we are not consumed

Thank you, thank you, for your posts and emails and prayers last week (and Debby, I didn't think you insuated my culpability at all...wouldn't have even crossed my mind!). Moriah is MUCH better...we were able to bring her home on Thursday afternoon and treat her with antibiotic here. She's mostly smiles and laughs today, back to her sunny self, her cough sounding better and better, too.

Weeks ago I had signed up to attend our church's women's retreat, and of course, of course, it began Friday. Of course. Because by Friday, I pretty much didn't want to go anywhere except to my bed for a really long nap.

But when your husband tells you you're going, you're going. Or at least, when MY husband actually tells me to do something, I know better than to argue...the reason, after all, I married him was mostly because he is one of the few people I ever met who would actually stand UP to me. And thankfully, after nearly 13 years of marriage, he's still doing just that. So he basically gave me a kick off the couch and off I went Friday afternoon. Though my sister-in-law was unable to come, I was graciously invited to carpool with a friend from church, who turned out to be my roommate for the weekend.

So there's a lot I could say about the weekend. One woman commented to me this weekend that I'm a "professional retreat-er." That seemed hilarious to me, until I thought about it...well, yes, I have done a lot of retreats. Silent retreats. Spiritual formation retreats. Retreats with a spiritual director. Retreats with labrynths. With meditation. With prayer rooms and journals and Scripture. And I do try to schedule a retreat for myself--once every 3 or 4 months, to be alone, to pray, to read, to take myself to lunch, and to connect with God again. So...this retreat was planned (or so it seemed to me) more for social retreating, which was a bit of a surprise for me (was expecting more in the way of spiritual practice), but a lovely gift. I was able to make some new friends, deepen some new relationships with some women at my church, and feel that I'm not, after all, going to be alone here in West Bridgewater (as if any of YOU, or as if God for that matter, ever had any doubt). (And here I must give a shout out to my Fellowship blog readers...thank you for a really fun and meaningful time this weekend!).

I did make time yesterday evening, too, for journaling and prayer and a swim and more journaling. And mostly, for a mediation on Lamentations 3, in which we find we are not consumed, because God loves us, even though we are quite depressed, or downcast, or suffering. And I found, too, that we must often talk to our souls, remind ourselves, tell ourselves again, the truth of the lives we lead...that sadness is not the whole story. That Down syndrome is not the entirety of who our children are. So I spent a lot of time this weekend re-telling the stories of my life, and re-framing them in hope and love. And I feel better and more refreshed.

My neighbor's arrived to sit and chat...love this neighborhood, and the opportunities for friendship here. Thanks again for prayers, friends. Love and light to you all...