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Showing posts with label Just Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Just Life. Show all posts
I’m back with another glimpse around my home and life this month. January is actually one of my favorite months - there’s always a sense of freshness about it, even while most things stay the same.
On The Page {Anything I Read}
{A novel recommended by a friend}. A friend of mine from church recommended The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova to me, because we had been talking about Dracula by Bram Stoker. The Historian is a chunky book (over 700 pages), but I am very much enjoying it. There is some pretty graphic descriptions of violence committed by Dracula, but otherwise it has been clean so far (just creepy). The book is something of an epistolary novel, and I always find it fascinating how authors can tell a story through a letter format. It makes me want to write more letters.
{Interesting Substack article}. I read this post about a quiet, meaningful life, and what we’ve been told it is and how to get it, and how maybe we’re looking for shortcuts where we shouldn’t. This is especially resonated with me as I’ve been cleaning out drawers and taking things to donate lately. The things that stay, that I would never dream of giving away, are a hodgepodge that I’ve collected over years, mostly items that have been handmade for me, or given to me by someone I love. In the end, having a beautiful home isn’t about purchasing just the right things to make my house look like a magazine, or clearing enough away to make it look Pinterest-worthy - a home is really beautiful to me because of the meaning given to those items by the people we love. It’s not exactly the point that was being made in this essay, but these are the thoughts this piece prompted in my head.
In My Armchair {Projects I'm Working On}
{Editing photos for our co-op yearbook}. I wish I could write something like "crocheting hats for everyone in my family" or "finishing beautifully artistic embroidery hangings", but once again my hobbies tend to revolve around my computer. But the truth is, I haven't had the time and energy this month to tackle handmade projects since I'm still very much a novice at crocheting and embroidery. When we rejoined our co-op this year, I was asked to take class pictures for the co-op yearbook, and I've put off finalizing the images long enough. I'm aiming to get them edited and uploaded for sharing before the end of the month.
In The Kitchen {Things We Made}
{Banana Bread & Busy Day Cake}. Between sickness and busyness, not much baking has happened this month, but I remedied that situation with a busy-day cake and three loaves of banana bread this afternoon. I had a little helper that insisted on mashing the bananas, which is just fine with me since that is my least favorite part of making banana bread!
{Fresh-Milled Bread}. I'm attempting to get back into a bread-making habit now that we've started homeschool again, and this last loaf my oldest daughter made on her own. We mainly make bread in my amazing bread maker - it takes about 15 minutes to put it together, and by the afternoon we have a beautiful, warm loaf to enjoy with a bit of butter and jam. I would like to dabble in more hand-kneaded breads, if I ever have time, but for now, the bread machine is a blessing.
{Chicken Noodle Soup}. The coldest weather of our winter so far has been in the last couple of weeks - we had a whopping high of 9 degrees Fahrenheit one day this last week. Those kind of days call for chicken noodle soup. I've never had a recipe for chicken noodle soup, I just wing it - cook some chicken, throw it in a pot with some chicken broth and carrots (a bag of frozen carrots for ease), chop up some onions for flavor, get a little creative with some spices, and then the secret ingredient - Grandma's egg noodles. No other noodle will do.
On My Person {Things I've Worn}
{Lovely Coats}. It has been quite chilly and snowy outside lately, but I like it this way in the winter, and I’ve been especially happy for my coat collection in these winter months. A few years ago I decided I might as well nurture a collection of beautiful winter coats since I spend so much of the year in them, and it’s served me well. Here are a few winter outfits lately, some with coats, some without.
In The Accounts Book {Money We Have Saved}
{Looking through Groupon for Deals}. I'm going to be honest and admit that this hasn't been an amazing month for saving money, so this isn't technically money saved, but money we "spent" in the form of points instead of cash. We chose to spend some of our credit card reward points on rodeo tickets - rodeos are a big deal around here in January, and we haven't taken the kids to one since they were babies. My husband got a deal through Groupon which saved us quite a bit on a fun experience.
Out My Window {Beauty I Noticed}
{Morning skies}. Our back window faces East, so every morning as I'm pouring my cup of coffee, I look out the window and see what colors the sky will be today. Peach and pale azure? Fire orange and deep purple? Rosy pink and lilac and icy blue? It's always a surprise. Sometimes, just as the sun peeks over the distant mountains, it will shine like a spotlight into the living room, splashing the wall like a paintbrush with glowing red.
{Snowy landscapes}. We've been enjoying a good amount of snow this January, and I love it. I read a meme that said, if you choose not to enjoy the snow, you'll have alot less joy, and the same amount of snow, and I couldn't agree with anything more. Here's another Substack post that similarly extols the virtues of snow. Do not complain about snow in my presence, because you'll receive no sympathy from me. I love how it washes everything clean, and makes an ordinary landscape other-worldly.
Out And About {Places We Went}
{Snow Sculptures}. We decided to try something new this year, and we went to an outdoor display of snow sculptures. We didn’t get to watch the actual sculpting, but we did see a huge block of hard-packed snow, the “before”. It’s amazing what people can do with such an unstable and temporary medium! I don’t understand why you would want to waste all that lovely snow on sculpting something weird, as a few artists did, but most of the sculptures were pretty neat. We enjoyed the sculptures, walked around a cute little mountain town, and enjoyed Mexican food for dinner. It was a worthwhile (and free!) outing.
{The Rodeo}. Rodeos and stock shows are a big part of the culture around here in our western state, as I mentioned above, and this month we re-introduced our kids to the rodeo in particular. It was so fun to explain the different events to the kids and watch my little one’s eyes go round. “They have to race around the barrels as fast as they can, and get as close as they can without touching.” “They have to get one rope around the calf’s back feet, and one rope around his head, and then pull the ropes tight.” “They have to ride up next to the steer, jump on it, and wrestle it to the ground.” “They have to stay on that bucking horse (or bull) for 8 seconds without touching it with their free hand or falling off.” You don’t realize how crazy all that sounds until you try to explain it to a 7 year old. It was a grand time.
On My Mind {Thoughts I Want To Share}
{On reading hard books}. I always feel pressure to put something profound here, but I am in a hurry to finish this post before January is indeed over, and I’m pressed for time. So let me just say that if you are afraid to attempt to read an epic poem (as I mentioned I was in this post), don’t be. I couldn’t decide, so I picked up The Iliad and Paradise Lost, and I’m surprised at how much I am enjoying both. If you’ve read any Dickens within the last five years, trust me, you’ll be fine.
In My Heart {Things I'm Treasuring}
{1} Bright eyes and a big smile asking to help with the baking.
{2} Side-by-side sorts of friendships - different than the treasured “bosom friend”, but heart-filling in their own way.
{3} Frosty front porches glittering in the morning sun.
{4} Being worried that you are catching the family cold, but then waking up with your sinuses still clear.
{5} Sitting on the floor, reading a living book to my kids for school, and having a tiny dog climb onto my bent-over back and settle down there for a nap. Yes, she did that.
{6} Spots of sunshine on our wood floor in winter.
{7} A husband who never fails to have a pot of hot coffee ready for me in the morning.
Hope your January has brought fresh and new joys to you - and here’s to February!
I don't know who needs to hear this, but August is still summer.
Bunches of people online and in my real life have already started the school year, and I'm over here drinking my lemonade in the sunshine and trying not to think about school at all yet. June, July, and August are the months with the warmest weather around here, and it occurred to me the other day that it would be perfectly fine to delay the start of the school year and just finish a little later next May - since May often still brings snowstorms to the mountains anyway. So I'm in no rush to call the summer done yet. I'm not so sure about the kids - if anything is going to push me to bump up our homeschool start date, it's the kids getting bored.
July was actually quite rainy, but as I write this, the plan for this weekend is to attempt porch camping with the kids, a yearly tradition for us. However, when I checked the weather, Sunday night it is supposed to get down to 33 degrees Fahrenheit, which is almost freezing! Not acceptable. We may have to delay the camping plan - another reason I am not anxious to end the summer. We haven't been able to do everything yet! (Update: Since I first typed this up, we did actually porch-camp, and it was actually the hottest week of the summer, definitely not near freezing! Weather forecast reliability never changes.)
We have done alot of the typical summer things over the past month - swimming, park days, the zoo, hiking. Lots of time with friends, including a lovely week with our Kentucky friends when they were in town. My parents celebrated their 40th anniversary, and took us all to Great Wolf Lodge. We may never have ended up going there on our own (it's not cheap, and cheap is the name of the game right now), but it was such a special treat, and I'm glad we could have memories there with extended family!
We also had a lovely 4th of July, and you have to permit me to share a few photos. We spent the day hanging around the house, making the stereotypical flag cake and watching the Sandlot, and then having dinner at my parents' and watching fireworks.
Aside from that, our big outing for July was a trip to a little mountain town that is particularly known for its wildflowers - and it did not disappoint. We had no real plan except for one hiking trail that we wanted to check out. After wandering around the town a little bit and eating our packed lunch, we took to the trail, and I have never seen so many wildflowers in one place in my life. The reputation is well earned! I couldn't stop taking pictures and exclaiming about how beautiful everything was. We counted 21 different varieties of wildflowers! I wish I could show you every picture of my cute kids, and every view, but here are just a few.
I had intended to spend this summer trying out new pie recipes, but instead my domestic pursuits were diverted a bit when a friend from church offered to teach me how to can preserves. So for the last couple weeks I have been researching recipes and food safety rules, obtaining cans and produce, and trying my hand at it. I've made blueberry lime jam, and apple-pie-in-a-jar jam, and mango raspberry jam. It appears that all my cans have sealed just fine, so I guess I did it right! Am I still going to test out the jam before my family and wait 12-36 hours to see if I develop botulism symptoms before they eat it? Probably, but that's just because I have major germaphobe tendencies. I followed all the rules, fruit jam is acidic and botulism doesn't grow in acidic foods, so I actually feel very confident in my jam and accomplished. But you know, just in case.
It doesn't help much that I have been binge-reading Richard Preston's books about the history of the ebola virus. Remember about ten years back when we had a few cases in the United States? I remember being slightly anxious about it since I was still working as a dental hygienist (ie. dealing with alot of bloody gums), and I was pregnant at the time too. Well, let me just say, if I had known more details about the ebola virus, I would have been even more freaked out. I really don't know if there is another virus that is so brutal and gory. My goodness. I'm never visiting the rainforest, and keep monkeys or bats or any tropical creatures far away from me, that's all I'm saying.
My big kids participated in 4H this year, and did woodworking, sewing, and leather working projects. A few of their projects got accepted to be displayed at our state fair, so now we are trying to figure out if we can make the trip in the fall to check it out. I am so proud of them for all their hard work, and thankful for an even more hardworking husband, the unsung hero of our 4H experiences.
Even though I am determined not to cut the summer short, I do also have to start planning the school year soon, so in the next week or two I'm going to sit down and get the year mapped out. Everyone has a different school planning system, but over the last couple years I've developed a bit of a system. It gives me enough structure to keep us on track, but enough flexibility that I don't feel too much pressure. I may work on a post about it soon.
The other big project on which I'd love to make some progress is sorting through pictures and getting them printed and into some albums. This is a never-ending project for me, to be honest. I've printed off little bunches of photos here and there, but I want to do the complete family photo albums from each year, and it's expensive and time-consuming. I'm printing out photos as my budget permits, and 2014 photos just arrived in the mail last week. In the meantime, I am just about to get started on organizing and choosing favorites from the year 2016.
In some ways it is really fun to look through pictures of my kids from all those years ago - my goodness, they were cute. They still are! But seeing their little faces every day is also hard on my heart. Time has gone so fast. It kills me whenever I stop for a moment and reflect that I'll be the parent of a legal adult in less than five years (let that soak in).
I look at the pictures and even though I remember the hard parts of those little years, I also realize that I did soak them up and treasure those times. Sometimes I beat myself up for not treasuring them enough, but I did actually. The way I took so much care to capture all their little features and quirks proves it to me. Still, when it's gone you always wish you held on to the moments just a little bit more. It's never enough - never enough time, never enough time with my precious babies who aren't babies anymore.
I may have had a higher than average number of crying sessions since starting this project. But it's reminding me to soak up this moment we're in right now too. In ten years I'll look back at pictures again, and I'll see how little they were, and I'll remember. Remember how much I loved it all. I can be filled up to the brim with the joy of right now with them. That's all we can ever do, and it doesn't seem like enough, but it also is.
Motherhood is beauty and sadness, joy and pain, love and frustrations and laughing and happiness mixed up with tears. The best thing I'll ever do. And you can't go back, but through every stage until the Lord takes me home I'll have this joy of being their mom, and that will never cease to be a gift.
Okay, now that I've got that sentimentality out of my system, I'll wish you all a happy Monday, and promise to try to be a better blogger now that summer busyness is settling down. But just know that if I'm not here, if I go a couple weeks between blog posts, or if my social media gets stale, I'm not quitting the blog or anything - I'm just not letting them grow up without paying attention.
I found a rare day to escape to a local coffee shop to write a bit. This is a new coffee shop to our little mountain town, and local chatter swirls around me as I type. I can see my dad's shop out the window, snow covers the ground and low clouds threaten more. A little greenery brightens my table, a Chinese evergreen stem in an old glass bottle. My heart-topped latte is almost gone.
(This year I noticed the sun shining on our tree every morning like this, and I so enjoyed it.)
It's been quite a while since I sat down to write a "just life" sort of post, and since I've spent the last few days sitting on the couch and dreading every time I have to eat or talk, I figure now would be a good time for an update!
To make sense of that last sentence, I got a gingival graft last week - which basically means they sliced a square of gum tissue off the roof of my mouth and patched it into the lower front of my mouth. I'm not allowed to brush my lower front teeth, drink very hot liquid, exercise, eat chips, or pull my lower lip out to show anyone my Frankenstein-esque wound. Jury is still out on whether I'd recommend this particular surgery or not, but if your dentist ever has to recommend it for you, you have my full sympathies.
In contrast to this not-very-fun start to my January, our December and Christmas was very nice. A few of the highlights were a Christmas light trail with my family (always so impressive), our Sunday school Christmas party (which I volunteered to help plan on a whim), a snowshoeing trip with the kids in new-to-us mountain town (our first time trying snowshoeing), and a visit to the aquarium (a rare occurrence). I got a good head start on present shopping and wrapping, so I actually had a time to do a few Christmas crafts with the kids in December too! Crafts are always something that falls by the wayside, so I was pretty satisfied that we finally made a couple happen. I also got this game for a December surprise, and we really enjoyed playing it as a family! It's simple, but oh-so-hilarious for the kids, and seeing them so happy made me happy.
We saw both sides of the family the weekend before Christmas, and then stayed home on Christmas Day, and it was relaxing and laid-back. My big gift was a new coat, which I've been window-shopping for the last few months. Derek heard alot about what I like and don't like when it comes to coats, and he did quite well on applying all my random requirements! It's a nice army green wool coat, knee length, with two buttons and robe tie. I feel just the right level of fancy when I wear it with jeans. I love it.
I'm going to confess right now that my no-buy project suffered in December, and I did cheat on it a little bit, but I'm back at it in January. I want to take a few steps to keep myself more on track, so I hope to start a no-buy project journal to keep track of my goals and successes, and I am going to read a couple books about shopping wisely/saving money (starting with this one).
With my graft making talking so difficult, we are still on a sort-of break from school. I'm having the kids do a few independent assignments to sharpen up their skills, and hopefully we'll get back to regular lessons next week. I'm trying to be okay with not getting anything done this week - I had so many things I wanted to accomplish before we got back to school, but I find myself just sitting on the couch, zoning out with a book or video. My body just feels exhausted. I suppose all the energy is going to healing my mouth. Either that, or the lack of solid food is taking a toll.
One thing on my list though was writing this post, so that's something that is getting accomplished at least.
One more bit of family news before I finish this up - my husband talked me into another puppy! We stay in touch with the people who gave us Lulu, and in December they texted Derek to say that Peanut (Lulu's mom), had another litter of puppies. I was unaffected, but Derek decided this was the time to get Lulu a little pal. He eventually talked me into it. We've noticed that Lulu is so happy whenever she gets a chance to play with my extended family's dogs, and we thought it would be good for her to have another dog around. This little one is her full sister, though they are such different colors! Her name is Dot, and she's very cute. I'm not loving the whining keeping us up at night (especially when I'm trying to heal), but her puppy snuggles during the day make it worth it. Now I have more company on the couch.
(A comparison photo of Lulu and Dot around the same age. Ignore my weird smile in the Dot picture. I literally can't move my face properly - I'm afraid I might need physical therapy just to smile normally again. The puppy versions of Lulu and Dot are cute though, no?)
Hope you all are having a brighter start to the New Year than I am! Happy Twenty Twenty-Four!
Missing...all the beautiful fall leaves! I think we would have had longer fall color this year, but a snowstorm a couple weeks ago took down all the leaves in one fell swoop. Any that were left clinging to tree branches have turned brown. We did get to go out and enjoy the leaves this fall quite a bit, but it still feels like our time was cut a bit short. It's full-on winter in the mountains now!
Thinking...ahead to Christmas season, particularly what books we want to read during December and fun things to incorporate into school. I came up with a bit of an advent morning time plan for our family last year, and I'd like to tweak that and use it again. I also requested an absurd amount of new-to-us Christmas books from the library, and my plan is to sort through them to figure out which ones actually look good enough to add to our Christmas reading plan!
Planning...to start planning out our Thanksgiving Day meal. This year we are hosting my husband's side of the family at our house! This will be the first time I'm hosting a full Thanksgiving dinner as an adult, and I have never before cooked a turkey. I feel this is a rite of passage of sorts, and I'll be researching all the turkey-baking tips and getting everything planned out in the next few days. I feel I'm already cutting things a bit close.
Buying...not alot, since I'm still doing a no-buy project for myself (more on that coming this week). However, I don't like to save Christmas shopping for December, so I need to get moving on purchasing presents. It's weird to be Christmas shopping while still being on guard against buying my no-buy items, and I'm realizing anew how much stress shopping actually adds to my life. But, alas, it must be done, and like it or not, I'm the one who has to do it.
Wanting...to knit each of my kids a scarf for Christmas, but I'm realistic enough to know that is not going to happen. I finally picked up knitting again after a ten-year break, and it's come back to me quite well! I found this book at our little library down the road, and it's giving me all kinds of ideas for cute scarves. I think I am going to start a scarf at least, and perhaps if I work at it I can give all the kids a homemade scarf next year. Why does knitting take so long? I found these funny tags, and these, and after starting to knit again I understand.
Reading...too many books, as always. I am still working on Homecoming by Kate Morton, and I am almost done with The Giant Pumpkin Suite, which is turning out to be pretty good. I would really like to start a Christmas book or two, and I also started reading the Emma M. Lion books after seeing them too many time on Bookstagram (they sounded right up my alley, and I'm enjoying the first book so far). Another book roundup post will be coming once I finish a couple more!
Enjoying...a Veterans Day visit with my childhood friends! Yes, the ones that own a ranch. It's always wonderful to visit with them, and they teach the kids so many things it's practically like a field trip. I always leave wishing we could sell off everything and buy a ranch on the plains! I know how hard my friends work and how much knowledge it takes to be successful ranchers, and I admire how generous and hospitable they are even with all the work they have to do daily.
Loving...quiet weekends at home. Our weeks have been so busy lately, but we've been able to protect our weekends, and it's been so nice. I've been able to breathe a bit and enjoy taking the kids to the park, or reading to them, or getting caught up on laundry. Those are little things, but they give me so much peace of mind in a busy season. I love it when we can work in some weekend adventures, but sometimes you just need to be home, and it's been nice to have a quiet month of weekends before the holiday madness starts.
I waver between feeling excited for the school year and very nervous. This is the first year that I'll be doing work with all five kids, and the thought overwhelms me. I try to remember that I felt that way each time I added a new student to the mix. This is the last time I'll have to recalibrate.
We've been making good use of our last week. Yesterday we went mini-golfing with our dear friends who now live a couple states over. I'm so happy whenever we get to see them, and we talk and laugh like we still see each other every week. Friends like that are special, something to treasure. The hardest part is always saying goodbye, until the next time they come here or we go there.
Later this week the kids have "cousin camp" at grandma's house, which means that Derek and I get a date night which we don't quite now what to do with. I'm hoping to do something fun on Saturday as a last hoorah for summer break.
The plan for today is a hike up in a state park, perhaps to an old broken-down lumber mill we discovered a couple weeks ago. Or perhaps we'll try a new trail. The kids are packing nature notebooks, binoculars, and snacks into their packs. I try to get them to draw something each time we go out into the mountains, but we are meeting a friend today, so my expectations are low for amazing nature drawings. Laughter, and silliness, and foot races, and sun-kissed cheeks are on the agenda.
We've been watching movies on the porch this summer. The kids lay out their sleeping bags, and we all wear long sleeves and pants to protect ourselves against mosquitos as the sun fades. The TV glows in the dusk, hummingbirds whir past our porch, and the kids laugh as we introduce them to childhood classics, like The Princess Bride and Hook. When my littlest looks cold I call her over to settle on my lap and zip her up inside my over-sized sweatshirt. She giggles against my chest at the defeat of the pirate captain.
The swimming pools have officially closed, despite my wish that they would stay open until Labor Day. Before they did, I took the kids to every family swim night I could, and I'm impressed with how much their swimming has improved. It's rather a magical stage, swimming right now. I stand in the pool and watch them play, but they mostly entertain themselves with very little help from me. I can just enjoy the sunshine and the sound of their antics. We always bring licorice or skittles for a snack on the way home.
I've had a running to-do list for several weeks now. Every time I crossed one thing off, two more were added, but I've finally chipped away at it this week. Plan enrichment subjects? Check. Choose read-alouds for the year? Mostly check. Set up sewing station, clean out the kids' toys, schedule doctor appointments, do the grocery shopping? All check. The things that are left are mostly the items I wanted to do for fun or things I've been putting off. Work on researching my family tree. Make clay earrings. Clean out the car. Organize the kids' fall clothes.
We are going on a vacation in September, and those last two things need to be accomplished before then. I'm just excited to get to go on vacation at all, since every unexpected expense this summer cut into our vacation budget. It'll be a shorter trip, but we have alot of interesting stops planned, and you can bet I'll count every educational experience as a school field trip, because we can. I don't typically like taking trips in the fall instead of the summer, but out of necessity it has started to grow on me. It also makes it easier to get started on school when I know that we have more fun things coming right around the corner.
My coffee is lukewarm. It's time for a warm-up so I will close this out. I wish you all the last bits of summer fun you can muster before pumpkin spice starts to fill the air!
I started a Scripture memory journal this morning, this one, and I'm excited about memorizing a few new Scripture passages. I have attempted for a few years now to memorize Hebrews, and I am up to Chapter 7, but it's been difficult to stay motivated. I fully intend to finish Hebrews, but I thought I would try out the passages in this memory journal to give me a jump start on making Scripture memory a habit again.
Though I am usually staunchly against Christmas music before Thanksgiving, I have found myself eyeing some advent playlists on Spotify this morning. I am the only person in my family with this no-Christmas-music-before-Thanksgiving rule, and Derek sweetly tries to honor it, but I am slowly getting in the Christmas spirit. We have a birthday party with friends today, and I may just surprise the kids with a little Christmas music on the way down.
Derek is actually hunting today, and I have spent the morning praying that he'll get something and we'll be able to fill our freezer. If ever there was a year where I'd love to have inexpensive and healthy meat stocked away, this is it. The gas pumps and grocery store checkouts have become increasingly painful places, but I am also thankful that while the rising prices make my budget tighter, requiring me to be a little wiser with my spending, the Lord has provided and blessed us during this season. I think I mentioned that Derek got a new position with a new organization earlier this year, and it has been a better work environment overall, and a blessing in ways that I wouldn't have anticipated early in the year. One way is the additional monetary wiggle room that has eased the inflation pressure.
Last night I took Wyatt to a game night for the boys at our church, and while he participated, I sat in the church lobby and tried to start a Christmas newsletter. I usually don't send out family newsletters at Christmas, but since I haven't been updating on social media this year, I figured a newsletter was warranted. I have to tell you, I had a terrible time of it. Maybe I am just in a dry spell when it comes to writing? Are Christmas newsletters always this difficult to write? I couldn't decide how to start the letter out, and I didn't get around to writing about our year at all yet. I did end up typing short paragraphs about each of the kids, but then I realized just that filled up a whole page, and all the newsletter-writing advice tells you to keep Christmas newsletters to one page only. Surely I get a pass since I have so many children? Any newsletter-writing experts, please give me some advice.
I don't really know what my point is with this post, I guess I just wanted to drop in and say Hi! on a rare quiet Saturday morning! For the first time ever I successfully finished my 31 day blogging project in October, but I suppose I needed a couple weeks to recover. This is me getting back to it on the blog.
Is it okay if I leave you with a quote? I picked up Morning And Evening by Charles Spurgeon again this week, and this quote was one that stood out to me. This subject of sanctification, and how God puts things in our lives in order to draw us closer to Him, has been on my mind lately.
"Some plants die if they have too much sunshine. It may be that you are planted where you get very little, you are put there by the loving Husbandman, because only in that situation will you bring forth fruit to perfection. Remember this, had any other condition been better for you than the one in which you are, divine love would have put you there...Be content with such things as you have, since the Lord has ordered all things for your good. Take up your own daily cross; it is the burden best suited for your shoulder, and will prove more effective to make you perfect in every good word and work to the glory of God."-Charles Spurgeon
Happy Saturday!
A tug on my arm slows us down to a halt on the gravel road. Pretty blue eyes blink up at me, holding up a less-than-glittering rock. "Look, Mama, I found something interesting!" she declares, and drops the rock into her plastic baggy. We continue down the road.
Everyone else has gone off to soccer practice, but my middle girl wanted to stay with me so badly I couldn't say no. Her tearful pleas left only tiny streaks as evidence on her face, and now she skips along happily, eyes on the ground as we walk. Since we've been sick, this is my only exercise, a stroll the long way around to the mail box and back home again.
On these recent walks, there is one house that draws my eye as we pass. It sits close to the road, and it's neatness is always noteworthy. The grass is cut to perfection, the driveway is clean, the front steps don't appear to have a speck of dust. The blinds are always drawn, and I never see anyone in front of that house. I know someone must live there since the outside is so impeccable, but all I ever notice is how still it is, sitting there in it's tidy glory.
Clarice stops for another treasure to add to her bag, and I grin because she never quite goes for the rock that stands out the most. She sees something in the rocks that my gaze passes over.
We grab the mail, and we trudge up the hill until I see our home. No tidy glory to be found here. The driveway is covered by pine needles, and fighting them is a losing battle - pines much older than me shade out driveway, and they make their presence known. It looks messier than I'd like, but the sun warms the scattering of needles into something spicy and sweet, the smell of mountain woods.
Bikes are strewn all over the driveway, and I make a note to have the kids put them away later. Airy curtains are pulled back from our front window, and inside I can see an unruly stack of books that needs sorting. Our noisy dog whines as we open the door, and the welcome sign out front is a little crooked from all the jostling it gets each time a child runs outside.
Evidence of children playing, wild mountain nature infringing, and chores that don't quite get done - memories of games played, friendly faces waving hello, and curtains thrown wide so they can see us waving back - these are the things I notice about my own house as we return from our walk. There have certainly been times when I have wished to keep the outside of our house tidier, but even when I manage to achieve some well-manicured curb appeal, I look at our house and it's unavoidably lived-in. And I like it best that way.
A Quote
"Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life, and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning, and seeing the Lord only giveth wisdom, let everyone seriously set himself to prayer in secret to seek it of Him."
-Harvard 1646 Rules and Precepts
One of the speakers at our homeschool conference this year shared this quote, and I loved it so much that I wrote it down and I've been reminding myself of it as the school year approaches. I hope and pray this for my kids in our homeschool journey, that they would recognize and know that the main end of their lives and studies is to know Christ! Can you believe this quote was a statement from Harvard? How far they have strayed from their original purpose.
A Bit Of Nature
Look at my little herb garden in our tiny greenhouse on our front porch. The herbs are thriving out there, much more than I thought they would! As of this writing, my lavender and my basil are flowering. I've never seen flowering basil before.
A Recommendation And A Book
I'm combining these two categories today, because I thought I'd walk you through my morning routine, which is where most of my recommendations are coming from today.
After I get the kids’ oatmeal made, I light a couple candles and then head out to the porch for my morning quiet time. During the school year I would try to squeeze my quiet time in before breakfast, but it's still summer around here. Weirdly, my Afternoon Alfresco Yankee Candle and this candle smell really amazing when burned together.
First I try to catch up on my "To The Word" reading plan. This is a reading plan put out by Canon Press to read over the course of the school year, and I've done it a couple times now, but I’m just now finishing last year’s plan. It's about 5-7 chapters a day, but I've come to realize it's more doable than I think, and it's cool to go through the whole Bible in less than a year and see the whole context of Scripture! The next reading plan will be starting soon, and I believe it will be here.
However, I'm not totally sure if I'll participate in the next challenge, or if I'll take a little time this school year to dive further into one book of the Bible. I'd like to finish studying Hebrews, and then maybe pick a new book. This little guide for studying any single book of the Bible looks great, and I am thinking I will take the questions from it and write them into my own study notebook.
Next, I started Face To Face: Praying The Scriptures For Intimate Worship by Kenneth Boa. This is prayer guide book that gives you Scriptures you can pray each day in several categories: adoration, confession, renewal, petition, intercession, affirmation, thanksgiving, and a closing prayer. Prayer is something I have struggled with for years - I get so distracted! Having this little guide to help me focus on meaningful prayer was really a refreshment today, and I'm looking forward to incorporating it into my morning devotion time.
Finally, after I've gone through all my Bible and prayer routines, I read a Christian encouragement book or two if I have time. I find that it's a nice way to lead into my day, especially if it's Bible-focused and practical. Right now I'm reading Pitchin' A Fit: Overcoming Angry And Stressed Out Parenting by Israel and Brook Wayne, and Teaching From Rest by Sarah MacKenzie (both are very good).
A Moment Of Happiness
I've had so many moments of happiness in the last couple days, it's hard to pick just one. We went on a visit to my grandparents’ mountain cabin last weekend, and had a grand time playing cards, fishing, and visiting. We went swimming with my mom and sister last night, and enjoyed a great waterslide that made me laugh when Derek and I went down it together! Yesterday my little girls made me chuckle with their game of "Queen and Servant" (exactly what it sounds like), which entertained them for hours. And this morning, as I was sitting in the cool air for my quiet time, watching the kids explore the yard and jump on the trampoline together, I just felt really blessed. A lot of crazy things are happening in the world, but this is a season where I'm pulling in and focusing on those closest to me, and I'm finding there is so much to be grateful for in the midst of the chaos.
I'm trying something new on the blog today, after finding this great new (to me) linkup this month, called Share Four Somethings. Each month you share something loved, read, treasured, and ahead. It's nice to have a little structure for these chatty posts, and I'm glad that casual blog linkups are still a thing, so these are my four somethings for the month of July.
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Something loved.
I noticed the other day how our property has completely exploded with gorgeous wildflowers in the last couple weeks! I don't remember seeing this many flowers last year, and I think the unusual amount of rain we've had this summer is the reason. There have even been a bunch of flowers that I don't remember seeing in the mountains before. Even though bright, sunny days have been a little scarce, between the rain and the smoke blowing in from wild fires in other states, I'll take an abundance of wildflowers gladly.
Something read.
Since I do a monthly book recap, I thought I would share articles or blogs here instead of books. First, I thought this article on homeschool community was really good - I love the creative way she ties in a lesson from nature to the homeschool community. I especially agree that you don't need a huge homeschool group to have a homeschool community either - all it really takes is one good homeschool friend to be that encouragement in the midst of those tough days. I know there were a couple years when I first started homeschooling where all I had was one or two people in my life who also homeschooled, but that made all the difference in helping me not to feel alone. Second, I thought Elizabeth's thoughts on the trajectory of Instagram were really interesting - since I've been off of Instagram for six months, it was interesting to read about how it's still changing since I've been gone, and probably not in great ways for the average user.
Something treasured.
Can I treasure two things this month?
The last several weeks have been such a whirlwind for us, I've been running to keep up and wondering what is happening to the summer. Here we are, with only a few weeks left until school starts, and my opportunities to just breathe have been few. But this past week was a bit slower, with several days just spent at home. I've been able to start off the mornings on our porch, with a cup of coffee and my Bible, followed by enough space to read a chapter or two of a book. I sit, hearing the hummingbirds whizzing around my head, the wind blowing through the trees, the kids voices echoing from somewhere in the house, and I spend a little time refocusing my mind on the things that matter most. Activities and trips are fun, but quiet mornings at home are the thing that fills up my heart best.
The second thing I've felt particularly grateful for this month is having a solid church, with a group of believers that care about us and check up on us when we don't come for a couple weeks. Some people might find that intrusive, but Derek and I love it when one of our church friends sends a text to ask where we were last Sunday. It means that we are missed, and it means that we have that Christian accountability that is one of the main purposes of church. The Bible tells us to "consider one another in order to stir up love and good works", and that's for the purpose of encouraging one another "to hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering" and turn our eyes to Him, who is faithful (Heb. 10:23-24). When you find a church that actively does those things for each other, you've found a treasure for sure.
Something ahead.
Although I plan on fully enjoying the last few weeks of summer, August will bring the start of a new school year. I know I have to start organizing the school room and putting together schedules for the next few months. I've been procrastinating to this point, and let's be honest, I'll probably procrastinate a couple more weeks before I buckle down and plan out the 2021-2022 year. But speaking of homeschool community, I am also excited about planning a few homeschool get-togethers and field trips with friends and people at my church. It's going to be a busy school year, and even though I practically have some work to do yet, emotionally I'm ready for it.
(A photo from our anniversary weekend.)
Thinking about...so many things. I was just talking with a friend about "mental clutter" because I recently watched a video from Mystie Winkler about brain dumping. I've got a bunch of mental clutter this week, and the idea of getting it all out on paper is really helpful, so I may need to do a good brain declutter soon. Right at this minute, I'm thinking about which candles to order here with my fancy coupon code, how to plan for a trip that we have coming up in a little over a month, and all the projects I want to work on during my one open weekend in July (first on the list is getting my Etsy shop up and running again - I'll link to it once I fix a couple things).
Fiddling with...different options for a way to communicate more short-form content or quick updates with you all, without giving in and getting back on Facebook or Instagram. I've been looking for something like that for months, and I have to admit I've been unhappy with my options. Then I was thinking, my blog buddies, do you want to connect on Voxer? It might be a fun way to stay connected for those quick thoughts. The basic version is free, it doesn’t show phone numbers, just usernames, and you can fix the settings to hide your location, contacts, etc. So from what I can tell, we can chat on there and still keep account info private. If you find me on there, I'll add you to a chat for my blog where we can share book thoughts, Bible verses that were encouraging, favorite homeschool finds, whatever. Just send me a message letting me know you want to be added for blog updates! Here is the app, and here is my profile!
Eating...M&Ms, even though I was intending to avoid sugar this week. Don't look at me like that. I only had a cheese stick for lunch, so it's fine.
Feeling...Quite cheerful today, actually. My kids are in our church's VBS this week, and I visited a friend today while they enjoyed the program. We had a nice visit, and I have plans to see a couple more friends this week as well. I just read this post about friendship from Jennifer, and what she said about three things a friendship needs resonated with me, especially her idea about friendship requiring companionship. For some reason I've struggled to explain that idea in the past, but companionship is a perfect word for it. In a world where we can be "friends" online with our cousin's coworker that we met that one time, companionship is a perfect distinguisher between an actual friend and the term we use to describe acquaintances on social media. I'm thankful for all the companionship I get to enjoy this week.
Going...Uh, let's change this to Back from... our anniversary weekend trip. We went out to dinner at the restaurant Derek took me to on our first date, which was very sweet and romantic. We also saw a movie called 12 Mighty Orphans, and it was really good! It's about this coach that goes to work at an orphanage and helps them organize a football team, right at the end of the Great Depression. It's based on a true story, and we loved it! The movie is definitely going on our to-buy list. Then we stayed overnight at a nice hotel, then went to breakfast at a very popular breakfast restaurant in the morning (I ordered the bourbon pecan French toast - yum), before picking up the kids from my mom and going to church. It was a busy but nice weekend for our anniversary! We don't get dates often, so when we do it's special.
Ordering... a guacamole burger with sweet potato tots, from one of our locally owned restaurants. We discovered them last year during the lockdown, and they make quite possibly make the best burger I've ever had. We ordered two on Monday and watched an episode of Centennial for our at-home anniversary date (on our actual anniversary). Derek and I have been married 13 years! So we're basically old married people now (I'm being silly, but we actually really kind of are, and that's a good thing in my book).
Realizing...That I'm mentioning food a lot in this post. Maybe I am hungrier than I thought. I'm going to make myself some fries.
Listening to...I keep meaning to share this album I discovered, so I'm going to stick it in here! I'm listening to Whispering Colors which is described as "consonant chamber music for the 21st century". It's modern classical music, and I really love it! If you need some happy classical music to listen to in the background while you read, or write, or use Draino on your sinks or something, this is really nice for that.
Watching...Centennial, which I mentioned above Derek and I are watching right now. It's based on a novel by James Michener, and I tried to listen to the book recently but couldn't get through it. He spends what feels like half the book describing the lives of animals. I'm serious. I was just waiting for the people to show up, and finally lost steam on it and requested the TV series from the library instead. I watched it when I was a teenager, but couldn't remember it well. It's a really well done mini series! It's kind of like Roots, except it covers the history of a fictional town in Colorado. We are really invested in the characters at this point. I also am watching To Catch A Smuggler on Hulu, and I'm really fascinated by the customs inspections especially. It's amazing to see the weird places that people try to hide smuggled goods!
Reading...The Tyranny Of Big Tech by Josh Hawley, almost anyway - I just got my copy in from the library! Since I quit social media in January I've been really interested in books that discuss the problems with social media, and also how these big tech companies work. You just don't realize how invasive they are until you start to look into it more. I'll do a post one of these days about the books I've read relating to social media, etc. I do have an update on my six month anniversary of being off social media coming in the next week or two!
How's July treating you so far?
That's how many days we have left in the school year.
We finished a lot of our core subjects - math, language arts, reading - a week ago, and so these last couple weeks have been dedicated to state history lessons, art, humble science experiments, and numerous read-alouds. Weirdly, all those more fun school subjects end up taking a lot of energy and effort, and even though I've had several blog post ideas in my head for weeks now, I can't seem to muster up the margin or energy to type them up. So a chatty post it is.
Forgive the typos in advance please. I'm tired.
But four more days. Four more days and we'll all be as free as a bird.
Fun With The Grandmas!
Speaking of interesting school activities, the last two Fridays have been dedicated to special school activities with the kids' grandmas.
Derek's mom has done an incredible amount of research into his family tree. She is so thorough, and she has traced some branches of his family back to the 11th century. I asked her if she could come up and tell the kids a little more about their ancestors, and also about how she researches geneology. She told us stories of some of the kids' great-great-greats, which include many really fascinating people, and she even printed a little mini-tree for each of my kids showing their all great-great grandparents. The kids were so interested in all of it!
Before she left she demonstrated how she researches a family tree by using my side of the family, and we got a couple names filled in. We looked through census records from 80 years ago, and I watched as the family of one of my grandparents grew from 7 members to 9, and then back to 8 ten years later after one of the names disappeared from the record after a death. I knew about my grandparent's family before, of course, but seeing it there in black and white, connected by a few clicks to my own name on the tree - it made me feel more connected to my heritage. Those were tough times, and I come from people with grit, and seeing it on paper makes me even more grateful for the blessings in my life now.
It was so interesting to see how it works and see names so closely connected my own in the original records, and I am thinking I want to dive into more family tree research myself this summer. I will also be busy recruiting my mom-in-law to come back up soon and tell the kids more stories! It's fascinating to see the amount of detail she has been able to find on the family.
The very next Friday, my mom planned a "field day" for all her grandchildren (all of which are homeschooled). I have a lot of memories of field day when I was a kid (particularly memories of being proud that I beat the boys in the sprints - there is only a small window when that could have happened! I don't run.) I loved the idea of a field day so my kids could have some fun memories of races with their grandma and cousins! Final analysis - huge success. My mom planned a ton of different types of races, the kids loved it, and no one compared or felt bad about any of their placings/ribbons. We had a delicious lunch, explored outside and fed the horses, and visited more while the kids played. It was a great time with the family and a good chance to practice good sportsmanship!
(The dress-up relay race!)
Awana And Rain And Mother's Day
In other news, we also had our last night of Awana a week ago. The kids got all their awards, my mom was able to come to the ceremony, and it's a consensus that we can't wait for it to start up again next year! Derek and I will have to be more strategic about planning date nights over the summer - we became rather spoiled this winter with a free 1.5 hours each week for a dinner date.
We celebrated Mother's Day this last week by seeing Derek's mom for breakfast, and my mom for lunch - before heading home, lounging on the couch, and watching Survivor reruns. (After the kids melted my heart with adorable cards, and gifts which they bought with their own money. Some of which were candy. Some of which we ate while watching Survivor) .
We did have plans for an outing to the zoo on Mother's Day, but the weather ended up being rainy and cold. And what do you know, it snowed again on Monday and Tuesday, making this a near record-long snow season for our state. I wouldn't be surprised at all if it snowed AGAIN before the end of May, so we may smash that record! Doubtful though, since I know for a fact that it has snowed here in June before, but we'll see. I just read an article about the Southwestern states possibly declaring a water shortage emergency for the first time, so let's just say I'm grateful for any snow we get here. No fires this summer please.
Fun Things, Anxiety-Producing Things
The rest of this week will likely be filled with fun and stress mixed together - on Friday I am going on a girl's night with my college friends/book group girls, which will be the first time our group has eaten at a restaurant together in over a year. As I am looking forward to that, I am also anxious for our poor old dog who has a surgery scheduled for Friday.
A couple years ago we discovered a tumor on Harvey's neck, which we briefly grieved about because our vet assured us it was most certainly malignant. I was making mental plans for budgeting in cancer drugs for our faithful hound, but when the results came back the tumor ended up being a benign tumor which usually occurs in cats, completely baffling our vet.
Well, Harvey has another tumor on his leg, which our vet again says is most likely malignant. I am holding out hope that it will end up being another one of the cat-tumors, but on Friday he is getting it removed. It almost physically hurts me to take him to the vet, because big and tough as Harvey looks, he acts like a scared Chihuahua whenever we have to take him in for a checkup. His anxiety gives me anxiety, and then there is more anxiety about the fact that the tumor is right on the join of his back leg and I'm running worst-case scenarios in my mind of the surgery crippling him. Our vet assures us that the risk of that is low, but...I'm just nervous. You dog people understand.
Cookie Dough And Summer Fun
Finally, as the school year has been winding down, I've been thinking ahead a bit to what kinds of things I want to plan for my kids this summer. Last summer I made a mostly at-home summer bucket list, which was a success, and I would like to plan out some fun activities for the kids again. But, I have to admit, I am tired. Homeschooling will always be worth it for me, and it's incredibly rewarding, but it is also verging on exhausting when we reach May. Like I mentioned last week, we keep a traditional school schedule because I need a break in the summer to rest mentally.
So I will wait to make any fun summer plans until we've had time to reset, but I must mention that I did find this cookie dough recipe book while I was at the library today, which was surprisingly motivating. A few years ago I took the kids to the mall in the summer, and there used to be a cookie dough shop there. I've never been one of those people who likes to eat cookie dough raw, but my kids very much enjoyed the experience of eating uncooked cookies. I am pretty sure that the cookie dough shop went under, but I am thinking this book and our own cookie dough cafe might be an easy place to start for summer fun.
After I rest for a couple weeks.
Four more days...
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