Thankful a Few Days After Thursday: Spring Cleaning!

Spring Cleaning has had me distracted this week. Something about this weather turns me into a ball of energy and determination. I get this overwhelming desire to declutter and clean...to make wide open spaces in my home, to open windows and let the fresh air in. I have a lot to say about this practice because it's such a refreshing time for me.

Our basement seems to become a disaster every winter...it starts around October when I go on my Fall decluttering rampage, culling out the children's old toys, getting ready for the Christmas overflow. My intention is to make a few trips to a few local donation spots or to save up for a Spring yard sale. I'm usually a good one for hauling loads over to Goodwill but this year it just didn't happen, so yard sale it is! Anyway, I digress....cleaning out the basement.
Another Winter phenomenon for us is mice...we have been searching for a few weeks among the mountains of clutter near my husband's computer stuff for the mysterious cause of a terrible odor. Well, Tuesday I hauled 5 huge rolls of insulation up to the attic to make space in the basement for organizing the keeping stuff. Let's just say, dead mice: zero; crazy Spring-cleaning lady: 3; foul odor: eliminated. Pow!

I sweep my floors barefooted...it's practical and nostalgic for me. A close friend of mine once shared her secret of sweeping barefooted to assure all the crumbs made it out from under foot. Youthful memories of our friendship always surface when I sweep. I haven't seen her in years and only talk with her on the phone occasionally, but after all my sweeping yesterday, she made an appearance in my dream last night. I don't usually remember my dreams, but I was glad to remember this one. :)

Wednesday and Thursday were my Rearrange The Furniture And Make A Bigger Mess Before The House Looks Great Day. Which by the way, brought to memory these words I wrote in a letter to another old friend, which ring out so true in my life right now, "You can't de-clutter a room without making a big mess first. So don't be fooled if things look really good on the outside. On the inside it's still a big sloppy mess...but it's my big sloppy mess and little by little the clutter is clearing and my room is expanding." Hmmmn...deep inhale...okay exhale. Feels good, huh?

And....thank you to another sweet, sweet friend who came to my door with a box of Bigelow Vanilla Almond Tea. I am savoring a cupful this morning before going on a golf-outing with my husband...my first time on a golf course without castles and windmills...should be interesting.
Today is my sweetheart's birthday, so he's teaching me to golf! And thank you to Grandma who makes it all possible!

Because it Matters...

When you have some time, take a few minutes to check out the great links under Because it matters... find out how you can make a difference in this amazing home we share!Mother Earth

by Gaia

Thankful Thursday: The Park, People and Happy Kids

I did it. I left my dishes in the sink, my laundry all over the living room floor, and I took my kids to the park to run their little hearts out. I watched them climb and swing and slide and laugh...and fall. And when we got home they were covered with dirt, hungry, wound up and happy. But now they are clean, full and sleeping peacefully. My house is quiet and so is my heart. The dishes are done, the laundry is folded. I'm wearing a content and grateful smile.

At the park today I not only watched my children, but I watched my community...those people with whom we share this park...each with their own lives, their own story. I sat and visited with interesting people and opened my eyes to the beautiful network of individuals who make-up a community. Hmmmn, I like the park. I think we'll go more often.

After we were done playing and I had chased a three-year-old under a playscape doorway too low for anyone over three foot (ouch), we went for a quick grocery run to ALDI. Do not take children grocery shopping at six o' clock...especially after playing for 2-hours at the park. They were extraordinarily loud and interested in everything edible in the store. But they were also cute and sweet and lovable...and happy. Really, is there anything better than happy kids? As we were walking down the produce isle, Sophie was enthusiastically oohing and aahing over the califlower and tomatoes. I noticed an older lady in the cart next to us smiling. I said, "Can you tell my kids are hungry?" We laughed. Then we chatted briefly, bagging our groceries while the kids talked excitedly about the contents of my cart. We turned to leave and wished her a good evening. "Thank you,," she replied, "Enjoy your children!"

That pretty much says it all.

Yes, I am thankful today.

"Dwelling in this moment, I know this is a wonderful moment."

~Tich Nhat Hanh~

Hello!

Hello all you friendly-type readers! Thanks to Jen and Marisa for missing Thankful Thursday and making me feel loved. The kiddos and I are feeling much better. We spent last week in Wisconsin Dells enjoying some much needed family vacation time. We all had a lot of fun! I'll try to post some pictures soon.

Spring is always a good time for me to step back and evaluate, try to find some fresh focus and get priorities in line. I love this time of year, and although we've had snow for several days now (weird!), I'm anxious for the warmer weather that brings with it outdoor play and gardening! I'm also excited with the anticipation of embracing spiritual growth along with all the green growing stuff outside.

Mid-Winter I purchased two books by Gunilla Norris on seeing the sacred in the everyday, Being Home and A Mystic Garden. I savored the beautiful words in the first through the Winter, bringing them into my own moments of daily contemplation. But I happened to save the second to begin reading in Spring, thinking it would be good reading as I start my own gardening. When packing for vacation, I slipped this book in my bag with hopes of stealing myself away for a few minutes of quiet reading time on our trip. Fittingly, as I sat by the window of the house we were staying in, watching the snow fall and listening to the wind whip through the trees, I read these words about the Winter seasons of our lives:

"How full of invisible life is the garden you've been given.

At this very moment, you are in company with everything.

Trust does not need visible signs...

Everything is dormant in the cold. My spirit, too, is spilled and scattered. I seem to be at a stand still. Do I know that? Or is it that, connected to God, one somehow moves forward, even in sleep, in confusion, in turmoil, in cold? Benumbed, we may wonder if perhaps it is in quietude, in seeming deep freeze, that God enters our depth without interference?"

Yes....even in the dead of Winter, something is happening. It's in the Spring that life stirs and breaks through the surface...and we know it's been there all along. Sometimes God's work is quiet, but always, it's there.

Thankful Thursday: Senses

Have ever been so sick that you felt like your senses were too overwhelmed with physical discomfort to be aware of spirit? That is what my week has been like. Trying to care for my sick little ones, nurture myself, keep up with household responsibilities and writing has been a challenge. My house has suffered and my patience has been short.

Last night my five-year-old layed in her bed crying...it's been a tough week for her too. I sat down, exhausted and let my tired heart open to my little girl. Every once in a while I am utterly amazed at how much I need my kids. This gentle-hearted litte soul held me in her hand as I sat on the end of her bed and assured her of the wonderful journey that we are taking together as she grows up...5 years, 10, 15, 20...I sat and told her stories that I know my children have heard may times, about when I was a little girl and how I couldn't imagine what my life would be like when I grew up. Now I look at my husband and children and I feel so amazed and blessed...Wow, who knew these little people would grace my life?

This morning I woke up early feeling much better, ready to find a quiet place and connect with
my Creator...body no longer overwhelming soul. Deep breath...yes I feel it...spirit moving in, around, through me, holding us all together. Thank God for sweet quiet moments filled with pure awareness of His ever-present nearness. May those moments grow so close together that they mesh into every activity of my life--sensing the sacred in the common.

Thankful Thursday: Friends with Better Memories than Me.

Have you ever heard the quote, "A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words?" Nice, a little hallmarkish, but there's something to this well-known friendship quote.

Today, in the midst of a hearty laugh brought on by a far-away friend, I finally realized what the author of this quote was trying to express. Here's my take on it (though not as flowery): " A friend is someone who reminds you who you are when you have forgotten or when you're trying to be someone else."

On that note, let me say that a friend reminded me today that I once found something profound and noteworthy in a hanger dangling high in a treetop.

Since I've actually been thinking along these lines lately of recapturing or becoming that person I really am (as opposed to the one I sometimes project,) this was another defining moment for me.

Who found joy in a misplaced hanger?....I can guarantee you it was creative and humorous spirit. I embrace that. :)

This is going somewhere and I'm going to follow it...but for now let me say thank you to my friends who so faithfully remind of who I am....with hopes that I can be the same kind of friend in return. :)

Deep Breathes, Crisp Air, Sunshine And Good Movies

For anyone who really keeps up with what's going on in My Woods (or A Path to My Woods), sorry I missed my Thankful Thursday! Besides having sick kiddos this week, I have a lot of thoughts brewing on the back burner. I'm feeling thankful, inspired and refreshed today. I'll write more later on that.

But let me just give you a few tidbits off the top of my head. Honestly, I don't want to spend too much time here this morning. The ground is still covered with snow, but the sun has been breaking occasionally through my window, and taking a deep breathe as I retrieved the mail sent my heart racing and mind reeling for a moment...it's a bit intoxicating to the spirit, and my front porch is beckoning.

In a moment of spontaneity, I popped in one of my all time favorite movies last night, Emma , with Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeremy Northam. No matter how many times I see this movie, I am charmed. I laugh, I swoon, I feel sympathy and exasperation and even a sense of pride, cheering on the young Emma as she grows into a lady, loved faithfully by the unmatchable Mr. Knightly. I'm not a movie critic and I won't waste words comparing this adaptation with Jane Austen's lovely novel or the well-done mini-series with Kate Beckinsale. I will simply say that this is a movie for pure aesthetics.

Thankful Thursday: Baking Soda...and grace.

I'm really into baking soda...it has so many cool uses. I bake with it, clean with it, bath my girls in it, put it in the laundry...so I often have a box of it sitting in various places around the house. In fact, one has a permanent home in the bathroom upstairs. I was a little surprised today to find that box empty...this is not a little box...this is the big box variety. Not only was the box empty, but the bathroom floor was not. I'll let you picture it. Little white footprints led from the bathroom into the girls bedroom....niiiice. I wasn't happy, but the footprints were pretty cute.
After sending the three-year-old culprit to sit on her bed to wait for me, I cleaned up the mess and gave myself some time to figure out how I was going to handle this. When I walked into her room and started the questions she answered in her sweet 3-year-old dialect, "I wanted to be a big girl but I had an accident and I spilled it." That was the first real discipline "talk" she and I have had together. I did not talk to her, I talked with her. I mean, my little one really has become a big girl, she's not a baby anymore. This post really isn't about baking soda (although I still think it's cool stuff), it's about grace and forgiveness and loving a little girl.

I'm thankful that I've learned the biggest lesson of grace...that I can be graceful with myself. I'm not perfect, but I'm growing. I make lots of mistakes, but grace says "Don't wallow...learn!" I don't always handle stressful situations well with my children, but today I did and my daughter experienced forgiveness in the true sense....and her grieving three-year-old heart understood.

This is a spiritual lesson...one that's meant to stop and consider the mother-heart of God. This is not about punishment, it's about learning. That's what it's all about. Hmmmn. And I'm really thankful for that.

Overheard yesterday as my girls were playing on the livingroom floor:

"No, Sarah, princesses can't marry horses!"

Do you have any favorite halfling quotes?

Thankful Thursday: Roller Skates, Snow Shovels and Lentil Soup.

Mid-February...it happens pretty much every year. I get that blah, sort of uninspired feeling. It lingers, wavering, dodging in and out of my spirit until signs of Spring appear...or by chance something like today happens. And I know that this is my chance...my chance to pull myself up...to climb out of this dreary state in an enheartened leap of self-motivation.

I went roller-skating today. Well, really I walked around the roller-rink in soft-soled sneakers helping kindergarteners learn to balance on those tricky little boots with wheels. I held my own daughter's hands and pulled her around on the wooden floor for the first time. I pulled her up when she fell and cheered her on when she bravely set out balancing on her own. The time we spent together was special and we'll both remember it. But the moments of connection and care with many of the other little souls in my daughter's class broadened my heart and made me more certain of the connection we all share on this journey. In Mother Teresa's words, "Children belong to everyone." In the deepest sense, we all belong to each other...and we need each other. There is not a sweeter face than that of a child who senses the genuine care of a kind adult...it is also easy to spot the ones who crave that care.

I shoveled snow, too. Some people dread snow-shoveling...but I love it...honest. The cool, crisp air and rewarding exercize is always invigorating. I've never finished shoveling snow without feeling a sense of accomplishment and over-all well-being. Does that sound crazy? This activity not only gives me a physical boost, but I always feel mentally and spiritually refreshed, too. It must be the quiet repetitive nature of it. Today, as I finished shoveling the driveway and sidewalk, a light powdery blanket started to cover the area I had already cleared. I may have looked a little silly out shoveling while more snow was covering my work, but I was reminded of the beauty of repetition in carrying out our daily tasks and finding the holy in the common.

After warming up inside, dinner was calling. The current lack of inspiration has effected me in the kitchen, too. I don't mind cooking so much...I really enjoy it when I actually have a plan and everything I need to execute it. Naturally, I don't dig the clean-up. But tonight sweet Sophie has the symptoms of a cold coming on and one of her favorites is Lentil Stew with Lemon...a simple meal, but perfect winter comfort food with a loaf of crusty fresh bread.

"For all that has been: thanks. For all that will be: yes."

~Dag Hammarskjöld~