Quiet, rainy weekends

A list of joys...

325.  Warm fires.
326.  Good books.
327.  Cozy quilts.

328.  Home cooked meals.
329.  Worlds created on the living room floor sprawling into two other rooms, where blocks and imaginations dream big, run wild, and live forever.
330.  The smell of freshly made baked goods.
331.  Little boy hands that helped with the baking while I bounced from him to the dishes, and he chattered and squealed and become completely white by the time he was done.

332.  Peeping chicks.
333.  Quiet nights.
334.  Early morning coffee.
335.  Late afternoon naps.

336.  Phone conversations with friends.
337.  Board games as a family.
338.  Rain that lulls us to sleep.
339.  Chicken coops built.
340.  Boys both big and small that smell of freshly cut wood and the air of spring.

Finding balance in life

I tend to be a driven person.  I always have a check list, while it may take me a while so far I have checked most things off.  I was seven sitting in the very front row at church the first time I ever listened to a missionary speak about living overseas and teaching other people about Jesus.  At seven I decided that's what I wanted to do when I grew up. In high school while being a missionary was always in the back of my mind, it wasn't very realistic, but I did love working in restaurants so I began dreaming and planing a way to become a manager of one someday.

Turns out I got to be a missionary overseas, but that dream for running a restaurant had morphed into not only owning a restaurant but one that would be apart of my Inn.  10 years later I have found myself running a local restaurant, but still dreaming of that Inn, and a restaurant of my very own.  As always I now have an even bigger dream one that includes all of this while living a simple life.

That's where I'm at now, trying to balance a simple life with my family while managing a whole crew of amazing people and learning all that I can still hoping for a place I can one day call mine.

As spring has arrived I can't help but think ahead to this summer when life usually feels the simplest.  A time when I garden, we fish, the birds sing and swings squeek as joy flows out of the boys through laughter.

Yes, he is wearing shorts with no shirt while there is still 3 feet of snow in the yard....Spring time in Maine.

But this year is my first summer where I'll be working full time and the fight for balance will be it's most difficult.  It's already decided there will be no veggie garden, but a wild flower garden in its place. There probably won't be much canning, but there will be lots of morning coffee on the deck while the boys play and my chicks wonder through the yard.

I'm learning again that all of life is a balance, saying yes to some things saying no to others and part of the joy is finding the way.

Gifts # 315 - 324
~ A big yard to enjoy.
~ The peeping of tiny chicks.
~ The excitement they bring the boys.
~ Warm days.
~ Finding the simple joys of life.
~ Dreams coming true.
~ Sunshine.
~ Sun kissed faces.
~ Birds singing & squirrels chattering.
~ Warm breezes & fresh air.

Traditions

As in the past few years on Easter we headed off to a hotel, where we had an Easter egg hunt, big breakfasts, lots of time in the pool, but most importantly rested in each company.

Resting in each other's company is something that doesn't happen often enough.  Actually, it feels like a very rare thing these days.  The boys are more independent, I work a lot, Strong man works, chores, doctor appointments, friends, and the list could go on, it just seems like whole weeks go by without us being together as a family.

It was good for our hearts, even deeper then that it was good for our souls.  We were reminded of who we are as a family.

Because phones were off, and work was forgotten (mostly), and our real life was 150 miles away we were free to remember past years, talk about where we were at, and dream of our future.

Last year in this very hotel little Laughter fell off the bed breaking his clavicle.  Two years before that as we slept waiting for Strong man to sneak into the room after his flight had arrived the fire alarms went off leaving me and two very sleepy boys to walk down four flights of stairs.  Laughter slept through the whole thing wearing only his diaper and the blanket I had wrapped around him, while little Man of the woods was a trooper doing everything I asked.

This year while the boys were happily chatting in the back seat and while miles of road lay before us Strong man asked me, "If you had to write mission statement for your life what would it be?"  Quite for a few minutes I replied, "Living a simple life but loving Jesus so deeply that others wanted to know what made me so unique, allowing me to share my love for Him just because they asked."

I have no idea if I'm actually living that statement out.  I'm not sure if I live a simplistic life, I'm not sure that people see my honesty, or how hard I work to do things right, that I genuinely care about everything I do, or that I know none of what I've been given is because of me.  I haven't been asked in a long while what makes me different.  I haven't been asked recently why I love life the way I do.

I am sure that my coworkers know that I will not cut corners or cheat in anyway.  I am sure that they know that I am well aware of my flaws.  I am sure they know that I expect the same from them.  I am not sure that shows how much I love Jesus or if it just shows them I'm a rule follower which isn't at all the same as loving the Maker of the heavens and earth.

I do wonder if my boys see how much I love Jesus or if they see that I love my job so much I don't have as much time for them.  But then I wonder if that's just the curse of a working mother to always be torn between family and work.

In the end I am comforted knowing that I don't have all the answers that I still have goals I'm striving to for, and that I'm not comfortable with where I'm at.  This conclusion shows me I am still working towards my life goal to live simply, to love Jesus, and to stand out in the world.

How Thunder works

Our last lesson for our water cycle unit.  We reviewed all the different parts and learned why it some storms have thunder and some don't.  This was a super easy experiment and really fun way to end the unit.

A few days ago I filled an ice tray with blue water and let it freeze.  Today we took a clear plastic container full of warm water.  On one end we put in a few of the blue cubes of ice and watched the color sink to the bottom.  On the other end we added a few drops of red coloring and watched it stay at the top moving in the direction of the ice (the blue at the bottom was moving in the direction of the red.)  When the two colors met the swirled around turning the water purple....There it was and example of cold air clashing with hot air making that deep mysterious rumbling noise.

A review of our water unit in photographs: