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:

Those days that shoot an arrow right through a Momma's pride.

I climbed out of bed to find a boy in pain.
To the Doctors we went right down the lane.
But in the end there was nothing to gain.

Two brothers would fight.
There arguments were trite.
Giving this Momma quite a fright.

She thought she would lose her head,
At 10:30 AM she began counting down 'til bed.
Maybe they just needed to be feed.

They sat down to eat.
Hoping this day they could defeat.
After all, lunch was quite sweet.

They laughed,
They played,
And friends were made.

As they left, just like a flame
Without any shame
Grinches they became.

Once in the store
They laid on the floor
Whining for more.

Momma all red in the face.
With her eyes like ice
She pleaded for grace.

No fun was found,
As seeds went in the ground.
In there hearts anger continued to mound.

Without any love,
Unlike a dove,
He gave a great shove.

The red drink fell.
Her ears rang like a bell.
Him she wanted to sell.

Into the bath they went.
Momma needed to vent.
To Daddy three texts she sent.

As the day came to a close,
Joy finally arose.
She realized she needed at least one pose.

With one great hug,
In there bags all snug,
Stretched out on the rug,

As they were tended,
Hearts were mended,
And the day happily ended.

Rain. 3rd time's a charm, and I wasn't even trying.

We wanted to see how rain worked.  Learning about condensation, hot and cold air, and density we tried a few different experiments to show us how rained worked.

First we took a glass of water with shaving cream on top and slowly added food coloring until the shaving cream couldn't hold it any more dropping the color into the water.  While that experiment was fun it wasn't really showing us what we wanted to see.

Next we took a bowl with warm water and sat an empty glass in the middle.  Then we covered the bowl with plastic wrap putting a few marbles in the middle to help the water drain into the cup.  While we did collect water, we still didn't really get the effect we were looking for.

We pretty much gave up on the idea that we could find a way to make it rain.

On the first day of Spring we started our seeds for this summers garden, covered them with a plastic dome and sat them in front of the window.

Today when we went to check on them, finding that most of them had sprouted.  The boys said, "Wow look we made it rain."

And my lesson for today, sometimes I don't need big and exciting I just need the simple stuff in life to teach my boys the big and exciting.

3 weeks

That's how long it's been since I opened my Bible.

My friend and I we sat across the table talking while the snow fell and the wind blew.  We sat until the place closed.  We shared our hearts, the joys and the pain.  We both looked tired and we both felt worn.  In the end we realized we shared the same problem.  We tend to fool ourselves into thinking we can steal time.

Never in the moment.
Never in the here and now.
Always thinking ahead, convincing ourselves it's a good thing.
All the while becoming more tired, more worn, and more lost.

Now it's the first day of my work week, I should be teaching.  Instead I sit in my pajamas on the couch while it snows...Again...You boys play.  I'm more tired and more worn today then I was yesterday, and I was more tired yesterday then I was the day before.  Always trying to catch up.  However, today as it snows, and you play, I choose to sit, desperate to remember the Maker.

My fingers, feeling those pages that seem so foreign, fumble through looking for a start.  I want to be amazed, to remember why Jesus is such a big deal.  I want to slow and see, to know and be known.

I begin on page 817 where four friends pull a roof apart slowly letting a paralytic down in front of Jesus so he can be healed.  Jesus heals.  Flipping the page Jesus heals again, and then again.

I can't help but notice that as Jesus heals, people are amazed, and more go to him and more are amazed, and I sit amazed too.  But how do I find Him and who do I tell and how am I healed?...Because obviously I am broken.

I notice too that He never plans to heal people or find the broken, but they find Him and He always has time.  He says yes to the interruptions.  He says yes to the moment, the here and now.

I hear your feet pounding the stairs as you fly up, stopping next to me so you can look over my shoulder.  "Oh your reading your Bible," you say to me, and away you go taking your younger brother.

I wonder if maybe this morning in my pajamas, here on this old couch because I said yes to the moment, allowing the interruption that I am finding Jesus. Maybe He is healing me, and maybe I am telling you about Him.

This dear boys, is where I'm at.  God is big, and He is good, and I am amazed.