It is quiet…and it is 11:30 in the morning. Pie Pie is sleeping in his crib, Mini Mister, I think, is saying his Pledge of Allegiance, and Little Miss is probably outside with her pre-school class riding bikes. And I am here, with a clear mind, breathing consciously, and writing in this little space.
With three children, I can still enjoy stillness, quiet, and tranquility. No TV, no radio, no phone. No driving, no laundry, no e-mail. A cup of hot tea is to my side, a keyboard is in front of me, and many words are floating in my head just waiting to flow out through my fingers and onto the page. (It should probably be “screen,” but “page” sounds so much better doesn’t it?)
In this moment of peace, I still feel the urge to do something. To DO something. That is, to be productive. ”Where is my to-do list?” ”What will I need to prepare for later?” ”What can only be accomplished with two hands?”
But I push all that away. I drag those thoughts of doing to the back of my mind and I breath. I listen to the cars floating by on the road. I listen to the chicken crackling under the oven broiler. (See I am multi-tasking!) And I welcome in the calm. Just for a moment.
Sometimes calm is a found moment. Sometimes it comes upon you by surprise. Sometimes you can force it to come. But small moments of peace should be noticed, captured, and savored.
P/S
This photo is just me playing around with a new-on-loan camera lens. It’s a pineapple. And pineapples really don’t give me any added feelings of relaxation or peace. I just thought it was an interesting shot.
Goodness, I very much dislike traffic. Very much. This week we are in school full swing…both older kids. Full day kindergarten and three day pre-school. Lunches, snacks, teacher notes, extra clothing, appropriate foot wear, and battling road construction and traffic are all taking so much energy and time at the moment. (Really, we are on the road near 10 hours a week with all the congestion around here.)
It warms my heart that both Mini Mister and Little Miss love their school, teachers, and school-friends so much. I feel relaxed and happy to leave them each morning knowing that they are eager to have fun and learn. Both children come back to me with huge smiles, healthy dinner appetites, and lots of stories (or just snippets of various stories that require tons of guessing.)
With the beginning of the school year, I find myself in the throws of keeping up with our co-oping responsibilities. This year is the second year our family is responsible for putting together the parent education talks for our pre-school. I love this job even though it keeps me tied to e-mail and the phone for the first few months. It is like picking the child development topics that are most pressing to our family, looking up the specialists and therapists who have professional knowledge on the subject and then having someone else pay for them to answer all your questions. Awesome I say! This year I am seeking to put together talks about parental stress, picky-eating, positive discipline, and an introduction to Montessori/Waldorf/traditional homeschooling educations. Organizing these talks brings me back to my meeting planning background. Tedious and fun!
And, I believe it is safe to say this now, I am also deep in the process of starting my own small business. This is something I’ve been tossing around for ages, but after much prayer and reflection, I think God is finally giving me the signs that now is the time to step off and give it a go. I have gotten some really great feedback from friends and acquaintances that have bolstered my courage to say that phrase, “I’m going into business,” out loud. Yes, even with a new baby and the responsibility of belonging to two co-oping schools, I know that this can indeed happen. What is life really, if it is not filled with the things you love to do?
{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
Head on over to Soulemama to see other special moments!
So much water. So much rain here in northern Virginia. No school because of the rain! Flooding everywhere. Feeling blessed to be warm (or cool rather) and dry inside our home. Feeling grateful for a calm, relaxed morning in pajamas. Feeling thankful that Little Miss got her rain boots in the mail just in time to jump in some “muddy puddles.” (We are big fans of Peppa Pig here.)
Feeling somber rememberance and praying for all those touched by the tragedies of September 11th 10 years ago. May you have a safe blessed weekend.
Here I am writing underneath my three and a half year old. (Literally. Under.) These tiny pestering flies keep zooming past my head from an unknown spot in our home. They’ve taken up residence here, perhaps to escape the rain outside.
It is raining, raining, raining. I heard the gargantuan drops pound on our roof late last night. And I felt so thankful to have a sturdy roof over our heads.
I am always reminding myself to be thankful for shelter, clothing, and food. Those basic necessities that seem so complicated sometimes.
I forgot to order rain boots for the kids and sorely regretted my error when Little Miss asked me 17 times yesterday to jump in the muddy puddles outside in…sandals. How can clothing get complicated and food more complicated?
I looked at Mini Mister’s empty lunch bag last night at 10:30 PM and just wondered blankly. What in the world would I fill it with that he might actually eat. What in the world would actually nourish his brain?
Waking at 5:30 AM to nourish Pie Pie’s brain has me on brain drain. I feel like mush come 10 AM. I am at a total loss when I see “dinner” written in my day planner and I completely forget why I phoned my husband.
He is wonderful that husband of mine. I count my blessings that God led me to him. Full of loving support and help, my heart feels content and safe. He is at Little Miss’ pre-school right now training other parents how to co-op in the classroom.
I am feeling relieved that I don’t have to co-op and help out in the classroom this year. 14 three-year olds and me and a teacher = a great need for a nap post event. Luckily, after driving Mini Mister to his bus pick-up and Little Miss to her class, I get to return home with Pie Pie.
Pie Pie is such an easy baby and I find myself amazed at our luck. (Actually after the last two, I am thinking, “it’s about time we get some easy around here!”) I am so thankful and glad that we are all a family. Amid the writing underneath a squirmy someone, the pouring rain outside, and wondering where the next bend in the road will lead, being together brings strength, joy, and grace.
Today is back to school for Mini Mister. In the pouring rain. He is a big-boy kindergartner. This first day of school is something he has been wanting since last December. He told his daddy this morning, “daddy, I got up early so I can go to work with you.” Daddy said, “today is your first day of kindergarten. Do you want to go?” Mini Mister rephrased, “I got up early so I can go to kindergarten!”
I didn’t have my camera but I will probably always remember that small face, with big squeezable cheeks, looking back at me this morning as he disembarked the van. “Bye mama. See you later!” What a big boy he is! I felt so proud, happy, and filled with love. (Instead of the worried, sad, teary wreck I thought I might be.)
What would the beginning of school be without a bit of sewing? Our Montessori school uses washcloths to dry small hands. We were instructed to send in six. One for each day of the week and one to spare. I didn’t feel quite right sending these along without a personal touch. Some custom seam binding made from the last bit of stashed away cars fabric made these clothes more like the little-big-boy I dropped off at school this morning. A classroom parent takes home all the laundry once a week and returns these little cloths clean and folded on Monday.
The second project I needed to fashion was a placemat for lunch time. At first I thought packing a lunch every day would be such an arduous task. And not that it isn’t, but I like to look on the bright side of things. Public school lunches are wheat based. Pizza, hot dogs, mac and cheese, sub sandwiches, grilled cheese….wheat, wheat, wheat. Mini Mister might just benefit from a home-packed lunch that contains healthier items without wheat that he’ll actually eat. And of course he’ll be less likely to eat anything if he is playing “racing cars” on his placemat. Mama, what were you thinking?
This was a first try. A little reverse applique, a little bit of machine embroidery, and a whole lot of fudging. I am not that satisfied with it and plan to do a second attempt. Mini Mister seemed to like it just fine. I also thought it needed a few racing cars. (But I couldn’t decide how to do “flat” wheels. I felt buttons would be lumpy.) But Mini Mister instructed me that he doesn’t want any vehicles on it. So, I guess that will be that. This kindergartner knows what he wants.
After giving birth to Little Miss we thought two was enough. Mini Mister needed surgery to correct his kidney reflux. Little Miss was born slightly premature and needed to stay in the NICU for a bit to keep her temperature up. She had a heart murmur and a cranial hematoma both of which slowly went away on their own. Mini Mister had sensory issues and speech issues. Little Miss needed physical therapy and now is in speech therapy. Along the way I created quite a business card collection from all the doctors we visited.
We thought we’d been through a lot. We thought we had our share of stresses. We gave away all of our baby things to relatives, friends and charity, and saved a few for my brother in law and his wife for when they start their family. We though we were done growing our family. That was until we asked God. We prayed about whether or not to have another child and we wondered if it would be the right thing to do to try. As you probably can guess He blessed us with another little soul who was born this May. Little Pie Pie is simply that; a blessing.
Pie Pie is an easy baby. (For this I am particularlly grateful as I still have stamped in my brain vivid memories of colick. Those long hours in the evenings holding a screaming Little Miss seemed to stretch into a blurry infinity.) Pie Pie has led us to new people and acquaintances who have helped our family and our faith grow tremendously. He has taught us new things about the power of God’s grace and love, and what is possible when you let the Lord into your life without conditions.
A couple of weeks ago I was changing Pie Pie’s clothes. Our relatives generously lent us the infant clothes their own twin boys out grew. (Many of these tiny outfits were once Mini Mister’s which we gave to them.) Pie Pie is a swiftly growing baby boy and is quickly growing out of all of his outfits. Fat little wrists are popping out. Chubby neck rolls fold over his collars. And we began to ask God where we were going to get all of the items you need to cloth and care for a growing baby? Help again blessed us from everywhere.
One friend loaned me a nursing cover. A family member sent us a cash gift we used to buy the baby carrier/wrap I use almost daily. Another friend let us borrow her boys’ clothing. A full wardrobe through 12 months…what a blessing. The feelings of gratitude humble me.
Pie Pie taught us how to receive. You always hear that giving is better than receiving. And usually it is. But to feel God’s love shining down on you through the kind actions of those close to you is simply wonderful. All this receiving certainly inspires the giving spirit too. I just hope that we can give back the kind of love we’ve been so lucky to receive.
I love thrifting, though I haven’t been in quite a while. One needs a keen eye to cut through the clutter and find those diamonds in the rough. My mind needs to be in creative-mode to be able to envision the reinvented polished piece instead of simply seeing the wrinkled, slightly stained, pile of fabric tossed before me. Fewer kids in my cart basket helps keep me in that creative-mode.
Maybe thrifting was bred into me. I remember many childhood afternoons wandering the cluttered aisles of dusty, musty ”antiques.” It was so boring. I think I was into new and shiny back then. My parents wandered to and fro, searching each shop for that gem waiting to be discovered. Occasionally, they’d make a purchase, lug it home to be dusted off, refinished, and placed in that special corner of our rather eclectic home. I mean, were else but a mostly forgotten antique shop would you find a wooden toilet seat to adorn the walls of my parent’s home?
Antiques in these parts of Virginia are “real”, thrift stores many times give you the same feeling that you are hunting for a hidden treasure. As an adult living in the suburbs, I’ve found thrift stores are one of the best places to purchase fabrics for making items for the home. This blue and taupe striped cotton fabric was a curtain in a former life. I needed dish towels and this pattern looked homey enough. This fabric is the perfect weight to be draped over bread rising in the oven, cover pastry dough, and dry off dishes.
I cut rectangles, folded the edges and folded them again to sew a large finished edge; and presto, some ultra cheap kitchen towels.
A couple of pointers about this project…
*If you were to make your own dish towels, search for linen or cotton fabrics. Look at the tag to check the fiber content. When in doubt, scrunch the fabric in your hand. If it wrinkles, it is a natural fiber. If it flattens out, it is likely a synthetic polyester.
*Be aware of the colors of your home decor. Don’t simply pick up that fabric because it is a good price. Buy it because you would love to see it hanging in your home.
*To create repurposed dishtowels, stick to curtains, table cloths, and perhaps think blankets. There is a lot of fabric yardage per the price.
*Sew on a loop to one corner, or use a grommet, to hang your dish towel creation.
*Always, always, always launder your fabrics well as soon as you bring them into your home.
This project should only take a couple of hours to complete. It took me six months because…well, I was pregnant and had a baby, and because usually you can’t clothe a baby in a dish towel.
P/S
That biscuit is not a gluten free biscuit, so don’t ask. Pillsbury has got the recipe and it was for a family who just had a baby and we were bringing them dinner. But my kiddos got to it first. And yes, the fabric was laundered clean before the biscuit was placed there.
…to me, is how I feel most days. Maybe if I wore a suit of velcro and attached the loop strips to the kids, my arms wouldn’t hurt so much at the end of the day.
Sometimes I am so frustrated I feel like my head is going to fall off. Other times, I just laugh. This too shall pass. And of course then I’ll miss it.
So many are so generous around the holidays when we are most reminded of those in need. As those lucky ones who still have jobs fly around collecting gifts to give to loved ones, we also pick up something else for those who aren’t as lucky.
As the December holiday season draws near, Salvation Army bell ringers are out in force. Charities up their direct mailing efforts citing year-end tax relief as one of the rewards of giving. Our church bulletin is full of opportunities to give to the less fortunate here and abroad. Something about the brisk weather, the first snowflakes, and caroling on the radio stirs up the giving spirit in our hearts and challenges us to look beyond ourselves.
But where is my mind in the giving-holiday devoid months of summer? Watering plants outside. Worrying about bad-air-days when the temperatures soar to 115+ degrees F. And what to make for dinner that does not require me to spend time in a hot kitchen. My mind certainly isn’t remembering that need is year-round.
A few weeks ago our church bulletin so thoughtfully reminded me that their food pantry stores are running low. December donations have been consumed already and replenishment is sorely needed before the holiday giving season comes ’round again. So, we took out our wallets and purchased a couple of items we hope will make some one’s day a little brighter.
Why is charitable giving seasonal when need knows no season? How soon we forget about the latest tragedy that destroyed property and took lives. After the news story hits, dollars and relief pour in. How long does it take for that generousity to dry up? When giving elicits such joy and happiness, why do we not give more often? It’s it certainly worth trying to give always. Wouldn’t we all be better for it?
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When it is an especially hot day we try to give our postman a cold drink. I know it is his job to deliver the mail, but the hot and humid conditions in which he must perform his duties make me feel lucky to not have to do his job. The poor guy drives around with no AC, delivering the mail for hours and hours on end during the hottest part of the day. The look of gratitude and surprise on his sweaty face when Mini Mister runs up with a cold can of soda certainly makes you feel good about giving. How have you appreciated someone lately?
Last week was just crazy. An earthquake near us that measure 5.8, and the hurricane that blew through in the dark of night aren’t sights we see here in Virginia every day.
I can tell that these little bumps in the road had an impact on my stress level and most certainly have left impressions on the kids. Mini Mister’s eyes were as wide as pancakes when we vacated our home as the earth shook under our feet. A few days later, he was playing with a covered plastic bin with his toy cars on top. He shook the bin and yelled to his four-wheeled friends, “there is a world crake! Everyone get out of the house, it is going to fall down! It is a world crake!” Just yesterday he asked me if the earth was going to shake again. Thank goodness, my relieved answer was probably not.
The hurricane only left my husband and I up at 3 AM Sunday morning. Luckily, the kids slept through the howling winds and the creaking trees. We were left safe, warm, and dry inside our home. God’s grace was certainly around us last week.
Also adding to my stress is the back-to-school notion I am sure is on the minds of most parents right now. I am a worrier. And I make lists and plan to try to control some of the uncontrollable in life.
I worry about how I am going to feel about a quiet house. Most days this summer, I am just trying to get through the day with all the noise, clatter, and chaos that goes on from the time we rise until the time we rest. This summer, when Mini Mister tried out a full-day summer camp at his Montessori school, I missed his banter, his endless humming, and even some of the bickering he picks up with his sister. I felt sad for Little Miss that she didn’t have a playmate most of the day. And I felt a little hole peek through in my daily life where I could see that I really missed his “little-man-of-the-house” antics.
And then I worry about the logistics. Will the driving around be okay for little Pie-Pie? How will I accomplish anything the days I am on the road for 3 1/2 hours. (I could visit relatives in Philly driving that far.) Will I really be able to continue crafting, knitting, and sewing while fulfilling our co-operative family obligations at two schools? Will I be able to cook a homemade meal again? Or will I forever be tied to my crock-pot? Will I simply be able to keep my head on straight?
I’ve mostly decided to leave it in God’s hands. That is really all I can do. I can put in my 100% and beyond that, there isn’t any more that is humanly possible. I don’t know which way things will turn. I don’t know what is around the corner. I don’t even really know how to let go of it all. (That is why I’ve “mostly” decided to leave it God.) But I know that when I do invite Him into my life that I have someone on my side, and really wonderful things can happen. Things I could have never imagened solve problems. Things I never dreamed could exist come to fruition through means I never thought could be. It is amazing how God works with us, and for us. Now I just hope I can hold up my end of the bargain and be the greaceful receiver of His gifts that He needs.
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thank you for stopping by my blog  I am a 35 year old mom to a 4 year old son, a 3 year old daughter, a son born in May, and a wife to my life wonderful. I write in this space when my crafty inspiration strikes or when I get to pondering about how we can live more simply and better connect with the earth around us. We are a family surviving the suburbs, contending with commercialism, and getting to a greener lifestyle. Welcome! ~Abbie a few blogs I like in no particular order Permission © Organizing-Life 2009
All images and designs are property of Organizing-Life. Please do not copy any original designs or photography without written permission. Thank you!
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