing. Matt was watching them while I was attempting to take a nap to ward off the migraine that has now taken residence upon my brain. Moments into the attempted nap, I hear Tatum's screams and Kellen runs into my room to inform me of the incident.

"Did you get your DADDY?!?" I asked, probably louder than I intended or needed.

"Yes, but her lips are bleeding."

So I rushed out to the living room to check on things. Looking back, I'm not quite sure why I did this, since the most appropriate person to check on her was doing so, but anyway...Matt asked if she wanted to snuggle with Mommy, and she did. So Tatum and I snuggled with a rag on her lips for a while to stop the bleeding. Kellen was so sweet during the whole thing. He was terribly upset that Tatum was hurt, and ran to get whatever we needed...her lovey, her blanket, a hug, a kiss, held her hand, whatever. He was the embodiment of the caring big brother and it was just precious.

Poor thing, though...both lips are quite swollen. We don't think there was any damage to her teeth, and when she brushed them tonight she didn't grimace or wince like she was in pain. When it was 'my turn' I brushed and tried to check to see if anything was loose, and nothing appeared to be.

And to back things up a little further, we had a WONDERFUL time today at Kellen's school carnival. They had all kinds of games set up and both he and Tatum had fun playing games. There were a few that Tatum was able to play, so we tried to let her play some as well so she didn't get too bored. She also got her face painted (a purple butterfly on one side and an orange flower on the other side). She was adorable during the painting...she kept perfectly still during the entire thing. She just LOVES getting her face painted!

There was an obstacle course that Kellen ran and at the time he ran it, he was the 4th fastest grade K student. They're keeping tally of the top 5 students in each grade level on a board throughout the day, and the fastest in each grade receives a prize. We were so proud of him! You could tell that when he started to run the course that he was nervous, and he really wanted us to cheer for him, which of course we did. Even Tatum got in on it, cheering her big brother along!

Matt and I got reminded of how much Kellen likes moon bounces and other bounce-type pieces, so we ended the carnival experience with a few of those games. And by the time we made it back to the house, both kids were fast asleep in their carseats, evidence that they both had a BLAST!