Gathering My Thoughts

I find myself:

::noticing God's glory

Northern Virginia is absolutely breathtaking in the springtime. Witihin a matter of hours the blooms change, the leaves look greener. I hardly want to go inside for fear of missing something.

::listening to 

Sarah slurping tea.

::clothing myself in 

Cotton.

::talking with my children about these books

The Omnivore's Dilemma: The Secret Behind What You Eat, Young Reader's Edition. 

::thinking and thinking

About losses and crosses and hope and determination and strength of character.

::pondering prayerfully

Every time there are losses there are choices to be made. You choose to live your losses as passages to anger, blame, hatred, depression and resentment, or you choose to let these losses be passages to something new, something wider, and deeper. (Henri Nouwen)

::carefully cultivating rhythm

The girls and I spent the last weekend at the first dance competition of the season. Here's a major point to consider about dance competitions: they happen inside, rain or shine, dark or light. This differentiates them from soccer tournaments. Soccer tournaments--like this dance competition--can begin very early. It's not at all unusual for me to leave the house with sleepy children in the dark to drive to soccer. But they don't play until it's light outside. Big difference. Bigger difference: rare is the soccer game played late into the night. Even on fields with lights, we're usually finished before 10:00. Not so with dance competitions. Soccer tournaments are outside. True, that means that we've played soccer in wind and snow and sleet and lots of rain. However, we play under the wide open sky and noise dissipates mostly into fresh air. Dance competitions? Inside. Darkened auditorium. Relentless noise of music and cheering. For fourteen hours at a time. I was so tired last night, but it was still so hard to sleep. Today, rhythm is all about re-setting the girls. Fresh air is the antidote, I think.

::creating by hand

I have 7 1/2 rows of the cuff to purl today and Katie's sweater will be finished.

::learning lessons in

essential oils. I'm immersing myself in a unit study;-). I broke out my trusty {old} essential oil book and read some dated information and then, I looked around and saw that the world of essential oils has exploded while I've been doing the same old thing for twenty years. So I'm learning lessons.

::encouraging learning 

All about being outside this week. Break out the nature journals, the colored pencils, the bug zoo, the butterfly net. 

::begging prayers

For a child of mine who needs big infusions of grace. Please pray with me?

For my friend Barbara's new grandson, Isaac. (So far, both our homeschooling-friends-grown-up who have had babies have named them Isaac.)  He was born a week ago, by emergency c-section, six weeks early. He and his mom are doing fine, but your prayers for recovery and growth and NICU grace are very much appreciated.

And for Rick Warren, his son, and his family.

::keeping house

See above for description of dance competition. Know the boys were here at home. 'Nuff said.

::crafting in the kitchen 

We crafted in the kitchen and took it on the road. In the Whole Food Kitchen Workshop, Heather shared a lovely basket for road trips. She packs glass containers with healthy treats. I started to think through that strategy and recognized quickly that carrying glass containers for five or six kids would be impossible (both in terms of a container and mom strength). I found these "healthier plastic" lunchboxes and we had some big fun considering them as palettes for food art. They held up very well in their first road test. 

::loving the moments

when I get home and I know I've been missed and he's planned a late date of wine and cheese just for us.

::giving thanks 

for hope.

living the liturgy

We're focusing on Divine Mercy.

Easter is a season. My intention is to live it as such. Throw open the windows; let light flood our lives. He is risen! And we, too, can run and leap and shout for joy:-). So let's get after that...

::planning for the week ahead

Lots of bluebells this week. The weekend brings State Cup for Stephen and a game for Paddy in Charlottesville and a game for Nicky in way far Maryland and more dance and plenty of fresh air and sunshine.

Instagram recap: