What a week!

This has been such a great week. I just now watched my first born pull out of the driveway of his Nana's house and back to school for just a week! I think I handled saying goodbye after such a great week because I know he will be right back for another long weekend. He was home for spring break. We had so much fun! I especially loved this weekend. The four of us hung out on Friday night after a quick change of plans and then Saturday night we threw a surprise party for Jeff's Mom 60th birthday. My stomach was killing me because we laughed so much! The one thing that is a guarantee when Jeff's side of the family gets together is loads of laughter. Thank you to both families for a fun filled weekend! Now I want to shift gears a little bit. One of the topics of conversation was Easter Weekend. Please do not get me wrong I do not advocate staying out of church. But for me for the past few weeks it has been refreshing almost a relief. I have loved the bible studies with my husband and the prayer sessions with my friends. Desperately and deliberately seeking my Lord! It has been a very long time since I have missed church. I must admit, though it has been out of obligation for a long time. That saddens me worse than staying out of church. For a while we were forced to attend church to avoid the inevitable grilling on Monday morning of exactly what were you doing, why, where and with whom? I do not want to attend church out of obligation or fear. I want, desire and I am absolutely starved for authentic worship. I am envious of those who have gone before me to start churches who have completely thrown the rule book out the window and developed a plan to reach people in a unique and REAL way. Earlier this month when I was up North, the one thing I noticed was that there were very few churches. I had definitely left the bible belt! But what good does it do if you have a church on every corner that is not relevant or active in this 2008 world? Or worse, corrupt! So for the first time in almost 20 years I will not be attending church on Easter Sunday. I will be spending it with my Mom who can not worship in a traditional way but may I add still has the most authentic, real, uninhibited worship even if it is outside the walls of a church. I wish I could bottle the closeness, laughter, realness of the time I spent with my family this weekend and place it in a church. Until then, I will keep seeking and searching knowing my Lord knows my heart and what I desire and desire for my family. Thank you Lord for a wonderful week and for loving me enough to send Your Son to die for one like me. Oh but He is risen! He is risen indeed!!