Brendan stayed up late tonight, alone with his mama, much the way his journey into this world began six years ago.  He started up the stairs a while ago.  Down he came before long, announcing that he just couldn't sleep. The truth is, I couldn't either.

His Daddy is travelling tonight, as he was that other night six years ago. I don't sleep as well when he is gone and, especially this night, my head is full of remembering and forgetting and humble awe. 

  "Just one story, please mom?"  he asked.  So we read together while the house slept.  These lines linger with me:

"Mr. Herriot," he said, "do you ever feel that sometimes when unexpected things happen, they were meant to, and that it works out for the best in the end?"

"Yes," I said. "I often think that." - Blossom Comes Home, James Herriot

Our girls are off on another adventure today. Allen took them to the train station early this morning. It was a late night before and we were a little foggy headed all around.  The girls grabbed lunches and bags and I handed him his to-go cup and a slice of toast and off they went. 

Later when he returned home he stopped me and said while driving home he had looked at his cup and thought, someone had gotten up before him, made him coffee and sent him off fed.  It occurred to him he had not thanked me for that. He worried we might take these little things for granted.  Even if they happen regularly they are no less wonderful. 

He does his own wonderful things – like figuring out train tickets and handling early morning rides so I don't have to.  As do our kids. And our friends.  How often do we stop to tell them?  To consider how those little acts of love lighten our load and brighten our days?  It's not a unique problem….

 ¹¹ Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. ¹² As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy^[a] met him. They stood at a distance ¹³ and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

 ¹⁴ When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.

 ¹⁵ One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. ¹⁶ He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

 ¹⁷ Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? ¹⁸ Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹ Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

If you have a pack of thank you notes tucked in a drawer someplace, pull one out.  Tape it to the fridge. We don't need a program.  Just a little reminder. It helps "make us well".  

Today is a very good day to say, Thank You. I will start.  Thanks to you all who have popped in to say hello or drop a note in my box.  It means the world to me. God bless. : ) 

(someone else who is very grateful for her cuppa – Tess and her cocoa in the kitchen in Garmisch)

Look at me posting twice in one day. : )   Here is a little inspiration to kick off the New Year.  What is your life? What is worth recording?  Answer – all of it.  Cereal boxes and sock piles, backseat sing alongs and grocery lists. The afghan over the baby and the afghan folded on the end of the nursing home bed. These are the things life is made of. 

On the fence?  Not sure how worthwhile pics of receipt stacks and slurpie cups could possibly be? Becky Higgins has put out a series of videos for the Christmas season which have been so much fun to watch.  You don't want to miss this last one. Images are all taken from her Project Life for 2010.  If you are so inspired, she offers a Project Life kit so you can do this at home too.  It is a scrapbook with no cutting and pasting.  Just pockets you drop standard 4×6 pics and precut journal cards into. One per day or one per week or one per month. 

Not a scrapbooker.  Check out Project 365 on Flickr and in the blog world.   A picture a day/week/month.  One.  Of anything at all. No themes, no posing.  Just life – your life.  Like this….

this from in front of my house in the wee hours of the morning.  Happy New Year.  May it be the best one yet. 

(more daybooks at Peggy's )

FOR TODAY Dec 31st, 2010

Outside my window… overcast and snowy. I was out early this morning and saw two deer in the meadow.  There were also a few cars which had slid off the road.  (I actually looked that up.  "Had slid" sounds funny doesn't it?) This is the time of year when I am glad to have a 4 wheel drive.  Try to get a smart car up our hill, why doncha. ; ) 

I am hearing… Abbie telling me about her new shape sorter.  This is music to my ears since for the whole week before she mostly sounded like Ozzie Osbourne, with generally unintelligible complaints. 

From the learning rooms…    Discussions about debt, loans, house payments, and the pro's and con's of immediate entry into the work force vs college degrees.  This over the Life board game the other night <g> The boys got watercolor pencils and are working through their St Dominic Savio color books.

Back to school for mom next week.  I am running with the idea you CAN teach an old dog new tricks. : ) 

From the kitchen…  a simple Christmas dinner last weekend -roast beef, boiled potatoes (too lazy to peel and mash) and mushroom gravy, green beans, cranberry sauce, relish tray.  We had a good talk about the cranberries which made me think.  My first thought was to look at our dinner as sort of flunkie holiday fare.  We spent the week prior in the hospital and the week before that traveling. I made the dinner at home with sick girls while dh and kids were at church.  It was pretty straight forward since a roast just sits in the oven and the rest warmed in pots on the stovetop. There was no multi-step dressing, no casseroles, no painstakingly marinated organic turkeys.   Jars and cans and heat, I thought.  That couldn't 'count'.  

Then I thought, says who?  I have shared before that all the years growing up my Gram was known for her wonderful meals. And yet she made very little "from scratch". Cream of mushroom soup  made gravy for ground beef, and we tried every variety of Betty Crocker potato casserole. Countless variations of jello and pudding/Cream Whip desserts. And yes, there were always jellied cranberries sliced into perfect rounds and fanned onto a plate just so – just like all the homemakers in our neck of the woods were preparing for their clans.  Apparently no one told them it 'didn't count'.  Truth is, even today my husband and children and likely all my blood relatives would sooner cancel a holiday dinner than willingly consume a whole cranberry.  And while homemade bread is lovely, they really want brown and serve rolls at get togethers. 

So surveying this spread the other night through 1970's eyes I patted myself on the back. It WAS a nice dinner. They loved it. I have duly noted that the world my head circulates in online – while often creatively stimulating – is very different from the world of people I actually circulate with in real life.  Art should be imitating life, not vice versa.  I think the internet sometimes has us up-ending that process.  

 I am thankful for…  returning health, friends that we are close enough to to miss dearly at the holidays, board games which go on for hours, and a long talk with my husband all wrapped up in a blanket with a sick baby girl sprawled across our laps.  

I am wearing… boot cut jeans and deep rust colored 3/4 sleeve lacy tee.  Most exciting about this get up?  It is topped with Estee Lauder Beautiful perfume from my stocking.  Estee original was a signature scent of the women in my family.  One whiff and I see them in my mind's eye immediately. I wore White Linen for years and then Beautiful. Then stopped.  It just sort of didn't get replaced at some point.  On a date night last month I paused at the Estee aisle, remembering.  Someone else remembered too.  : )  Much appreciated!

I am reading… Managers of Their Schools.  It just arrived and I hope to get through it this weekend. We have learned at home for two decades now, but not always the way we have come to do this in the past few years. I am revisiting Joyce Swann articles and thoughtfully reading through Steve Maxwell's Redeeming the Time book as well. I do this regularly since this counsel is not circulated nor discussed widely given that the common opinion is that structured, rigorous homeschooling cannot or should not happen in a big family. I am encouraged to see that it can be done, although it is really important to know the level of commitment involved and what else can NOT be done at the same time.  Like, daily blogging in my case. ; o 

Pondering these words… 

"We have grown up with the "mine" mindset. We can live our lives thinking we own our time and we can do what we want with it. That doesn't change the reailty that it is really God's time. If we will submit to God's ownership of our time, we will view our time in a totally different perspective…" Steve Maxwell

Thought for the new year – God gave me each irreplaceable minute for a reason.  What would He have me do with this one? and the next? Is what I am doing this minute meshing with His will? Is it leading me closer to heaven?  Is it leading my children closer to heaven? How can I make the very most of this time? 

These thoughts are foremost at this moment in my life. 

Around the house…. there wasn't much mess this year. Things are simplifying and likely will continue. We have watched our neighbors this Christmas and taken note there too.  There were no Christmas campaigns in local stores.  No toy sales.  Just a modest selection of ornaments and a generous selection of non-cartoon chocolate.  Folks gathered around high tables and low bonfires at Christmas markets which featured mainly food and hot gluhwein.

On Christmas eve the neighbors brought  a potted tree to their elderly mother who lives on the ground floor apartment in their home. Alannah's German friends talked about reading Christmas stories and praying and going to mass. Some exchanged small gifts like model craft supplies. Lots of food and visiting. (seeing a theme here? )  And you know what?  There is no "Christmas stress" there.  No "Christmas crowds". 

By contrast Asher, who is working at our base exchange store said it was appalling to hear customers yell and argue on their cell phones over last minute shopping woes. The bases brought in extra dumpsters just for all the holiday trash. Not so here in the village. In this place it really stands out and makes you think.  Simple is as simple does. 

I am creating…  I started that French cross stitch on vacation and have picked it up again a few times at home.  Then took apart a $3 pair of men's tan corduroys (new at that!)  from the thrift shop and am cutting out skirts for the little girls. 

A few plans for the rest of the week(end)…  The week passed by with no blogging.  In it's place was closet cleaning, a library run, evening walks after dark.  There was a sledding party and lots of wooden train track building and play silk cape wearing.  The weekend will bring a couple trips to the chapel and movies under a blanket if all goes well.  

 A picture thought I am sharing…