We had a little outing, my oldest daughter and I.  I tagged along to her salon visit and she then came with me to a photo session.  I haven't been downtown in far too long.  It was so inspiring to look into windows and see the people going by.  The salon itself was a feast for the eyes.  The client wasn't too shabby either. : ) 

When we were in Denver my daughter in law told me about a Polish Pottery outlet she found near the house.  Time was short but I snuck over there one morning to take a look.  Turns out it was larger than most of the shops we had in Germany and the range of patterns was endless.  

Ceramic art has been a mainstay of the Boleslawiec region since at least the 14th century.  There is a plentiful white clay locally that lends itself to stoneware making.  The pieces are adorned with primitive patterns in traditional cobalt blue along with an increasing number of accent colors.  They are pricey, but incredibly sturdy.  Unlike their cheaper counterparts they stand up to dishwaster and oven and even kids on kitchen duty.  

It was such a treat to see so many different kinds of pottery in such an array of colors and patterns in one place.  The contrasting red has me all sorts of inspired!  I thought you might enjoy a virtual walk through as well.  Do you collect Polish pottery yourself?  Please do share your favorites.  I never tire of seeing tableware : ) 

Wearing: by late afternoon on Sunday when we took our annual Easter family portrait (with whichever combination of children happen to be home) this is what we looked like.  The teen boys and I are shopping this week for some new dress clothes.  They are avid weight lifters which, together with the current style of narrow pant legs, poses more wardrobe challenges for their mother than I can tell you. 

Lest you get the impression we are entirely refined I will also share the other annual Easter family portrait tradition – the outtake:

Around the house: There are buntings and vases and vignettes. The easter lilies smell truly divine. I wish spring flowers lasted all year!

From the kitchen: It was typically simple fare here. Our guest brought us some ham which I warmed with a brown sugar and mustard glaze.  I roasted a couple chickens and toasted some rolls.  The little girls made some peep cupcakes.  The bunny pancakes made their appearance as always.  That's the thing about traditions, they look forward to them with great expectation.  It is different now that there are more able hands to assemble them all. 

Creating: the crowning project, of all things, were the Pixar eggs. (below) I'm not sure what got into me lol.  It involved paint and glue gun and I seriously questioned my sanity at one point a couple hours into it.  Still, they were so very happy and busy and utterly thrilled when finished.  They are not toddlers anymore and I know how soon the day will come they will not have hours to sit at my table and laugh and craft.  It's a new season, couched between the chaos of preschool and the outside activity of the teen years that will soon be here for them. It's a good season.

Reading: The Dolorous Passion of the Christ   We watched the movie together on Friday and it occurred to me that perhaps next year it would be good to watch it at the beginning of lent.  It is always so convicting and I think the visual and reminders would inspire better focus.  One thing that struck me this year was the laughter – from the guards, the party-goers at the palace, the crowds.  Sin can appear to be so terribly funny.  Sigh. I've asked myself how often I too have had Truth standing right before me and I missed it as completely. Is it possible I have looked into the face of God and dismissed Him in the same ways?  The time it's taken to read random chapters online in bits and snatches has been well spent. 

Thinking about: Hospitality and all it entails for me.  It's sort of a dirty word it seems.  A few moments online will turn up jeers and scorn and questions – "Who are you trying to impress?" they ask as though that must be our motive.   Well, the thing is we have had some weary souls around our table at times and these lines come back to me often –

"No day should pass, we say, on which we do not put a little cheer into some discouraged heart, make the path a little smoother for someone’s tired feet, or help some fainting robin unto its nest again. This is right."  JR Miller

 I know how to do some things well.  My cooking is only passably good, but I can set a pretty table.  I like to gather flowers and set candlesticks in place.  I press tablecloths and pull out cut glass bowls.  It makes me happy.  As we sat down together I realized that, much more importantly, it was making other people happy.  Those who have no home of their own or no time or resources or strength to beautify their space could be spoiled for a few hours and maybe leave standing a little taller and feeling a bit steadier.  This is as it should be.  As Miller said, this is right. 

It doesn't fix everything but perhaps it makes us better able to tackle all the rest. 

And now we are well into "all the rest."  April and May are full of travel both for ourselves and for guests arriving here and I am already there in my head working out plans and making lists.  I hope your Easter was lovely and your springtime full of promise.  

It has snowed, and rained, and been sunny.  Sums up lol. 

The girls are creating A to Z Geography notebooks like their brothers before them. They are amazing!  Every day I am in awe of each new entry. They have dug out the geography puzzles again and are going over one daily.  

We had St Patrick's Day on Sunday so they could have dessert of choice.  Also we had indoor soccer and football on Saturday which took up much of the day.  So Sunday morning we loaded the crock pot with corned beef and cabbage.  The kids made brownie and mint ice cream sandwiches for dessert.  Big hit but I will admit the brownies were not terribly cooperative when coaxing them into being sandwiches.  humph.  

Archie was also not real thrilled with his St Patrick's attire.  

We moved right into the feast of St Joseph. The children, who wouldn't know a cannoli if it hit them, were thrilled with the storebought cream puffs. I had a plan to pick up white lilies for the table but they were not to be found last minute.  Too early for Easter lilies and no white bouquets at the store.  So we settled on roses and some colored lilies.  Things like this take up a lot of my brain space, just so you know. 

Some other meals this week.  Paleo taco salad with cauliflower chili pilaf and tomatillo salsa

and a typical breakfast lineup on a school day.  Fruit, nuts, pancakes, milk.  Insert a mom chorus of, "Breakfast is ready!  Hurry up!  Eat your food! It's time for school! Let's get started!" 

We are reading this aloud.  Perhaps no one is enjoying quite as much as I!  

"Want to squeeze in one more chapter??"

"Uh, ok, Mom.  Sure."

No one send me spoilers.  We are nearly to the end and I need to know what happens to the king and the other king and who gets the girl. 

In other news, shopping happened.  Husband and I thought it would be a relaxing outing.  We were wrong about that.  Many small changes have happened in the fashion industry even for men.  Nothing terrible, just a little disconcerting. Outfit separates combined in sometimes daring – though admittedly attractive – color and texture combos.  Pants no longer always sold by lengths.  We liked a lot of what we saw but it either didn't fit middle aged bodies as well as lithe young adult models or we were out of our depth in assembling pieces successfully.  This happens periodically, these little reminders that small changes add up to bigger ones when you are only checking back once in a blue moon and not following things closely. Because?  Life.  There are only so many things one can follow closely. 

We ended up at Nordstrom Rack where, cough, mature shoppers can slip right into comfortable coordinating traditional cuts and colors.  We need to research more before we tackle this again lol. 

Here we are again at the weekend.  I swear the time is whipping past anymore.  No matter how carefully we plot our days on the planner it is always a surprise, at the end of them.  Like, this is it?  Day is over already?  I think I recall hearing my grandmother and others talk about time seeing to pass quicker and quicker with each decade.  They were right.  So when older folks exhort you to not waste a single moment of it, just know that's part of the perspective.  I DO recall days as a young mother when I would sink back into the pillow and it truly seemed like days and days must have passed since dawn broke.   It's all such a mystery, all good in its own way, just so different as life progresses.  

Have a blessed weekend, friends. 

This month's installment of Teri Maxwell's Mom's Corners raised some insightful questions.  If you had been hired to do the work you do (as mother, teacher, home keeper etc) would you be up for a raise or on probation?  You set your alarm to get up and begin preparing when you have an early morning appointment.  Do you feel as compelled to rise and follow your routine when you are "just" teaching at home that day? (referring to weekdays of course)  Would we surf the internet or visit on message boards if we were working at a doctor's office?  Do we feel it's ok for staff at the pharmacy, grocery store, or Post Office to snap at us or to make us feel stupid for our questions or need for assistance?  And yet, how often we do we keep a double standard for ourselves at home? 

The points she makes apply to all who are self-employed or work from home, but are especially convicting to those whose vocation is the making of "home" and the mentoring of small humans.  Home should be a refuge, a place of rest and respite – even for us!  However, the greater portion of our time at home is necessarily required to work diligently to reach our goals.  Home care, child care, health care, meal planning and preparing, paperwork, instruction, character formation, gardening, and relationship building make significant demands on our time and our demeanor.  It is a daunting task to get it all in, especially since some aspects of the work can take years before seeing measurable results.  In our era it is not always acknowledged that this is even valuable, legitimate work to begin with.  This attitude can creep into our own hearts and we can lose motivation to maintain the same level of effort we might exert if there was an evaluation and paycheck hanging in the balance.  

When reading from St Ignatius' daily meditations this morning I came across a line which convicted me even more:

"…for it is not sufficient to do our part well; it must be done more than well."

Following that was a related aspiration from his Spiritual Exercises:

"I will carefully consider how, on the day of judgement, I would wish to have discharged my office or duty; and the way that I would wish to have done it then, I shall do now." 

His words were not directed to women specifically, but to all. We all have a role to fulfill, life's work to do.  It is tempting to assure ourselves that it is done well enough, when in fact we know we may not be as fully committed as we could be.   

If we were observing our own lives as a bystander would our words and actions make us pleased or make us cringe?  If we are human, and honest, we will probably say some of both.  Perhaps though, keeping that visual in mind will lead to less cringing.  

Outside:

It's sunny and 60 degrees.  This is temporary we are told.  Snow is forecast for the end of the week.  If you see my images on social media in a crazy procession of sun and snow just know it's actually unfolding in that wild, nonsensical way in real life. 

Around the house:

Some spring touches appearing.  St Joseph and this wonderful read to pick up when I sit down.  If I had to choose ONE place online to visit each day it would be here.  Every word we read on screens or in person lifts us up or drags us down, leads us toward or leads us away from our goals, and I try hard to choose wisely.  

On my nightstand:

This will probably be the answer to that category for a while lol. I am taking the same approach I took with Anna Karenina and Kristin Lavransdatter, considering them more as a dramatic series than as a film.  So far, so good, although it reads very much like Anna.  I am already loving his insight about marriage and prayer. 

Thankfulness:

Dawn's lovely exercise in gratitude for a late and lingering winter's afternoon  here. 

From the learning rooms:

Chalkboard work going into notebooks.  Dreaming up a vintage classroom chalkboard option. 

Giving lots of thought to what should NOT be happening as well.  We guide and grow them as much by what we subtract as by what we add.  May it all be for their greater good. 

Creating:

I played around with a modern embroidery project.  

In the kitchen:

My husband's Sunday special this past weekend was Chicken Madeira here.

The little girls found these hedgehogs in the American Girl magazine at the library.  They were SO excited for Sunday to arrive to make them for dessert.  

Thinking about:

This story really hit home because as the actual events unfolded some weeks ago, our dear friend in Hawaii texted a picture from their shelter begging prayers. Although it in no way compares to being there in person, my stomach sank as I went from being certain it was a hoax to seeing one confirmation after another.  The bottom line though – read to the end.  Know your people.  Be sure your time is given to them as propionately to their importance in your life as you can make it it happen.  

Now.  

Media and meetings won't matter a bit in that moment.  And it comes.  For all of us.  Not usually in such a dramatic scenario, but this time will run out.  

Speaking of which:

Some snaps from recent adventures with my daughters – shopping and hiking.  It gets trickier and trickier to sync up adult schedules.  I treasure every opportunity that we are able though.  Plans are in the works to see more of them next month.  thankyouGod

Outside: March has begun – in like a lion over here.  It's been snowy but mixed with enough rain that we have to get RIGHT outside take best advantage. And that they do…

On my desk:  

Workking hard at my desk each morning.  A bit of reading, a private rosary, journal.  This is the third month of bullet journaling and it feels really good.  I think a habit is established. 

Lent so often involves a certain amount of picking one's heart up off the ground.  As in years past we choose big and little deprivations knowing the real penances will reveal themselves as we go.  This year is no different in that regard.  I have turned time and again to this verse:

 I am meditating heavily on that second part.  A peace which transcends ALL understanding.  Like, perhaps it is ok if it doesn't make sense, if it's bigger than my mind can possibly take in.  Some things are very hard to understand. They do not prevent us from having peace. Which begs the question if I am not at peace with my lack of understanding, is it due to circumstances or due to my unwillingness to give it all to God without fully working it all out in head?

From the learning rooms:

We are working on another art history unit and diligently moving through the math and language and a ton of library books. The steady rhythm of read alouds and prayers and practice in those core subjects daily can be so reassuring.  Whatever else life brings, we wake up, make coffee, and cover the table with a mountain of books by noon. Then the "whatever else" part can rush in.  Not before. 

Towards wellness:

Hasfit has become my all time favorite Youtube channel, my free personal trainers. Even though we belong to a gym and my family LOVES it, I prefer to retreat to my room for a while every weekday and work though one of these.  My weight has been pretty stable for many years so this has been more about strength, calm, and endurance.  

From the kitchen: 

Favortite paleo plate this week was the Kalua Pig here.  Salt the roast, wrap in foil, slow roast at 325 for 5 hours.  So easy and so good. Coleslaw and cauliflower-rice alongside. 

We also were happily surprised by these chicken veggie bites. Almond flour crunchy breadsticks here. 

And now I am off to pick up the odds and ends we missed at Costco yesterday.  It will snow again this evening.  There are 5k's and soccer games tomorrow if weather permits. There is a shower faucet to repair.  Flooring to work on.  First, we will pray the stations of the cross tonight with the dollar store candles. It's never too late for this one. 

That's what this weekend has been and for good reason.  We have had some fabulous travel opportunities this month.  Field trips, soccer tournaments, 7 on 7 football.  It was all trucking along incredibly well until I picked up what we think was either norovirus or food poisoning which flattened me for a few days. Now that I am back and on my feet again it felt really good to freshen up the house.  I had a good chance to do that while my guys were busy with football this weekend. I deep cleaned the master bedroom, did some food prep, watched some Downtown (yes I am so behind on anything screen related) and finally, snatched a little conference inspiration watching some of the recorded Refresh discussions.  It will probably take me all week to get to the end of them.  Well worth it!

Meantime, winter has returned and the snow finally arrived after a long dry stretch. We have been out taking pictures and pushing the sled down the little hill and getting very wet and silly.  The little girls have done some shopping with their nursing student sister helping her prepare for her first hospital job.  Our wonderful daughter in law flew to be with her momma after they lost their elderly grandfather/father last week.  Another adult child has been keeping us abreast of medical tests happening.  Life is quite different than it once was, with more than half of them grown and on their own now.   I'm grateful for their calls and updates even when they are brief.  My mind is littered with little mental post it notes tracking the big and little things they are all working through.  So many prayers, both of gratitude and intercession. 

So with that bit of an explanation as to where the past two weeks disappeared to, here is a peek at our tour of a local coffee roaster.  Such a great trip! The staff was so enthusiastic and informative.  I'd say energy was high, but well, duh, right?  Safe to say I have never seen people with higher job satisfaction.  God bless the magic coffee bean.  

After learning all about where and how coffee grows we got to see and feel the green beans.  Then watched a whole batch roast with a careful eye on them at all times.  We smelled the hot beans pour out and watched them weed out any over or under roasted beans.  Then we bagged our samples to take home.  This morning I ground the first bag and have to say that first sip blew me away.  Like the heavens opened for a moment and all my senses heightened while I scrambled to articulate the new tastes that hit me.  Up 'til now I thought we drank good coffee too.  Nothing compared with this.  

So, armed with extra incredible coffee and restored good health we are off to another full week with all the good ideas gleaned from the conference and nice tidy bedroom to start from each day.  Back on track.  

God bless all our people, and our ventures, both big and small.  Amen : )