A friend recently posted a quote from this book on Facebook. The quote resonated with my spirit and happily our library had a copy on hand. It was God reaching down, giving me exactly what I needed for this season.
The premise of Simplicity Parenting is how children in our society are given too much, too fast, too soon leading to some rather unlovely behaviors. Like arguing, throwing tantrums, living with a sense of entitlement and a spirit of discontent.
Guilty as charged. And that's just me.
Oh, yes. This book may be written with the goal of helping parents help their children, but I'm firmly convinced a simplified approach to life is balm to the overwrought spirits of adults too.
In fact, I can testify to it.
With our move to our new flat (aka the first floor of the triple we own), we drastically simplified our living space and our stuff. Moving in general does that. Moving from three floors to one requires drastic pruning. So prune we did, though it pinched at first. But now, 1.5 months in and I'm so glad we did it.
I love having only one bathroom to clean vs. two-and-a-half. I love that it takes half the time to vacuum the space and I don't need to lug the thing up one or two flights of stairs. I love that taking the vacuum out at all seems pointless most of the time because a broom can quickly take care of the crumbs and dust bunnies. I love having less space to acquire stuff that we don't really need but somehow convince ourselves we do. I love how less time focused on stuff leads to more time focused on relationships. (I hope I'm still loving it as much come spring when after more time spent inside our smaller space. I'm rooting for "cozy," not "cramped.")
Last week, I was inspired by the book to prune further and focused on books and toys. A few made it into the toss pile, but most I sorted into categories: in full view, into the toy/book library or into a pile for pulling out when friends visit or for a future toy swap. And I've decided to rotate these on a theme basis.
This month's focus is on character building and encouraging those tender shoots of the fruits of the Spirit to bloom and grow.Though it's hard to make toys fit this category, books definitely work. We had a few on hand, and here are few I found at the library that we've enjoyed so far:
"Little Raccoon's Big Question" by Miriam Schlein
"Spoon" by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
"The Who Shared" by Catherine Rayner
I found them by doing a search under "kind" in the library's catalog. Know of any other books along these lines that are must reads? Please share in the comments section...we're always on the lookout for good books!
Monday, September 9, 2013
Monday, September 2, 2013
milkshake mishaps & counting gifts
At the fair yesterday, our favorite, we made a beeline for the milkshake shack, with a slight detour past the horse and goat barns. Dave had looked forward to this for two years.
Carmel, strawberry, chocolate, vanilla. Four flavors between five people and I slightly regretted the decision to leave the lactaid pills behind.
But four melting milkshakes in four unlidded cups with children who love to play with the straws as much as sip from them and, well, something was bound to happen.
Something like drips of strawberry shake ending up over shirt. Pull out a napkin. And then more drips of strawberry shake on the same shirt plus the seat. Wipe with the napkin plus parental admonishment to strawberry shake sipper. And then, insert parental sigh of exasperation, even more huge drips of strawberry shake over shirt, seat and shorts. New napkin, please.
Which led to a further something....lacking a garbage in the immediate area where we were sitting, Dave and I playfully chucked the shake-dampened napkins at each other. We are great examples for our children. And, unable to resist joining in, our strawberry-shake-sipper tossed a piece of a napkin which unknowingly had a huge gob of strawberry shake on it, right at Dave. It landed on his shorts. In a rather, delicate, area. Which made it hard to stifle the laughter. I laugh even as I write this.
Unfortunately for our strawberry shake sipper, this was the last straw in the series of strawberry shake incidents. So there was a little one-on-one parent child conference, in which, I'm sure, it was made very clear that we are to sit quietly with our shakes, not play with the straw, and we do not, under any circumstances, throw napkins at other people. Even if your parents are doing that very thing. Because they aren't doing it to have fun, they are showing you what you are not supposed to do. All very straightforward and clear. Right?
However, there was grand finale to the milkshake mishaps. While Dave was in the parent-child conference, Ben was diligently trying to consume the rest of his vanilla shake. Having no success with the straw (the vanilla shake was surprisingly heat-resistant), he smartly tipped the cup back to swallow it down. Except, he tipped it too far and it ended up all over his face. Including his eyes.
I hope he'll forgive our laughter over his milkshake mask. We just couldn't help it. Thankfully, it wasn't strawberry.
And then, after all that, a light bulb moment. Mom commented that we should bring a spoon for next year. Spoon? Did someone mention spoon? I have one of those. Heck, I have more than one. Right here in our picnic backpack...
After several sandpaper months, this weekend (thus far), is salve to my soul. Not that there weren't sandpaper moments as the Lord continues to slough of my very rough edges, but He knows how to heal those raw wounds with balm that soothes, encourages, uplifts.
It is in these moments when I whisper I am unworthy. So I count these gifts, humbled in spirit, in awe of a King who has given me more that what I deserve. As if His life was not enough.
These astounding gifts:
Carmel, strawberry, chocolate, vanilla. Four flavors between five people and I slightly regretted the decision to leave the lactaid pills behind.
But four melting milkshakes in four unlidded cups with children who love to play with the straws as much as sip from them and, well, something was bound to happen.
Something like drips of strawberry shake ending up over shirt. Pull out a napkin. And then more drips of strawberry shake on the same shirt plus the seat. Wipe with the napkin plus parental admonishment to strawberry shake sipper. And then, insert parental sigh of exasperation, even more huge drips of strawberry shake over shirt, seat and shorts. New napkin, please.
Which led to a further something....lacking a garbage in the immediate area where we were sitting, Dave and I playfully chucked the shake-dampened napkins at each other. We are great examples for our children. And, unable to resist joining in, our strawberry-shake-sipper tossed a piece of a napkin which unknowingly had a huge gob of strawberry shake on it, right at Dave. It landed on his shorts. In a rather, delicate, area. Which made it hard to stifle the laughter. I laugh even as I write this.
Unfortunately for our strawberry shake sipper, this was the last straw in the series of strawberry shake incidents. So there was a little one-on-one parent child conference, in which, I'm sure, it was made very clear that we are to sit quietly with our shakes, not play with the straw, and we do not, under any circumstances, throw napkins at other people. Even if your parents are doing that very thing. Because they aren't doing it to have fun, they are showing you what you are not supposed to do. All very straightforward and clear. Right?
However, there was grand finale to the milkshake mishaps. While Dave was in the parent-child conference, Ben was diligently trying to consume the rest of his vanilla shake. Having no success with the straw (the vanilla shake was surprisingly heat-resistant), he smartly tipped the cup back to swallow it down. Except, he tipped it too far and it ended up all over his face. Including his eyes.
I hope he'll forgive our laughter over his milkshake mask. We just couldn't help it. Thankfully, it wasn't strawberry.
And then, after all that, a light bulb moment. Mom commented that we should bring a spoon for next year. Spoon? Did someone mention spoon? I have one of those. Heck, I have more than one. Right here in our picnic backpack...
After several sandpaper months, this weekend (thus far), is salve to my soul. Not that there weren't sandpaper moments as the Lord continues to slough of my very rough edges, but He knows how to heal those raw wounds with balm that soothes, encourages, uplifts.
It is in these moments when I whisper I am unworthy. So I count these gifts, humbled in spirit, in awe of a King who has given me more that what I deserve. As if His life was not enough.
 |
| In my pride, this is how I sometimes treat the gift of God. Lord, keep me humble of heart. |
These astounding gifts:
- after school pool time, slip sliding, diving splashing
- a new-used bike for Brie
- new friends for our arrows
- abundant zucchini from neighbors baked into chocolate zucchini muffins and cranberry pecan zucchini bread
- a translator to help us communicate with the Bo's
- gliding, not rushing, through the day
- birthday picnic celebration with our church family
- Tim & Lauren across the street
Friday, August 30, 2013
braving the ugly
There's much ugliness in this world and much in me. The ugliness spilled forth last night; its marks still lashed upon my soul this morning.
It's easy in this world to put up pretty pictures and capture good memories and gloss over challenges. But it isn't the truth of day in, day out living. It's hard to write the ugly. It's hard to admit in black and white, soul-bared that sometimes I'd rather run away that face another day of failure at motherhood. That words of hate directed toward my children threaten to spill from my tongue. Worse still are the pricking thoughts of life was so much easier when we had less children. Horrible, terrible, unwanted thoughts.
It's hard to face the ugly in black and white. But I tire of making light of the hard times or editing them out altogether. It just isn't real.
What is real is that I have these thoughts and I have a choice. I can choose to agree with the thoughts I know are planted there by the enemy or I can choose to take them captive and make them obey Christ as God encourages us to do.
(face palm) Why did I not remember this last night in that moment where I clearly saw the choices before me: laugh along with the kids as they piled in the car to greet Dave or become angry and self-righteous because it felt like they were trying to foil my plans yet again (!!!) to establish a lovely, calm bedtime routine?
Ugly looks ridiculous in black and white and pride is peeking between these lines.
If only the ugly could be erased as easily as these words by the backspace delete key. Ironically, the backspace delete key on this computer no longer works and, thankfully, God never enabled that key in life.
Instead, He invites me to yield my heart and the ugliness of my life to His transforming work.It is the greater grace of choosing to press on in Him.
That is my choice for today.
It's easy in this world to put up pretty pictures and capture good memories and gloss over challenges. But it isn't the truth of day in, day out living. It's hard to write the ugly. It's hard to admit in black and white, soul-bared that sometimes I'd rather run away that face another day of failure at motherhood. That words of hate directed toward my children threaten to spill from my tongue. Worse still are the pricking thoughts of life was so much easier when we had less children. Horrible, terrible, unwanted thoughts.
It's hard to face the ugly in black and white. But I tire of making light of the hard times or editing them out altogether. It just isn't real.
What is real is that I have these thoughts and I have a choice. I can choose to agree with the thoughts I know are planted there by the enemy or I can choose to take them captive and make them obey Christ as God encourages us to do.
(face palm) Why did I not remember this last night in that moment where I clearly saw the choices before me: laugh along with the kids as they piled in the car to greet Dave or become angry and self-righteous because it felt like they were trying to foil my plans yet again (!!!) to establish a lovely, calm bedtime routine?
Ugly looks ridiculous in black and white and pride is peeking between these lines.
If only the ugly could be erased as easily as these words by the backspace delete key. Ironically, the backspace delete key on this computer no longer works and, thankfully, God never enabled that key in life.
Instead, He invites me to yield my heart and the ugliness of my life to His transforming work.It is the greater grace of choosing to press on in Him.
That is my choice for today.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
catching up
Long post alert - there's a lot to catch up on between moving, vacation, settling in and back to school! Two days in and it seems like the kids had only two weeks off of school instead of the two-and-a-half months we enjoyed apart from the stress of moving.
This year, we planned to stay in Port Huron instead of Waterloo. However, a wrong turn while aiming for the hotel we spotted put us on the ramp to the border. So we spent the night in Sarnia instead.
Here we tested the waters of Lake Huron before heading to the cottage (you can see a piece of Michigan on the top left)...
Dave made apple pie for the journey in his new cast iron skillet - his birthday present this year. Half it was consumed on the road....
...And here's Moses enjoying a piece shortly after we arrive. He was quite happy. :)
The cooler weather + strong wind most days made for perfect sandcastle building opportunities...
Here's Ben's lighthouse...
And Brie resting after all that construction.
Luke thoroughly enjoyed the water this year and lost much of his past fear of the water. He and Isaac even ventured out to the first sandbar.
The day after we got back, we made a last-minute decision to head to our local county fair - we missed going our favorite one last year. The week at the beach must have caught up with Luke and Ben:
But they quickly recovered. Luke seems to be conquering much of his fears this year as he chose to brave an airplane ride with Ben...
Brianna had a hard time choosing at first. She settled for the "fun" slide, but it wasn't exactly the thrilling ride she was looking for.
This however, was.
We spotted it from a distance and it proved to live up to its name. Here she stands in line...
Brie tried her best to convince Reese to join her on the "Screamer" but he'd had all the thrills he wanted on Pharaoh's "death" ride (his name for it). It was one of those big boat rides that swing you perpendicular to the ground. Especially if you choose to ride on the very end like Reese did. After that, the fun house and bumper cars were more his speed.
And, in a rare photographic moment, here's Reese arriving at home after the fair. It always takes a little extra activity to wear out our Reesie. :)
However, it wasn't all fun and games. Despite just spending a week away and a good time at the fair, three out of four arrows found it hard to say they had a good time. (Big parental sigh). I know they did, as the pictures clearly show, so it's frustrating when I see a lack of gratitude and good attitudes in our children. In these moments, I'm tempted to ship them away to a farm or a boot camp to get a good dose of hard work. But then again, I know I often do the same thing, but as an adult I'm just better at hiding it.
And, finally, Brianna turned 10! Where, oh where, did that time fly? For her birthday this year, we braved the cooler, overcast weather and had a few friends meet us at the beach. And then home for dinner and cake. Like the loving big cousin that she is, Brianna gladly helped Jack help himself to a piece of cake (rocky road cheesecake made by Daddy).
This year, we planned to stay in Port Huron instead of Waterloo. However, a wrong turn while aiming for the hotel we spotted put us on the ramp to the border. So we spent the night in Sarnia instead.
 |
| selfie in Sarnia the next morning - it's really hard to squeeze 6 people into a picture, but Dave did an admirable job |
Here we tested the waters of Lake Huron before heading to the cottage (you can see a piece of Michigan on the top left)...
Dave made apple pie for the journey in his new cast iron skillet - his birthday present this year. Half it was consumed on the road....
...And here's Moses enjoying a piece shortly after we arrive. He was quite happy. :)
The cooler weather + strong wind most days made for perfect sandcastle building opportunities...
Here's Ben's lighthouse...
And Brie resting after all that construction.
More wind turbines seem to crop up each year we return. Dave likes taking the kids to see them up close and personally. Personally, it freaks me out to be that close to one. 
Luke thoroughly enjoyed the water this year and lost much of his past fear of the water. He and Isaac even ventured out to the first sandbar.
The day after we got back, we made a last-minute decision to head to our local county fair - we missed going our favorite one last year. The week at the beach must have caught up with Luke and Ben:
 |
| synchronized sleeping |
But they quickly recovered. Luke seems to be conquering much of his fears this year as he chose to brave an airplane ride with Ben...
Brianna had a hard time choosing at first. She settled for the "fun" slide, but it wasn't exactly the thrilling ride she was looking for.
This however, was.
We spotted it from a distance and it proved to live up to its name. Here she stands in line...
And my brave two-days-away-from-turning-ten year old soloed (she rode without one of us by her side) a ride that took her high in the air and turned her upside down.
Brie tried her best to convince Reese to join her on the "Screamer" but he'd had all the thrills he wanted on Pharaoh's "death" ride (his name for it). It was one of those big boat rides that swing you perpendicular to the ground. Especially if you choose to ride on the very end like Reese did. After that, the fun house and bumper cars were more his speed.
And, in a rare photographic moment, here's Reese arriving at home after the fair. It always takes a little extra activity to wear out our Reesie. :)
However, it wasn't all fun and games. Despite just spending a week away and a good time at the fair, three out of four arrows found it hard to say they had a good time. (Big parental sigh). I know they did, as the pictures clearly show, so it's frustrating when I see a lack of gratitude and good attitudes in our children. In these moments, I'm tempted to ship them away to a farm or a boot camp to get a good dose of hard work. But then again, I know I often do the same thing, but as an adult I'm just better at hiding it.
And, finally, Brianna turned 10! Where, oh where, did that time fly? For her birthday this year, we braved the cooler, overcast weather and had a few friends meet us at the beach. And then home for dinner and cake. Like the loving big cousin that she is, Brianna gladly helped Jack help himself to a piece of cake (rocky road cheesecake made by Daddy).
Monday, August 26, 2013
here again
I'm blogging here again. Just part of the returning theme...a new season, reflecting back to press forward. And we are 13 days into the next decade of parenting. And my heart spilleth over...
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| cousins |
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| Luke insisted on having his picture snapped with the new book from Aunt Val and Reese was hamming it up |
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| this makes my heart melt |
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| best buds (70% of the time) and is that Luke imitating a flamingo???? |
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| still hamming it up |
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