1. My half birthday is May 1st. I have always wished I had a spring birthday. It’s such a happy time of year with flowers and warm sunshine and the promise of three months of summer to follow. As I get older, celebrating half birthdays sounds like it should be a thing.

2. Inviting six women to come and sit around a table for a meal is an extraordinary way to spend an evening. I followed the If:Gathering idea of six women, two hours and four questions. What Nika Maples said is true: “If you enter a meal with others, you enter at one level of relationship and you leave the meal at another, deeper level of relationship.” I can’t wait to do it again.

3. Spurgeon’s quote of the month: “Certain people must always have sweets and comforts, but God’s wise children do not wish for these in undue measure. Daily bread we ask for, not daily sugar.”

4. PB can’t keep a secret from me and I’m secretly happy about that. He outdid himself by planning a fantastic surprise, and then promptly told me the surprise. It only took about two minutes to get this one out of him. He bought tickets to see James Taylor live in concert. “Whenever I see your smiling face I have to smile myself because I love you, yes, I do.”

5. PB knows how to milk something for all its worth. As a result of #4 above, every time he exasperated me over the last month, he would smile and say, “James Taylor”.

6. We have entered into a new phase of parenting. On Mother’s Day weekend, my oldest daughter invited me out to breakfast and she picked up the tab. And left the tip. It was strange and wonderful. Adult children grow up to be lovely friends.

7. If I could go back and live in another time, I think I’d want to experience Jerusalem in 33 A.D. I read the book of Acts this month and those days of the early church must have been amazing. They were trying to figure out how to do this thing called church. No denominations, no programs, no church growth strategies. They just followed the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Huh.

8. Flat Jesus is catching on quickly. We handed out laminated cutouts of Jesus to everybody at church and challenged folks to take Jesus with them wherever they go this summer. They were instructed to take a picture of their travels with Flat Jesus (a la Flat Stanley) and already we have photos pouring in. So far, He’s been to Seattle, Colorado, a preschool show and tell, Disneyworld, a soccer game and a gospel music fest. And summer hasn’t even started.

9. I’m a happy, tired Nonnie. We just spent five days with several different combinations of our six grands. There’s nothing like hearing the sweet voice of a three year old calling out “Nonnie” at 5:00 a.m. I expect I’ll wake up at 5:00 a.m. tomorrow morning and miss hearing that little voice. Then I’ll say a prayer for all the parents of little ones and sleep awhile longer.

10. Three days at a writer’s retreat gave me a lot to think about. I’m still doing a lot of thinking. Hopefully soon I’ll be doing a lot of writing.