The little boys are on a transcription frenzy this week. After several rounds of "how do you ‘pell….." I suggested to Kieran that he might like to take the pink and blue series control cards (the uncut set with the pics and labels) and copy down his favorites. There was dead silence while he worked only broken by his final sigh of satisfaction when he finished all the words he set out to write. It reminded me of Julia Fogassy’s article describing her girls as preschoolers deep in thought while working on different tasks. That "Montessori sigh" is a beautiful thing!

Aidan was similarly inspired though he decided to ‘write some books’. He took his Bob books and began carefully copying the text word for word. This was an all-consuming task as evidenced by the protruding tongue. ; ) Please ignore the syrup spill on his shirt – it was right after breakfast. <g>

   On the Games4Learning yahoo list Heidi shared an idea she heard from a special ed teacher. Save the broken crayons, the tiny ones you would normally throw away, to be used for writing practice. The small size forces the child to use the correct grip (thumb/finger).  They also reminded readers of the various pincer grip activities we have talked about over the yrs like pushpin work, tweezer games, bead sorting. Kristen had a nice idea on her blog.  Her son was busy putting the colored head straight pins into the holes of a sugar shaker lid. All this pre-writing work is so much more fun than teary agonizing over workbooks in the early elementary years.

Some of you are familiar with Terri Camp, homeschool speaker and author.  She has a wonderful site called Ignite the Fire where she shares her vision.  Jen sent me her new site today which has more articles including this one:  Freedom from Fear which was especially encouraging.   She also includes a chapter exerpt about marriage.  (I discovered that Terri is unfortunately no longer married, though from what I understand through no choice of her own.  I found it encouraging that instead of becoming bitter she remains her same positive self, choosing to thrive in less than optimal circumstances. We can all learn from that!)

Along the lines of being  homeschoolers,  wives, and mothers, Elizabeth Foss writes compellingly this week about Who is At Home? reminding us that the key word in homeschooling is HOME. If that falls apart, the rest doesn’t really matter. Too often we run ourselves ragged in the quest for more and better, not realizing we are tearing our own homes down in the process.

A thoughtful post on Loving Our Homes today raises some very important questions for those of us seeking to simplify.  Before we even tackle the specifics of HOW to best do our work we should rightly be discerning which of all our tasks are rightly ours to do. How much which was never intended for us to do has crept into our schedules?  I have always felt that God gave us enough time to do His will….but  that we are not necessarily guaranteed even a smidge more for our own agendas.  With that in mind if our schedule becomes impossible the first thing we do is to take a hard look and prioritize.

Along the lines of WWJD (what would Jesus do?) the question is What Would He Have Us Do?  Which things in our busy schedules are edifying?  Which are truly blessing our families and others? Which are draining us of needed resources – be they physical, emotional, or whatnot – without significantly improving a situation? There are times when a given activity keeps us spinning our wheels. There are times when a given activity does help others, but upon reflection we have to acknowledge that we are not necessarily the only, nor in fact the best, ones available to fill that role.  In fact, we may well be neglecting another task, one for which we are indispensible, while doing this other activity.

Discovering where we are truly indispensible and effective and where we are not is a necessary step towards a saner life imo. We cannot do it all so we must prayerfully consider what we are truly called to do and try to release the rest, even if for a season. This is constantly driven home to me and is likely the biggest challenge I have faced in reaching my goal of simplicity. I feel terribly guilty saying no.  I have come to realize often this has more to do with pride than with genuine feelings of helpfulness. Too often saying yes to an outside task has caused me to neglect a necessary duty for my husband or children. That isn’t true charity, which begins at home.

I am learning.  Slowly. Posts like Mrs. Catherine’s help remind me.

Got the scrapbook album started on the left sidebar.  Will try to add more as time permits. : )

Ok so maybe I am not as gung ho about nature study as I purport to be. Turns out there is a limit.  Our friends own the property directly across from us which is currently vacant land with a giant stock pond. The kids have been watching the tadpoles grow for a few weeks now.  BIG old tadpoles! Like the shooter marbles you use to hit the other ones. Our friends were commenting about where the frogs go when they are frogs.  Do they stay at the pond or wander off?  Ask no more. Please <g>

Questions a queasy pregnant woman does not want to answer:

"Mom, did you lose a frog?" (Z, upon walking down the hall after work)

"How do you suppose they got in the house?"

"It’s like what God did to those people in the bible!"

"Did you know they get to be the size of a man’s hand?"

"How do you suppose they eat mice?"

and my favorite….

"Can we keep it???"

Nuh uh.  Not this time. But if you are less prone than I to vomiting at the sight of them leaping at your slider doors in the rain you might like this site:

All About Frogs

Not much time today so I am sending some links to ponder. This first one Garden of Simplicity talks about different types of simplicity.  This helps me in the whole articulation process. Simple means different things to different people. There are those who choose simplicity as a religious practice, those who wish to be closer to nature, those who wish to be more efficient.  The link gives more varied descriptions but it got me thinking about how although I have been attracted to simplicity movements and resources for two decades now some of them called to me more than others.  Some really weren’t a good fit at all. By expanding my definition of and reasons for seeking simplification of life I can understand that better now. There is a place for all of us who seek saner living however. The main site is full of resources. 

Frugal Simple Life is another site that is full of articles aimed more at the frugality and health aspects of simplicity.

No it’s not that but half my family is wheeling their way to the midwest as I type this morning and I feel like I am missing large parts of my life. I AM missing large parts of my life. 

Allen’s parents are scaling back their farming operation and had lots of materials they no longer needed. We, being in the building up mode, had need of them so they graciously offered them to us and he went to bring them back.  Colin went along since he is leaving in a few weeks for the new college (brace yourselves for a weepy post!) as did Moira and the "little boys" as Aidan and Kieran are affectionately referred to.

I had to take another son to town yesterday morning and was in such a rush to get his paperwork together I totally wasn’t connecting that the little ones would be gone when I came back since dh was leaving before that time. They were packed and ready but *I* wasn’t ready and hadn’t passed out hugs. When that hit me on the highway I was devastated. As I was when I came back home some hours later and the trailer and family were on their way. As I was last night passing their neatly made (hey there is your first clue something is amiss around here lol!) empty beds.

After he helped with chores,Asher and I filled the evening downloading new piano sheet music (his passion) and wrapping up his math course so he can dive into the new one.  Alannah and I had learned a new crochet stitch (thank you Becki!) and we got out the paints for a very pleasant evening posing as Susan Branch wannabe’s. <g> Actually we weren’t half bad and the process had a profoundly relaxing effect. We sat on the bathroom floor together later while the baby was bathing and wound yarn balls, a tedious but necessary job that goes much better with a friend. Soon we can begin the new baby’s project.

It got me thinking. (dangerous I know – that means she isn’t done talking…..) So many of us are trying so hard to make quality time for our children. We know we ought to, we know it is the right thing to do. Yet, how many of us are ENJOYING ourselves??  I am tellin’ ya, if you aren’t having fun something still needs tweaking. What is holding you back?  Is it the mess in the school room/kitchen/closet eating at you?  Is it fatigue? Is it upset over another relationship?  And better yet what steps can we take to eliminate those joy-robbers?  Because that is what they do. They suck the joy out of what can and should be one of the happiest times of our lives. This is not a time to survive.  This is a time to thrive and to relish.

Have you painted lately? Not with art store hair brushes and expensive oils but with a buck fifty plastic Crayola watercolors and a small notebook?  That is all I have experience with but it is darn good fun.  Even with the baby threatening to eat the dog’s rawhide the whole time lol! Have you sat with a toddler in a high chair for all of the ten minutes they can sit for and showed him a book and a toy and talked about his fingers and nose?  Because next month he may be beyond that and this window will be closed forever. Don’t miss it. 

One never knows what one is going to do.  One starts a painting and then it becomes something quite different.  -Pablo Picasso

God’s in charge of the flowers and seeds. And I am in charge of all the weeds…

If yours is like mine it grows without a lot of help from its gardener. ; o   Oh I always start out with good intentions, but before long the weeds are outpacing the veggies.  Despite my firm resolve, they both usually grow together, like the wheat and tares, until we harvest.  Still the sunflowers are peeking out now and the lettuces are growing well again this year.  We have had some wonderful salads that gave no hint of the mess of a garden from which they sprang.

While living in VA we visited Monticello and saw Thomas Jefferson’s incredible vegetable gardens. Row after row of neatly manicured vegetables that were as beautiful to see growing as they were delicious to eat. What attracted me even more were his meticulous gardening notes. He was fascinated by the whole process.

Edith Schaeffer shared Jefferson’s feelings about vegetable gardening.  In the Hidden Art of Homemaking she writes:  "God not only created all the flowers, trees,shrubs, ornamental plants and fruits to put in it, he He actually designed and planted a garden. He designed it so that is might contain things that were good to eat, but they were also to be pleasant to look at."

If you are so inspired you may wish to keep a gardening notebook as well to document these horticultural wonders. Missy from the Homesteadgardens shares her garden notebook plan to include seed packet snippets (in business card pockets – check it out!), sketches for future garden layouts, wishlists and notes about growing conditions and the garden’s successes.

Another fun garden find was Susan Branch’s Garden’s Little Book Particularly fun to peruse if you, like me, prefer the IDEA of the garden to the cultivation thereof. : )

If you are homeschoolers don’t forget to visit Elizabeth Foss’s Down the Garden Trail post.

  Last but not least, if you find yourself with a boatload of lettuces, such as these, here is the trick to making a spectacular green salad: How to Make a Great Green Salad  If I can’t make the garden pretty, in this a baby year, I can at least make the salad so!

Since this "garden" of mine can always use weeding also, I leave you with this advice for growing the most important garden of all:

For the garden of your daily living, plant three rows of "peas":

1. Peace of mind
2. Peace of heart
3. Peace of soul

Plant four rows of squash;

1. Squash gossip

2. squash indifference

3. squash negativism

4. Squash selfishness

Plant four rows of lettuce:

1. Lettuce be considerate

2. Lettuce be generous

3. Lettuce be patient

4. Lettuce be kind

No garden is complete without turnips

1. Turnip to help one another

2. Turnip for service

3. Turnip with a smile

To conclude our garden we must have thyme:

1. Thyme for each other

2. Thyme for family

3. Thyme for friends

Water freely with patience, fertilize with understanding, and cultivate with love because you will reap what you sow.  (author unknown)

Sandy Clough came to my attention today when we visited the scrapbook store.  Her beautiful watercolors stopped me in my tracks. I came home and surfed her site.  Lovely!  Full of images of delightful things that make a house a home. It makes one feel restful just to look at them.

If you are a tea fan you will especially enjoy. 

I ran across this article today and it articulated well many thoughts that have floated through my head of late.  Some dear friends and I have been hashing out our thoughts about the writings of a well-known ministry who have taken great pains to expose the aberrant behaviors of too many people.  While we must be educated there was something that was rubbing me wrong about these articles, namely the vulgar descriptions which left nothing to the imagination.  We DO need to be informed.  We do not need to be assaulted.

Peggy Noonan’s article hit the nail on the head.  She issues a plea for a return to dignity, particularly that dignity that used to be reserved for ladies.  She explains that as a society we are becoming desensitized to this vulgarity in both language and behavior. She also helped me to feel less embarassed about my embarassment if that makes sense.  Check it out if you have a moment: Embarassing the Angels