Did I mention we like to stop and smell the flowers?  

For days I sat and nursed the baby while Rebecca refilled my cup with this addictive tea.  Seriously addictive.  I haven't drunk much tea in recent years but now cannot seem to begin the day without a cinnamon fix.  And you know you must wind down at dusk with chatter fueled by Five O'Clock decaf.  Starbucks has nothing on Rebecca's Five O'Clock, I am telling you. 

And chatter we did. We talked and talked and talked some more. We talked about James Taylor, secret fears, marriage, family, food, high school.  We covered everything under the sun but, funny, homeschooling didn't really come up much.  Warm conversation continued into the wee hours while we rocked sleeping little ones and fought off sleepiness, trying not to miss one minute.  It was like a giant slumber party and I was sorry when it ended. 

The kids are campaigning for me to try to reproduce the oven puff pancakes they loved there.  I promised to try but I am pretty sure I will never reach for my spatula again without laughing myself silly over Rebecca's perfect deadpan of Penny Marshall saying,  "LUCKY lucky, for the next ten minutes EVerything comes with pancakes."  Lucky we are indeed to have friends like this.  It is a rare blessing. 

Thank you, my friend.

It was during that time that I wrote an article or two for a homesteading newsletter.  Newsletter – like typed in a farmhouse kitchen and stapled and mailed. : )  It was not my farmhouse though.  I sent my contribution from a tiny duplex on a military base.  The gist of those articles was about doing what you could where you were.  I could not harvest potatoes but I could bake a loaf of bread.  Milking a cow was out of the question but hanging cloth diapers on the line was not.  There were no chickens from which to gather eggs but there were sprouts in the windowsill.  

Made From Scratch encourages people to think in these terms. It is motivational for those who long for the farm but look out their windows across rooftops.  I think the larger message applies to all of us, wherever we live.  Grow where you are planted – literally and figuratively.  Every little step towards intentional living has the potential to bring meaning and satisfaction to our days.  We are not left with only our dreams of a someday house but instead have endless opportunities to be more self sufficient and hands on today. There is a reason we woke up where we did. Surely we are exactly where God wants us to be today.  With that truth in mind, we can find our happiness right here at home and 'dance with it':

True that.   We are living these words as I write.  In other rooms suitcases are being filled and anticipation is high as we prepare for our trip to Ohio.  As luck would have it Allen got scheduled for a work function the week after my birthday.  My present?  The children and are riding along and visiting with Rebecca and family.  Hopefully we won't try their patience too terribly much!  (She is a saint…she is a saint!) 

I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for the sweet notes you have left here in the past week.  Between trip prep, computer mishaps, and a traveling husband I have missed some of the notes initially or was unable to track down addresses or whatnot.  So I am doing what I so prefer not to do and sending my gratitude impersonally.  Forgive me!  Please know your letters are dear to me and keep me going when the candle is burning on both ends as it has been this month. They also take me on delightful rabbit trails when you leave your own url's for me to follow. : ) 

I have had a few neat things to share over the past months so I set them up to run next week.  It is possible I will be able to check in once or twice from the gyspy computer.  I promise to catch up properly when we return.  

A related thought was this from Horace Mann:

 

Scripture says something similar when it tells us to "redeem the time, for the days are evil." (Eph 5:16) I have been stewing over the implications of all this and how time online – both reading AND writing – figured in.  I have spoken with women much wiser than myself about this.  Colleen's post asked many of the same questions I had. I have seen earnest rebuttals to these concerns, but to be truthful, they don't reassure me much about those lost diamond minutes.  Not right now. 

Then I read this description of St Rita of Cascia:

She was ever diligent, never idle, in her vocation. Can I honestly say I am as diligent? Can I honestly say time spent in conversations here are as effective as other things I could be doing right now? Is it ok to divide my attention so?

I thought of various reasons I have come online and when really pressed there doesn't seem to be much that sitting here could help.  Trouble with schoolwork?  Think of what 30 min a day reading just a step ahead of my kids in their books could do.  Fussy preschoolers?  They don't need more ideas, they need me at the table with a box of crayons.  Stress?  30 min more each day in quiet prayer would go a long, long way. And so the list went. 

For me, right now, it has become all too clear that more words and more screens are not the best direction I could be taking. There is indeed a time for everything under the heavens, a time for speaking and time to keep silent.  In fact there can't be much worth saying if it isn't borne out of regular periods of holy silence and contemplation.  This is such a time. 

So for now I am quieting myself in all the ways I can.  Fasting from excessive chatter, fasting my eyes, redeeming the time. I am sure the bustling cyber world will continue to revolve with or without me, but I did want to let those of you, who have become so dear to me here, know where I was in the meantime – starting lent early.

God bless you.

Prayer

We definitely lost something as a culture when we let the Virginia Reel and Schottische go by the wayside. I can't watch them without remembering my grandparents and great aunts and uncles doing some of these at every family wedding we attended while growing up. That was not THAT long ago despite my children's assertions ; )  I am glad we still have an opportunity to share this with our kids. 

 

(Please visit Peggy's site to participate in the Simple Woman's Daybook project)

Outside my window…. Snow is blowing wildly which caused several calls to automated line on base this morning. Verdict? No closings.  Just a nasty commute for my husband. 

I am thinking…. about that commute. As we traveled home last night, still abuzz with all the fun of the weekend fresh in our minds, we came upon a deadly accident out in the boonies near home. We missed it by just minutes. This is the second near miss in a month.  Asher and his sister were pumping gas in town a few weeks ago and the owner of the only other car at the station was mugged right in front of them. (broad daylight!)  I am so grateful for safety but it does make you think long and hard about being ready 'to go' at any time. We never can know. 

I am thankful for… children who take forever to round up (like herding cats my friend Casey used to say!) who kept us at the potluck those extra minutes last night.  For friends who bounce babies and settle in with you by a woodstove. For the opportunities the children had this weekend (more on those this week)

From the learning room…  the core subjects are trucking right along. Happy students! A simple plan has kept them productive right through their sister's birth and my recovery. I wish I had learned this lesson many years ago instead of constantly over-shooting with elaborate plans and falling far short of those unrealistic goals. 'Less complicated' has meant 'more consistency and progress'. 

From the kitchen… There is oatmeal and elk sausage from our friends this morning(thank you Barb!) Before the day is over we will have new batches of bread and yogurt. (Barb shared this article about Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day) There is pre-cooked meat and a couple whole main dishes in the freezer which ought to make dinner easier this week. 

I am wearing… jammies and the famous slippers.  AGAIN  lol!  A black skirt and a pastel sweater set are waiting upstairs. We are moving reeeeallly slowly today after a big weekend. 

I am creating… the last of the daily checklists for second semester. They have been a huge success. We are choosing crochet patterns for the girls' next projects.  

I am going…  to have to get the little boys to town later in the day if the snow dissipates. Colin needs a ride to the bus back to school as well

I am reading… I am finishing up Family Driven Faith which has inspired me to read excerpts aloud to my husband. We of a different denomination but the author shares important statistics from recent studies of Christian young adults that ALL parents should consider. 

 We are also STILL working through Theras and His Town which we started at the beginning of the school year. (have I mentioned that Slow and Steady is my motto lol!)  I would have thought the children would have given up on it by now but one morning last week when I asked for it from the basket Brendan hollered, "Yay!  Theras!"  I agree.  This is one of THE best read alouds we have shared. 

I am hoping… for a peaceful week with some time to stitch and read and rest.  

I am hearing… Aidan finishing up the oatmeal prep in the kitchen. The refrigerator humming. Kieran shuffling out of bed, wiping his eyes, and asking, "Where is my new math book?"  We picked up the next Miquon Math level Friday night and he is chomping at the bit to begin. 

While pacing and patting one afternoon I remembered this passage from an old book by Femmy DeLyser, a Dutch midwife, which gave such a nice word picture of what babies go through and how to relate to and comfort them:

 When your baby cries and neither food nor diaper or position change ease the distress, assume that its bowels are giving it painful contractions. Now recollect what you learned about pain during labor. Fear made it worse. Yet every time a strong contraction came on fear did rise. When you looked at a trusted face and that face showed calm caring, your fear lessened and you could let your body work. It was still painful but not quite as frightening and lonely. If a hand touched you in the right spot that too made it better. And while kisses were nice when a contraction was over, in the middle of one they would have been quite out of place. Apply these insights to helping your baby. With one major difference: your baby perceives the feeling of others more directly than you did during labor. Therefore you have to overcome your responses of fear and panic when your baby cries so desperately because they will intensify its innate response to pain – tension and irregular breathing. Your baby is little, vulnerable, and sensitive. You are big and strong. You say, "Oh my little baby, I know you are hurting but nothing is seriously wrong. It is just your bowels from all your eating and growing. Let me try to help you with it. We will work on it together." 

And so we do. We work on it together. In fact it is a family affair. It is not unusual for an older sibling to casually walk by and take Abbie for a spin on the Babydance-floor. They are especially adept at dancing without getting tied in knots over the crying. Asher in particular has the touch. He will tune into one of his documentaries on tv and waltz her all over the family room, totally oblivious to the decibel level. His theory is that she can sense your tension so he distracts himself and keeps walking. It nearly always works!

Though time sometimes threatens to stand still when we are in the thick of it, this really is a small blip on the big screen of time.  Every week is a little bit better and before long this will be a dim memory. So we dance, and wait, and treasure every tiny smile she graces us with.