I read all your blogs and suddenly I am feeling so blah.  I have nothing to say of interest.  Blame it on being sick, tired and weak since tuesday night but really, is this blog thing really for me?

Apparently I have no creative juices flowing at the moment.  So, instead of being silent I decided to blog honestly about not wanting to blog! 

An old book friend. 

Oh well.  Neglect of the Blog.  6 days have elapsed!!

With 5 children, 3 of which go to school and have homework EVERY night, and a husband who works overtime, I am afraid there may be days when I don’t have a moment to spare for my blog.

I HAVE been inspired this week, however.  I’ve been feeling the mood to play with my house. . .you know. . .buy new sheets and bedding, rearrange the furniture, make plans for spring-yard-clean-up, look at magazines for decorating ideas, buy house plants (mine don’t last long), etc, so on and so forth.  Isn’t it fun? 

I’ve been reading a lot.  I’m reading the Anne series again because it’s like re-connecting with an old friend.  I’ve been reading these books for *gulp* almost 20 years now.  I also read a book about people who live to be 100 years old (or older)–I finished it last night, it was the first time in a long time that I actually stayed up late because I couldn’t put a book down.  And, I also have a book called Woman First Family Always that I can’t wait to read, especially since it was written by a woman who has 10 children! 

And now that I’ve been interrupted over and over and I can’t think anymore and I hear the baby is awake and crying, I guess that’s it for today.

I’m going to go take care of the baby and then go out and buy new shoes!

The snow is falling here in my little spot in the world. . . a Nor’easter!  Church was cancelled. . . .I had such a wonderfully lazy morning.  Spent some time sitting at my kitchen table with the laptop browsing the worldwideweb, and I found my way to a website about Abraham Lincoln.  Since Abraham Lincoln is my favorite president, born on this same date, I thought I would share some quotes from him today:

“A tendancy to melancholy. . .let it be observed, is a misfortune, not a fault”

“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan-to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations”

“I am rather inclined to silence, and whether that be wise or not, it is at least more unusual nowadays to find a man who can hold his tongue than to find one who cannot”

“It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his men to invent him a sentence to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations.  They presented him the words:  ‘And this, too, shall pass away’.  How much it expresses!  How chastening in the hour of pride!  How consoling in the depths of affliction!”

A lot of times when I become burdened and convicted about a situation I get my journal and my Bible.  With an open heart and oftentimes with tears, I write out my thoughts and feelings.  It’s an encouragement to my soul to look back and see how the Lord was working in my heart at a particular time.  The following is a journal entry from February 4, 2004 (2 years ago!)  Apparently it was after “one of those” times when I got tired out and was “witchy woman” by the end of the day! 

I need to be more loving to my children.

Pr. 21:19 “It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and angry woman”.

Pr. 21:23 “Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his souls from troubles”. (I have no right to talk meanly and loud to my children-when I ‘go off’ my soul becomes troubled.  It’s true, I can feel it, it’s a feeling of discontent, no peace, my insides become as nasty as my words and tone.  If I have concern with my soul, maybe part of the problem is my mouth and tongue.)

Pr. 16:20 “He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good:  and whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he”  (These situations I find myself in as a mother are all possiblilites and opportunities to demonstrate to the children godly behavior.  When I let myself become guided by emotions or physical needs and my flesh, I am wasting an opportunity to teach my children.  Can’t I trust God to show me the right way to behave?  I’m not happy if I trust in myself.)

Pr. 17:22 “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine:  but a broken spirit drieth the bones”  (Am I having a rough time?  Are the children having a rough time?  Maybe we all need the medicine of a Happy Heart.  Can’t we laugh and play together?  Play a game, color, read, watch a video, cook something?  A lot of times I give my child something to do just so I can be free to do my own thing.  Maybe the children get aggravating because I haven’t slowed down enough in the past day or two to actually spend good, loving, quality time with them.”)  FOCUS

Pray:  That I will be slow to anger, that I can rule my spirit, have a merry heart, handle situations wisely, and that I will “keep” my tongue and mouth.

SONG FOR A FIFTH CHILD

Mother, of mother, come shake out your cloth!

Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,

Hang out the washing and butter the bread,

Sew on a button and make up the bed.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?

She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking!

Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue

(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due

(Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peek-a-boo).

The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew

And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo

But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo.

Look!  Aren’t her eyes the most wonderful hue?

(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

Oh, cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,

But children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down, cobwebs.  Dust, go to sleep.

I’m rocking my baby.  Babies don’t keep.

By Ruth Hulburt Hamilton, October 1958