Tamara Henion Photography

It was a beautiful night: Red moon rises!  I looked out tonight and all I saw was black skies and falling rain. Thankful, because we need it, but there’s something about seeing the moon as night falls. It’s almost like a night-cap on a hard day’s work.

Thinking about all that today involved suddenly made me tired, even without the moon’s notice!

At one point today I had the makings of homemade turkey stock for soup tonight and soap in a pan for dyi laundry detergent simmering on the stove. True. Simultaneously  I was cutting up carrots, unloading groceries, teaching math to my youngest, running laundry, making a new batch of homemade dishwasher detergent, waiting for the  cleaner to soak the tub to clean, sweeping up messes in the kitchen and soaking up dripping water from the leaking dishwasher…and freezer and answering emails, sending contracts etc. No wonder my mind is full!

I wrapped up most of those things, ran to the grocery store to buy noodels for said soup, came home and switched up the laundry, vacuumed both a new spot to move a dresser (sshhhh, don’t tell my husband, it’s a surprise?) as well as the old spot it was in (you know what they say about rabbits reproducing? They’ve got NOTHING on dust bunnies!), filled up trash bags with trash, piled even higher the stack of yard sale fodder, had dinner, played games with my family and watched Duck Dynasty together before bedtime prayers and tucking in of little Mr. Exhausted.

Though I’m nearing bedtime for myself, it’s been a good day.  If there’s something I enjoy more than working harder at home than I’ve ever worked anywhere and taking care of my husband and family, I don’t know what it is -unless of course it involves the beach someone! Thankful tonight for all God is to me. Striving to be all He wills for me to be.

Proverbs 31

10An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels.

11The heart of her husband trusts in her, And he will have no lack of gain.

30Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, [But] a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.

31Give her the product of her hands, And let her works praise her in the gates.

I love Christmas!  I don’t know why, because it’s really not over the top around here. Yet, it’s with full anticipation that I look forward to its coming every year. Only 77 days ’til Christmas!!! (so sorry for those who duck and run until after Thanksgiving!)

Now, in full disclosure, there was a time I was over the top with all things Christmas. My husband and I collected an ornament from each special trip we took  together, and then when we had our first son we did the same for him. Our collection of ornaments is full of very memories of wonderful times and places. However, it has been YEARS since we’ve seen them.  After 10 years of Ma living here-and who had the energy for more than wake up and live during that decade?-we were thrilled to realize we actually could get away for a Christmas to Disney if we wanted to, and boy did we ever. Then, it became our favorite place to be right before Christmas and it was a wonderful way to spend our money for the holiday; who needs another toy, or baseball bat, or jewelry when we can have a week together smiling, laughing and making more memories? No one here! So, off we go every year we get the chance. Dorothy says there’s no place like home, but if you’re a Mickey Mouse lover, noone does Christmas like Disney does!

 

Unfortunately, it looks like this year we won’t be able to, but we’ll find other ways to enjoy our Christmas. Maybe this will be the time to get all those decorations out and go down memory lane together. Or, maybe the Lord will provide a way to be at Disney soon despite what looks to be impossible. Last year I had prayed for an upgrade when we got to our resort. We could afford a standard room at our favorite resort and I knew that it was possible to get upgraded, though it didn’t happen often and always out of the hands of the guest. If you want to see how that turned out, look HERE. It was AMAZING!

So tonight I’m over on pinterest looking for diy Christmas gifts and crafts as well as yummy recipes to add to the old faithful traditional ones. It’s time to start on all that because these days will go quickly by.  With all we do, we keep the excitement of Christmas on Jesus, on His story and on the fact that the Lord deserves our glory and thanks for His Son’s birth. Lord willing, we’ll have a wonderful Christmas 2013 at our home, no matter where or what that entails. I’m already excited!

I think I’ll be listening to a little mood music in the morning!

Who’s with me?

When I was young, do you remember that song? I think it’s by the Carpenters-yes, Yesterday Once More.

When I was young
I’d listen to the radio
Waitin’ for my favorite songs
When they played I’d sing along
It made me smile

Those were such happy times
And not so long ago
How I wondered where they’d gone

Read more: The Carpenters – Yesterday Once More Lyrics | MetroLyrics

Today I was thinking about things that are unique to me at this season of life.

Things like:

*favorite songs from long ago whose lyrics I never forget…and,

*why is the dog food in the fridge and the eggs in the pantry?

*how many times through the wash cycle  does it take to clean a load of clothes?

*how long has the shower been running?

*how many times can I heat up my morning cup of coffee?

*how can 3 hours have passed since I started something totally different than the last 12 things I’ve started, and yet none of them are done?

I think you get the picture, so many little things that make me pause and laugh every day, and then there are the things I’m most thankful for.

Things like:

*stuff-yeah, stuff isn’t worth much

*job/money and education status is pretty unimportant and while it wasn’t wasted time, how I would give anything to have the time driven toward more of either to be with,  to love, to laugh with, to sit, play or just cuddle with my family

*time truly waits for noone, as my friend says, Carpe diem!

*not what they do in life, but how they do life is what matters when it comes to my boys

*my husband’s idiocycracies , if he has any, only matter when I react wrongfully toward them/him

*I am not responsible for how I was raised, but I am for how my children are

*Growing in my relationship with the Lord through His Word, is more important that I would have ever imagined, to me, to my family and to others

*My house may never be model-ready ever again, and I am (mostly) ok with that

*honesty is so very important, and hidden motives are always revealed to someone one: be vulnerable, be open and be honest-even when you know others around you are not

The Carpenters reminded me of a song long ago, but more importantly it showed me how the years have changed my priorities in life.  I’m so thankful I’m “here” and not “there” any longer. Would I do things differently? Maybe. Our ‘biggest move’ was leaving our small home, small mortgage-both of which we loved-and selling it in favor of building a house that we could have my in-laws move into with us. We took care of Ma for 10 years, more than half of our marriage at the time. In nickels and dimes, yes, we would have loved to have changed things. But in life, in love and in caring for my aging and elderly mother in law, we did what the Lord tells us to do and that which is honorable. In that respect, we’d do it all again.   For now, I’ll be taking advantage of loving my family over any thing else that can be interjected in my life-and I’ve made changes in my days to do just that. They’re not here forever, and neither are we.

What legacy are you leaving to your children? What do they see as important, not by rites or rituals, but by authentic relationships? We’re teaching them how to live life.

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