A Bundle of Myrrh

Living Seasonally:

Summer is coming to a close and once again life changes with this new season. A change in the weather is on the horizon and with school starting a change in our days has begun. Now there are schedules and school papers, lunches to pack and clothes to lay out everyday.

This season of life feels bogged down with stuff and things to do. And that’s just the basics. We aren’t even in the season of “extracurriculars”. It’s the daily tasks that swamp and wear me out. Plus growing a baby really makes me tired.

I have a nagging desire to “simplify”, “rest”, “slowdown” but how does one do that without everything crusting over and caving in?

It’s a constant remembering to put one foot in front of the other, pick one spot to clean at a time, not demand perfection from myself, let it get done eventually, be ok with mess and piles, let myself sit down and read a book to them and go outside sometimes.

But it’s ok to be tired right? Hardwork is ok. Taking care of 5+ children everyday all day is tiring, keeping a house is hard work. And while I need to remember at times to slow down and rest, I also need to remember that working is good. The work I do is good.

Sorry, what a rant!

Thinking Deeply:

I came across this from Ann Voskamp the other day. She says it well, this is my life right now and will be for quite some time. It makes me so tired, but I have to keep on going.

“God said I need somebody who can shape a soul and find shoes on Sunday mornings and get grass stains out of Levis.

And make dinner out of nothing and do it again 79, 678 times, and keep kids off the road and out of the toilet and in clean underwear and mainly alive though she’s mainly losing her mind and will put in an 80 hour week by Wednesday night and just do one more load of laundry.

And one more sink of crusted burnt pots.

And keep on going another eighty hours because raising generations matters and weaving families matters and tying heart strings matters and these people here matter.” Ann Voskamp

 

Giving Thanks:

For Watermelon.

For Summer Vegetables.

For neighbors, generous with their sweet corn.

For flowers my babies picked out of a ditch.

Turning Pages:

Well, I didn’t get through my dream Summer Reading list. Did anyone think I would? So it will become my Fall Reading list. I did finish Family Vocation: God’s Calling in Marriage, Parenting, and Childhood, very good, I recommend it.

I liked reading Gilead by Marilynne Robinson and wanted to read it again, but I picked up her other novel, Home instead. It features some of the same characters in Gilead, a different family. It’s a prodigal son story and I was enjoying parts of it but it was moving too slowly for me. I had to give up. It’s probably got a great pay off though. Many little gems throughout if you’re patient enough!

Establishing Rhythm:

Ok, I can do this. I’m tweaking last years daily schedule to fit this years, which isn’t much different. And I plan on getting back to our ABC Learning Basket lessons. I got through the Letter K before the Summer so I’ll be picking up with L with Clara and Gerhardt home in the mornings this year.

Nurturing Bodies:

With busier mornings I’m trying to stay on top of having breakfast foods available quickly. I’m not a morning person so with all the Littles clamouring for food first thing I tend to get nervy.

I try to limit there choices since they all want something different and none of them eat cereal, that would be too easy! So having bread baked, and other baked goods on hand really helps. I’d love to hear how any of you manage the morning breakfast routine at your house!!

Nurturing Senses:

I like finding activities for the kidlets that are fun for them and development their little motor skills. You can see my collection on my Pinterest Boards. Here are some things we did this summer.

Pipe Cleaners and Colanders…easy.

Pretty Salt Paintings. I was sweeping salt off the floor for two days, but they loved doing this.

I didn’t have beads, but I did have Cheerios. Esther loved this little game and a perk, she got to eat the Cheerios after. And don’t worry we weren’t about to blow away in a tornado, that siren sounds 4 times a day. I’m discovering that it’s a common charm of small town life up here.

Mr./Mrs. Potato Playdough Head.

Stick People.

Foam Shape Window Murals

Tending The Earth:

This weekend Phil dug up our potatoes. They did very well with very little work! I’ve been Pinning a lot of potato recipes lately. We feasted on French Fries and homemade Potato Chips last night with supper. Our onions didn’t turn out as well as years past but our watermelons are on and a growing. I can’t wait to slice into one of those!

Capturing Time:

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 22nd, 2013 at 2:23 pm and is filed under Daybook. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.