We are all on the mend...and on the road to normalcy (simplicity, I hope.)
Kids back at school, I'm back at work. Today was picture day at school. all three were clad in new clothes, new shoes, baby blue and yellow. Taddy came into my bathroom looking for hair gel equivalent. :) And Mary felt so pretty, you could tell by her swish....
I have a sense of growing.... It is nice when at any age, in various areas of my life, I can grow and not remain stagnant.
I am growing in my knitting. yea! I am in the middle of a project that requires me to use markers. I have ignored the part of any pattern that said put in a marker. I did with this project too. Then, after several times of pulling stitches back out and redoing, I gave in, and decided to try using markers. And it works! It made the frustration a joy and so much easier! yea for markers. :) I also, in this same project, am making my first item with a lace pattern in it. Following a grid chart and it is so exciting to get a few rows into it and see a lovely pattern emerging. Yea lace, yea markers. I also have a second project on the needles that is requiring me to not ignore that section of the pattern about gauge. Sigh.... I hate that. But I am attempting my first sweater (sleeveless mind you, but still a sweater with armhole and neck shaping), so I have to care about gauge. I bought some really cool bamboo needles the size the pattern called for and some interestingly lumpy/skinny yarn. I did the gauge first thing at home (reluctantly) only to discover, even though I bought the exact needles and exact yarn the pattern called for, my gauge is too small! At first I just did the math and casted on extra stitches,....but as I have gotten a few inches into it I realize I need to just bite the bullet, unravel it, and use needles that give me the right gauge....sigh.... so see....I am growing as a knitter. yea...
Something I read on Joy's blog has got me thinking. She talked about how she wanted to live a simple life and craved simplicity. Joy is a momma of five, living in Indonesia, a missionary wife, her husband is a missionary pilot. Not so simple..yet I too had a resounding chord at those words...and was thinking...what does simplicity in this complex world look like... And just a thought I had was...do less. go less places. Not in a negative, let's feel deprived sort of way...but don't take on something that causes schedule and logistic craziness in our lives. It is not worth the payback. Example....my son takes piano...it use to be nuts on Wednesday night because I would have to get off work and pick up the other two and then get to the piano teachers house by 4:15 because her daughter HAD to leave for her flute practice at that time. Craziness...stress and NOT simple. Simplification: We move his lessons to Tuesday afternoon, at school. He is in the after school program anyway, with his brother and sister.... so he steps out, has his lesson, goes back in. I have one pick-up place and no rush time schedule to meet. Voila! Simplification.
One thing counter in our culture, and so often a battle in my mind, is this thought and tendency that our kids HAVE to be involved in all these different things..... five sports teams, and karate, and music, and art and .... Add a second, third, fourth child and it is just not doable...at least not with any peace or sanity. So stop it! Many of us grew up without all this and had an enjoyable, SIMPLE, childhood.
So that is what I am going to start thinking about, each time an opportunity presents itself. Yes, some of these opportunities are fun and have some value, but how does it impact the entire family and is it worth it? That is my first step toward simplicity.
The other thread that has been running through my mind and heart, over and over and over many times during the week, since I read it a couple weeks ago, is what Ann shared about being a "soak it up" momma. That post has so profoundly impacted me. I cannot let it go. Time and time again I keep coming back to it...that I need to soak it up...not add more mess. That the only way I can soak it up is by the divine power of the Holy Spirit and the only way I am going to walk in this power and "promise land" of being a momma that lives beyond herself is to nurture that intimacy with God..and pray my head off! Which once again...AGAIN....AGAIN...
Kids back at school, I'm back at work. Today was picture day at school. all three were clad in new clothes, new shoes, baby blue and yellow. Taddy came into my bathroom looking for hair gel equivalent. :) And Mary felt so pretty, you could tell by her swish....
I have a sense of growing.... It is nice when at any age, in various areas of my life, I can grow and not remain stagnant.
I am growing in my knitting. yea! I am in the middle of a project that requires me to use markers. I have ignored the part of any pattern that said put in a marker. I did with this project too. Then, after several times of pulling stitches back out and redoing, I gave in, and decided to try using markers. And it works! It made the frustration a joy and so much easier! yea for markers. :) I also, in this same project, am making my first item with a lace pattern in it. Following a grid chart and it is so exciting to get a few rows into it and see a lovely pattern emerging. Yea lace, yea markers. I also have a second project on the needles that is requiring me to not ignore that section of the pattern about gauge. Sigh.... I hate that. But I am attempting my first sweater (sleeveless mind you, but still a sweater with armhole and neck shaping), so I have to care about gauge. I bought some really cool bamboo needles the size the pattern called for and some interestingly lumpy/skinny yarn. I did the gauge first thing at home (reluctantly) only to discover, even though I bought the exact needles and exact yarn the pattern called for, my gauge is too small! At first I just did the math and casted on extra stitches,....but as I have gotten a few inches into it I realize I need to just bite the bullet, unravel it, and use needles that give me the right gauge....sigh.... so see....I am growing as a knitter. yea...
Something I read on Joy's blog has got me thinking. She talked about how she wanted to live a simple life and craved simplicity. Joy is a momma of five, living in Indonesia, a missionary wife, her husband is a missionary pilot. Not so simple..yet I too had a resounding chord at those words...and was thinking...what does simplicity in this complex world look like... And just a thought I had was...do less. go less places. Not in a negative, let's feel deprived sort of way...but don't take on something that causes schedule and logistic craziness in our lives. It is not worth the payback. Example....my son takes piano...it use to be nuts on Wednesday night because I would have to get off work and pick up the other two and then get to the piano teachers house by 4:15 because her daughter HAD to leave for her flute practice at that time. Craziness...stress and NOT simple. Simplification: We move his lessons to Tuesday afternoon, at school. He is in the after school program anyway, with his brother and sister.... so he steps out, has his lesson, goes back in. I have one pick-up place and no rush time schedule to meet. Voila! Simplification.
One thing counter in our culture, and so often a battle in my mind, is this thought and tendency that our kids HAVE to be involved in all these different things..... five sports teams, and karate, and music, and art and .... Add a second, third, fourth child and it is just not doable...at least not with any peace or sanity. So stop it! Many of us grew up without all this and had an enjoyable, SIMPLE, childhood.
So that is what I am going to start thinking about, each time an opportunity presents itself. Yes, some of these opportunities are fun and have some value, but how does it impact the entire family and is it worth it? That is my first step toward simplicity.
The other thread that has been running through my mind and heart, over and over and over many times during the week, since I read it a couple weeks ago, is what Ann shared about being a "soak it up" momma. That post has so profoundly impacted me. I cannot let it go. Time and time again I keep coming back to it...that I need to soak it up...not add more mess. That the only way I can soak it up is by the divine power of the Holy Spirit and the only way I am going to walk in this power and "promise land" of being a momma that lives beyond herself is to nurture that intimacy with God..and pray my head off! Which once again...AGAIN....AGAIN...
comes down to this:
rise up
early in the morning
before your young ones
and spend time with
your husband, your maker...
your dear and precious bridegroom....
the master of the universe...
and his son.
No way to get around it. It never changes..... My spirit is willing my flesh is melted jello. Ah Lord I want it. I need it. They need it from me. I MUST.
Several times in the past few weeks with all the hard work of packing, moving, unpacking {still}, sick with colds and headaches...I have come to a hard moment where I just wanted to sit down and quit. Not pack another item, not tape another box, not sort another pile of stuff....and each time, I have paused for about 10 seconds and then mentally said to my self..."suck it up and get on with it." And it worked. Made it through.
I am thinking with my years of battle over the early morning time with God, I am going to have to take my "just suck it up and do it" attitude over my jello flesh.
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you....and then I will have some absorbency to be a soak it up momma for my kids.
Well....that is it for now I said it was a little of this and a little of that....
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