Don't Pee on the Bee

Don't Just Eat the Marshmallows!

I reread yesterday's post and realize that I am deeply in need of some quiet time to renew my springs!  And not  quiet time that includes laundry, housecleaning or bills!!!  But that's not really in the picture quite yet.  And if you are my mother, my mother-in-law or my children, anyone from the Parent Teacher Group, my new boss or a writing deadline, it's really nothing against you!  I just feel close to being maxed out right now even though I love and appreciate all of you very much!

So I decided to take a minute this morning and read an email I get  called 5 Minutes for Faith.  If I'm complaining about not having any time, five minutes seems like a good place to start!   After reading it, I "borrowed" her post title and am sending you her way.  Click here to read "Don't Just Eat the Marshmallows!"  If you're not particularly religious, you will probably still enjoy it.  Let's just say she talks about Lucky Charms, marshmallows and good-for-you oats--AND being a banner-waving mama which I think is pretty funny!

I hope you're happy wherever you're at today!

Include Yourself

Include Yourself

"If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete."--Jack Kornfield

This struck me today as I am beating myself up, sitting here at my computer.  The snow is falling up at my dad's house, and so my husband took the kids up there to drink hot chocolate and go sledding.  I have been home, working on an article that is due, and feeling like a crappy mom  because I am here working and am just going to get to watch the video my husband took (if he wants to remain married!) instead of being there watching it myself.  I know I need to banish the Bad Mother Police from my head.  I'm the one who has been outside every afternoon in the pouring down rain, checking the rain gauge, making sure that none of the bridges will float away, and finding the perfect Pooh sticks! 

Aaaah . . .Compassion arrives!

A Moment of Grace

When I was at Santa Cruz last week, there was a moment when I was sitting on the beach, back against a rock, feeling the sun beating down on my body, and listening to the waves.  I was absentmindedly running my fingers through the sand when I became conscious of that feeling and realized how really good it felt to have my fingers in the sand!  It made me think, too, how much of my kids' lives revolve around touching and feeling, but mine really doesn't.  So I vowed at that moment to figure out how to work some "sand play" and "feeling" into my life.

A few days later, I was reading my daily email from 5 Minutes for Faith.  As I read the post for that day, A Moment of Grace, I got a chill and realized that those hugs from my kids are plentiful (most of the time!) now, but one day will not be as frequent or cuddly or unconditionally loving.  It was a bittersweet moment.   And I realized that that moment at the beach with my hands in the sand was some of God's grace as well.  It was a beautiful moment.

Happy day!

Jesus, Mary and Joseph are still walking!

OK, OK, I swear I will  try really hard to stop posting about Christmas!  It doesn't help when my friend Tara is totally into it too!  She just ordered Hundred Dollar Holiday and some other similar books, so she wants to talk about them and is emailing me lists of ideas!  I love it!  One of my sisters-in-law sent me an email after the holidays, saying that she was thinking about giving people things from her home next year too!  Yes!  Let's pass those treasures around!  I just read another article about this idea, but I will save that to share later!

For today, I simply could not resist this! 

They've actually been playing this for a few days now!  Baby Jesus is alternately played by Baby Sarah (the doll) or Giraffy!  The whole gang will walk a few steps and ask, "Do you have room for us?"  Pause.  "No?  OK."  And then they will walk a few more steps and  repeat the scene.  It is so dang funny and so sweet at the same time!  And I swear (once again!) that all my Christmas decorations are down, and there are no Christmas carols playing in our house! 

Wouldn't you just love to peek inside your child's mind for 5 minutes?  Honestly, I think if I ever got one request granted, it would probably be that.  Or else a baby's mind!  Wouldn't that be amazing?

Got Some Heavy Reading Goin' On!

As strange as it may seem, somehow this new year has given me an incredible amount of reading time these past few days!  And I have jumped in with great zeal!  I've updated my book list to show you what I'm reading, but I'll tell you about it too!

 I was given a copy of Thomas Merton's The Seven Storey Mountain for Christmas and immediately dug in.  It is quite the book--part easy breezy memoir, stories of growing up in the 1930's, traveling and living in Europe and New York, but also rather challenging in some of his discussions about philosophy, literature and religion.  I am finding it so fascinating on so many different levels.  And I think slowly but surely, much like "religion" came to Merton, my faith and beliefs are swirling around me in ways that they haven't been lately.  Twice this week, I have found my way to our local coffee shop and sat down in a most comfortable reading chair and sat and read.  Funny how many people have asked me if I am in a book club when they see what I am reading!  They've been quite surprised when my answer has been "No."

My neighbor loaned me her book, The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise.  It is a very thick book and seemed a bit overwhelming, even though I was interested in it.  I'm not necessarily thinking of home schooling my kids, but I am super interested in education and how to ensure that my kids get a good one!  Plus I always did want to be a teacher when I was a little girl!  So I peeked into this book to see what I would find, and several chapters later, I was shockingly "into it!"  I will share more about what I am reading in this later. 

A merry feast

Merry Feast
Posted: 25 Dec 2009 01:57 PM PST

"Small cheer and great welcome makes a merry feast." --William Shakespeare

Well, Christmas certainly gets in the way of blogging, but we had a very nice couple of days.  Several "merry feasts" and some wonderful visits with family and friends.  Very mellow and essentially stress-free!  Perfect in my eyes!  The kids had a blast with their new gifts and enjoyed being both inside and outside on such a beautiful day!

What a treat to spend so much time outside on Christmas Day!  Sarah didn't care that her trike is old.  She was grooving on wearing her new boots!  I hope that you had a wonderful time with your celebrations!  Soon, back to "normal" again.  Part of me can't wait!!!  How about you?

Great Awareness

Great Awareness

"The great awareness comes slowly, piece by piece. The path of spiritual growth is a path of lifelong learning. The experience of spiritual power is basically a joyful one."--M. Scott Peck

Funny how these quotes seem to pop up at exactly the right time!  I love Peck's books and own every one of them.  I have read them over and over through the years.   My cousin Tony gave me The Road Less Traveled many, many years ago, and he highlighted the first few sentences:

Life is difficult. . . . It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it.  Once we truly know that life is difficult, then life is no longer difficult. 

I no longer remember what was going on in my life or Tony's life at that time, but his gift gave me a fabulous entrance into the rest of Peck's writings.  I think my favorite book is In Search of Stones: A Pilgrimage of Faith, Reason, and Discovery.  Just the other day I was thinking that I needed to pull this book off my shelf and put it on my nightstand.

But back to the quote . . . This just seems to work so well with Hundred Dollar Holiday, and especially the final post which talked about how it may take years to get ourselves and others to think of the holidays in a new light.  Peck's quote seems to reassure us that although it might come slowly, we are on the right path and should find joy in this journey.