Before the Big Snow

I find myself:

::noticing God's glory

Oh, my goodness! There is the scent of snow in the air. Bring it! 

::listening to 

girls play. Boys build with Legos. This dishwasher swishing. The dryer turning. Life.

::clothing myself in 

Boyfriend jeans, a turtleneck, heavy cardigan. Changing things up, friends--turtleneck instead of a long sleeved T-shirt. 

::talking with my children about these books

Those lovely snow books. And a favorite for this week, too 

::thinking and thinking

About burn out and recovery. Still. I'm writing and writing and writing, in the wee hours of the day, early before the children awaken. There will be enough for a book by the time I am finished--four weeks of "Quiet Time" prompts, four tutorials to keep creative hands busy, twelve {long} essays with lots of thoughts and practical ways to move along to the path of restoration and refreshment. And Joy is making all of it utterly beautiful. We are making great progress!

::pondering prayerfully

“There are three things you can do when life sends a wave at you. You can run from it, but then it's going to catch up and knock you down. You can also fall back on your ego and try to stand your ground, but then it's still going to clobber you. Or you can use it as an oppotunity to go deep, and transform yourself to match the circumstances. And that's how you get through the wave." -from the Instagram feed of Humans of New York 

Amazing book!

::carefully cultivating rhythm

Snow days have a rhythm all their own. Our winter appears to have taken on the rhythm of a snow day. Fancy that.

Hah! I wrote that two weeks ago. Or was it three? We are due for a doozy. Big, big snow coming soon!

::creating by hand

Lots of baby things to make today. Lots and lots and lots.

Yesterday, I played with a little hand-lettering. I kind of like it.

 ::learning lessons in

Baby things. Not much has changed in five years. There are no old-fashioned rockers in Babies R Us anymore. And absolutely no wooden high chairs. Ergos are available right there in the store. I remember having to order mine online. But not much else has changed. There's a new crop of little ones to click the scanner for the registry, though. Way too much fun!

.

::encouraging learning 

My little Sarah is nearly reading on her own. And there, my friends, ends an era of reading to children who can't read and snuggling with them while they learn to love all the treasure held between the covers of a book. And, along the way, they learned to read, too. Loved. Every. Minute. Of. It. 

Loved it so, so much. 

::clicking around

Nothing to share here. I haven't been clicking. Five minutes of Facebook a day, Monday-Friday, if I get to it. Up to ten minutes of Instagram. A quick scan of mail to see if I need to answer something. And nothing else. Nothing.

That means I have this little inbox problem:

Those are unread messages. Need to work on that problem.

::begging prayers

for Shawn and for Elizabeth DeHority and for all the people who love them. Cancer is a hideous, horrible disease and watching it devour someone you love is incredibly painful.

for all the intentions of our prayer community.

For college students, especially the ones who are lonely and feel forgotten.

::keeping house

It's supposed to snow tonight and all day tomorrow. That means I'm going to clean like a crazy person today. I love to be snowed in. I hate to be snowed in a mess. A clean, snug house that smells of eucalyptus and wild orange--that's the way to begin a snowed in adventure.

::crafting in the kitchen 

Snow food: roasted chicken, chicken and vegetable soup, homemade granola, hot chocolate, and some Valentine cupcakes.

::loving the moments

Talking to Mary Beth about Powersheets.

::giving thanks 

For the boy I fell head-over-heels in love with on Valentine's Eve, 1982.

Now, he makes clover bouquets for our ninth baby on the sidelines of soccer fields.

He's a keeper.

living the liturgy

Last Sunday, four children came to visit us. They hung out here at our house while their little brother made his entry to the world. We played. And played. And played. And we made some birthday cupcakes, too. And at 10:00 Sunday morning we all went off to Mass. We sat in the front row. We prayed for Mommy and Daddy and Baby J. 

And then, when we got home, we heard some glorious news. Baby J was born while we were so earnestly praying. Isn't that so fun?

::planning for the week ahead

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

And then let it stop. My sweet husband is in Miami. Doubtless, he won't get in Thursday night as planned. As it happens, he's made reservations for Saturday night, anyway. So, as long as he gets in Saturday morning, works for me;-)!