Such Things

Here's to October

September is a lovely month, but it is such a busy one for teachers and parents alike.  On Friday I sat down, or rather partly collapsed next to another mom at the dance school after delivering the kids to their classes.  She asked me how I was and I said, "Well, I survived September."  She said, "I know what you mean.  It just went by so fast, and next thing you know it's going to be Christmas!"  That idea baffled me quite a bit, and at that very moment, I vowed that I was not going to just let the days slip by with busyness until Christmas.   

This was a great reminder to me to slow down and enjoy each passing moment. 

Or as Richard Dawson from Titanic said, "Make every day count."

This weekend we decided to make an escape to our place in Pt. Roberts.

Nothing but family time, fun, exploring and enjoying October goodness.

The girls made an "animal rescue center" in their tree house.

lots of relaxed playtime (hence the spreading of toys) and painting the livingroom white (hence the out-of -place furniture).  I added this photo as a request from friends to show some of the more chaotic moments...


Feeding fresh apples to the donkeys.

We decided to skip bedtime routine to drive to the beach and see this sunset:

I'm so looking forward to this next month. 

Here's to October and here's to making each moment count.

Sense of Wonder

I have been enamored by a book, Sense of Wonder, that I ordered through the mail.  It was published in the 1970's by Rachel Carson The pictures show their age, most are black and white, but the words have brought me unending inspiration.

I thought I would share my favourite quotes with you along with photos from a weekend away at our beach house in Pt. Roberts, W.A.

"A child's world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement.  It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision,

that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood."

"If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder without any such gift from the fairies, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it,

rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in."

"If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder,

so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantment of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength."

You may have noticed an adult "figure" pictured throughout this post and the last post.  He is a dad who cares deeply about our kids.  He listens, helps, uplifts, understands, shares, encourages and loves.  Happy Father's Day, Mark!!!

And Happy Fathers Day to all the dads!!!

And Happy Summer too!

Tulip Love (and some daffodils...)

This weekend we headed down to the annual tulip festival in Skagit Valley.  We met up with some of our very good friends and that live down that way.  Our children and their children had a delightful time together exploring the tulips.  You know, when I think of worth and wholeness, it often brings to mind an image of running through an open field of flowers.  I wasn't quite sure what words to add to these photos, and then this morning I found this poem in the office of the school that I teach, hanging right over the photocopier.  It's Children Are, written by Meiji Stewart. 

Children are:  Amazing, ACKNOWLEDGE THEM.  Believable, TRUST THEM.  Childlike, ALLOW THEM.

 

Children are:  Divine, HONOR THEM.  Energetic, NOURISH THEM.  Fallible, EMBRACE THEM.

Children are:  Gifts, TREASURE THEM.  Here Now, BE WITH THEM.  Innocent, DELIGHT WITH THEM.

Children are:  Joyful, APPRECIATE THEM.  Kindhearted, LEARN FROM THEM.  Lovable, CHERISH THEM.

Children are:  Magical, FLY WITH THEM.  Noble, ESTEEM THEM.  Open minded, RESPECT THEM.

 

Children are:  Precious, VALUE THEM.  Questioners, ENCOURAGE THEM.  Resourceful, SUPPORT THEM.

Children are:  Spontaneous, ENJOY THEM.  Talented, BELIEVE IN THEM.  Unique, AFFIRM THEM.

_{Children are:  Vulnerable, PROTECT THEM.  Whole, RECOGNIZE THEM.  Xtraspecial, CELEBRATE THEM.}

Children are:  Yearning, NOTICE THEM.  Zany, LAUGH WITH THEM.

And that's what they did.  Ran and ran and ran through the rows and rows of flowers. 

Whole, esteemed, full and free.

 "My heart is steadfast, O God;
       I will sing and make music with all my soul.

 Awake, harp and lyre!
       I will awaken the dawn.

 I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations;
       I will sing of you among the peoples.

 For great is your love, higher than the heavens;
       your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens,
       and let your glory be over all the earth."

Psalm 108:1-5

The Power of Thankfulness and Praise

When I think of God, I often think of the sky.  Vast, majestic and full of glory.  Like the sunrise early Sunday morning as I ran around the lake, covered with a faint mist.  Then my eyes move to view the beauty that's around me. Canadian Geese slowly floating along and one or two lone fishermen casting their lines.  A father walking with his two sons down for a morning stroll, tennis players, whose breath can be seen in the cold fall air, swinging at the ball with a firm arm.  Smoke rising from chimneys. Now the sun has turned from red to gold, shining down on the yellow and crimson tree tops. 

I believe in the power of gratitude.  But for me gratitude goes further than simply expressing thanks.  I am expressing thanks and praise to Almighty God, the one who created me. 

The one who is good and is the giver of all good things.

God doesn't ask us to ignore the trials, pain, worry and wants. In fact, He asks us to bring those things to Him.  He doesn't want us to deny the struggles, tears and sickness with a forced kind of thanks. 

What I do think He desires, is for us to to refocus. 

To give our struggles up to Him, into His care and to turn and see what is beautiful,

what is good,

and in some cases, what is really true.

"Shout for joy to the LORD all the earth.

Worship the LORD with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs.

Know that the LORD is God.  It is he who made us, and we are His;

we are His people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise;

give thanks to Him and praise His name. 

For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;

 

His faithfulness continues through all generations." Psalm 100

"Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again:  Rejoice!  Let your gentleness be evident to all.  The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hears and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things."  Philippians 4:4-8

The Power of Wisdom

I remember as a young girl, hearing the story of Solomon and how he asked God for wisdom instead of riches. 

"God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore.  Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the men of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt."  1Kings 4:29-30

I remember at that time, secretly asking God for the same thing as Solomon.  Wisdom.

Sometimes, as the word "fool" goes through my head, I wonder if God has ever answered that prayer; but other times, when I discover a rich new bit of understanding, I realize that God answers that prayer for me in large and small ways each and every day. 

What is wisdom exactly?  Is it knowledge?  Is it some kind of power? Is it intellectual?  Spiritual?  Is it higher levels of thinking or a mystical kind of experience?

To me, wisdom is knowing.  A quiet kind of knowing.  It has to do with thinking and acting, but it also has to do with entering into a relationship with God.  Coming to know Him.  Seeking after His ways.

"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better."  Ephesians 1:17

I have been reading and rereading The Pursuit of God, by A.W. Tozer.  At one point in his book, he describes this wonderful seeking after God:

"Being made in His image we have within us the capacity to know Him.  In our sins we lack only the power.  The moment the Spirit has quickened us to life in regeneration our whole being senses its kinship to God and leaps up in joyous recognition...for now begins the glorious pursuit, the heart's happy exploration of the infinite riches of the Godhead."

I love that description.  So many think seeking after God brings some kind of judgment or restrictions to their way of living, but in fact it's quite the opposite.  Acquiring wisdom opens one's mind.  Happy exploration.  The infinite riches of the Godhead.

"For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul." Proverbs 2:10

For, me wisdom also comes through knowing my savior:  "It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption."  I Corinthians 1:30

I think what I've come to understand is that wisdom is not about trying harder, working harder, learning harder, searching harder.  Wisdom is about surrender. 

It's about quietly listening to God and trusting more.

"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him." James 1:5

You can find this post on my sidebar under "themes".

*One morning I came downstairs and saw the image above.

I felt that it said something to me that day.

Homemade

My friend Rachel has a dream of living self-sufficiently. Growing her own vegetables, preserving for the winter, raising cattle for milk and meat, chickens for eggs and goats for cheese. She makes a lot of her food from scratch. Homemade bread, jams, ice cream and pasta.

Last year, before I knew anything about blogging, I photographed Rachel making ice cream with her ice cream maker.

This year we made pasta together:

I tell Rachel that visiting her on the farm reminds me of a travel vacation, where one learns to cook fine pasta and drink wine. (They bottle their own wine too!)

And what's better to have with homemade pasta, but juicy steaks from raised cattle.

Rachel told me about a book that guides some of her food philosophy written by Michael Pollen called In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. His opening line and motto is: "eat food, not too much, mostly plants."

Being a practical girl, I don't make everything from scratch, but I think it's important to think about what we eat and why. For me, I love light, fresh, healthy tastes. Herbs, vegetables, salads, fish, fruits and throw in a few deserts too! I think the expression "you are what you eat" isn't too far from the truth.

Have a fantastic weekend!

My To Do List

"Do what you love and love what you do."

I am convinced that doing things that are fun gives energy for the things that are not so fun.  This weekend we went out "adventuring" with the kids, and when we got home, I noticed that I had plenty of energy to clean the house.

Sometimes responsibilities seem to grow around me, the "have tos" and the "must dos".   My "to do" list has often looked like this:

1.  clean the house

2.  clean the house

3. clean the house

4. pay the bills

5.  run a boring errand

6.  attend a function that I don't enjoy and don't even want to go to

I find my enthusiasm is low, I procrastinate and I do not get things done quickly.  I develop a "trapped" feeling.

My new kind of "to do" list includes doing the things I enjoy the most first and then trying to enjoy the things I don't like as much:

1.  coffee/devotion time

2.  do something fun or relaxing for myself

3.  do something fun with my kids

4.  visit and laugh with friends

5.  make something or do a new project I've been meaning to do

6.  go for a run

7.  do one errand I need to attend to

8.  do a quick "circumference clean" of the house

9.  clean one room throughly

Or I make two lists at the beginning of the week, the "must do" list and the "want to do" list, and I mix it up throughout the week.

Life is about enjoyment, not drudgery!

By the way, I thought I had invented the quote at the opening of this post, but it's actually part of a quote by Jeff Mallett (I'm not sure exactly who he is).  Here's the entire quote:  "Do what you love, love what you do, leave the world a better place and don't pick your nose."

Favourite Quotes

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

I wanted to celebrate my new blog with this quote from Marianne Williamson.  I first heard it in a movie Akeelah and the Bee.  I loved it so much that I printed it from the internet the very night I watched the movie and made numerous photocopies of it.  Last night I thought I would add a picture of Marianne Williamson with the quote, but as I searched, I was very surprised to find that she was a white American woman.  I guess I had assumed that she was a black woman like the characters in the film.  I also had a sinking feeling to discover that she was is not a Christian, but a new age leader, who among other projects has a weekly radio show on "Oprah and Friends". 

I still like some of the ideas in the quote, but I turn again to the word of God for inspiration and selected this quote from Deuteronomy 30:19-20:

"Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.  For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land..."

The note in my Bible says "'Life in this context refers to all that makes life rich, full and productive - as God created it to be."

Let's turn to something even bigger than ourselves.  Let's turn to God and seize the life that He's given us.  That's what I hope to do in this blog.