What a great day!

The sky closed the day in a bright orangepink with royal blue around the edges. Fitting beauty for such a day as this.

It was a day filled with unusual joys. I savoured a slow, four hour breakfast out with a friend this morning, where we discussed ideas and ideologies and ate healthy, delicious food. It is a rare thing to enjoy an intellectual conversation with someone. It's rare for anyone to have four hours to spend on a meal and conversation. It was a real treat to mind, body and soul. Jen and I have radically different views on a lot of things, yet we can always discuss ideas without the conversation getting tense or heated. What a rare blessing! I'm glad to have friends like that. I disagree with her, but I respect her.

In the afternoon, another friend and I went and got pedicures. Tremendously fun! This is a friend with whom I can be totally honest and know she will hear me without judgement. She has a great sense of humor and we can laugh about things that would not be funny in other conversations. I think she is un-offendable. She knows sides of me noone else does -- things I myself did not even know were there before I spent time with her. She is another rare blessing in my life, a friend I trust with my truest, most real self. I know I grow as a person when I am hanging out with her.

Tonight, I went to a movie with my two kids. The ones who still live at home. We had a great time, and even got those fat juicy movie hot dogs for supper! We laughed together at the movie and enjoyed the time together. We have been extra busy the last couple weeks, each doing good, fun things, but not together. It was good to spend some fun time together tonight.

So the whole day has been one pleasure after another, with people who add significantly to my life. I am blessed.

And then a beautiful sunset.

Pretty nice!

I have a lot to be thankful for tonight.

This is perfect, for my birthday month!

(ps - I also got to dance with an adorable two year old today. Princess in pink, simply the sweetest thing! We danced in her living room, she with twirls and fluff, me just doing what I do. Such great fun!! I will add that delightful moment to my list of birthday celebrations so far this month!)

Busy days, Full Week

Sometimes the day gets turned up on its head.
You kind of wish you could have stayed in bed.
But you know you've got to do it,
And somehow you do get through it
Though by the end of day you feel half dead.
(klm)

This week has been very busy, and I haven't gotten to see my kids as much as I would have liked. They were busy. I was busy. We weren't home much. And the days got turned upside down one after another. Every day turned out to be good - as it was supposed to be... but I am ready for a day of normal.

Today is not, however, going to be that day! I will be out of town half the day - the middle half. It will be a good day. It is a good class and I want to be there. It will be good for me. But I do miss my kids and I hope I get to slow down and hang out with them later today. Life is good. We all need down time. But however this day turns out, I expect to live it fully and enjoy the moments. I just really want some of those moments to be with the kids I didn't get to see much this week. We'll see! :-)

One good day

I am incredibly blessed to be surrounded by good people who bless my days with care and their very presence.

Today a friend gave me henna art, and some jasmine tea to take home. Another friend gave me a new flower to put in my hair -- huge and white with a jewel in the middle of it. I wore it the rest of the day, and got a compliment on it. A third friend and I went out for some delicious ice cream cones at a place I'd never been before (on this 90 degree day) and had a great time catching up! We walked on a street where I usually only drive, and I saw so many fascinating details of construction in the buildings that I would normally never see from a car.

So much goodness in one day!

Then tonight we had chicken on the grill with fresh, sweet corn on the cob and strawberry shortcake, thanks to an earlier visit to the Farmer's market. And now, after dark, I get to hear the sounds of fireworks heralding the beginning of this holiday weekend. Fun stuff!

Really fun stuff... pretty much all day long!

Around my place

Lilacs, mayapples, and apple blossoms, oh, my! All the world is green again - so many different shades of green. The air is moist and alive again. Birdsong and sweet scents waft on the breezes. This is the best time of the year.

better than roses

At church we were given roses on Mother's Day. It's a really nice tradition. I love that they value the work that mothers do. Most of the world does not really validate moms in their work. Maybe that's because most of the world is too busy... being moms?

Being a mom is invisible work. It is hard, rich work, and there is nothing else that can possibly give the satisfaction, nor the exhaustion and feeling of not being important.
Noone sees it. Noone seems to acknowledge it.

It can be hard, when you are exhausted (and the mothers of small children are exhausted), when noone gives you much positive feedback, to feel like you are making a difference in the world.

We have to - we have no other choice but to - go back to the reality of God's own word and good common sense to realize that without moms, the world would cease to be. We are doing God's work alongside Him. How awesome is that?! Our families depend on us for their very survival when they are small, before they grow into the skills they need to ensure their own survival.

(The skills we teach them.)

We love and nurture them in our hearts and in our arms, only to discover that they way we nurture our children defines how they relate to the rest of the world for the rest of their lives.
The way we care for our children affects their lives, and through that, the lives of the people they touch for years... our influence lasts long after we are gone.

It is no small truth that the hand that rocks the cradle really does rule the world. As moms, we rule!

But a huge part of our task is humility, being willing to set the needs of others before our own when needed. Not mothering for our own satisfaction, but out of love - unconditional love - for the children God has put in our arms.

I felt a little silly carrying around a rose yesterday. It was a nice thought. But the faces of the people I love the most are the best gift ever. When they smile, when they grow up into awesome people - people who love God above all else - people I love having as friends, that is the greatest joy ever!

Prov. 31 says, "they will rise up and call her blessed". It is a long term prospect, this rising up business. It takes years. But if we are faithful in the long haul - not perfect, not getting it all right, but over all faithful, trying to honor Him in our lives - then there will come a day when those little cherub cheeked babies rise up into big people, and they bring you stuff way better than roses. They shine.

white morning

My one little daffodil is hanging its head. It looks weary. I think it's discouraged. It tried to bring in spring. It looked so bright and cheery last week, standing all alone alongside the wall. So sunny. Making it clear that spring is here for real. But now...

It's snowing.
No, I'm serious. It's snowing. For real.

It's beautiful, I have to give it that. Any time pure white snowflakes drift down from the sky there is a beauty that is undeniable.

But, come on!

It's April 18th. The timing is way off!

Past the middle of April, and flakes have been falling thick and steady since before I got up a couple hours ago. There is a thick layer of snow on everything. Thick, like over an inch deep. Everywhere.

I have seen snow in the first week of April. But I have never seen it this late in the springtime.

I think Spring needs a redo.

Oh, we are so ready for some warmth! The trees have budded and are waiting to leaf out. The grass has been turning ever so gradually greener day by day.

It's time.

When Husband went downstairs this morning and saw outside, he burst out laughing and said, "Are you kidding me!!?"

Yes, I think we all feel that way.

Trying for Spring

Spring comes in fits and starts. It's raining outside right now. I can hear the water running down the eavestroughs along the edges of the roof as I sit in here my warm, dry study. The calendar says there are 12 days to spring's arrival, but this is a spring rain already! It's washing away snow that has been piled all over the countryside. It rushes through the gutters and gurgles down the drainpipes and that sounds like spring to me.

The sap is running, too. It's been a little cool so we haven't tapped the trees yet, but the sap is running. I heard you can hear it running in the trees with a stethoscope. If I had one, I would try it. But whether I hear it or not, the sap is running.

These are the things nature does when spring is coming, and I feel the change in the air. We've turned a corner, and winter is waning. Birds are singing in the mornings. A little house finch was shopping for a new home outside my window the other day. He's thinking about taking up residence in a nice little mud nest from last year. I'm waiting to see what he decides.

It will snow again. I know it will. Spring comes in fits and starts. It will snow and get cold and act out all that... but it won't stay. At this point, the snows will come less often and melt sooner than they did before. The temperatures will fluctuate. Cold will be less severe and will be interspersed with slightly warmer days, and little by little, spring will edge its way into our lives.

I will be glad. In fact, a lot of people will be glad. Winter has its beauty, but we are ready to be done with it. We are looking forward to warmer days, the greening of the earth, birdsong, and warm breezes. Gardening friends are anxious to get their hands into the soft, fragrant soil to plant food for their families. We are all so ready!

I love spring! I plan to savor every moment and every false start that brings us closer to the real thing.

What do you look forward to at this time of year?