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Simple Woman’s Daybook

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    more daybooks at Peggy's

FOR TODAY…  April 26th

Outside my window… snow falling when I walked out the door at 4am. (taking dh to the airport)  I don't recommend walking out the door at 4am… yawn. 


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This guy was seen out the window this weekend. Took this through the glass 'cause folks its COLD out there. Pretty sure he was lost because I have never seen a bird like this out here.  If you've hung out here at all you  probably already guessed that I have no idea what it is. 

I am hearing… music for the new ipod.  Turning out to be a  quirky mix.  But then again, so am I. 

 I am thinking… we are beginning a month of 'last times' and that is hard. 

I am thankful for…  this strange peace this morning.  Lots to fret over,  but I can't seem to get the fret on. 

I am wearing…  gray/black dotted empire waist top with 3/4 sleeves, boot cut jeans, black boots and a rather bad hair day which may have something to do with the walking out the door at 4am thing. 

I am reading… mail from an old friend. Grace, grace, grace all over. What a blessing. 

From the learning rooms… on the home stretch for most kids.  Props to Aidan for getting up early every morning to knock out multiple days of assignments. 

Otherwise – Pitching straggling pieces of manipulative sets left and right. Not many of those left nor do I have a deep desire to replace them. If I never see another Montessori tray I will still live a full and happy life.  Without little pieces.  Yes, I just said that. 

I am creating…. possibilities

Pondering these words…

"Now I'm not who I used to be, 

there's still work to do in me,

God's not finished with me yet." 


Around the house… closets and barn cleaning this week. Ick.  Have some big thoughts on school paperwork to share. Keyword there – Done Lists.  Make them. Keep them. 

Looking ahead this week:  maybe the eye appt will happen this week? Meeting to schedule the movers tomorrow.  I'm not looking too much further ahead.  One day at a time. : ) 

One of my favorite things… bed-headed little girls in footed pj's running to greet me at the door

From my picture journal…


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Brendan at the baseball game last week.  He had a pretty good time ; )  And for the record that is his dinner not a cavity lol!   Home run came right mid-slice of pizza. 


the gift of you

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To my husband on my birthday,

It's been quite a year –  in many ways a year with valleys lower than I had ever wished to venture into. Thank you for the gift of walking them with me. 

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It's been a year of hard work.  Thank you for believing I was equal to it. 

It's been a year of second chances.  Thank you for taking a chance at a whole new life together. Thank you for waiting til I could say yes. 

I had not imagined the end of 42 would bring me to this place in life, but I am grateful to be here, grateful for another year of…

holding hands

sharing hope

loving better

smiling long

trying harder

laughing loudly

and

whispering I love you – often above the din of clattering dishes and running bathwater and barking dogs

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I am grateful I woke up this birthday morning to the gift of you, which has grown into the gift of them and the gift of us all together.  

Thank you.

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calm surrender

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"Often we struggle against aspects of life that are largely beyond our control – noise, confusion, comments we don'tapprove of, lost items, rudeness, imperfections, negativity, broken pipes, clogged drains, whatever. We fight, get angry, and annoyed, and wish things were different. We complain, fret, and commiserate.  Yet when you add up all this frustration, the end result is always the same. The things we are frustrated about remain as they are.  No amount of gritting our teeth and cleanching our fists makes the least bit of difference. In fact, kit only adds fuel to the fire. 

Calm surrender is not about giving up. Nor is it about being apathetic, lazy or not caring. Instead it is about appropriate acceptance, being willing to to let go of our insistence that the events in our lives be any certain way or different than they actually are. 

If you are willing to give this strategy a try you will be amazed at the results. The calmer you will become, the easier your life will be.  Rather than exacerbating negative events and bringing out the worst in other people you'll begin to stop negativity before it has a chance to spiral any further.  In time you'll begin to experience chaos in a whole new light.  There will be so much less drama in your life. 

So starting today, see if you can ease the chaos by experiencing calm surrender."

– Don't Sweat the Small Stuff with Your Family,  Richard Carlson PhD

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mean people

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Hat tip to Elizabeth for this one which is especially timely since my heart has been heavy observing this very thing and it's not pretty. Thank you, Kristen,  for reminding us that:

  "God uses people who mess up!"   

At least He does if we don't completely destroy them before He gets a chance. : /  

Here is the thing. We are all mess-up's.  Every last one of us. (Rom 3:23)  Dependent upon grace, unable to do good on our own strength. (2 Cor 3:5)  What do we know, really? He says not much because

"…man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." 1 Sam 16:7

…and we can't see in there. 

I'm thinking if someone is deemed to be especially messed-up, then we can pray for them.  And iff they are gosh-awfully, pheNOMenally messed up? ( you know, like your's truly over here, for instance…)   Pray harder yet. Certainly we have learned something by the alternative?  

Have mercy.   Be a buffalo. : )  

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simple faith

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O Lord, Give me … the simple faith of a child, faith without a shadow, without uncertainty or useless reasoning; an upright, pure faith which finds its satisfaction in your word, in your testimony, for in this it is at peace and desires nothing else.

O Lord, what is it to me whether I feel or do not feel, whether I am in darkness or in light, whether I have joy or suffering, when I can be recollected in the light created in my by Your words? 

– Divine Intimacy, (Low Sunday) 

Simple Woman’s Daybook

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more daybooks at Peggy's

FOR TODAY…  April 12th


Outside my window… We have been watching the pair of these (I really tried to figure out what "these" were, MacBeth and Theresa! I really did.  The efield guide is still going…) who have lived in the  little cluster of trees which stand bravely between house and road.  They are busy again making nests and picking through the paddock grass early morning and early evening.  I couldn't get a pic through the window so I snuck out to the yard where they engaged me in a lively game of chase.  They run fast <g> Anyway, before long they will take up their post and begin scolding and swooping furiously at our heads when we go to check mail.  It's their job.  Approach at your own peril.

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I am hearing… Coyotes woke me again last night. Honest to gosh – hear this.  (go to number 6 – the group) It has caused me more than once to bolt out of bed CERTAIN that something deadly is happening outside my window.  Guess it's not just me, because the dog just woke up and came running barking hysterically when I checked out the mp3.

 I am thinking… about grace.  A lot. It is a gloriously impossible thing to understand when you are swimming in it and KNOW it is not by your own doing and maddeningly elusive when lacking.

I am
thankful for… sisters (religious) who surprised us with a visit last week and the fact that we were ready to entertain them with ten minutes notice. There are perks to having the house this tidy!

I am wearing…  Aw man.  I could lie.  You wouldn't know anyway.  But I'll just say it – my jammies.  Been up and down with preschooler bad dreams and baby nursing and those aforementioned pesky coyotes and have not embraced the morning yet. Yawn.

I am reading… I had planned to pass on We Were Soldiers Once and Young by Harold Moore which had been part of dhs professional development reading list.  It moved as far as the kitchen island where I grabbed it over a lunch break and that was that. Asher is reading it now.  Although I admit I read through the whole section that dealt with the home front/aftermath and he is reading the whole 'at the front' section.  So, hey, between us we covered the whole thing lol.  I was completely in tears fwiw and I had already seen the movie.  

Towards health and wellness… I am Walking  My Belly Flat.  At least that is what Leslie Sansome tells me.  She hasn't steered me wrong yet.  It is the one fitness routine that I have kept up for many years. I am officially the same size and weight as I was when I was in high school now so there is recovery from multiple pregnancies. (though my babies were not born closer than 20mo apart so factor that in) Still, things have um, reorganized, a bit.  Hoping the spot work pulls it that belly back into place.

From the learning rooms… Would you believe we are still hanging in there throughout all the excitement this spring? Go kids! I am amazed.  One child is more easily sidetracked and needs more supervision but the others are really moving along incredibly well.  Aidan is the early riser, who was up with me when I started this post in the wee hrs so he could hand me assignments to check. We are working side by side right now so if I suddenly start typing about verb tenses or South American geography it is because I don't multitask well <g>
I am creating…. plans for new table settings and bedroom decor.  We have been picking up simple white stoneware and are down to figuring out the little boy bedroom. There are likely more pressing considerations but this is the fun part of moving.

Pondering these words.. From Ethan Jones, whose family I looked up after a TLC special and discovered have a story even more fascinating than having a bunch of babies at once.

(regarding the whole premise that 'God doesn't give us more than we can handle.' Right.. ; ))

"Here is how I see it – God does not trust us…he knows us all too well for that!  He knows our abilities, he knows our talents, and he knows our weaknesses and he also knows that we are just about guaranteed to screw up most of what he asks of us.  And he is perfectly ok with that.  What I believe is that, knowing our inabilities and our fears and our weaknesses, God intentionally gives us challenges that are way above our pay grade.  Way, way, way, way above it in many cases! Do you really believe that God would test us just to confirm for himself that he knew we could handle it all along?  Again, I’m no expert, but I do not believe this is how it works.  Rather, I believe he tests us in order to force our hand, to create circumstances in our lives which cause us to make the decision, one way or the other.   Do we leave our own ambitions and judgments and understanding behind us and lean on him like we have never leaned before?  Or instead do we continue to do things our way and shoulder the load with no guiding hand from above?"

Yep.  that is pretty much my take too!

From the kitchen…  Been experimenting with pumpkin seed flour, which is about half the cost of other nuts and grinds decently in a regular blender. So far, so good.

Around the house…  If we were a radio station our motto would be "All Clean, All Day" NOT because I am a superior human being but because the house is on the market.  Does require superhuman effort to have every room ready for viewing every day and not a lot else can happen. Dust is accumulating SOMEplace as I type… : P 

One of my
favorite things… Late night talks with my
husband.  That seems to be our big daily decompress lately, sitting in
the dark hush and pouring out our thoughts.

From my picture journal…

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It's an Asher thing, you probably wouldn't understand ; )