"Wisdom consists in doing the next thing that you have to do...doing it with your whole heart and finding delight in doing it. And the delight is the sense of the sacred." ~Helen Luke~ I believe this and I'm growing in my practice of it, however yet still imperfect! I've thought recently about the weight at the other side of divine acceptance...some call it divine discontent. These are the weights balancing each side of the well known Serenity Prayer: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. What I want is to know when discontent is the Divine pushing you out of your comfort zone into something new and when it is rather your own restless soul searching for peace outside of yourself. Let me go further with that thought. I believe what St. Augustine put beautifully: "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you" Both divine acceptance and divine discontent are wrapped up in this very truth. Okay, that's as far as I'll go for now. What do you think about divine acceptance and divine discontent? First posted February 28, 2007 on A Path to My Woods

Shhhh...

Wait. It's still cold outside. Where I live the snow was a heavy wet blanket yesterday. Today it has mostly melted away, but Spring is only just on the verge of breaking through. It is cold and wet. The ground is still holding most of it's treasures below the surface. As I read A Mystic Garden by Gunilla Norris, every word resonates with the Winter outside and the Winter within. The cold numbing wind, the saturated ground just waking from months of frozen hardness. I'm anxious....anxious for sunshine, flowers,dirt on my hands, children swinging, trees waving green arms against a dreamy blue summer sky. I am anxious for my garden. But I'm waiting...still...inside...waiting for what is dormant, what seems lifeless, to spring into my sight.

"With or without your hard work

God is always moving

in your life.

Wait on the Holy,

wait and receive the gifts that come."

~Gunilla Norris~

First posted April 12, 2007 on A Path to My Woods

Quick Note :)

If you find some of the material I post in the next few weeks familiar, it is because you have been to my other blog on Xanga. I no longer blog there but wanted to pull some of my old posts from there over here and blend my blogging life together! So hopefully you'll enjoy reading some of the old along with the new. Blessings! ~R

Thankful Thursday: Remembering

Today I'm thankful for memory...the ability to look back over my shoulder and say "Ohhh...now I get it." True, some memories would seem to be better forgotten, but I can't ultimately feel anything stonger than thankfulness. Why? Because I've chosen the path of listening...learning from what life experiences have to teach me. So when tinges of remorse or humiliation attempt to dampen certain memories of my past, I lift my head again and listen, and remember the joy of growing in spirit.

Like a Hungry Bear

Refuse to fall down.
If you cannot refuse to fall down,
refuse to stay down.
If you cannot refuse to stay down
lift your heart toward heaven
and like a hungry beggar,
ask that it be filled
and it will be filled.
You may be pushed down.
You may be kept from rising,
But no one can keep you from lifting
your heart toward heaven--only you.
It is in the middle of misery that
so much becomes clear.
The one who says nothing good came of this,
is not yet listening.

~Clarissa Pinkola Estes~

Love

What would learning do without love? It would puff up. And love without learning? It would go astray.
-St. Bernard
"Love through me, Love of God,
Make me like Thy clear air
Through which unhindered, colors pass
As though it were not there.

Powers of the love of Good,
Depths of the heart Divine,
O Love that faileth not, break forth,
And flood this world of Thine"

~Amy Charmichael~

Valentine's Day

I admit it. I've never been a big Valentine's Day person. Holidays in general are fun, yes. But I really detest the commercialism of it all. I'll stop there. My dear friend Stephanie loves Valentine's Day. It's her very favorite holiday. She makes the cutest Valentines with her kids and makes the sweetest treats. I take water bottles to my kid's Valentine party at school. I like Valentine's Day as much as any day. My husband usually comes home with flowers and a hug and we give the kids a little candy. Everything was different this year. I'm typing this post on my Valentine's Day gift. This year my husband got me a blush pink Asus EeePC...the cutest laptop I have ever seen...so I can fulfill my dream of sitting under a tree or in a little coffee shop enjoying some solitary writing time.
Baaah consumerism. Yay for Steph, who knows what V-Day is all about. And love, love, love to my hubby who scored big points this year, not just for the laptop but for knowing that I like to write sitting on a blanket under trees.

Baby, Puppy, and alot of Snow

Just thought I'd post this picture so everyone could see how big Oliver and Ruby are getting. :)

Fashion Design

a few fabric scraps, free

some cute buttons, $1.97

a sewing machine + a little creativity, 2-hours of mommy time

a really happy and proud 6-year-old
wearing a Sophie Original, Priceless:

Fragility

It's been one of those months around here that just takes your wind and knocks you off your feet for a while. I don't have the gusto to write much at the moment but I'm trying regain my new year's determination. January started out with a flood of fresh optimism. For me this year marks the end of a decade and the beginning of a broad new life. Luke and I will celebrate our 10 year anniversary in May...10 years of crazy change and challenges and growth...moving a thousand miles from home, learning how to navigate married life, adding four kids, among other things. I'm starting to think it takes at least 10 years of adulthood to just start figuring out "who you are." In that sense, growing older is a beautiful experience.

Mid-January we recieved an email from a very dear friend. Paul and Ros Carey lived here Owosso in the first years of our marriage. They were here for Samuel's birth, and when we bought our first house. We celebrated their wedding with them and the birth of their firstborn, Nathalie. They were our closest friends in those years and such a blessing in our lives. Paul and Luke had been friends since college...one of those few friends in life whom he considered a kindred spirit. They were like brothers. Ros and I quickly became close friends. Several years ago they moved to be near Paul's family, then recently they relocated to Ros' native Australia. Like us, Paul and Ros have four small children. They had always hoped to go back to Australia and were so happy to be there.

Ros emailed to let us know that Paul had had a severe asthma attack and died. He was 33 years old. I could say a lot about all my reflections and feelings in the following weeks, but I'd rather share Ros' words which we all have heard and maybe even said...words that we believe but mostly don't think about in our everyday lives: "hug those you love... there really may not be a tomorrow..." I know this has been a really difficult experience for Ros and her family to go through, full of mixed emotions and so many memories. A deep loss and an opportunity to grow. I admire her greatly.

Take some time to check out Ros' blog: Living Upside Down
And this video commemorating Paul's life: Paul Carey

Love to all~
Ruthie

Sam's New Specs

We've all been excited around here waiting for Sam's new glasses and joking about his upgrade to High Definition. Yesterday was the big day and he's looking pretty smart in his new specs:looking slick with Sophie hamming it up behind

cool guy

another picture...let me make it a good one...
...enough already!