Growing in my Heart

After a week, Jake and Rory are back to normal.  No more messes in the house.  No more making mild and tempting canine food for upset stomachs. No more 24 hour Mom surveillance of all canine bathroom habits.  I'm thankful for that.  

The Blossoms did their craft show on Saturday.  It went well.  They almost don't even need me.  I mean, I drive them there and physically help with the set up.  That's about it though.  I sat there, knitting and reading and thinking and people-watching while they interacted with their customers and made change.  I'm thankful for that.

When we got home, everyone pitched in, tidied up the house, and put away all our dog treat gear.  They may have had an ulterior motive ~ that meant we could put up the Christmas tree.  It made supper late getting on the table Saturday night, but we put up the tree!  Now, we're enjoying basking in its Christmas beauty.  I'm thankful for that.  

After several instances of crunchy pinto beans despite following the normal directions for soaking, I bought new beans and decided to make them in the instant pot.  We had delicious, wholesome pinto beans that were NOT crunchy.  Tonight's chili was comforting and savory and NOT crunchy.  I'm thankful for that.  

Blossom4 thanked me for helping her remake her bed and bringing her a tissue and fetching her a cup of water and giving her TLC lately.  It's nice to be thanked sometimes.  I'm thankful for that.  

We've been playing the Christmas program and choir songs on repeat lately.  I love the sounds of harmony and melody I hear throughout the day and especially during supper cleanup.  Singing together makes my heart so happy.  I'm thankful for that.

A friend has taken some time lately to troubleshoot my knitting project and teach me a few things.  It saved me hours of time and research to figure out where I had gone wrong.  Instead, I was able to knit and relax when the moments have presented themselves today.  I'm thankful for that.

I saw snowflakes today.  They were exquisite.  I'm thankful for that.  

My parents are back safely from a big trip.  I'm thankful for that.

At the end of the day when I'm drained, if I dwell upon these beautiful little things, gratitude grows in my heart instead of discouragement, making it fertile soil for whatever God wants to teach me next.

Dominique

Tidbits

It's little miscellaneous thoughts that I have today.  

Just hodge-podge tidbits in a hickly-pickly sort of way.  

The dogs have diarrhea (like the war zone kind of diarrhea that always ends up on the carpet and never on the linoleum) and a friend shared this supplement with us.  I wish she could share her lovely hardwood floors with us just as easily.  Nonetheless, aside from helping Jake and Rory out, we were also tickled because many of the ingredients are good for rabbits too!  Another weapon in our herbal animal arsenal!

The busier we get, the harder it is to get out for our daily walks.  I bet we're making it only about 50% of the time or less.  We made it out today though.  We take the victories wherever and whenever we can get them and we try not to let past "failures" paralyze us.  

The girls have been ordering makeup, clothing, hair accessories and such from Shein.com.  Though it takes about two weeks to get our orders, I must say, we have been pleased every time.  It's affordable and trendy stuff!  Today I'm rocking a jaw clip in my hair that I "borrowed" from Blossom1's purchases that came yesterday.  Girl moms have access to multiple diverse closets!  In any case, the jaw clip was a nice change from the scrunchy messy bun that I wear 98.99% of the time.  

Blossom3 came out of some head cold fog the other day.  When she's foggy, math is next to impossible and ridiculously frustrating for both of us.  I took advantage of homeschooling flexibility and had her do other things instead.  Today we sat down and did some review, learned a few tips and then, she aced two tests in a row!  I generally shoot for checking off each subject each day, but when someone doesn't feel well, it's so nice to be able to adjust accordingly.  

I always chuckle over word problems.  Sure, maybe your kiddo doesn't care about finding the percentage of the kids that rode the bus to school today, but maybe they can envision and grasp the sale percentage of a mini backpack at Walmart.  Sometimes word problems just need to be a little more relevant to make sense.  Blossom3 does best when she can imagine herself in the situation.  Then, she can rock it!  

I bought these adorable brown paper labels a few years ago.  I've found them to be so handy lately.  Blossom1 is always mixing up hair and cosmetic concoctions which are usually stored in mason jars in the fridge... just like the pancake syrup, chicken broth, salsa, pumpkin spice syrup, and the garlic salve.  Voila!  Pretty rustic labels!!  Besides, I don't want chamomile apple cider vinegar hair rinse on my pancakes.

It's about that time to turn block Amazon Stores or turn off notification on your child's fire tablets.  Ahem.  Blossom3 notified me of this AFTER I started ordering Christmas presents.  Thanks for that.  She assures me that she didn't see anything.

Hope you're well, friends.  The Blossoms and I are doing their annual dog treat craft show this weekend.  Lots of wheat flour and peanut butter around here lately!  

Have a lovely weekend!

Dominique

Pics were snapped on one of our favorite jaunts across the creek by our cabin.  We were checking out the flood damage.  Oddly enough, even though the weather has turned cold, I have just as many urges to sneak away to the cabin when it's cold, as I do when it's temperate.

My Life Lesson

In the hardest situations, in the most frustrating situations, I am still called to obey God.

My children's foolishness or emotionalism or disobedience or poor decisions, never give me a license to disobey God.

Admittedly, it's much harder to obey God when you're just plaid tired of dealing with the same character issues all day long.  

I'm trying to teach them the same lesson that I've been mastering my whole life.

Obey God no matter what.  

No matter who else obeys.

No matter how you feel.

No matter who is or isn't watching.

No matter how others are treating you.

No matter who listens.

Obey God.

"Turn away from evil and do good.

Search for peace, 

and work to maintain it."

I Peter 3:11 NLT

That is the challenge of being a mom.  

To turn away from evil, to do good, to search for peace, to work to maintain it, 

in my life and in this house

when it's just plain hard.

I am still called to be Godly.

May I never forsake His call to holiness!  May it resonate strongly in my heart each day!

Dominique

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.