The post linked above echoes so much I’ve been saying (but not acting on) for the past few years. The next question is how do I balance my needs/priorities (one of which is time for writing or thinking or doing both, on this blog or otherwise) with the needs of everyone around me? The biggest of those someones are the husband who doesn’t communicate *what* he needs and the 7 year old who is with me 95% of the time (though he is increasingly independent, homeschooling and chauffeuring and just wanting to take advantage of my only chance at parenting take up a lot of time!) No answers today, just some questions and musings…
14 Feb
Passing along a blog to follow… it was a nice surprise to see the same verse featured that I am trying to focus on!
Pray God’s heart as it is revealed in Scripture, in Philippians 4:8
Today, Lord, I pray for _____ and the things he(she) thinks about.
May _____ focus on whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is commendable, anything of excellence,
anything worthy of praise, help _____ to think about these things. ~Amen
~Praying Scripture: One moment, One prayer, One life changed by the power of God’s Word~
14 Feb
My goal for the next 40 days
I haven’t been blogging for… too long. Life has brought transitions and turmoil since my last long-ago post on here. (There has also been much good… I often have to remind myself that transition is not a bad thing!) The last few months have led me to the goal of having more trust, and showing more transparency… and for me, that is easier through writing than talking. SO… I’m trying to find the good — and bring it back here. Whether it is an inspiring quote, a blog post plucked from Google Reader or a tidbit about my day, my plan is to update this blog with positive things to think on. I hope you will join me on the journey!
25 Apr
N is for New
An easy post for me… but an important one. I love this song… and it is especially appropriate to post it this Easter weekend.
Lyrics:
Come broken and weary
Come battered and bruised
My Jesus makes all things new
All things new
Come lost and abandoned
Come blown by the wind
He’ll bring you back home again
Home again
Rise up, O you sleeper, awake
The light of the dawn is upon you
Rise up, O you sleeper, awake
He makes all things new
All things new
Come burning with shame
Come frozen with guilt
My Jesus, he loves you still
Loves you still
Rise up, O you sleeper, awake
The light of the dawn is upon you
Rise up, O you sleeper, awake
He makes all things new
He makes all things new
The world was good
The world is fallen
The world will be redeemed
So hold on to the promise
The stories are true
That Jesus makes all things new
(The dawn is upon you)
Words by Andrew Peterson
25 Apr
L is for the Little Things… #137-#150
I’ve spent too much time lately getting upset over the little things. I’m dealing with some big decisions and big stressors… but it is the little things piled on top of that that seem to cause my mood to spiral downward.
Here’s a song that speaks to that feeling. I did not like it when it first came out… now I love it! (Plus it is hilarious to hear my 5 year old belting out, “Call me please, ’cause I can’t find my phone!” from the backseat.
Fortunately… I have learned that it is the little things that can pick my mood back up just as quickly. That is one of the reasons I am so glad to have started writing down 1000 Gifts!
This week’s gifts include:
#137 Green after the rain… is it just me, or do the grass and trees look even more brilliantly green after a rainstorm?
#138 Clouds
#139 The tunnel of green on a road near my house… the trees almost completely cover the sky above and it is just gorgeous to drive through. So often I wish I could stop in the middle of the road and take a picture… but since it is on a winding two lane road that is probably not a good idea!
#140 Relaxing at the park for a few minutes ALONE… which went a long way towards disappating the horrible mood I was in at the time.
#141 Watching my little boy’s excitement the night before Easter — he was literally jumping up and down when we set out decorated eggs and a basket in anticipation of the Bunny’s arrival
#142 An unexpected invitation to a friend’s house for an Easter egg hunt… watching Andrew have a blast with some friends and getting some chat time with the adults
#143 Encouragement at a time I was discouraged over a lack of progress
#144 Getting treated to wonderful service by a waitress when we were eating out tonight… she was incredibly sweet (and I have to admit that bad customer service is usually one of those “little things” that really gets to me… and it is all too common here!)
#145 Yummy homemade pretzels
#146 Daisies and roses blooming in my back yard
#147 A floor swept clean
#148 Warm clothes fresh from the dryer
#149 Wireless internet access
#150 Being able to celebrate Easter and a risen Christ!
What little and not so little things are you thankful for this week?
23 Apr
K is for Kneel
Last night my little boy shocked my husband by announcing that Easter was more fun than Christmas. 🙂 (Christmas is a big deal at our house, and we love all of the traditions around it). When asked why, he listed all of the “fun activities” about Easter. The last few years we have spent Sunday morning attending a sunrise service near our house and watching that church’s teens put on a short play about Jesus’ death and resurrection. Andrew loves it (and admittedly doesn’t have much experience with Nativity plays at Christmas). For him, Easter means jellybeans (and one year an activity that incorporated jelly beans into Lent… which we didn’t do this year), egg hunts on beautiful spring days, and worship.
His comment got me thinking… I didn’t really grow up celebrating the religious aspects of Christmas OR Easter. I’ve grown to love that side of both of them. Easter is my favorite as well. The message of Christmas is hope and God entering the world… and that is amazing. But the message of Easter is that what began on Christmas has been completed. Sin has been defeated, creation is being renewed, God’s redeeming work is finished (and yet somehow still working today). Easter is a time of praise and rejoicing and happiness.
Easter is even more special because it is preceded by days of waiting… by the celebration of Good Friday… by commemorating the silence that was Saturday. Last night we attended a Good Friday service. We reflected on what the cross meant. We reflected on Jesus’ name and his work. He honored his taking on of sins even yet to come. We knelt down (admittedly, that was figuratively and not literally) in honor of his sacrifice… and can’t wait to stand up in praise as we celebrate his resurrection on Sunday.
23 Apr
J is for Jellybeans
Jellybeans have been a big deal at my house lately.
At Christmas, Santa left my little boy a jellybean dispenser. It immediately became his favorite Christmas present. It has been out of jellybeans for a while now, but in honor of family coming in town last week we let him refill it to show it off to them. Our local grocery store had an area where JellyBellys were sold in bulk from a dispenser, so he was in awe of being able to pick out any kind of jellybean he wanted in whatever amount he wanted (in theory, at least).
The other day we also did a bit of graphing and counting practice with jellybeans, based on a lesson we found online. Learning is always more fun when it involves food, right?
The other day we also found Crazy Jelly Beans (from Starburst… which has the best jelly beans anyway). We love them. 🙂 We may have to stock up to have some after Easter too.
23 Apr
I is for Introvert
I have a theory that bloggers are more introverted than most… and that enables them to sit in front of the computer instead of socializing. Maybe I’m wrong about that. Maybe I’m right and no one needs to read this. But… I need to write and it is my blog, so here goes!
A Google search gave me this definition for an introvert, which I vehemently disagree with:
in·tro·vert
| noun /ˈintrəˌvərt/ introverts, plural
|
Introverts are NOT shy, antisocial, or self-centered (though probably more-self aware). I’ve come to realize that I may appear that way at times… and I do have some shyness on top of introversion. Introverts replenish energy by spending time alone, and often feel drained or overwhelmed after spending time in crowds or with others. In contrast, extroverts (aka everyone else or 75% of the population) replenish energy by spending time with others. That doesn’t mean introverts don’t like people (though I certainly have my days of not liking people in general). Introverts draw from an inner world of ideas (and retreat to it in order to think before speaking) while extroverts draw from an outer world of experience… and talk out loud before thinking.
Sometimes life as an introvert is easier than other times. At my last full time job, I found myself surrounded by extroverts who brainstormed and threw out ideas in meetings (ideas which, in my opinion, were not relevant to the discussion much of the time… yes, I know that is part of the purpose of brainstorming but not when someone goes on their own tangent just to hear themselves talk!). Meanwhile, I rarely got a word in edgewise (despite many attempts)…and was often criticized for this. Needing time to recharge after a tough day and 6 hours of meetings? Nope, at this workplace socializing with coworkers appeared mandatory for staying in the management team’s good graces. And so on, and so forth. Thankfully, I am no longer in that work situation. Unfortunately, I doubt anything there has changed.
On the other hand, being an introvert means that I don’t need anyone else around to have a good day. 🙂 It means I try to be found among calm more often than chaos, though that doesn’t always work out! Those two advantages alone are enough for me!
19 Apr
H is for Homeschooling
If you had asked me 5 years ago if I would ever contemplate home schooling my kids, I would say it had never crossed my mind. At the time, being able to stay at home at least part time was a wish I thought was likely to never come true… but even if it did, I assumed kindergarten would mean heading to the public schools wherever we were (which wasn’t planned as where we still are!) Three years ago, I lost the job that I thought was necessary to our family income . Somehow (and I’m really not sure how!) we’ve made life work since then with some part-time, sporadic work for me. It comes with sacrifices… like having a car that hasn’t worked for too many months now… but we haven’t wanted for necessities. Somewhere along the way, I realized how grateful I am that I’ve been the one around to catch all of the adorable-isms that have characterized the preschool years. They make the times of feeling isolated (because I will apparently never be like the other SAHMs) or overwhelmed worth it all.
The other thing that I thought I would never say is that I am grateful that my son had the chance to be in an in-home daycare for a few years, with kids ranging in age from infants to 5 (though I still don’t think those babies got the best care — at that facility, not all daycares — and I am so glad he was 1 before he had to go there!) I love that he had the chance to be around other kids and older kids to get some introduction to sharing, playing together, letters and numbers. Looking back, I prefer that to the typical kids of the same age preschool set-up. When he was finally home full-time at age 3 1/2, preschool or even a PDO was not an option. We started doing “life school” at home… nothing formal at ALL, but just showing that all of life is learning — pointing out letters on the highway, reading tons of books, getting toys that were fun but also allowed for creativity. And I started to realize how much I love watching him learn and don’t want to see him lose the love he has for learning.
Add that to some doubts about our neighborhood school, some doubts about public school in general, and having a child who is very asynchronous in development so far — past the end of the year kindergarten curriculum in some areas, right on target in others, and probably behind on some gross motor skills — and that leads to being fairly sure we will be homeschooling in the fall… though I will admit that decision is changing frequently right now. I guess I should say we will be officially homeschooling… because I have come to realize that I’ve been doing it all along without labeling it as such. I’m sure in the fall we will get more formal about it, but for now he loves to “play school” on the days we do more formal learning and learns just as much on the days we play or visit the zoo or something similar. The huge task at hand right now is finding some groups to get support and friends from, and trying to have faith that it will all work out somehow.
This morning we had fun testing out an online program I’m thinking about for reading/phonics, playing go fish with sight words and counting/graphing with jelly beans! 🙂 Taking a break for lunchtime… then headed to the store to pick up a few groceries and the library to pick up some books on hold. I’m thinking about making pretzels this afternoon but it depends on whether we’ll have time for the dough to rise and bake before we have to head out to pick up my husband from work. And *that* depends on the weather… because I’m fairly sure we’ll end up at the park unless it decides to rain this afternoon. I love having the flexibility to plan schedules around *my* priorities…
Melody's Musings... 