{pretty, happy, funny, real}

Good morning!

Firstly, let me assure my needle & thREAD friends that I haven't abandoned sewing and reading posts altogether. There are just so many ways to say, "I'm taking tucks and adding snaps to costumes of dancers you don't know. I can't show you pictures of them wearing the costumes because they're not my children and I can't really photograph them put them up on the web."

So, when I sew, I'll let you know;-). Look for needle & thREAD to return to this space a week from Saturday. 

Now, on to my first ever edition of {pretty, happy, funny, real}.

{pretty}

Sarah has a lovely knack for remaining oblivious to the mess she makes around her while still taking care to make beautiful her immediate space, if only for her own enjoyment. She sat down to do her "work" the other day and promptly got up again. Stepping around strewn papers and markers on the floor, she made her way to the vast jar collection that doubles as our drinking glass stash. She went out to the yard (which is a benevolent benefactor bearing all sorts of perfectly beautiful yellow weeds) and she gathered herself a bouquet. She brought it in, placed it on her table, and went on with her work.

I want to be like her.

I want to value the mess of a work in progress and not make excuses for the fact that --to someone who doesn't know the backstory--it just looks like an untidy testimony to failed housekeeping. Sometimes, in a house with lots of people coming and going and doing important things, the things visible look like a mess. It's the invisible things that are blooming beautifully. A fistful of flowering yellow weeds pulled from the back lawn aren't just pretty. They're beautiful--in the most genuine way I know.

{happy}

I'm happy to tell you that I have grand plans to host a Summer Book Club right here. With you! I've spoken with Auntie Leila and we're brimming with ideas for ways to make The Little Oratory come alive in your homes this summer. We're planning a weekly study, complete with link-ups to your blogs. We'll have podcasts every week for you with Auntie Leila-- and then, I'm going to also share some thoughts via podcasts with other women who bring this haven of holiness into their homes. We'll have giveaways and challenges and plenty of practical encouragement for you.

Next Wednesday, I'll be back with a proper introduction and some thoughts about mentoring and mothering and making home a place of soft landing and spiritual fortification. Until then, just know I'm giddy-happy to be planning this summer adventure. Oh, and buy the book (or here). You'll want to read along with us;-).

{funny}

This week's funny went down like this:

Mama (or is it Nona? I don't know--conversation spans generations), holding Lucy: I think Lucy is the prettiest current girl baby in the whole world.

Karoline: Yeah... Wait, WHAT? The prettiest?

Mama: The prettiest current. I was very careful not to say ever. Did you notice that?

Sarah: I think she's the prettiest baby EVER. First, Lucy. Then, me. Then, you, Karoline. You're third after Lucy and me.

Karoline (indignant): I'm not third. Lucy, what do you think? Are you the fairest of them all?

Karoline just happens to be snapping pictures with my iPhone as she asks. And Lucy says:

#1

{real}

This is really what my living room has looked like this week, only more--much more. As we've sorted and sprayed and fluffed and repaired costumes just unpacked on Tuesday (took awhile to get my legs under me after the weekend that was) to get them ready to go tomorrow, I've just sort of given up and let the girls take over the front room. It's fine. Next week, perhaps life will return to normal. Whatever that is. It's been long enough away from normal and enough has changed forever that perhaps next week begins the new normal.

Then again, the washing machine keeps blinking F02 and refusing to do what I tell it. Life can never be normal in a household of 9 when the washer isn't working properly.

I'll be clicking over to Like Mother, Like Daughter to peek in on other {pretty, happy, funny, real} posts. See you there?