A Choice for Me

Mama's busy.

All the time.

There are ways to be attentive, even when I'm busy.

Squeeze a hand.

Put your phone in your back pocket.

Stop and play a game.

Read a silly poem (or two or three or four.)

Crack a joke and laugh together.

Share a cup of tea.

Ask an interested question.

Listen to a request.

Every day is made up of so many little choices to be busy with the truly important things

instead of the most urgent things.

Autumn School

This is how we walk to school.

It was a beautiful day and by 11:30 am, some Blossoms were struggling with focus, despite their most valiant efforts.  

"Hey girls, why don't we do school down by the creek?

Hearty cheers ensued!

We loaded up the books and some snacks, and marched down the driveway, breathing the fall-ish air and basking in the sunshine.

Fresh air and sunshine are game-changers!

There was a little toe-dipping and some serious favorite-creek-spot-inspecting, but the Blossoms settled down contentedly.  

Especially since there were tiny snails to keep us company.

 Listening to the melody of the gurgling creek while working away at our tasks was a soothing change of pace for all of us, including me.

New Mug

I've been eyeing up this mug at Dollar General for a while now and I finally grabbed it the other day, probably on a random run to pick up a jug of milk.  

What is done in love is done well.

Everything I do for Jesus and, correspondingly, for my family, 

if it is done in love, is done well.

My day is full of mundane tasks, important emails, tiny details, various conversations, and logistics, logistics, logistics.  

Have I done these things in love?

My heart is convicted.  

Did I do everything today in love?  

"What is done in love is done well."

Lord, let love drive me today!  Let Your love influence every part of what I do.

Amen.

PS - The Blossoms are terrific barristas!  That Caramel Chai Latte was magnificent!

Keep an Eye on the Sun

One thing my parents modeled well for me was the principle of resolving conflict daily.  They were and are committed to not allowing conflict to fester into something bigger each day.  

"...Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, 

for anger gives a foothold to the devil."

This comes from Ephesians 4:26-27.

We've always paraphrased it to, "Don't let the sun go down on your anger."

Simply put, Mom and Dad raised us and later counselled us 

not to close our eyes to sleep until the conflict is resolved.  

It's a principle that the Rugged Mountain Man and I have stayed solidly committed to over the years, not because we're amazing, but because each night, we've chosen to finish the hard or long conversations before we close our eyes to sleep.

It isn't easy.  There are so many times, I'd rather just go to bed silent and seething.  

Hard conversations are HARD.

We're both tired.  We feel like we're beating a dead horse.

Yet, out of the silence, one of us says, "I need to talk to you because this hurt my feelings," or some other opening phrase.  One of us speaks up.  It can be really tempting to make some inflammatory comment, but instead, with a deep breath, we try to calmly open the door to conversation.  

When I feel angry and upset, I want to push away.  In those moments, I know I need to humble myself and reach out to hold his hand.  It's turning over, instead of turning away.  It's uncrossing my harshly folded arms and leaning in.  I can see the choice I need to make.  

It's so tempting to push away, but I have found, time and time again, that humility in my body posture goes a long, long way.  Reaching out, rather than ignoring demonstrates that we're in this together.  It shows a willingness to reconcile.  It doesn't matter who reaches out first.  I can tell you that I feel the nudging of the Holy Spirit and I KNOW when I'm guilty of being proud or mean.  It's funny because often, that small step of reaching out, reaching back, or responding is usually the first baby step toward resolution.  As I reach back or reach out, I feel my heart soften.  

Because we are two imperfect human beings, the conversation wraps up with apologies.  I don't apologize though just because he "finally" gave me the apology I was "owed."  

I am not the Holy Spirit.  

As a wife, I know the temptation to hold it over him.  

"You OWE me an apology." 

Maybe he does.  

Maybe he doesn't.  

That's truly not my job to convince him.  I can let him know what's bothering me, 

but my responsibility is to have a clear conscience before God.

What does a genuine apology look like?

"I am sorry for ________________.  Will you please forgive me?"

What goes in that blank is what I did, not a passive aggressive accusation.

I don't say sorry because I always FEEL sorry.  I say sorry because I now know in my heart that what I did was wrong.  I'm humbling myself so we can start fresh.  

Over our 21 years of marriage, we've gone to sleep angry once.  The heavy burden of the conflict the next day was even harder to deal with.  I can't explain the horrible heaviness on our hearts to awake to unresolved conflict between us.  We don't want to give the devil a foothold in our marriage and that's exactly what it felt like. It felt like a wedge between us, when there is normally nothing between us.  

We agreed to never do that again.  

In the silence of a finally quiet home, with the Blossoms dropping off to sleep after a busy day, we choose to talk it out... even when we're exhausted.

(Please note: I am not advocating to wait til nightfall to discuss things.  It simply happens often that this is the time of day and the location where the Rugged Mountain Man and I are most able to discuss things more privately and fully.  We choose bedtime as our arbritrary deadline, so to speak.)

Labor Day Moments

Labor Day often means work here.  

Sometimes that's alright, except we needed a little rest that didn't include more school, more housework, more homestead work, or more garden work.   

It's such a blessing that we live only an hour from our cabin.

It's also such a blessing to be able to say,

"Gals, throw your swimsuit and a sweatshirt in something and grab your sleeping bags;

we're going to the cabin!"

(AND THE CROWD GOES WILD.)

At the cabin, I find myself perching on a log in the middle of the creek and just listening.  

Why is it so much easier to hear God's voice here?  

I jaunt about the woods and frolic in the creek with my family.

Together we admire the Pennsylvania splendor ~ a wildness away from the things of man.

I marvel at how He made the goldenrod exquisitely golden.

Its tall shafts across a meadow's foundation gleam delicately now 

and promise more delightful autumn to come.  

We spend these

Moments listening,

Moments watching,

Moments laughing,

Moments refreshing.

 

And, Here We Go!

I've seen a lot of "First Days" in my career as the "Fabulous Facilitator" here. 

For a First Day of school, it went well.  I was pleased, but well do I remember how the first week always feels like you'll never do anything more than do school and make supper.  I mean, those are my top priorities... but the garden and canning to be done are hulking over me with condemning leers!

It levels out after about a week.  I sure am glad about that, but for a few days, I have to remind myself of that every minute!  Focus on the priorities and fill in the minutes with bite size progress!

I am already looking forward to some cool things we have in the works this year.  Blossom1 will be speaking at a local Lions Club meeting about her reign as Fair Queen.  Blossom2 is spear-heading an Instagram account to document all her pastry arts.  Blossom3 is heading up harvesting the neighbor's produce.  Blossom4 is looking forward to a trip to the Lumber Museum.  These things add sparkle to the everyday grind.   

I picked up my crocheting again.  (I finished this leg-warmer from last year that was alllllllmost done.) 

The Rugged Mountain Man says that crocheting is a winter sport.  I'll alter that to say that it is a chill-in-the-wind type of sport, perfect for when this mama needs to be present for bumps along the math road, but not so involved in EVERY minute of the math problem.  

Crocheting is calming too.  Plus, I feel a little accomplished when we are swimming the upstream of math that feels just a tad rusty for a Little Blossom.  She's gaining some promising momentum though!

As I said, HERE WE GO!  May the daily bookwork adventure begin!

Goodies Lately

Blossom2 made Blossom1's 18th birthday cake.  

It was a little bit of an inside joke.  

Blossom2 wants to try to new recipes and processes and skills... and

Blossom1 only ever wants chocolate chip cookies.  

Boring old lady.

Behold the Ten Layer Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake of a Lifetime!

And epic croissant cinnamon rolls for her birthday breakfast.  

Flaky and scrumptious.

Other goodies lately include a chocolate sugar cookie that is my favorite.

Oh, Blossom2, must you bake every day?!