Saturday, March 15, 2014

Learning to Read

We're learning to read at our house. "Look, Look! See Sally. See funny little Sally!"
We're learning the sounds and the way words look. We're learning that though not always easy, reading is fun and takes us new places. We are reading big books together too. Like Little Lord Fauntleroy.
We are playing games and laughing about the silly sentences we make.



Mamma is learning too. Mamma is learning to read the tracing of God's hand. To see that little insignificant bits fit into the whole that makes the big story. Though not always easy, this story is an adventure. We are going places together - God and I. Places we've never been before. I'm learning to follow the tracing finger of God as he helps me to spell out the story he's written just for me.
My sweet husband sends me out for a cup of chai and a bit of solitude this morning.
I read in Psalms 50.
The Mighty One, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shined.
Our God comes; he does not keep silence;

The heavens declare his righteousness,
for God himself is judge! Selah
“Hear, O my people, and I will speak;...
I am God, your God.
Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
your burnt offerings are continually before me.
I will not accept a bull from your house
or goats from your folds.
10  For every beast of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
11  I know all the birds of the hills,
and all that moves in the field is mine.
12  “If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and its fullness are mine.

14  Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and perform your vows to the Most High,
15  and call upon me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” 


23  The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice 
glorifies me;
to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!
  
 These words ministered to my heart this morning and called to me. Offer thanksgiving. This is the fruit of our lips that glorifies God!  Then as an extra little touch of grace as I sat there, a stranger came and laid a paper on my table with the words - "The darker then night - the brighter the light."  God has shined. May he shine through me to this dark world.


 "Did you say you wanted soap in your soup? I'll be glad to help you out! Or was it that you thought the soup tasted of soap?" 

 I'm so glad my Father is better at planning my life than I would be! His planning is perfect and turns out far better in the end than my homemade laundry detergent of the other day... That was rather goopy and gloppy.
But my Father says - " I know the plans I have for you." And "ALL things work together for the goo to those that love him. " I love him and this is another of his thousands of promises that are yes to me today in Christ. 

Monday, March 10, 2014

Moments of Motherhood

I read an article on findingjoy.net
It was so true of me that I felt like I’d about written it myself. Here’s a shortened version - You can read the whole on her blog:

Today I worked, … made phone calls, and uttered “in a minute” to that same four year old. And then I stood up, found him, looked him in the eye, and told him that he was super duper important to me and that he can always come ask me a question even if it’s during the hours when I work.

Today I made dinner and washed dishes with food that had decided to form a permanent bond with the surface. I listened as there was grumbling over chicken with Italian seasoning and that no one really liked the broccoli even with extra cheese.

Today I found clothes in my washing machine that I forgot to move to the dryer. So I added more detergent and ran them again as I tried to find matches for socks that mysteriously seemed to have vanished.

Today I stood at the bottom of my stairs and surveyed the sea of legos that was covering the floor upstairs and wondered to myself why in the world so much money had been spent on items that at times drove me crazy.
(only mine aren’t at the bottom of stairs because we are in a trailer :) and I haven’t spent lots of money on them, but sometimes they do drive me crazy)
Today I didn’t make my bed... I forgot to get the mail until it was dark and it was so freezing outside and I slipped walking down my icy sloped driveway. (I slipped on a lid on my kitchen floor instead and branded a bruise across my arm where I caught myself so that I wouldn’t fall on my baby who happened to be riding on my back)

Today I had coffee. Two cups. Okay three. (make that dark chocolate instead of coffee :))
And I’ll do similar tomorrow. Well, maybe not the three cups of coffee. But, you know, kind of the same.

And the next day. And the next. And the next. And the next.

You will too.

You’ll have moments like this. Where you wake up to a kitchen that you wished you had just cleaned the night before. You’ll walk into rooms that were spotless that now look like the aftermath of a crazy hurricane. You’ll get frustrated over towels on the floor and new soap dispensers that are pumped out by curious kids and spills and little things that you never thought would irritate you. You’ll teach math or read books or sing the ABC song and wonder why they always seem to forget L, M, N, O, P part. You’ll find orange peels in the corner and wrappers on the ground and stickers stuck to the floor. (uh huh) You’ll buckle up seats and...realize you left your purse inside. (this one ALL the time!)

You’ll work. You’ll give. You’ll do all these normal mom things and then, when the end of the day comes, just like it has for me, you’ll sit back and sometimes wonder "what on earth did I really accomplish today?"

I’ve done that....

It’s easy to miss all we do accomplish.
It’s easy to dismiss all we do accomplish.
It’s easy to qualify all we do accomplish.
It’s easy to shrug off all we do accomplish.
It’s easy to not see all we do accomplish.
I know.
But I want you to see.

I want you to see, to remember, all that you accomplish in the twenty-four hours we call a day.

You care for kids. You love them. Zip up coats. Find mittens. … Rock babies. Bandage knees. Read stories. Tuck in covers. Again. Wash hands. Stir food. Work hard…  Fold clothes. Braid hair. Wipe counters. Again. And again. And again …. No matter what, you still get up, get yourself ready, and walk out of your room and answer to the cry of mom. And sometimes that cry is mom mom mom mom mom mom mom only to be repeated eighteen seconds later.

You do all that mom stuff. Here and there. Little things that are so easy to just dismiss as normal. And yet, those normal things matter. Just like the moments of me sitting on that bench holding that drippy washcloth with ice to Samuel’s eye and singing him songs.

Those are the cherished moments of motherhood.


Motherhood isn’t made up these perfect moments with sorted toys and perfect gourmet dinners that are shaped into cool shapes and all of this other stuff. Motherhood is a raw place of realizing that sometimes you don’t have any clue what you’re doing and yet you keep on doing.

It’s easy to get weary. It’s easy to go to bed and to look around and to simply miss it all.

Don’t miss it.

Don’t miss the outstanding in the ordinary.

Don’t miss what you’re doing.

Today, today, just for a moment I want you, too, to close your eyes and to breathe deep and to realize you are accomplishing amazing things in the ordinary. You’re mothering. You’re writing your imperfect motherhood story that looks nothing like what you imagined and yet, it’s yours. You’re discovering your strengths and weaknesses and the necessities of life and motherhood. You’re brave. Courageous. You make mistakes and learn. You pick up and try again. You’re learning to laugh when you probably wish you could cry. You are learning to just what it means to be a mom.

You are not doing something small.

It doesn’t matter that moms have done this stuff forever. That doesn’t mean we don’t celebrate moms. Do you know why? Because you are the first one of you that’s walking this road. It’s all new. It’s all a journey. It’s all a discovery in the beauty of the ordinary. It’s all in learning to embrace the little things in life. It’s not something we’ve always done. It’s you. Right now. In the midst of life, giving of yourself, and discovering just how amazing you truly are.

Remember that today.

Mother well.

Write your extraordinary beautiful ordinary story.

Those little things matter.


Wow! Didn't she say that so well? I needed that! I want to remember and not miss it and not feel that it's small. I needed that. Maybe you did too?  Do not be weary in well doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Fun Stuff for Average Days

I have little girl who is turning four next month. Where has time gone? And I don't want to buy her a present right now because we need to be saving not buying at present. So John and I are going to make her something she will probably love more than anything I'd buy for her anyway. Besides I looked at the miniature dolls at Walmart and contemplated the conveyed lesson on beauty. The anorexic little figures don't look anything like a healthy child should - little sticks of things for limbs! So my mini Waldorf is a bit plump, I'll admit, but then healthy babies often are. I need to make some clothes and get some hair added to this little miss, but I say she turned out pretty cute! And she took me only about an hour to make.


 Here's the quicky version of stuffed sofa we put together for her from cardboard, bits of fabric scraps and pillow stuffing. More house stuff to come. Then I need to figure out how to make a collapsible house for her, so that it won't be a space thief.


Monday, March 3, 2014

Altitude Sickness

My cupcakes got altitude sickness. I declare that they did! There really couldn't be another reason because I DO know how to follow a recipe! Mom Strubhar says that with this altitude you've got to cut the baking powder back, and I didn't know it, so I didn't do it. It had to happen on Saturday night when I wanted them for church potluck on Sunday morning, and already past time to be in bed! But I made some carrot cake to take their place on Sunday morning and so we managed. Darren declared it to be superb, so maybe it didn't hurt that the cupcakes flopped. He got something he liked even better.
Here's what what the mess in my oven looked like the first time round....


And here are some more respectable cupcakes, because really, you can't have a birthday with no cake can you? John didn't like the idea that Mommy wasn't having cake for her birthday, so when I got over feeling so sick, we had cake a few days late for my birthday. A little cupcake party just the four of us here at home.


I'm pretty sure that a major part of my feeling so ill, is the infected tooth that I'm supposed to have taken out tomorrow. I just LOVE dentists! (NOT) and I'm so excited about sitting in that comfy chair! My palms are getting sweaty just at the anticipation of that lovely thought! But this too shall pass... I hope some of you will be praying for me tomorrow! :) So long for now.