Gems

I think Kindergarten or First Grade are going to be my FAVORITE stages for my kids. The reading and writing tugs at my heart strings EVERY SINGLE TIME. Rebecca is only 4, and she's a young 4, so she won't be going to Kindergarten next fall but the Fall after that. She's ready now. I kid you not - the girl is ready for Kindergarten and she has to wait one and three quarters of a year STILL before she can go. Which, really, is fine. Because she's my baby anyway and there's no hurry to get her into school to let the system start mucking her up. ;) But, I can't wait until Rebecca starts producing writing and drawings like Julia is right now. It's so much fun being a mom!

How can you look at this picture and NOT smile! Mr. Hell sure looks friendly, right? Hah! I love it... this picture is definitely in the "to save" pile that I need to figure out what I'm going to do with...

S.h.i.T!

So happy its Thursday! Its been a long week. I need to catch up on my organizing, Pinteresting, and kindle-reading. Sounds like a decent weekend to me!

Blog worthy

So, I've been looking forward to tonight all week, because it was in my plans that Wednesday night, the girls and I were going to the urban core to help a mission feed some under-resourced folks.  ...I knew that tonight would be meaningful and powerful, and somehow inspiring...
...and it was...
so I saved my today's blog post for the end of the day, knowing I'd have so much to write about...

...

...

{crickets}
..



..

I enjoyed the evening.  It was spent with an old friend that we do not see often enough. I met some new folks, got re-acquainted with some other new folks that I met last time I did this with this group of folks.. and it was all in all a good evening.  I came home feeling super blessed to have a home to come home to and I was thankful to find food in my cupboards and fridge, and yadda yadda yes, I'm grateful...  I just don't know how to put it all into words tonight I guess.

Is it blog worthy? or is it all kinda something I feel better about keeping to myself...

Well here's some blogossip for ya:
My seven year old told her biggest-lie-yet tonight.  It was over something relatively trivial - but if we let this lie slide, then when she's a teenie bopper, then these lies will be much more detrimental and horrific so we have to cover our bases early on and treat it as if this was, in fact, the WORST LIE EVER. 

The problem (I think?) here is that this girl has a GREAT conscious and hardly EVER makes bad choices.  She punishes herself with her own bad feelings after she's made a mistake.  It's a fault, really. 

So here she was caught in this big enormous lie (not really that big nor enormous but we're making it out to be because we're just mean parents I guess) and she's hysterically upset about it.   Hysterical. Like the world is going to end tonight and it won't be pretty kind of hysterical.

And part of me thinks that is pretty cool. Kind of funny in a way, actually.
But then the human part of me thinks it's pretty sad, too.  I mean - seriously - it's okay. She's already forgiven. No biggie, geesh.

But the fact that she doesn't know better than to let this TORTURE her inside makes my job as "mean mommy"  a bit easier.
(I think?)

...and that, my friend, is tonight's blog worthy news.

A Poem

Good boundaries make good friends; in the same light, healthy vulnerability can be a seed to create great friendships.

I hear your cry for friendship.
I feel your unmistakeable fear.
I'm here for you with open ears
if you will just let me hear.

The work it takes to make it
a friendship lasting long
requires a two way street
open to right and wrong.

Allow yourself to make mistakes
allow me to make some too
together we can grow a friendship
and bid your loneliness adieu.

Hate it when that happens

So I recently put a lot of thought, time, and effort into a cute crafy
thing (thanks Pinterest!) and this morning. It's a gift for somebody
who is going to receive it today. As I was putting the finishing
touches on the card that I made to go with the gift, I noticed that I
spelled the person's name wrong... When I was a kiddo, I could scribble
it out or turn it into a flower or something cute. Now, I'm all grown up
and I don't know what to do about it. There are not enough supplies to
make a whole new card. I tried to creatively turn two letters into one
letter but it's obvious that I made the mistake.

Don't you hate it when you finish a project and make a ridiculous
mistake at the very end, kind of messing up the whole thing?

....

Oh well. :)

Monday

After having all last week off, it's Monday again. This morning, I
asked God to help me see all the opportunities I will have in front of
me to bring a little heaven to Earth.

Challenges

I am learning that I respond well to challenges that I accept publicly.  Since I'm currently in a season without an official, measurable challenge, I thought I'd create one for myself.

The challenge:
To post to the blog at least once a day, every day, for one year.

The reason:
I love to write and I find it relaxing and a bit therapeutic.

The goal:
To have at least one sentence or picture posted to the blog everyday.  It doesn't even have to be meaningful :) (I'm all about attainable goals!)

The easy part:
I'm naturally wordy and I get along well with the computer.

The hard part:
I'm a pretty private person and I like to shell up into a nice comfy private hole when I feel like someone's pushing too hard to get a glimpse into how/what I'm doing.  Also? Frankly, the hardest part is going to be remembering to just do it.  I'm on the computer for at least 5 minutes a day every single day anyway, usually doing nothing very important. It won't take much to put up a simple thought, sentence, picture or comment... as long as I can remember to do it.

The predicted outcome:
I can see myself completing the challenge and having a glimpse into a year in my life to look back on. Hopefully I'll be able to capture some things about my cute kids in the meantime... cause they're more fun to write about anyway.

Let's see how it goes!