Thankful Thursday: Little Hands

Often my mother-in law comes to watch the little ones so I can walk to the school by myself to pick up my kindergartener and second-grader. I have to admit that sometimes my hands feel very empty when I'm walking alone. So I can't help but feel thankful walking home with a little hand in mine...and especially thankful that my nearly 8 year old son still eagerly slips his hand into mine, even on the school playground surrounded by his friends.

Thankful Thursday: Fresh New Mornings

Every morning brings a new sunrise, a new day, new hope. Sometimes a good night's sleep followed by a fresh new morning is just what we needed! I know by the end of my day, I am anxious to crawl into bed and welcome a new start! By the time I've gotten the kids all jammied and I think they are just about wound down for the night, something throws us off. Everyone's tired, including me! We all need a new morning.

Being a big L.M. Montgomery fan, I think back to the wise advise Miss Stacey gave Anne Shirley: "Tomorrow is a new day, all fresh with no mistakes in it." I find myself repeating similar words to myself and to my children. What a relief to know we can start over, to know we don't have to cling to mistakes. Things can be made right and we all deserve compassion...even from ourselves! If the Psalmist can celebrate God's new mercies every morning, surely we can celebrate with him.

Gunilla Norris speaks eloqently in her book, Being Home, about Awakening:

First thought--as in "first light"--

let me be aware that I awaken in You.

Before I even think that I am in my bed,

let me think that I am in You.

I am thankful for fresh new mornings and the opportunity to give my children the same sense of joy in finding ourselves once again in "You."

Peter Pan and Tinkerbel

I have a 5 year old daughter who believes in pixy dust. It works magic on so many things. If she's afraid at night, I simply add a pinch of bravery to the pixy dust and sprinkle it on (a little hug goes a long way to.) It seems to give her just what she needs to settle into a peaceful sleep.

Recently, after my 3-year-old recieved some Disney fairies for Christmas, we rented Peter Pan. The girls fell in love with the movie...Peter, Tinkerbell, Wendy, even the old Crocodile with the ticking clock inside. So much of that magical stuff of childhood...they soaked it up. Then, one night this week I found my Sophie sitting in her bed working busily writing some letters. I came in later to find the window blind raised all the way. The objections when I started to lower the blind were loud! "Mom, no...leave it up." The only response to my "why" was "please don't look at my letters (positioned toward the window on a nightstand in front of it), you wouldn't understand." Of course, this raised my curiousity and I peaked quickly while the kids were in brushing their teeth before bed. The letter were addressed: To Peter Pan and To Tenkerbel.

All the kids were amazed and excited at breakfast the next morning as they announced that the letters were gone! Samuel, being a little older, looked carefully to make sure they hadn't just fallen behind the nightstand. Of course, I reveled in their delight at the prospect of Peter and Tink making a special visit to their bedroom window!

They have been busy this week making trips to Neverland, playing Peter Pan in the backyard. Sophie tells me that she makes up her own stories about Peter, too. Childhood can be such a joy!

And, yes...the letters are tucked away in a special place for priceless keepsakes. We'll pull them out when the magic fades and a little girl becomes a lady.

Thankful Thursday: Sticky Tac

While I'm talking about refrigerators magnets, I might as well voice my praise for this gummy stuff. I am truly glad for sticky tac.

Last weekend my husband and I began working on patching cracks and redecorating one of the kids bedrooms. I started by pulling everything off the walls that my son had collected over the last 7 years since we moved him in there...he was 6 months old. When I was done I had a ball of blue sticky tac that was slightly smaller than a golfball. That's a lot of goo. I was surprised with all the memories held up all those years. The sweetest to me were two letters that I had written to my little guy. The first one when he had finished his reading lesson book and the second on his first day of kindergarten...both big milestones for my firstborn...and for me. Another place I have gained an appreciation for sticky tac is on my kitchen cupboards, which have come to be a collection place for artwork and notes from my children and quotes to inspire me while I cook and clean.

Tape is nice, but oh sticky tac---is magic.

Thankful Thursday: Refrigerator Magnets

I love refrigerator magnets....not because of their collectability or souvenir quality, although we have some from varied places like Massachusetts, Great Britain, Hoover Dam and even one from the Old Cow Town Museum in Wichita, Kansas. We have a few sentimental ones as well, but really my affection for these handy little items has been a recent development. There was a time when I found them somewhat of a nuisance, making it hard to clean the refrigerator door, always falling off and getting lost under the monster-appliance. And we have magnets not only on our refrigerator but also scattered on the back of our front door. Of course, underneath all those interesting magnets is an ever-revolving display of child-art, snapshots, inspirational quotes, light-hearted comic strips, and school reminder notes like "Popcorn Sale Friday, 25 cents." There was a time when I would have told you that for the most part, the magnets were just a functional convenience. But everything changed a few weeks ago as I was sitting, a little bit sullen, in my kitchen rocking chair. Just casually glancing over towards the fridge, I noticed a couple of upside down magnets, then another and a few more. As I looked closer, it slowly dawned on me that every magnet within the reach of a 3 or 5 year-old had been carefully inverted. Knowing the two little girls well who had devised the scheme, I could easily picture them talking and giggling together over the upside-down magnets. I smiled. Then I laughed. Sometimes it's the smallest things that open up the well inside and let it all flow out. It was a quiet peaceful sort of laugh that I indulged in that night, as I realized, really everything is well.

Let the little things bring perspective back into sight. It's amazing how something so small can cause such an explosion of love and thankfulness for the little people in your life. Funny, the next day I overheard the girls talking to each other about the upside down magnets and laughing. They don't know how their play blessed mom...and gave her a lasting appreciation of refrigerator magnets.

Rocking Chair Kitchen Prayer

A few weeks ago my littlest one had some restless nights, so my husband moved the rocking chair from our closed in porch into the kitchen (my special place) so this tired mama could rock and rest with the little jewel in my arms. She seems to have a little trouble with reflux that was causing her a great deal of discomfort at night, especially when laying on her back. So I went to work investigating my diet, in hopes to bring her some relief, and made an effort to keep her propped up for sleeping. She is much better now so mommy's catching up on sleep, too. But the rocking chair has found a permanent home in my kitchen. The kitchen is my sanctuary...I spend the greatest portion of my day there. In the early mornings (except for when the sunrise beckons me from my front porch) you will most likely find me in my kitchen by candlelight, huddled in the rocking chair. The more time I spend there, the more my heart takes joy in serving my lovely ones, the more I delight in dinner to be served, dishes to be washed and rewashed and rewashed. My heart begins to be thankful that my little dishwasher has proven itself a better rinser/sanitizer than washer! Because now I have the opportunity to learn to lovingly wash each dish with my own hands, an act of worship from a thankful heart...yes everything imparts His grace.

The Sacraments

The Sacraments

I once spoke to my friend, an old squirrel, about the Sacraments--

he got so excited

and ran into a hollow in his tree and came

back holding some acorns, an owl feather,

and a ribbon he had found.

And I just smiled and said, "Yes, dear,

you understand:

everything imparts

His grace.

~St. Francis of Assisi~

Translation by Daniel Ladinsky

Love Poems From God: Twelve Voices from the East and West

A few words...pt. 2

How do we find time in the midst of the chaos of daily life to nurture a spiritual life? Desire...Inspire...Inquire

Desire
Well, if I've captured your interest enough that you are still reading, I'm guessing you already have the first necessity down...desire. We start with a desire, a will to know God. What you will, whether you have succeeded in accomplishing it completely or not, is evidence of where your heart is.

Inspire
Desire, like soil, must be cultivated. If a tree, known by it's fruit, has a desire to bear good fruit, yet is planted in dry, infertile soil, it's fruit will be poor no matter how great is the tree's desire for good fruit. If your desire is to know God, feed your spirit! Inspire your mind and will with the wisdom of the ages found in the writings of godly men and women from the past and present. Be inspired!

Inquire.
Webster's Thesaurus defines an inquiry as "the act or instance of seeking the truth, information or knowledge about something." My personal belief is that God pervades everything, God is literally omnipresent, God's spirit is in all things and holds all things together. Without God, nothing is. So as we still our hearts in prayer, we are not asking God to come down and meet with us. Rather, we are quieting our spirits enough that we can become awake to the presence that is already always surrounding us and permeating our very being. God is infinite, boundles spirit,not far off, but near...always. It is up to us to "be still and know."

Is it really that simple? Do you want to know God?...Ask. Ask when you are doing the dishes, ask when you are folding the laundry, ask when you are tucking your kids into bed, ask when you are brushing a little girls hair or cradling a tiny sleepless one at night. And listen...God is there...in every moment, every breath, every smile, every tear.

A few words on parenting...and Spirit

When I was a new parent with my first child I did what many new parents do. I read parenting books until my head was spinnining and I felt a little bit more confused than when I started out. Parenting philosophies are so widely varied that you could easily be left feeling a little dizzy trying to find a good balance for your family. Three children later, I'm am convinced that the best advise any parent could ever embrace is probably what most would consider the least practical. No, it's not about spanking or chore charts. It's not about schooling or routines. It has nothing to do with discipline or time-outs for your children. It has everything to do with discipline and time-out for you! I've read a lot of books with great ideas for raising good and wise children who love God. I could probably give a little helpful advise of my own from personal experience, though I am by no means a greatly seasoned parent. My oldest is only seven and we are still in the baby years with number four. In spite of my youth (okay, past thirty is still youth!), I am sure that I have found the best parenting advise you will ever come across....if you are willing to dive in. There once was a time that I felt, as a busy mother of young children, that I simply did not have the time or energy to devote to this critical practice. Sometimes I felt so sapped physically and emotionally from the everyday mother-world that I simply had no passion left for this highest of all disciplines. But still, in my heart, I knew the answer was to cultivate a deep spiritual life, to root myself in prayer. Sounds too simple, doesn't it? I'm not saying that all those books out there with practical parenting tips are useless. I've found some great advise in some of the books I've read. What I am saying is that the most important thing for us and our children is that we are immersed in God's presence, that we are growing in wisdom and grace as we seek to know Him.

Snow Fall

Yes, this is exactly what it looks like.... We do not have the first snow of Winter, no we have the first snow of Fall! Notice the squirrel on the fence...he's wondering where Autumn went. Me too! I spent my morning between Fall cleaning and rumaging through snow stuff in the basement looking for the kids bibs and boots, mittens and hats! Sarah has already been out building snowmen with the neighbor girls and Sophie is begging to get out in it! I love snow, but I'm not sure I will be able to accept gracefully such a brief interlude between Summer and Winter! I need Fall. I need to breathe it in and feel it crunch under my feet. I need to rake up a big pile of leaves and watch my kids roll around on the ground until their hair is full of Autumn colors. I am not ready for snow angels, snow men or snow shovels...but I guess if it comes with a steamy cup of cocoa warming little frozen fingers (even if it means water puddles in the back hallway), I can embrace it for today. (But can I have Autumn back next week?)