Highs and Lows
When we first moved in to our new house, I was sleeping better than normal and I had all this creative energy. I was setting the table with placemats, I made two fall arrangements with gourds, I threw a small birthday party for Rod. Lately, all I want to do is go back to bed. The kids have been up at night, I've been going to bed late etc. etc. Plus, every time I make some progress, we bring more loads in and I'm back to square one. If I can keep from going insane during this time, I will be doing well.
Tuesday
Wednesday
Testing
"Because we know that the testing of our faith produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope." Is that in James?
We had an offer on our house that difficult to accept, but hard to pass up. We went for it with disappointment in our hearts, but trust in God to provide. Today, our buyer decided to use one of the conditions to back out of the deal. There are lots of interested prospects still. We are now out of the house as a result of the offer and my parents offer to help (they just finished harvest and decided to come east). Enjoying the new place, missing our neighbours, losing it occasionally in the midst of chaos and low blood sugar...
I have a confession to make. I could not for the life of me, find one of my boxes...one with a bunch of food and all my spices. I had come to the conclusion that it had been stolen right out of my dad's van during unloading and had even published that on my blog. It turns out it wasn't a box...it was a tote that was sitting in the basement with an old label on it. The lost has been found! I'm sorry, North End for so quickly assuming you were responsible.
On another note, I took a walk to the Redwood Bridge to relieve some stress and get out by myself after supper. It was a beautiful evening. The reflection of the trees in the water was amazing. I really had to stop and look though to notice...to make my eye see what was really there. I'm quite excited to live so close to the river, a few shops, and my friends across the river. Makes up for all the fire engines! And my dad tuned the piano he and Rod sacrificed their bodies for the previous day. I can hardly wait to play it! I can also hardly wait for when I'm not so beat by the end of the day that I can actually get at my basement painting project.
That's it for now.
"Because we know that the testing of our faith produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope." Is that in James?
We had an offer on our house that difficult to accept, but hard to pass up. We went for it with disappointment in our hearts, but trust in God to provide. Today, our buyer decided to use one of the conditions to back out of the deal. There are lots of interested prospects still. We are now out of the house as a result of the offer and my parents offer to help (they just finished harvest and decided to come east). Enjoying the new place, missing our neighbours, losing it occasionally in the midst of chaos and low blood sugar...
I have a confession to make. I could not for the life of me, find one of my boxes...one with a bunch of food and all my spices. I had come to the conclusion that it had been stolen right out of my dad's van during unloading and had even published that on my blog. It turns out it wasn't a box...it was a tote that was sitting in the basement with an old label on it. The lost has been found! I'm sorry, North End for so quickly assuming you were responsible.
On another note, I took a walk to the Redwood Bridge to relieve some stress and get out by myself after supper. It was a beautiful evening. The reflection of the trees in the water was amazing. I really had to stop and look though to notice...to make my eye see what was really there. I'm quite excited to live so close to the river, a few shops, and my friends across the river. Makes up for all the fire engines! And my dad tuned the piano he and Rod sacrificed their bodies for the previous day. I can hardly wait to play it! I can also hardly wait for when I'm not so beat by the end of the day that I can actually get at my basement painting project.
That's it for now.
Thursday
Life is good
And that's probably because God is so good. I've been asking God to help me cultivate a thankful heart...partly in preparation for Thanksgiving and partly just because. And God just keeps giving me more reasons to be thankful. Many of them at this point are circumstantial, but they still bless me nonetheless.
Take yesterday. I was feeling totally dragged out due to an almost complete lack of sleep the night before (seems I can't watch suspenseful movies before bed). When I called Rod in the morning (we're still sleeping in separate houses), I asked if I could take off to the new house by myself in the afternoon. My wish was granted and I actually slept for about 20 minutes, after almost giving up. Then I got to start my basement project. I'm very excited about this. We have a great basement in our new house and I'm painting the kids' play area in a very sophisticated pale blue and green with a few other colours for sun, tree, clouds etc. On another wall, I'm painting a chalkboard for them as well. I managed to get the sky's first coat done. It was nice to feel physically tired for once! It is very different from the emotional drain and general fatigue after a day with the kids. Then I came home to a creative and tasty rendition of pizza buns ala Rod. What a treat.
And then, last night, I actually slept well. Seems that lots of time to wind down with some sleepytime tea and a journal is good for me. If any of you have never tried Sleepytime tea, you must, even just for the heavenly smell of it. I love opening the box! It's a mix of Chamomile and Spearmint and a few other things.
Last night, I also spent some time talking on the phone with someone I'm getting to know, as well as phoning someone as a first step towards following an inner nudge to contribute something in the area of music in our church.
And, of course, there is a very obvious blessing (and yet it is sometimes hidden in the stress) of having a house stay under control because I have to show it every so often. More and more the waiting for our house to sell is becoming less of a burden to me (not to Rod or our finances), because I'm just enjoying being in it. God has given us nearly six months of being in a fairly uncluttered and beautiful home. And I've been learning the skills to keep a house that way. True, our summer has probably been the hardest one ever, but these last few months have been a dream as far as being able to enjoy the house we have: sitting on the bench by the kitchen window, having mini-picnics in the veranda, morning stories or quiet time in the sunroom, evening stories or tea on the loveseat in our master suite...I want to cherish these times before they become only memories.
Although I will miss the beauty and character of our present home, I am looking forward more and more to living in our new house: its spacious yard, basement getaway, wonderful windows, and lower living costs. It's so easy for me to picture having people over there. I'm not sure why. But I think we're heading into a season of hospitality. I hope so anyway. And we're going to have a new person join our family there, too. Wow.
I've also been enjoying doing some new things with my kids. Besides getting back to the library, we've recently built dragons and dinosaurs out of blocks in our neighbour's play house, had pretend school lessons at the playground, pretended to be different animals while on my bed, and learned some classic action songs like the Hokie Pokie. It's been fun!
So, even though I'm tired and grouchy at times, I'm feeling a deep sense of blessing and peace lately. And I'm very thankful for that.
And that's probably because God is so good. I've been asking God to help me cultivate a thankful heart...partly in preparation for Thanksgiving and partly just because. And God just keeps giving me more reasons to be thankful. Many of them at this point are circumstantial, but they still bless me nonetheless.
Take yesterday. I was feeling totally dragged out due to an almost complete lack of sleep the night before (seems I can't watch suspenseful movies before bed). When I called Rod in the morning (we're still sleeping in separate houses), I asked if I could take off to the new house by myself in the afternoon. My wish was granted and I actually slept for about 20 minutes, after almost giving up. Then I got to start my basement project. I'm very excited about this. We have a great basement in our new house and I'm painting the kids' play area in a very sophisticated pale blue and green with a few other colours for sun, tree, clouds etc. On another wall, I'm painting a chalkboard for them as well. I managed to get the sky's first coat done. It was nice to feel physically tired for once! It is very different from the emotional drain and general fatigue after a day with the kids. Then I came home to a creative and tasty rendition of pizza buns ala Rod. What a treat.
And then, last night, I actually slept well. Seems that lots of time to wind down with some sleepytime tea and a journal is good for me. If any of you have never tried Sleepytime tea, you must, even just for the heavenly smell of it. I love opening the box! It's a mix of Chamomile and Spearmint and a few other things.
Last night, I also spent some time talking on the phone with someone I'm getting to know, as well as phoning someone as a first step towards following an inner nudge to contribute something in the area of music in our church.
And, of course, there is a very obvious blessing (and yet it is sometimes hidden in the stress) of having a house stay under control because I have to show it every so often. More and more the waiting for our house to sell is becoming less of a burden to me (not to Rod or our finances), because I'm just enjoying being in it. God has given us nearly six months of being in a fairly uncluttered and beautiful home. And I've been learning the skills to keep a house that way. True, our summer has probably been the hardest one ever, but these last few months have been a dream as far as being able to enjoy the house we have: sitting on the bench by the kitchen window, having mini-picnics in the veranda, morning stories or quiet time in the sunroom, evening stories or tea on the loveseat in our master suite...I want to cherish these times before they become only memories.
Although I will miss the beauty and character of our present home, I am looking forward more and more to living in our new house: its spacious yard, basement getaway, wonderful windows, and lower living costs. It's so easy for me to picture having people over there. I'm not sure why. But I think we're heading into a season of hospitality. I hope so anyway. And we're going to have a new person join our family there, too. Wow.
I've also been enjoying doing some new things with my kids. Besides getting back to the library, we've recently built dragons and dinosaurs out of blocks in our neighbour's play house, had pretend school lessons at the playground, pretended to be different animals while on my bed, and learned some classic action songs like the Hokie Pokie. It's been fun!
So, even though I'm tired and grouchy at times, I'm feeling a deep sense of blessing and peace lately. And I'm very thankful for that.
Friday
An Excerpt
from Anne Morrow Lindbergh's "Gifts from the Sea"
With a new awareness, both painful and humorous, I begin to understand why the saints were rarely married women. I am convinced it has nothing inherently to do, as I once supposed, with chastity or children. It has to do primarily with distractions. The bearing, rearing, feeding and educating of children; the running of a house with its thousand details; human relationships with their myriad pulls--woman's normal occupations in general run counter to creative life, or contemplative life, or saintly life. The problem is not merely one of Woman and and Career, Woman and the Home, Woman and Independence. It is more basically: how to remain whole in the midst of the distractions of life; how to remain balanced, no matter what centrifugal forces tend to pull one off center; how to remain strong, no matter what shocks come in at the periphery and tend to crack the humb of the wheel...
But how? Total retirement is not possible. I cannot shed my responsibilities...I cannot be a nun in the midst of family life. I would not want to be. The solution for me, surely, is neither in total renunciation of the world, nor in total acceptance of it. I must find a balance somewhere, or an alternating rhythm between these two extremes; a swinging of the pendulum between solitude and communion, between retreat and return...
It is a difficult lesson to learn today--to leave one's friends and family and deliberately practice the art of solitude for an hour or a day or a week....For me, the break is the most difficult....And yet, once it is done, I find there is a quality to being alone that is incredibly precious. Life rushes back into the void, richer, more vivid, fuller than before.
(as quoted by Sarah Ban Breathnach in "Simple Abundance")
I found this quite inspiring and comforting at the same time. Moving me beyond where I am and offering me hope that others have been here and have found their way through.
from Anne Morrow Lindbergh's "Gifts from the Sea"
With a new awareness, both painful and humorous, I begin to understand why the saints were rarely married women. I am convinced it has nothing inherently to do, as I once supposed, with chastity or children. It has to do primarily with distractions. The bearing, rearing, feeding and educating of children; the running of a house with its thousand details; human relationships with their myriad pulls--woman's normal occupations in general run counter to creative life, or contemplative life, or saintly life. The problem is not merely one of Woman and and Career, Woman and the Home, Woman and Independence. It is more basically: how to remain whole in the midst of the distractions of life; how to remain balanced, no matter what centrifugal forces tend to pull one off center; how to remain strong, no matter what shocks come in at the periphery and tend to crack the humb of the wheel...
But how? Total retirement is not possible. I cannot shed my responsibilities...I cannot be a nun in the midst of family life. I would not want to be. The solution for me, surely, is neither in total renunciation of the world, nor in total acceptance of it. I must find a balance somewhere, or an alternating rhythm between these two extremes; a swinging of the pendulum between solitude and communion, between retreat and return...
It is a difficult lesson to learn today--to leave one's friends and family and deliberately practice the art of solitude for an hour or a day or a week....For me, the break is the most difficult....And yet, once it is done, I find there is a quality to being alone that is incredibly precious. Life rushes back into the void, richer, more vivid, fuller than before.
(as quoted by Sarah Ban Breathnach in "Simple Abundance")
I found this quite inspiring and comforting at the same time. Moving me beyond where I am and offering me hope that others have been here and have found their way through.
