Living Seasonally
January comes to an end and I have to say it has been a very pleasant month. Slow, cold January, good for snuggling on the couch, quiet visits with friends and sweet treats after hearty meals.
Giving Thanks
- Hot coffee with caffeine after going without for a week.
- Baby laughs.
- A healthy family.
- For energy to take a walk and mop the floor in the same day!
- For friends.
We were very happy to have friends, Kristi, Jerome and Joanna over for supper, friends that drove a long way to spend the evening at our table!
And to have this treat from them called Krumkake. It’s Norwegian and it was delicious!
Thinking Deeply
“If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”
Do everything with Love.
And.
“My house will be a house of prayer” (Luke 19:46). “How do you build a house of prayer? Where floor boards moan repentance and doors open in hymn?” Ann Voskamp
Establishing Rhythm
Our daily “quiet time” is going better. We no longer put a show on for Lily to watch while the others nap and she has been getting more rest during this time, actually falling asleep of course someone else is usually waking up as she drifts off, but it has made this time more peaceful for me, most of the time. I’ve also given up trying to use this time as “me time” since it’s frustrating to get interrupted during my “me time”. It’s just better for all of us if I keep on working through quiet time and if I sit I know it’s just for a minute.
Going back to my plan of one chore a day the schedule I wrote about here. By one chore I mean one more than what I’m normally doing. That way I’m not fighting against the baby tide all day trying to “get things done”. “Things” can wait, it’s not worth the turmoil.
Turning Pages
I checked out The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes from the library and have enjoyed the read, the powers of deduction, the facts and the obvious. Also reading, They Will See His Face:Worship and Healing with friend Kristi. Read her reviews of chapters 1-3 here.
Cultivating Simplicity
Again from Ann VosKamp:
“As I make beds, hang laundry, scrub the ring around the tub…. I pick a short prayer of the Bible and pray continually. I may not have hours. But God hears. Short prayer too are communion.“
Creating Beauty
This month we learned about Jesus turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana. Of course we needed a wedding cake that day.
Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cake recipe for you here. Inspired by my wedding cake which was chocolate. Mmmm.
Nuturing Hearts
Ordering our days around God’s Word and works has been good for me. I wrote a little about that here. The girls are memorizing Matthew 16:16 and I plan on beginning to memorize the Psalms. More on that later. I’m also trying harder to get up a bit before the babies to read from the Psalms and get my wits about me before jumping into the daily battle with my flesh and the flesh of others.
Nurturing Minds
During the season of Epiphany we have focused on the miracles of Christ. The girls played Jesus and Peter for a long time yesterday, Jesus walking on water and Peter sinking and crying out for the Lord to save him. Lily was Jesus.
Nurturing Senses
I think for most of the day I have some kind of music playing, usually classical so the girls can be ballerinas or hymns for children that I noticed Lily has begun to sing along with. Before bedtime we have been singing “Songs of Thankfulness and Praise” an Epiphany hymn. Lily can sing the last line with us “God in Man made Manifest”.
Nurturing Bodies
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger.” The body nurtured by the aroma of fresh baked bread, slicing of a piece while it’s still hot, adding butter and well, you know what comes next.
Esther’s first meal.
Capturing Time
My daughters now running around in the ballet slippers that were mine.
Daybook inspiration from Katherine at Evlogia
