So Many Things

There's always so much I'd like to say here. There are so many things I'm mulling over in my mind, things I want to remember, things I want to learn from....

But I simply do not have the time....

And now here I sit before going to bed, inspirationless, slightly sunburned, and wishing sleep didn't consume such a large portion of my day.

But even with fatigue pulling on me, my heart is so full. Maybe it's the way my skin feels after being in the sun all day. Maybe it's the taste of the first amazingly sweet and tart rhubarb dessert of the season. Maybe it's all these things.....so many things......and God giving me the capacity to take it all in, teaching me to relish the little things in life and see them as big things..... to slow down despite the never ending to-do-list, to give that hug, to kiss the owie, to admire the picture colored just for me, to answer the question with my full attention, to sit on the deck for a few minutes with the husband, to pet the dog......

So many things.....like these:

#256. planting strawberries with my little girl
#257. Jack Hammer teaching me how to drive the tractor - literally. "Push here Momma!" He points as he sits on my lap while I try to remember how to mow with that thing. "Like this Momma!" circling his hand around trying to tell me to turn around as I come to the end of the perfectly straight diagonal row started by the husband.
#258. a cloudless blue sky
#259. a forecast with 4 straight days of no "possible rain showers"
#260. the husband checking out the asparagus patch
#261. 2 tots playing in the fence so well for so long while Mom and Dad mow, mow, mow
#262. the smiling faces of strangers from a different church and way of life
#263. perfect 4 part harmony found with the single blow of a pitch pipe
#264. the heat of the grill on my face
#265. the husband vacuuming a day's worth of dirt and grit of the kitchen floor for me without me asking....again

Not taking the time to grab the pretty "Multitude on Mondays" button or link up over at Holy Experience, but if you want to see why I count or just simply read a blog that will change the way you think, click on the beautiful black button with the white tree towards the top of my blog.

Note to Self

(Apparently it was "that time of the month" for Blogger last Thursday when I first posted this because this post and all its comments were lost.  This is a re-post.) 


It's probably best to not gather up the kids

and the puppy

and two new kites found in Easter baskets

and head out back all together

to assemble both kites with the help of the dog

and fly both kites at once....with first time pilates.

Because even though there was shockingly little breeze,

it can change at a moments notice out here on the plains.

And when the tug on the string was too much for the novice kite fliers

and the little girl panics and let's go...

Mom just can't run fast enough across the back acre with a camera bouncing around her neck

to prevent this from happening:

Next time, we'll just fly one kite at a time.

An Exercise of Belief

Sometimes I'm tempted to think that the little things that make me smile, that make my heart heave a little sigh of happiness, are simply coincidences or natural occurrences or just me groping for something new to fill my list.

The honk of a lone goose overhead as I wrestle wriggly tots in jammies? Well....all geese are on the move this time of year. This is their natural migratory path. Wouldn't it just be silly to see that as a gift from God for me in this moment?

Hitting the brakes while backing out of the garage unknowingly only 12 inches from smashing into my mom's little bitty car with my giant gas-guzzler?  I always brake and turn at a certain spot while backing out of the garage. It was just a coincidence that I didn't smash into her while I was busy at thought.....right?

But if I attempt to avoid "over-spiritualizing" the every day, aren't I engaging in disbelief?

It almost seems that belief is a spectrum ranging from believing in one God (which even the demons do - James 2:19 - and their eternal destiny is certainly not desirable), to believing that the one God loves me, to believing that He sent His son to die for me, to believing that this one God is personally and actively involved in my life right now. He's big enough to create and orchestrate it all, yet He's "small" enough to focus on me. He's not too big to be that small and He's not too small to be that big.....He's just I AM.

So I will not let what the world seems to cloud over what the world really is. I don't want to engage in unbelief at any point of the spectrum, and I sort of understand what the man meant who said "Lord I believe; help my unbelief" (Mark 9:24).

This is not just some Pollyanna Glad Game. This is an exercise of belief, choosing to acknowledge as more than fate or coincidence or "natural" occurrence the expressions of God's love for me in the every day.

#241. signs of life in most of my new shrubs planted last year
#242. the smell of tomato plants
#243. the first rhododendron bloom
#244. raised strawberry bed built and in the garden
#243. the little girl coloring all day
#244. the little girl dancing when she's not coloring
#245. the little boy jumping his plastic motorcycle over all the frost heaves in the driveway
#246. the puppy sleeping on the doorstep
#247. clearing out the asparagus patch
#248. sweeping out the garage
#249. the 2 brunettes
#250. making plans to go to Lu's Greenhouse!
#251. barefoot children
#252. a few days of heat
#253. the whir of ceiling fans stiring up the air
#255. the relentless wind trying to dry us out again

It's Hard Being So Beautiful

It's hard being so beautiful.



Everyone wants your attention.

Everyone wants to talk to you.  

But on an empty stomach, all you want is to be left alone 'til the food is ready.



Then, you'll eat 2 platefuls and be happy again.

You Can't Have Too Much Pink

There's a girl in this house who loves pink.

And there's a little girl in this house who loves pink, too.

Shockingly, her Easter dress was blue with white polka-dots.

But everything else was pink.

And in this family, with all that pink comes an equal amount of blue.

Got Pink? Go HERE.

My Last Shred of Sanity

Because having two 3-year-olds just isn't enough...

Because teaching obedience, respect, and brotherly love to toddlers is so easy...

Because I love potty training...

Because my house is too clean...

Because I have so much time on my hands...

Because I wasn't sure what I was going to do with that last shred of sanity...

...we got a dog. A puppy, really.

And not just any run-of-the-mill puppy. Nope. We don't do things the easy way around here. Ever.

We got a pure-bred German Shepherd who will need lots of socializing, lots of exercise, and lots of training before reaching adulthood in order to prevent that weird German Shepherd syndrome. And yes, I'm sure some of you are shrieking and wondering why we would get a dog that eats babies. But after some research, we learned they don't actually eat people....even small ones. We learned the reasons why they turn out to be weird, hyper, and stupid dogs....much like the German Shepherds I remember from my past. They are typically a reflection of their owners....or at least the efforts their owners put into their training.

And because I am never weird or hyper, this will be easy.

And no. I'm not in a sarcastic mood today.

When the Rooster Crows

The palm branches are visible underfoot, trampled and bruised, but still bearing evidence to the entry of the King only a few days earlier.

In the excitement, in the hustle and bustle, in the movement of the mob, did anyone wonder why the King of all came not on a stallion or a Lexus or a Mercedes but rather chose to come in on a humble donkey?

As people squeazed close to get a look, to toss their branch, to lay their cloak; as emotions ran high and spines tingled, did anyone wonder what a commitment to follow this King might look like?

Yes it was joyous to praise the King when everybody was doing it, when it was trendy, when it was "in." But how many of the people who shouted "Hosanna!" and tossed their branches with the mob at the beginning of the week (John 12:12-13), shouted "Crucify Him!" and crushed the branches beneath their feet with the mob at the end of the week (John 19:5-16)?

How do I react to the King when He's not in fashion? Am I following Him, or am I following the mob?

And when the rooster crows, what regrets will I have? (Matt 26:33-35, 69-75)

In Search of Spring

Spring has been a bit illusive this year.

A few warms days one week. Snow the next. Icy winds. Precipitation falling from the sky in every conceivable form. And an endless string of days with no sunshine.

But despite winter's lingering grasp on us up here in the northern portion of the Midwest, we are slowly noticing some signs of spring.

Crinkled rhubarb leaves emerge from the deep dark depths. It's just a taste of all the gardening glory to come, and I'm trying. to. be. patient.

We are slowly shedding layers of clothing....and replacing them with layers of mud.

We're venturing to the park,

and venturing down the road...

...in search of spring.

Spring's out there. I promise. Go see for yourself HERE.

Reasons to Smile

Lots of reasons to smile around here now that spring has finally arrived.

Just being outside is reason enough to smile. And having almost all of our snow melt in about a week and half gives us even more reason. One 65 degree day and one 71 degree took care of the last of the snow, and since these photos were taken, the grass has started to green.

Ava is back to "treasure collecting," one of her favorite pass times, and that makes me smile.

Despite the mess of it all, mud makes us all smile. And muddin' out in the driveway with a motorcycle is worthy of lots of smiles.....and laundry.

Other reasons to smile? Strawberry plants arriving in the mail. My beautiful garden drying off. Wearing flip flops to town. The way the husband and I are agonizing over whether or not to get a dog - we have never been this commitment shy - it humors me.

for more smiles, click HERE

Real Life

It's been awhile again since I've sat here pecking away at the keys, logging life, finding beauty, making sense out of it all, and laughing at myself.

There's a lot I could say, catch up on, and remember.......

....but do you know?

Sping is here! I've been soaking it up, getting muddy and wind-whipped.

And a weird thing happened in the past few weeks. I spent a surprisingly greater amount of time with people, lots of different people and their kids, in the past couple weeks than with the blinking cursor.

I've been taking part in real life, and speaking of real life, I met my first blogging friend in person the other day. We weren't total strangers as I know her parents, but if it hadn't been for this cyber-world, we likely never would have had the reason to meet. She blogged about our morning together HERE, and it was such a pleasure to see her smiling face in person and to watch her adorable two-year olds. She's another mother of twins, and you can read about her adventures over at loving on you.

The rest of the real life I've been experiencing lately speaks for itself with this week's and last week's list:

I'm thanking God for:
#221. 4 sun-kissed faces sitting around the supper table
#222. cracking the window a bit during bedtime with the kids to lay and listen to the all swans camped out in our "back yard"
#223. toddlers re-discovering their little fenced in play area
#224. watching their adventures from the kitchen window
#225. Momma and Ava time watching an amazing high school production of Beauty and the Beast
#226. Daddy and Jack-Jack time playing working with tools and tractors
#227. the sweet smell of spring
#228. pushing, pushing, pushing toddlers in swings
#229. Ava singing, singing, singing while she swings
#230. the *squish* of the ground beneath mud boots
#231. snow melted off the garden!
#232. garden seed arriving in the mail
#234. grilling
#235. sitting on the deck reading a book
#236. the feeling of sun on bare skin!
#237. the endless chirping of so many birds
#238. the sound of the sliding screen door
#239. the sound of The Friend's piped out truck coming rumbling down the road
#240. so many little boys....do we realize, do I grasp that the next generation of men (and women) is playing at our feet and we're shaping them?