“Once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand”

“Once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand”

Many of us have a favorite childhood book; one that was read to us by a parent, a grandparent, or librarian.  That book kind of sticks with you—forever.  When you think of it you kind of soften for a minute: relax your shoulders, inhale deeply, smell the pages, taste that memory. 

My favorite book as a child was “The Velveteen Rabbit” by Margery Williams.  Just the sound of it makes me float around on a cloud with a smile on my face.  My mom read it to me, often.  And one year when I was seven years old, I received a real Velveteen Rabbit for Christmas; it was even in my stocking! It had pink satin ears, a pink velvety nose, and a one piece bunch bottom!  He was everything I could have imagined and the only thing I can even remember about Christmas that year.  I was instantly in love and I imagined he was real.  I loved that bunny so much that his ears eventually lost their pink satin and turned to white.  I wore holes in his stitching from all the holding and my mom spent many evenings sewing him up.  And although I don’t have much from my childhood, he is still around. 

A few years ago I gave him to my daughter.  She loved for me to read “The Velveteen Rabbit” to her just as much as I had loved it when I was a little girl.  He now has a few more hand sewn stitches than before and he even has a couple of patches that I sewed on one early Christmas morning after a mischievous puppy got to him.  

Our Velveteen Rabbit sits in our schoolroom now and he reminds me that Real happens over time and not all at once and that sometimes Real hurts.  But Real is always worth the late night stitches and hand sewn patches.

A Tangled Mess

A Tangled Mess

It’s so fun to watch babies learn, isn’t it?  Our little one is at the stage where he is almost crawling but not quite.  He babbles all these adorable sounds.  He sits and digs through his small bucket of toys (always choosing the free, used butter lid over the expensive learning toys), he opens and closes drawers over and over again, he finds his fingers and toes and intrinsically plays with them—it’s just fascinating! Every once in a while he gets stuck, ya know, in a half crawl half sit position, or sometimes he gets himself in a little situation where he is bound to get mildly hurt.  It takes everything I have not to jump up and save him from that board book that he is about to pull onto himself, or from closing that drawer on his tiny fingers, or immediately untangle his tangled legs—but I know if I do he won’t understand the cause and effect r develop the gross motor skills to untangle his own legs.  I know it is for his own good that I stand back and allow him to grow. 

Well today I was sitting at the table, eating this delicious apple crumb desert that my oldest daughter made (it is not a good thing to have a daughter that loves to make delicious deserts and leave them lying around), anyway there I was sitting, savoring this yummy apple crumb and the baby sweetly played under the table at my feet.  Then he got his legs all tangle up in the leg of the chair.  For a long, very long, time he tried to get himself unstuck.  It was painful to watch!  I wanted to just gently move the chair, only by a few inches—that’s all it needed, to help him get out of that sticky mess he got himself in.  But I knew better.  I knew this was important for him. 

I pondered this with every bite of my yummy sweet and then I began thinking about God’s love for us, we are his children, and how painful it must be for God to watch us get ourselves all tangled up in messes.  Often times, we get ourselves deep into it too! He must want to swoop down and save us from ourselves! But just like we, as parents, see the big picture—our children must learn to grow and growth makes them stronger, God must feel this way about us also. 

After a bit of time I got up and gently moved that chair back, kissed my baby on the head, and whispered, “I love you, child.”

Galatians 3:26 - For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

Seasons of Rest

Our family recently moved into a season of rest. For a season we decided not to sign up for any sports or extra curricular activities outside of church. We had a few reasons for doing this. The baby probably encouraged this season of rest; had it not have been for his less than flexible personality we might not have moved into this quiet time. But typically with three activity aged kids we would be all over the town, county, and state this time of year and the burdens were already so heavy. So we decided that a time of rest was important and probably best for a short period of time.

I was very worried about it though. Worried that we'd be bored! Being busy is an addictive lifestyle! I was worried that the kids would fuss with each other. For goodness sake, we already home school and spend more time together than most! I was worried about a lack of sense of community since we would be abstaining from many opportunities to interact with our community. And I was worried about other silly things here and there.

But as it turns out--all that worry was for not. And I'm glad we have had this time as a family!

It has been extra special. My children haven't fussed more, in fact, the opposite. They have used this time to press into the heart of The Lord and build relationships with each other and even forged new relationships in the community! (Crazy how God makes that happen). Oh and we haven't been bored! We've been blessed!

If this is something you feel God might be asking you to do, here's a little encouragement! ;)

What’s Working and What’s Not—From Sun Up to Sun Down

What’s Working and What’s Not—From Sun Up to Sun Down

The last two years have been a whirlwind for me and I’ve experienced things as a stay at home mom that I never thought I would; for example it’s HARD—REALLY, REALLY, REALLY (not enough reallies) HARD!  I’ve gleaned from some very beautiful Titus women and put together my list of what’s working.  NOTHING IS ORIGINAL! Really—hijacked it all from The Greats!

1.       Dress for your day BEFORE you leave your bedroom.  EVERY MORNING.  And I mean from bra to shoes!

Dress to be prepared to run out of the door any minute or welcome an unexpected visitor.  I’ve also noticed my children take me more seriously if I’m dressed for my day.  And, if I’m honest, I take myself more serious too.  Not business nice, but not yoga pants and dew rag. (No condemnations here; there have been lots of those days and plenty still to come.)  But generally speaking this is a big help.

2.       Immediately start your first load of laundry!  This means before you even have your first cup of coffee.

 Oh my, I can hear ya now!  I know, I know!  But for me, it’s been a life saver!  One of The Greats has a love affair with her washer and dryer and swears that the sound of these babies purring sets her day.  I’m not quite that in love—but this does make a huge difference in the tone of your morning!  And it’s all about momentum.  An object in motion stays in motion!

3.       Stay in The Word—even if only by small passages or verses!

Back in the day I woke up in the 5 o’clock hour and read my Bible for 45 minutes before I even got dressed (while sipping coffee—oh nostalgia).  But this is just not reasonable during this season of my life.  And Jesus knows we stay at home mamas are weary—especially us with the smaller ones that are still waking up for those nighttime nursings.  Sleep is precious!  Let me say that again—SLEEP IS PRECIOUS! So, how do we keep our swords sharp against the evil one’s schemes?  Meditate on smaller passages or verses.  Write the verses that the spirit sends you in places you are the most, like the laundry room, your school room, your hands (done this), the bathroom mirror etc. 

4.       Meal Plan

Plan meals and stick to it (best you can).  Based on our family’s budget I can shop for two week’s worth of food.  I sit down, make a list of enough meals for two weeks, make a list for all the ingredients we need, and shop for them.  There may be better methods, but this works for us so I’m sharing.  I keep a list of the MEAL OPTIONS taped to the outside of the pantry door.  It is simply a list of meals that we have the ability to make because all of the ingredients are readily available.  So if I decide that tomorrow is a great taco night I set out hamburger meat to thaw.  By not saying M-Tacos, Tues-Beans it gives me flexibility to roll with the day’s punches!

5.       Start Your School Day with Family Devotion

Even if it is a quick one—it puts you all in the word together and starts your day as a family united.  (This is also where you can get more Chunk Word J)

6.       Chores for Kids

We call these ZC’s and PC’s for Zone Checks and Personal Checks.  We have a few times a day that everyone does a PC and makes sure their personal disasters are tidied up and then each of the kids have Zones that they are in charge of.  It helps.  When you’ve got lots of folks in the same quarters all day long it takes work to keep it in check.  Personally I don’t function in clutter—I mean total shut down, can’t do anything; and that’s no good for anyone when the mama is non-functioning. 

7.       Shower at Night

Otherwise you might not get one!  I enjoy, and prefer, to start a day with a shower but that’s not happening these days.  So in order to not be a total skank I must shower at night when my husband is home.  But, coming to bed clean has its advantages—just saying!

8.       Don’t Go to Bed with a Dirty Front of the House

This might be the hardest one because by this time of day you are tired.  I mean leg-numb tired.  So you could always ask your husband for help on this one.  Mine is awesome and most of the time makes sure the kitchen is clean after dinner.  Thank you Lord, because cooking and cleaning 3 times a day, 7 days a week is heavy.  At any rate, it helps tidy up your living areas before bed.  I call our living area the “Front of our Home” because it’s in the front, haha.  And every night (well almost every because, well you get it) but most nights I make sure the front of our home is picked up because tomorrow morning when I walk into the front of our home it sucks to be greeted by a pile of toddler toys and dishes in the sink.  On the contrary it is awesome to walk into your kitchen greeted by a shiny sink!

This is what is currently working for our family.  But the major life lesson I’ve learned since my journey from bread winner to bread maker began is that NOTHING STAYS THE SAME and it’s ALWAYS CHANGING!