Week's end with thanks
- A quiet week holed up at home, rain pouring outside, fire roaring inside.
- Shelter, warmth, food to eat.
- Husband who runs errands.
- Husband who builds new LEGO table for budding builder boy.
- Up late in the dim lamplight, finishing a good book.
- Falling asleep with a full heart.
- Laundry all done.
- Clean.
- Meals made ahead.
- Privilege of praying for a friend.
- Knowing He is able.
- A little luxurious treat for mommy.
- Baking cookies together.
- Snuggling just a little bit longer.
- Vacuum lines.
- Nike hat that hides dirty hair.
- Favorite old t-shirts.
- Texts from faithful friends.
- Planning for a few special birthdays coming up.
- Janae’s meatballs.
- Plans for the RDG first annual weekend away!
- Enthusiasm.
- Joy.
- Energy.
- Love.
- Honesty.
- Humility.
- Courage.
- Strength.
- Fighting together against the enemy’s schemes.
- The armor of God.
- Copying Colossians onto the cabin-wall.
- Gift of a treadmill–snow, sleet, and rain outside but still able to run!
- Trust.
- Hearing how God speaks to a friend.
- Seeing His hand.
- Heidi’s sweet words, “Mommy, you bootiful.” Heart melting.
- Snuggling her each day.
- Dutch maturing.
- Dreaming of Hawaii.
- Loving this moment, this time, savoring the gift of now.
Week's end with thanks
- Weekend retreat with college girls … reminds me of sweet old Real Life days.
- Being with AJ again.
- Three kids hunched over the Lego Star Wars book.
- Heidi, “Where’s my padawan?”
- A printer that works.
- So many sunny days!
- Roaring fire.
- Wearing Jeff’s slippers.
- Finding a new pair of jeans in my closet, bought years ago, tags still on. Better than shopping!
- Janelle Furman’s servant heart!
- My retreat-buddy Heidi!
- Warming shoes by the fire.
- 9 quarts of homemade chicken stock delivered to my doorstep!
- Friends.
- Precious new life.
- Our monthly multi-stop shopping trip with both kids and they were awesome!
- Food swamps with a friend.
- Danielle’s cookies still warm.
- Five kids gathered round the pirate movie.
- Sitting in the kitchen with a cup of hot tea.
- Sun going down, God’s faithfulness in another day.
- The gift of a treadmill!!
- Reminiscing.
- Spice bottles.
- Wide-mouth quart canning jars.
- Roasted beets and yams.
- That we finally finished the lentil soup. We ate it for a week. Enough!
- Making the rare treat (in our minimal-grain, minimal-dairy house) of fettucini alfredo made from scratch. YUM!
- Sneaking bites of Jeff’s.
- Jeff coming home early to read Prince Caspian to the kids before returning to an evening meeting.
- Aslan.
#3 Establish a Morning Routine {52bites}
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Confession: I had planned to do Family Mission Statements this week, but you know what? I’m driving to Yachats as we speak to teach a women’s retreat (and taking Heidi with me, prayers please!) and I’ve spent every spare minute this week preparing and haven’t had time to write a stinkin’ mission statement! Just trying to survive here! 🙂
So … first things first. Before we can have the time on our hands to write a mission statement let’s get our time under control, especially those first precious moments of each day. Some of you remember we did this last fall, but I really need a refresher and–I’d venture to guess–you do too. Shall we?
#3 Establish your 5-part morning routine.
Our beloved Tsh explains:
A methodical morning routine is a great way to treat yourself to a little soul care. Instead of starting your day by responding to the stimulus around you, you’re proactively creating the day you want to have. When you wake up and do the most essential things first, you get a good start to your day. Your mind is better focused on the rest of your day’s tasks. And you’ll do a better job taking care of the people you love most. In short, you’re on top of things. Treat yourself to a little order and sanity before the chaos of life begins.
I like this. I especially like this because it became a sudden challenge for me when we moved into our new (old) house. Back at our old place each kid had a room and it was a very big house so I had plenty of space for quiet in the morning. Now, they share a room (read: Get up early) right next to ours (and right next to everything) and their room is freezing cold so they crawl in bed with me and snuggle early in the morning. No problem there, I love it. But that’s not alone time.
*Sigh.
I do love our new place but I’ll admit, the morning routine is a LOT harder in close quarters. If I get up and move around they do too. 🙂 So I’m including here the 5-things I already have established and then how I’m setting myself up for success. (Because I haven’t been.)
From last time, I will say that listing out my five things helped me see that the most important thing for me was not letting the outside world into my world until I’d already nourished my body and soul. (Read: no email!) I look at it as the five things that fill my cup each morning. These are things that FILL, not drain. There will be plenty of draining that happens all day, we need to start being FILLED!
Here are some ways you might choose to fill your cup: Take a shower, pray, read your Bible, drink a glass of water, journal, stretch, exercise, listen to a particular song, go for a walk, make your bed, take vitamins, sit outside with a cup of coffee. Pick five and fill on up!
There’s no perfect morning routine, and I don’t share my routine because it needs to be yours. If you really cannot think in the morning perhaps you do your Bible study later in the day but just take 5 minutes to get on your knees and thank Him for life? Or perhaps you listen to the Bible on audio while you’re still in bed? Do what fills your cup. This is my cup, and I’d love to hear about yours — perhaps we can inspire one another and live our days brim full. {Thanks for reading…}
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The five ways I fill my cup each morning…
1. Get face-down and thank God for the gift of another day of life. (This is such a good reminder because too often now the kids are up so I just hop out of bed and start meeting needs. Committing afresh to this beloved habit!)
2. Make coffee or tea 
3. Quiet time, Bible study, prayer
4. Exercise (a run or work-out video) … yeah so (confession) this hasn’t happened recently since our house sold (in September…), BUT I’m slated to run a half-marathon in a few months and a dear soul just gave us a treadmill so I’m inserting this back in!
5. Shower
(Now that we’re in closer quarters I’m aiming to have 1,2,3 done by 7am when the kids usually rise, and I’ll do those in my bed so the kids can snuggle next to me if they happen to wake early. That way I can exercise and shower while they’re playing quietly and be ready for breakfast at 8. Again…it’s a whole new ballgame in this new place, but we’ll do our best!)
Q: What are your 5 things? Thanks for journeying with me here!
When you've read Curious George six times today…
{Revisiting these thoughts today … }I remember reading about a missionary who devoted his life to a certain people group in Africa. He was only one of many missionaries to this group, but he soon became their favorite and they were receptive to the gospel message he shared.
Why?
The natives said, “We know that man really loves us because he plays with us.”
He played with them. Apparently he took the time not only to preach to them, to read to them, even to serve them through building and repairing, but he took the time to simple play with them, engaging in their recreational fun.
I got spoiled all fall because it hardly rained a drop. There were probably only two days all season where Dutch and I didn’t get to take our long morning walk to the park. Those walks are my salvation–exercise, fresh air, and a break from reading Curious George and playing trucks. I get some quiet time to think, then Dutch gets time to run around and let off steam.
December brought two weeks of being completely snowed in, then one week of me being sick, now another week of Dutch being sick. We’re close to a month without our daily walks! And I admit it’s starting to wear on me. The days can drag on when you’re confined to a small house with a two-year-old who wants YOU to read aloud, wants YOU to get on the floor and make the truck noises, wants YOU to build the fort and get inside. I wish I could tell you that my favorite thing in the world is playing with plastic tractors and reading Richard Scarry, but it’s not. Way too often I would rather be doing something…well, productive.
Meaningful.
But today as I was lying on the floor playing trucks, I thought about the missionary’s life, and how the key to the gospel going forth in that tribe in Africa was the fact that he played with them. He lay aside his agenda in order to show them his love in their language.
I’m praying that God will help me remember that I earn Dutch’s ear by the years I spend on the floor, making truck noises. The years I spend on the couch, reading Curious George. I pray for the grace and patience to simply play with people, to join them in what they love to do.
… {And now, three years later, I read this post and smile. It already is paying off, and though my days continue to be mundane I am already seeing the fruit of all those hours on the floor. Thankfully Dutch now plays with Legos — way more fun than toy tractors! Today it was reading the Star Wars Lego Encyclopedia entries OVER and OVER and OVER. Praying for you today to embrace the Sacred Mundane and to play with those you love, to show them love and earn their ear. Thanks for reading.}
Week's end with thanks …
- Family Night playing Pickel the Pirate. Heidi always wins!
- Heidi’s curls spilled out over her pillow.
- The Best of My Days list … a creative gift that’s blessing my life.
- Sunny afternoons playing Star Wars on the riding lawnmower, our own Starfighter conquering galaxies near and far.
- Running through the pasture, Heidi in arms bouncing up and down, her laughing floating through the air. “Again, Mommy! Again! I like it when you run!”
- Dutch chasing behind, all of us breathing joy.
- Kissing that spot on his cheek, right by his lips, inhaling.
- Jeff reading Prince Caspian with kids under the turquoise quilt. Dutch staring off as he listens, imagining the world of words.
- Into the world of blends and double-syllable words: Sunny and Thumper jumped and skipped!
- Wearing Jeff’s sweatshirts.
- One Community Group with three tiny infants. The other Community Group with three tummies growing! New life in us and among us…
- Lego StarWars book, taping and re-taping it together. Love my boy who wears things out.
- How life affords the perfect learning opportunities.
- Answers to prayer.
- The honor of having my post read and distributed at Aunt Lois’ Memorial in New York. SO blessed to be part of her celebration of life!
- Long phone conversation with Lois’s son, my mom’s cousin, sunshine in my day.
- His story of meeting my mom and my aunt Linda for the first time, more than 50 years ago. “Whoa! Who are those beautiful girls?” “Your cousins.” “Oh darn!”
- Laughter.
- Perspective.
- Re-Meeting a dear penpal friend who I haven’t seen in 14 years.
- Seeing her miracle daughter, a living, breathing answer to prayer.
- Cute skirts for $9.99.
- Lemon zinger tea.
- Common Prayer.
- Molalla girlfriends.
- Sweet kids.
- Eyepatches.
- My two wired, giddy kids playing together. Driving me a bit crazy but glad they enjoy each other.
- GENEROUS photographer, videographer, and blog graphic-designer friends.
- My husband handsome in his new running jacket. Thanks, Momma!
- This post, a friend honoring her husband for their anniversary. I went to highschool with this guy and he was always a truly quality person. It’s SUCH a blessing to see people have great marriages and to see wives honoring their husbands!
- My own husband who I admire beyond measure.
- Scrabble at night.
- SILLY kids.
- Heidi learning her verses. Words jumbled up. Her so cute I want to eat her up!
- Gospel Story Bible.
- DK Big Book of Knowledge.
- Firewood.
- Finally eating a meal with a fork. (Apparently you CAN get tired of soup.)
- A lunch out.
- A night in.
- Really encouraging friends.
- Really amazing parents.
- Selena’s voice.
- My mom’s voice.
- Crazy-generous friend dropping off groceries. I am so spoiled!
- Cranberry vinaigrette made from Momma’s leftover homemade cranberry sauce. SOOOO good!
- Playing every single day.
- Learning to live a life of no regrets.
- Jesus.
52 Bites for 2012
Beauty. Order. Simplicity. Calm. Peace. Joy.
These are the things I want my home to be. How? Primarily by letting God work those things into me first and foremost and then it will naturally characterize our home. But there’s practical steps as well, right? If the laundry’s piled up to the ceiling it doesn’t matter how calm and peaceful I am — we need a better plan for clean undies. And when we want to make changes, and need to “eat an elephant” so to speak, what’s the best way?
One bite at a time.
Insert, once again, Tsh Oxenreider. I recently bought her e-book, One Bite at a Time, with 52 simple projects for enhancing the beauty, order, and simple organization in our homes and lives.
So I thought it’d be fun, on Fridays, to simply tackle one bite each week … together.
I’ll share the project, a bit of her simple how-to, and what it looks like for me. You can follow along, do it your own way, do a different project of your own, or ignore me altogether. I reserve the right to do the same.
Deal?
*Note: We won’t go through the book’s order, but I’ll share each week’s bite based on the season, etc. You can also purchase the e-book yourself for $5 here. The fun part is doing this together, a little accountability and encouragement goes a long way!
Ready? Bite 1 is easy since we’re already been doing some New Year pondering:
1. Set Annual Goals
Tsh says, “The thing that makes a goal a goal is that it has a concrete, doable plan with logical steps. After all, as Dave Ramsey says, “A goal without a plan is just a dream.”
Need a place to start? She has some great Questions for Developing Goals, several of you have asked about these. I’ve already shared my goals and whispered requests for grace here. Your turn!
{Would you be willing to share with us a few of your own goals for 2012? We’d be so blessed if you’d share! And now, I promise, no more talk of resolutions … I’ve had my fill as well. 🙂 Thanks for reading.}
Freshly written goals and whispered requests for grace …
The smell of a freshly-sharpened pencil.
A blank sheet of lined paper resting on the table.
A new planner, days all white and waiting to fill.
I love me a new beginning.
Over dinner on December 26th, Jeff asked me what had been the highlight of my day. Hands down:
Taking down the tree and vacuuming the carpet.
I love celebration and festivities, but there is nothing so sacred to me as the mundane. When all the laundry’s folded just so and the freezer’s full of chicken stock and a new kid’s Bible-devotional book lies waiting for us to devour. I color-coded all of Dutch’s new Legos and stretched those fresh sheets across our bed and stowed the Christmas decor and crossed off that last day — 31st — and tore the sheet right out. There underneath lay a new glorious page:
January 2012.
I don’t know what this year will hold. Every single day is a gift, and I’m often reminded of dear family and friends around me passing from this life to the next. I know this world is broken down and aching and we pass through it bruised and beaten. I feel it, too.
But God is good and does good. And so we can always look forward with hope and smile upon the future knowing our God is good and does good. So as I move into this new year, I’ll look forward a bit, as best as I know how, and ask God to direct both my goals and my requests for grace. I won’t share them all, but here’s a glimpse of the goals:
Personal:
1. Read through the Bible again and establish set times of prayer during the day. (This time instead of just straight through I’m reading 3 OT and 1 NT each day. That way I get Jesus every day!)
2. Read through my nightstand stack. (Will share that soon!)
Physical:
1. Run Hood-to-Coast with Jeff. (This may end up being a regret 🙂
Marriage & Family:
1. Read The Meaning of Marriage (Tim Keller) together as a couple.
2. Read the rest of the Narnia books aloud to our kids.
3. Create memories enjoying the generous gift we were given for a free week in Maui.
Goals for Dutch & Heidi:
1. Heidi learn all the Letter Lesson verses.
2. Do our daily work and learning routine: (Make bed, get dressed, brush teeth, put breakfast dishes in the sink, take out the trash, write a note or sentence/story, Dutch read four books, recite verses, read from Big Book of Knowledge, do Bible devotional story/activity.)
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I’m yawning a little looking at this list. There isn’t anything very remarkable, in fact it’s borderline mundane.
That’s just right.
I pray to live this year–another year of ordinary Tuesdays and Wednesdays and early mornings and rainy afternoons–pounding nails into the right places. Establishing sacred habits one moment, one choice, at a time. And sewn through this list I’m stitching the reminder about living a life of no regrets. So here’s another category:
These are my whispered requests for grace, resolutions of the heart …
- Resolved: Ask God what He thinks of my parenting decisions and children’s behavior before wondering what the rest of the world thinks.
- Resolved: Speak of Jesus even when I’m scared to death of looking foolish or floundering or flubbing everything up.
- Resolved: To rest and play one day each week.
- Resolved: To love, honor, and respect my man through his love language.
- Resolved: To speak to my children with words of life, giving correction out of hope not exasperation, discipline out of love not disappointment.
- Resolved: To abide in the extravagant love and grace of Jesus Christ who suffered and died so He could be with me.
Can’t cross those off as attained or measure them at all, but I believe by faith that God gives us the desires of our hearts. He plants them there and then He fulfills them. So I ask Him for these things, as gifts, this year.
And I believe He will give them, because of grace.
{What are your goals for 2012? And what are the desires of your heart, the gifts of grace you’re requesting from the Father in 2012? Thanks for reading.}
Looking back.
Yesterday Jeff had the day off, offering us a bit of blessed time for looking back. (*We also had some time for looking at this site and making a few changes…please be patient, it’s a work in progress, just like me!) Looking back usually makes us feel one of two things: gratitude or regret. Usually a bit of both. When I look back at 2011 the overwhelming feeling is gratitude. What a gift 2011 was to us. I could write a hundred posts listing out the gracious gifts God gave us and it still wouldn’t be enough. He has been so good.
But what about regrets? My dear friend’s grandfather spoke these simple words to him, just before he passed from this life to the next:
“Live a life of no regrets.”
And as I look at my dear Aunt Lois and her beautiful almost-96 years, I see an example of a life of no regrets.
And this — living today with the end in mind, makes us consider: Is there anything — habits, choices, relationships — that I might regret one day?
What does the world regret? Here are the top 5 things people regret on their deathbeds:
1. “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”
2. “I wish I didn’t work so hard.”
3.” I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.”
4. “I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.”
5. “I wish that I had let myself be happier.”
This could really all be summarized by these four regrets:
1. People-pleasing (fear of man, lack of courage)
2. Refusing to rest (pride)
3. Neglecting relationships
4. Not choosing joy
It’s easy to see how these are the most common regrets. And yet, how often do our (my) New Year’s resolutions and goals really reflect a desire to live a life free from these regrets. For example, running a marathon is awesome but will I really lie on my deathbed and regret that I never ran one? Blogging every day is awesome, but will I really ever regret if I miss a day or two?
So the challenge for us as we cross into a new year is How do I establish daily habits that will help me live a life of no regrets?
How do I live today with the end in mind?
The question for us is this: If you lived the rest or your days exactly the same way you lived today what would be your regrets?
I know mine, and they’re startlingly similar to those above:
1. People-pleasing (lack of courage) in being myself and sharing the love of Christ.
2. Neglecting rest and play.
3. Cluttering my life with too many relationships without investing enough time with the handful that matter most.
4. Not smiling more, not choosing joy each day. Letting little things like a messy house or a funky friendship weigh down my heart.
5. Talking sharply to my children, getting frustrated with them, speaking in a tone that cuts instead of builds.
These are the things I would regret. Oh, friends, I don’t want to have these regrets.
The new year is a gift of grace.
Each new year God gives us a chance, a mini-life, which He lets us do again and again. He gives us a chance to stop, look back, and reflect, so that we won’t be caught off-guard at the end.
From 2011, I only have a few regrets.
- I wish I had made more time to read.
- I wish I had spent less time worrying about what people think of my kids.
- I wish I had spent more time doting on my husband.
- I wish I had prayed more.
Year's end with thanks …
- My cousin Brian’s camera (thanks for taking our photo!)
- The sale of our home. {No more showings!}
- The move into our dear little country rental.
- Treasure hunts on our two-and-a-half acres.
- God’s provision for a trip to Maui. Five glorious days digging in the sand and basking in the sun.
- Early mornings bundled up in quilts by the fire.
- Heidi outgrowing her breath-holding-spells.
- Dutch learning to read!
- The crazy-generous gift from a dear saint for blessed, luxurious vacation.
- Anticipation.
- Seeing His hand of faithfulness this year.
- My mom coming through a horrendous hip-replacement and a broken leg. Cast was removed this week!!!
- Mom scooting herself up the stairs at Christmas to see inside our home for the first time.
- My steady man.
- Constant provision at every turn.
- Abundant hand-me-downs for our kids.
- Gracious friends who give their time, attention, prayers, care.
- Watching our kids grow.
- Seeing the fruit of the Spirit growing in our boy.
- Heidi reciting the Lord’s prayer.
- Learning to be ok with who we are.
- Receiving His grace every day.
- Hand-knit gloves and scarf from Momma for Christmas.
- Azure Standard’s fabulous produce.
- The crazy-generous gift of 10 whole chickens from a friend’s farm.
- Dad’s local grass-fed beef source that I love.
- Getting a whole ham as a White Elephant gift. Love it!
- The Furman’s crazy creative gift — our family in dolls.
- Debbie Roberts’ Wordle by the front door.
- Erin’s Jo-Jo truffles that are out of this world.
- Text messages.
- Great reads.
- Honest friends.
- The Jesus Storybook Bible.
- The Narnia series.
- 9 college roommates turning out 21 children in 7 years.
- That we’re all still walking with Jesus, married to faithful men.
- Unearthing Jeff’s marriage-proposal to me, framed from 9 years ago.
- Our renewing week at Black Butte, full of playing, swimming, running, biking, tennis, reading, salmon and BBQ.
- Ready to cross the year, knowing that He’s good.
- Chocolate-covered pretzels.
- Joyful Christmas cards.
- Toy Story 3.
- Heidi’s laugh.
- Dutch’s imagination.
- Jeff’s love.
- God’s grace.
F is for FINALLY done with this silly F-series!
I’m a stickler for finishing. Somewhere along the line, one of my dear parents must have inflicted me with some conviction about always finishing a task because goodness knows it’s inflicted me ever since. Sure, there are exceptions: Heidi’s baby-book and my 10K training plan, are prime examples. Both are nowhere near complete. But for the most part, I love me a job well done.
Hence our lingering little F is For… series, which I despise. Why did I start it in the first place? I don’t know. I love doing something light on Fridays. Something fun, related to the mundane. But why did I torture myself with the limitations of alliteration? And then why did I torture myself with finishing an entire year of this silly series? Because I’m ridiculous.
How’s this for light? At any rate, I’m curious: Have any of you ever suffered through something ridiculous just so you could finish? Merit or no merit, sometimes it can border on humorous. Would love to know if anyone else has been there…
And … would you help me? What sort of series would you love to do on Fridays? Have you done some yourself that have been helpful? Or is there something in particular you’d like to read more about? Homemaking topics? Frugality? Glimpses of real life? 5-minute Fridays? Good links to other blogs? Having a g0-to theme really makes the week easier for me, leaving only 4 other “real” posts to write.
Thanks for your input! And, on our last post-day of the year, I thank you with all my heart for a fabulous 2011. YOU are a joy in my life and I thank you so much for your grace! Bless your holiday weekend and thank you for reading!