Mama's Hands

This is a repost that I originally posted on homeschool blogger back in November 2005.

The older I get the more I see the beauty of Mama's hands.

Through a child's eyes, I saw them busy working: folding laundry, making beds, scrubbing the bathroom, dusting, preparing meals, doing dishes after every meal, ironing, sewing on a button, planting and reaping in the garden, canning, more cleaning.

I saw them sharing: offering a handshake, taking meals to others, typing a book for a friend, checking the pantry to see what we could give to those less fortunate than us, putting money in the offering plate.

I saw them making things: crafts with her friends and with the girls' group at church, painting a complete nativity set, sewing curtains, blankets, pillows, later a wedding veil.

I saw them tender: a loving touch, a back rub, wiping tears at weddings, wiping tears watching a movie, bandaging a scrape, brushing hair, caring for my grandmother and my aunt, holding hands with my father.

I saw them chastise in love. I saw them clapping in delight. I saw them holding books: studying God's word, reading to us at night. I saw them folded in prayer.

Today I see them still doing so many things. I see them now when I look down at my own. When did I get Mama's hands? How will my children remember mine?

It is Well

Time keeps slipping past here. School is drawing to a close for the year (yay!), and summer busyness is approaching. Miss Daisy found this Josh Wilson version of "It is Well with My Soul." Music speaks to us around here, and we love Josh's guitar style, so I hope you enjoy it, too!

I'd be dearly amiss...

if I didn't share Ivory's latest adventure. We finally got around to cleaning out her cage, and we put her in her ball which has a slight crack in it. I asked Mr. Al if we should duct tape her in, and he reminded me that she doesn't run in her ball like hamsters do, so we left her unattended and went about our business and checked on her as we went back and forth...ball still in the same spot. She was chewing on her treat and scratching every now and then.

I noticed Miss Daisy in the room, and Ivory's ball was open, and I asked her if she had Ivory, and she said no. Apparently, Ivory scratched her way out and was nowhere to be seen. We started to look, and then stopped and decided we should pray, and so we did. Mr. Al and I started to look in his room under the bed, and Miss Daisy went to her room and not 30 seconds later, she hollered, "here she is!" Ivory decided to take a trip next door and was under the doll house. A quick word of thanks, and Ivory was placed back in her freshly cleaned cage. Whew!

Here's a pic of the dynamic duo in their old cage before A Rodent's Tale and A Rodent's Tale part two.

Back by Popular (?) Demand

Top Ten Ways to tell that school is almost out:

10) Several subjects are completed, leaving only the ones that were put off and nobody really likes.

9) Mom ignores the excess reading and piano playing in place of schoolwork (not entirely)

8) Mom is thinking about how much more time we'll have to clean and declutter and has a plan in place!

7) Summer schedule is picking up, so busyness just shifts directions.

6) It's stinkin' hot outside!

5) Everyone is counting down the hours (although it's really about finishing the curriculum. hahahahaha).

4) Next year's schedule is nearly figured out (except for what isn't).

3) Mom is anxious to completely clear off the shelves and get rid of some school books to make room for the new (a daunting, emotional task).

2) First camp is in a month!

And the number one reason...(drumroll, please)

1) Did I mention new books?

Coming up for air

Highlights of the past two weeks:

12 pepper plants growing
11 piles of paper
10 books a reading
9 loads of laundry
8 minutes of sanity
7 ballet lessons
6 bills awaiting
Walked a 5K
4 rehearsals
3 concerts
2 many things
and a family to love and enjoy.

So many blessing through all these different things. Thank you, Lord!

Praying for you KayPea! Hope you're feeling better!

Chaos Leads Us To Toiling, Escaping Rest

Three Rules of Work:
Out of clutter find simplicity;
From discord find harmony;
In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.
-Albert Einstein

Are you having trouble finding that place of quiet rest? I recently read a book by Nancy Leigh DeMoss by that title, and was enlightened by her scriptural insights and how important it is to have that daily devotions.

Do you ever find your mind wandering to other things though and can't seem to focus on what is most important? I do. Too many times. Where does your mind wander? For me, it is often to incompleted tasks, things to do, places to go, and could I have done that better or made a better decision?

I have found that clutter robs us of joy and rest. I still fight this almost daily, and decided to bring in some more help in the form of Emilie Barnes. She has many books on the topic of decluttering your Home and your Life. I found several at the library (and don't everyone go out and request them right away, because I might need to renew them. haha). I'm finding many little treasures in her little book entitled, "101 Ways to Clean Out the Clutter," and I will follow it with "The Quick-Fix Home Organizer: Making Your Home Beautiful and Your Life Clutter Free." Sounds peaceful doesn't it?

Imagine a time when you have simplified your life and your belongings so much that you don't feel guilty (or maybe I'm the only one) cozying up in a chair with your Bible, devotional, or just resting and praying. Oh, I have a long way to go, but don't you think it would be worth it?

So far I have a box ready for City Missions, I've sent a few inches of paper and magazines to the trash or recycling, I have another bagful of linens I'm no longer using ready for the Handmaidens garage sale, and I have a milk crate half full of homeschooling items to take and share with some moms at church.

What are you doing to declutter your life and home?

Just a normal day?

Within the span of an hour tonight, several things have occurred...most of them fairly normal.

Mr. Al: Can I go chop some wood?
ME: Sure. (trying not to sound too amazed)

Miss Rose (to Miss Daisy): Are you mad ALL day?
Miss D: NO. (hmmm...)

Miss Rose proceeds to sharpen her pencils and spill the sharpener on the floor which then requires the small dust pan and broom.



ME (to Miss D): Why don't you put on some Casting Crowns? (hoping to lighten her mood)
Miss D: (in a challenging voice) The one you don't like because it's so rocky?
ME: I don't care.
Miss D: Even if I put it on repeat?
ME: I don't care.
Miss D then puts on the original, starts making up dances, then eventually grabs the guitar and plays along to a couple she knows. I continue making a tossed salad in the kitchen. Moods are lightened as praises are lifted to God...the days worries are washed away.

End of February Update

This is always a busy time for us...birthdays, catching up on school hours, and wishing for spring. My uncle sent pictures of the robins at his place with a message that maybe they are on their way back here. I will be so glad to see them.

My dear blog buddy, Toby, commented that this part of the year is a long one, because all new curriculum has lost its appeal but that the end is still a ways off (paraphrase). We are in the same boat here. There is very little charm left in anything that was new this year, but we are delighted to have another year of Wordly Wise completed, Miss Daisy is completely finished with spelling (no Natural Speller for me for a year or two. yay!). I suppose the good news in that is that they'll now have more time for history and science. :-)

We also just finished The Bronze Bow, and we need to find a new read aloud that everyone will enjoy. Suggestions are welcome.

In other news, our street is still a mess, we still have a backhoe or some other machinery in our yard, and there are pipes in various neighbors' yards. They removed the 4' one from our yard on Friday. They accidently cut our phone line getting the spot ready for that one. *smile* It's certainly been an adventure, but hopefully all will be better, and with the exception of one time, the workers have all been courteous...the gas guys were the only ones who earned cookies though. They were the sweetest, even if they did accidently poke through my sewer line.

One more birthday coming up...Miss Rose will be 6 in just under two weeks. She's made me all kinds of promises for all the things she would do when she turned six. Part of me wants to hold her to all of them, but the other part of me just wants to keep her little a wee bit longer.

Sibling sweetness

It was another of the camera moments that I hope my mind never forgets. Mr. Al and Miss Rose were sitting right close playing a came together on Mr. Tech's laptop. Next I know Mr. Al is singing "I wanna hippopotamus for Christmas" in a silly voice with Miss rose chiming in when she knew the words. These moments are fleeting. Treaure every day!

New thing of the day

(for the record, I remembered for almost 3 hours until I could blog)

In case you were unaware, Miss Rose has made a startlingi discovery today. She informed me that if you curl all of your toes but only your big toe touches the bottom of your boot that it feels like a hoof. To quote her, "It's so weird."

In case you were wondering, I tried it, but I must have done something wrong, because it just felt like I was squishing my toes. Let me know what you discover.

Scarfy

The latest fashion around our home is a scarf. Sometimes this is worn outside to help keep warm, and sometimes it is worn in the house...like today for instance. No, it's not because we are Texan transplants who find the 64 degree indoor temperature cold. Nope. It's because school is in full session, which means that practicing is also in session. For Mr. Al, this means his delicate ears must cope with the increasingly high pitches of Miss Daisy's violin. The scarf wrapped around his head was his solution to blocking out the sound. It worked rather well as he also didn't hear me calling for him, but he had an amazing reflex to remove it from his person when a camera confronted him. So sorry I missed catching it for you. I also have to wonder why I didn't think of this over break when I was about to plead insanity after hearing Star Wars music for three hours.

Blessed Peace

We spent an eventful night in the ER with Miss Rose. She ended up with a rather deep cut about 3/4" long from her nose out. A plastic surgeon ending up stitching her up for which I'm very thankful. The Lord blessed us with calmness and a wonderful staff. She is doing ok for the most part today. Just a bit of pain when she opens her mouth to chew. Thank you for all the prayers! Now I just have to hope I can squeeze a nap in between all of the gift wrapping and other Christmasy things!

The Great Dakota Escape

Our great wonder (where she went) dog, the infamous Dakota Sue (yes, that was intentional), lived up to our rather low expectations of her once again. Wonder of wonders, she escaped from the house again. The kids seem to have forgotten that if she is in the side yard jumping up and down barking at something and not really caring too much about the potential of getting scratched by the barbed wire, that she will inevitably bolt at the first sign of a door-opening. Today's adventure would not have been quite so interesting except for the fact that the new hydrant up the street is giving us a small taste of Yellowstone. Two days now a lovely guyser has showered the air, wet the grass, run across the road (thankfully it's been above freezing), into our "dry" creek, and generally making a mess of things. I digress. You can imagine which way she decided to bolt...the muddy way. Did I mention our neighborhood has lots of dogs (and there is always the worry that she will mistake a small dog for a squirrel)? Dakota feels the need to visit all of them...today it was twice. She made the loop around her favorite yards, and we finally decided to drive the van around the block, because sometimes a car ride is more enticing. Apparently, she remembered that the last time we went to the vet. After round two, she did finally, and rather begrudgingly, hop into the van, and of course, since she needed to have the last word, she promptly jumped up on the back seat. The one towel at the entry of the van did not undo the damage the fire hydrant had caused, and so my dear children had the great pleasure of wiping off the seats (yes, seats. She also thought it would be cute to put her paws up on the middle seat from the back seat she was sitting in). Now if she'd smiled at me like Winn Dixie, I think I would have lost it. I'm sure anyone watching our shinanagins were already chuckling.

Sadness

Today we mourn the loss of our dear, sweet Ebony...part of the dynamic rodent duo, Ebony and Ivory. She was missing this morning, and after some worry of escapage, we were relieved to find she had passed peacefully in the cage. So far everyone has held together, but that has been somewhat challenging with Miss Rose asking several times if Ebony's going to come back and visit Ivory in her really nice cage, and that she (Miss Rose) needs to have her back so that she can practice holding her without getting bitten. ;-(

Dinosaur anyone?

I asked Miss Rose what she would like to have for lunch, and she promptly responded a Pteranodon. Yep, I'll whip that right up for you! LOL

This year is the year of musical expression at our house. It's amazing what occurs when I leave the older two to their own devices. Aside from the amazing violin and piano duet of the "Cantina Band" from Star Wars, tonight it also includes something from Lord of the Rings (can't remember which).

Miss Daisy has also taken off on teaching herself hymns on the piano and learning a lot of things on the guitar. Mr. Al has taken himself beyond where his lessons took him a few years ago. I'm thankful for the foundation he had then and for the desire he has now. Yay!

Birthday Blues

Mr. Tech welcomed in his 40th birthday with a stunt that could have injured a younger man. For simplicity, I'll copy from another post earlier today:

Dh is home painting the high walls, and he'd just moved the extension ladder over. The paint was on the top rung, and he was up quite high. The ladder slipped backwards across the floor, stopping when it the hit the wall, the paint (3/4 full) fell off of the top rung and landed on the ledge! It did spill some, but it landed as if he had placed it there. Dh was flailing, and I was wondering if we were going to have a trip to the ER, but he is quite agile, and he did some funny motions in the air to catch himself and managed not to crash to the ground. Once I saw he was fine and that the mess wasn't too bad, I burst into laughter.

So tomorrow the family gathers to celebrate this momentous occasion. I'm being nice, because I have next year to think about.

In other news, we are almost 1/5 through the school year. That's right. The countdown has already begun. By mid next week, we'll only have 800 hours to go. Yahoo!

The big announcement at ballet this week is that the show will be Rigoletto based on the Feature Films for Family. Now we only have to wait 10 months till showtime! It's going to be a fun year!

And last, but not least, the painting continues (as you might have gathered from Mr. Tech's stunt). Maybe, just maybe, the kitchen will be done by next weekend. I keep saying that, but surely it will be true one of these weekends, right?

Magnetic Personality

People are truly drawn to Miss Rose. She's just so full of life, and the curls and sparkly eyes just add to her charm. Today she demonstrated just how attractive she can be. She came over to me with the classic "look, Mom" and showed me how she had a magnet stuck on the outside of her cheek. Yep. You guessed it. The other one was on the inside of her cheek. Where does she come up with these things?

Hair Chopper Extraordinaire

Miss Rose decided she was tired of people commenting on her cute curls so she took it into her own hands to see that it didn't happen again.

Makeover

Take 2 on the blog post. Miss Rose decided to reboot the computer while I was teaching a lesson.

So it's day 455 of the living room and kitchen remodel, and if you find any errors in my counting, just know that you are wrong, because I'm quite sure I have my facts straight. Every day that you live in disorder counts for more that one day. I'm sure it's even higher for Mr. Tech, because he's having to live with me living through this.

See that little teeny light way far off? That's the light at the end of the tunnel. It's barely in focus, but I'm sure it's there and that I'm going to love these rooms when they get finished. Since it was my bright idea, I'm attempting to keep from being frustrated, but it's going SOOOOOOOO slowly. I'm finding how much I really appreciate order and how it balances my sanity. Knowing this, you might be surprised that I'm already thinking about the next room to be made over. I've decided that the garage and basement must get cleaned before that happens though. The good thing is that the next room will have a door on it that can be closed, and I can pretend that everything is normal in the house.

I don't remember what else I said in Take one of this little post, so I'll just call it good and close.

Sweet Innocence

Miss Rose woke up with bad dreams last night. I could hear her trying to tell her sister, but she sleeps a bit like a log, so I called her to my room. She quickly snuggled in and fell back to sleep, stirring only once, but she settled again when I held her hand.

This morning she climbed into my lap and told me about her bad dream. Apparently a little friend had touched things in Miss Rose's room that she shouldn't have, and then she came in to my computer and messed up my emails.

I'm so thankful that was all there was to it, and I told her it was just a dream and not to worry about it.