Good morning. The sun has now risen as I continue to rub sleep from my eyes on this early Saturday morning. I’ve been at it for awhile now because my house is quiet and I am uninterrupted and as of lately I have found that this is the best way for me to get work done. So I’ve been rising before the sun, spending some time with the good Lord and trying to tap into the creative part of my brain that beckons me to write. I used to have a thing with Saturdays because they lacked routine, but now that my kids are teenagers, I’m no longer craving a structure filled weekend like I used to. In fact, I’m loving the freedom that a Saturday brings, to sit here before anyone arises, except the one cat who started mowing in my face at 5 and the dog who came out to keep me company and is lazily sleeping in the recliner. I love that my to do list today consists of doing things that I want to do, with only a sprinkling of things that I need to do. If only I would have folded the laundry yesterday I would have been free from most house chores besides cooking and dishes. But this is a weekend with no sports obligations, a slow, schedule-less day. A day where my teenagers will be out at an event. A day that is supposed to be around 60 degrees I should add. A day for slow strolls with the dog, a day for cleaning up the yard, a day for a run, a day for lounging with a book, a day for crafts, a day with a blank slate. A blank slate, an empty canvas of a Saturday feels great after a busy week. My week was filled with driving, meetings, lots of dog walking, cooking, cleaning, sitting in my car during basketball practices, balancing schedules as spring sports started this week, a lot of prayer and lots of writing. I love that it was filled with a lot of prayer and writing. I also got to spend a good amount of time talking to my very best friend. We shared where we are in our life’s journeys right now, our struggles, our hopes and dreams… We talked about failure and rejection. We lifted it all up in prayer and we have actively been keeping one another accountable since. I love that about friendship. It inspired me in several ways this week, not only to keep going but it gave me ideas to write about. I thought about rejection and failure a lot and how they make me feel. Then some words came to me. I stopped what I was doing to write them down. I looked at them and thought, “I think this is good.” I sent them to a few friends for confirmation. They agreed. This turned into a graphic design project which is not my thing and took hours of my time this week. It was frustrating at times. I’m so thankful for friends who know things I don’t who will come to my rescue. So as the sun rose this morning, I tried again, and I got it. I couldn’t be happier with the finished product and I’m excited to share it with you. I hope it inspires you to dig deeper, to keep going, and maybe to try something new. Have a great Saturday my friends.