April 12, 2012

Working with two different spring breaks made last week fun-filled after hours for me, which included a camping trip!  We kept it close to home which totally worked out well for us since we were blessed by so many visitors!  We celebrated our ten year anniversary up there, surrounded by friends and family--only this time we were around a campfire!  Believe it or not, but I was having so much fun, that I didn't take many pictures of all the people who came up and all the things that we did.  My personal favorite a bike ride around the lake--NOT!!!  It was quite the ride for my beginner legs, but we did tit anyways!  The kids are growing up--they went skunk hunting, and duck feeding, and tossed around the football--and took their older brother and his little sister on a ride around the lake that lasted for hours. . .Nessa was in and out of the RV with no problem--no brace to wear in the nights as she used to have to do last summer. . .kids riding their bikes around several sites, not just ours.  How they are growing up right before my eyes and I miss it sometimes--I have to slow down and really see them, like I am able to do when we are out and away. . .grateful we made the time for this.

The biggest blessing, was having my parents stop by with my papa.  he's eighty-seven and doesn't get around as well as he used to, but the kids just loved having him there!  I enjoyed listening to him tell Ernie stories of his truck driving days and watching him have to trust Ernie when it came to getting him out of the RV.  He was there for hours on Good Friday and I think it is a memory that will always stick with me.  My Papa camping.  Makes me smile.

The full moon was gorgeous and Little took better pictures than I could even attempt, so I think I will remember that as well.  It used to be we would camp in tents when he was six-year-old.  Now at eighteen, he is staring graduation right in the eyes and making decisions that will determine his life's path--school, work, both?  Hanging out together without the daily life demands, out in God's beautiful creation was a wonderful way to spend a couple days!

April 8, 2012

Happy Easter. . .

Rejoice in the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ--who died so that we might have life.  I pray that yours was a blessed one!

 Our festivities were simple again.  We missed the community egg hunt since we were camping.  So we did our own.  It was just my immediate family. . .my brothers, parents, papa, and uncle.  Everyone brought a dish to share and we had brunch.  We ventured to the school across the street for our egg hunt and the kids had a blast!  Simplicity has been key this year and it really has made a difference in how we do life.  The Easter baskets were not huge--at all, and the kids were not disappointed!

 We really kept our focus on the Lord and all our blessings are a result of Him!!!

not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
1 John 4:10

May blessings abound. . .

April 2, 2012

This weekend turned into one of staying home, snuggled up on the couch surrounded by books and snuggles from kids (once returned from a cousin's baseball game). Bones aching, throat sore, and with no television to escape to, I filled the valuable quiet  time with reading.
I was able to finish this one, which I mentioned last week.

The author Katrina Kenison writes with such insight about this life I am entrenched in. She empathizes with the mother who feels like life is moving too quickly.  She writes a chapter dealing with simplicity, "So often it seems, we are the ones who make our lives more complicated than they need to be.  We set the bar too high, take on too much, turn small doings into big ones.  In part the culture is to blame. . .There is more to see, more to buy than ever before.  And how easy it is to fall into thinking that living well means partaking of all that's offered.  With so many options and opportunities  to choose from, it can be a challenge just figuring out where to draw the line."  (35)


Towards the end of the book, she quoted Thomas Moore, family,  he wrote, "is the nest in which the soul is born, nurtured, and released into life." (218)  The timing of this particular quote is symbolic because just last week, I noticed our bird friend is back in a plusher nest above our patio speaker.  I like to watch her, listen to her chirp, and think about whether or not we will see the eggs she probably sits upon.  Last year, I hardly noticed when she left. . .and I definitely never noticed the babies. I don't want to miss out on the life that is occurring here in this place--each day it happens, some days more daunting than others but I know in a flash it will be gone and I don't want to miss it by being over scheduled, over burdened, or by comparing what my kids do to those around me.  I just don't want to live like that and this book spoke to my heart.

In her next book,

 her boys are now grown--one will soon be leaving the nest and is heading off to college.  Her spirit is restless as she tries to cope with losing a job she loved and boys who don't need her in the same ways.  You must watch this clip of her reading from this book. It's beautiful as the book was.

My weekend reading left me lifted up and encouraged.  I found peace and comfort in the calmness of the world that she created for her sons.  My Everyday Extraordinary is simply the Gift of Ordinary Days. . .blessed immensely and ever grateful.

March 29, 2012

It seems, yet again,  there is change on the horizon.  The time has changed, the season has changed, my attitude about controlling all those things that I can not has changed.  Everything looks different since I decided to put it in God's hands.  The flowers seem a little brighter, the birds chirp a little louder, and my heart beats rhythmically calm and peace.  It's a beautiful feeling really.

We have been home more often than not with so much time since we left our little dance competition world.  Fun is had in the back yard, the front yard, with neighborhood kids, all alone, in the tree, in a fort off the bed, doors slamming, feet running, snacks plentiful, joy contagious. . .

My side of a conversation with friends feels a little. . .one sided with no plans whatsoever, or places we have to be to report.  There are no classes or sports or extra-curricular anything that we have to answer to besides CCD and choir...and according to my kids this is enough. We have been from this place to that place, over-scheduled, over-tired, and we aren't going to do it any more.

I'm going to let this new Spring remind me that the most important memories we make will be together as a family.  I will remind myself that it's not important to do what everyone else is doing, to go where everyone else is going, to become so frazzled in the process of keeping up that there is no joy in the ordinary moments. Speaking of ordinary moments. . .I started reading a book by Katrina Kenison that was inspiring. . .but I felt like I was missing out so I began from her first book Mitten Strings from God and it has been so refreshingly rich and warm and is serving as that reminder that less is truly more.
sim·plic·i·ty

1.

the state, quality, or an instance of being simple.

2.

freedom from complexity, intricacy, or division into parts: an organism of great simplicity.

3.

absence of luxury, pretentiousness, ornament, etc.; plainness: a life of simplicity.

4.

freedom from deceit or guile; sincerity; artlessness; naturalness: a simplicity of manner.

 

We have simplified life this year. We have weeded out those things that are not meaningful to focus on what is.  Anjalene loves theater--she can sign up for the next production end of May.  Bubba loves flag football--but the fall is enough for him.  He chose not to play this spring.  There is a track meet in the future.  We can train together, they don't need an afterschool program to train them.  With my decision to stay home more often, one might think of all the ways I could fill my days--with classes and cleaning and groups and so forth.  But the real reason I want to stay home?  Getting them dressed in the morning, lolly-gagging on our way to school.  Having time for Nessa to pick a dandelion for me like she has seen her brother do countless times. 

The simple acts are what I look most forward to.  Showing my love through service and affirmations because I'm not too irritated or annoyed with the busy-ness of our day to day life is what I feel most ecstatic about.  Spring has sprung. . .and like a flower blooming into its perfection, so do I continue with the transformation of my heart.