My best inspiration comes to me just moments after sliding under the covers and plunking my weary head on the pillow. I feel so tired from the day, yet my mind cannot stop "talking". And so I babble to the LORD about the day behind and the day ahead, and I pray that each thought racing through my mind would be translated, by the Holy Spirit, into prayer and praise before His throne.
Many of these babbling prayer conversations include the request that I be inspired with practical mothering creativity that will enhance Jayden's and Zachary's understanding of God and all His amazing-ness.
Last week I was moved to begin a new morning ritual called 'Celebrate the Day'. Both my kids wake up long before the first glimmer of morning sun, and so we typically begin our day hunkered down in the office quietly listening to praise music, drawing, and having our Quiet time.
But now as the sun begins to peek through the mountains we gather at the kitchen door to celebrate the new day. I crack the door just wide enough to let a bit of brisk air brush our cheeks and then I ask, "What do you see? What do you hear? What do you smell?"
Zachary responds immediately in his deep man voice with warbled words of excitement. Often Jayden is quiet or tells me to answer the questions. But one day she took a deep breath and exhaled a most beautiful reply. She said "I smell precious sky."
The picture above is from that morning and I do believe it is very precious…that God made us a brand new morning simmering with an orange horizon and a sky lined with clouds eager to kiss the warm rays of the sun.
So every Thursday from 9:30-11:30 we hunker down in my office to sip tea, and nibble on a quiche or other breakfast yummy while we share what we learned throughout the week or watch a video of Beth's on-fire and rich teaching. While we hang out, my neighbor and fabulous sitter, 
After the service we skedaddled back to Encinitas to meet up with John and Kelly and get ready for an early dinner. I had made reservations at their favorite Italian restaurant called Viggilucci's. They knew we were taking them to eat, but were convinced that it was the party and nervously expected something of a surprise when they walked in. This video shows the relief my dad felt when we told him "this is it, sorry to disappoint you, but it's just us".
Towards the end of the meal we presented the surprise scavenger hunt we had created for further diversion, and to allow us time to set up the party venue. We had drafted a series of clues that would lead them to various "memory spots" of their early life together. They were to drive to each location and take a cellular photo of themselves and text it to us and then we'd text back the next clue. The final clue brought them to Seacoast Community church where 60 of their friends had lovingly gathered in their honor.
Here are a couple of the clues, answer locations and the pictures they were able to snap:
