It’s about this time every year when I start to get really tired of gray days marching on without an end in sight. It’s only recently that I realized how much sunlight influences my moods and that knowledge has made a big difference, but still… enough winter already!
Fortunately this is the time of year when gardening catalogs start showing up and I can sit by the fire and look at pages of lush gardens and beautiful flowers and make lists and dream about playing in the dirt again.Last year was the first year I had real success with starting plants from seed, so I’m excited to try some new plants that way.
Princepesa informed me that she wants her own garden this year, so I’ll probably dig a little bed for her and let her go at it. Might do it in the back yard, in case it’s not so…. beautiful. I have Roots, Shoots, Buckets, & Boots – a great book on gardening for kids – so we could just pick a plan from there. I’ve always wanted to do a bean tent for the kids, so we might try that this summer too.
Off to dream of warm days in the garden.
Compassionate Lord,
Thy mercies have brought me to the dawn of another day.
Vain will be its gift unless I grow in grace,
increase in knowledge, ripen for spiritual harvest.
Let me this day know Thee as Thou art,
love Thee supremely, serve Thee wholly, admire Thee fully.
Through grace let my will respond to Thee,
knowing that power to obey is not in me,
but that Thy free love alone enables me to serve Thee.
Here then is my empty heart,
overflow it with Thy choicest gifts;
here is my blind understanding,
chase away its mists of ignorance.
Great God, in public and private,
in sanctuary and home,
may my life be steeped in prayer,
filled with the spirit of grace and supplication,
each prayer perfumed with the incense of atoning blood.
Help me, defend me, until from praying ground I pass
to the realm of unceasing praise.
Urged by my need, invited by Thy promises,
called by Thy Spirit, I enter Thy presence,
worshipping Thee with godly fear,
awed by Thy majesty, greatness, glory,
but encouraged by Thy love.
The daily grind of mommy-life can be exhausting. Between the endless laundry, pancakes, dirty sinks and kitchen floors, and the demands of homeschooling, it’s so easy to lose sight of why I am doing this.
“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life-your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life-and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”
Romans 12:2 (The Message)
God, help me to place my making-pancakes, teaching-subtraction, folding-socks life before you as an offering. Help me to remember everything you do for me and to serve my family with joy. Bring out the best in me.
I have bought chore organizers, printed sticker charts, made complicated laminated/velcro/cards/to-do and done charts, yelled, gave up and did it myself, and every other variation you can think of. I am exactly what Auntie Leila is talking about when she says she writes for
People who would rather be reading than cleaning. People with lots of other people around. People who will stop whatever they are doing to hear a good story. People who like children and dogs, at least in theory.
Go here to read that entire post. Love her blog.
We have always had our kids do chores, but we have not always had an easy, consistent way of doing that. Until now.
Somewhere in blogland I read about Miracle Music. It seemed like a good idea, but a bit more complicated than we needed and I certainly wasn’t going to pay $40 for it. So I made my own version.
I plugged my little microphone in and recorded myself saying things like “time to make your bed!” and “go brush your teeth and brush your hair!” and “now put away all your clean laundry… in the CORRECT drawer.. and Viking, I will be checking!” in my most chipper mommy voice. I made an iTunes playlist and put songs between each job. I used upbeat piano instrumental music from a Vince Guaraldi CD. I have a playlist for morning jobs, noon jobs, and night jobs.
And it works. It does! It’s like a game to them. They go scurrying and we get the morning chores done in about twenty minutes and the evening chores in just under thirty.
Between this and our new homeschooling tool, my life just got a bit easier.
“Lord, I do not want to gather merit for heaven…
in the evening of this life
I will appear before You with empty hands.
For I do not ask you, O Lord,
in any way to count my good works.
Rather, I will clothe myself
with Your justice and receive from Your Love
the eternal possession of Yourself.”
–St. Therese of Lisieux
I rarely turn on the television in the day, but when I do, it’s usual the Food Network. I enjoy watching Barefoot Contessa and love her cookbooks. So today I turned it on and was watching when word spread through the house.
“Hey! Cooking shows are on!”
So two little people came scurrying to sit and watch with me. It just cracked me up – they are like little foodies debating recipes and commenting on menus. I have been commanded to make a certain salad with noodles and feta and peas, and they just loved the Asian grilled salmon we watched Ina make.
Naturally it makes Daddy very pleased when he hears Viking talk about Ina and the Neelys and Rachel Ray as if they were old friends… on the other hand, I love that my kids like more than just mac and cheese and PBJ.
Anyone remember that song “video killed the radio star…“?
Well, I think Facebook has killed many a blog. I’m not sure this one is dead, but certainly comatose. It’s so easy to slap out a sentence on Facebook and move on, whereas writing a post takes more time and some thought.
The thing is – I don’t want my life to be about what’s easiest. I want to think about things. And I do enjoy blogging. Don’t even really know if more than three people read this blog, but it’s a useful journal of sorts where I can record what I am thinking, reading, laughing about, cooking.
And so, if for no other reason than to have a record of my own days, I am resuscitating this blog. Full recovery may take time, but the prognosis is good.
We are working on memorizing the Ten Commandments and my four year old has it down cold. However, today I heard him reciting by himself (usually we recite it together) and I realized that we have a tiny case of mistaken memorization.
Have you heard little kids sing “up from the grave he arose, with a mighty blanket o’er his toes” or other choice tidbits where they don’t understand the real words and substitute what makes sense to them?
My son has a problem with the fifth commandment.
The version we are learning says, “Honor thy father and mother, that thy days may be long upon the land the Lord thy God giveth thee.”
The problem? My son says it, “Honor thy father and mother for five days long upon the land the Lord thy God giveth thee.”
Big difference there.
Are we the only one that eats broccoli several times a week? It’s our stand-by vegetable: the kids both like it, it’s easy, healthy, and cheap. However, we I tend to get in a rut and just steam it and plop it on the table, plain.
So when I tasted this broccoli dish at a recent church event, I went hunting for the person who made it and begged for the recipe. Without further ado, here’s Sharon’s Marinated Broccoli.
1/2 c. white wine vinegar
1 tsp garlic powder
3 cloves crushed garlic
1 T dill weed (or dill seed)
1 tsp pepper
3 tsp salt
2 T Accent
1 1/2 c. salad oil
1 tsp sugar
This recipe is enough for several bunches of fresh broccoli. Mix the ingredients and pour over the broccoli and refrigerate for 24 hours. Use a container with a tight fitting lid so you can shake it several times while it is marinating. Drain and serve.
