A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and see.
“And one called to another and said, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!” Isaiah 6:3
“Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!
Let your glory be over all the earth!”
Psalm 57:5
It was such a beautiful evening on Monday. In front of me, the sky was dark with heavy cloud and behind me a bright sun was going down, shining it’s glorious light on the trees. God has created such a beautiful world for us to enjoy and admire. Almost every day I see something of delight, today it was the bright red ball of berries from a Jack in the Pulpit flower. No longer a flower, but berries on a short stalk between two big green leaves. The stream is low but still trickling along, I like to close my eyes and listen to it. I rested my cheek against a pine tree and could smell the pitch. The sky is clear and bright blue today and smells so sweet.
The sunflower at the front steps inspires me. Though it was damaged twice, it continued to recover and bloom. Three blossoms instead of the one. Incredible.
The leaves here are just starting to change color, and when they are at peek what a stunning view it will be. The children will collect fallen leaves and dark brown acorns off the ground and show them to us. We will go apple picking and to the pumpkin patch. I am slowly collecting costumes for Halloween. I just drank a glass of cold cider, we put on jackets this morning, and the goldenrod is in full bloom.
I’m thankful for this time of year.
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| this one is my favorite |
In love we escape from our self into one another. C.S. Lewis
Rich and I were married on this beautiful very day, long ago. I was contemplating “18 years” this morning and thinking of what has changed in our relationship during our life together. One of the more important changes has been in my own heart. For many years I struggled to make our marriage what “I” wanted it to be…in my mind, my desires and the advice I read in books or articles was “right” and what he was doing was “wrong”. I wish I had understood then that the pride I held in my heart (of believing that I had all the answers) was what was doing the most damage in our marriage.
Namely, my main issue was that I believed he was working too much and over-committing himself. Such a little thing when there are so many men who truly are terrible; wife abusers, womanizers, Rich is none of these! He is a good, generous Christian man who happens to have a highly involved work (which provides wonderfully for our big family.) There is so much peace in simply living life and accepting it for what it is. Accepting HIM for who he is.
I have no regrets, just joy in knowing that each ordinary day is special because it is what God has given. I’m glad I was married at 19, and even more glad that with maturity comes contentment and rest. There is still so much to learn. God is good and I love being married. I am thankful for my hard-working, good natured husband who provides so well for our family. The children adore their Dad.
Rich couldn’t take our anniversary-day off (he is romantic and usually does) so he took Friday off and we decided to spend the morning driving along the back roads ….. our destination was a farm store about an hour away that sold fresh, quality dairy products (I’m laughing b/c it sounds SO unromantic) but with the intentions of stopping when we saw anything that looked interesting.
First stop? STARBUCKS and we took our adorable boy and girl in with us for treats. Sarah chose a pretzel and Seth ate the frosting off the top of his “morning bun”. Rich got his typical coffee with caramel syrup and I got my new favorite Starbucks coffee: blonde roast. Finally a regular cup of coffee from starbucks that’s not so strong it stings my teeth, the blond roast is just right.
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| a lovely brick church |
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| church on a hill |
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| beautiful church |
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| a sign that made me smile |
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| we also stopped at a park |
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| seth and sarah were thrilled with the fountain |
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| the gardens were so pretty |
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| seth took this one! |
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| morning glories |
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| back in the truck, and I see another pretty church |
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| I’ve eaten thousands of pizzas with this man. |
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| I had really wanted to visit an independent book seller and WE FOUND ONE!!! This used bookstore was quaint, in an old brick factory building with wood floors, tall windows, and operated by an older gentleman, wise and kind. |
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| I couldn’t believe this Sherlock Holmes book display! Grace would have been astounded, she’s a big fan. |
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| interesting little booklets |
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| Me, with Seth and Sarah
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We bought a stack of books; two origami books for our son David’s birthday, a book each for S and S. I found a George Mueller biography and a CS Lewis anthology. Rich found several Bible Study books, too.
After a stop at a consignment shop where I got two pairs of cool shoes, we made our way to the diary goods store for fresh milk, butter, cheese, and award-winning sour cream.
We each got an ice cream to enjoy.
We arrived back home just in time to get David and Caleb off the bus. We’ve had a nice weekend and later today I am meeting Rich at work for lunch and a kiss.
Happy Monday, friends!
Love is always ready to deny itself, to give, sacrifice, just in the measure of its sincerity and intensity. Perfect love is perfect self-forgetfulness. Hence where there is love in a home, unselfishness is the law. Each forgets self and lives for others. J.R. Miller
PS. My friend Bridgette sent me the dress for Sarah Joy. (Thank you, B! I hope you liked seeing her in it! xoxo)
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| 18 years |
A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. ~soulemama
After some cool, rainy days I think they love lying in sunbeams, soaking up the rays.
These are the books Seth and Sarah chose at the library. Sarah says hers is called I am Absolutely a Potato, and Seth says his is I am Not Even Really Tired.
They make me LAUGH.
Seth and Sarah were the last ones to get physicals and they were done yesterday. The two of them together were so cute, I had such fun watching them get their check ups. Such innocence and adorableness galore. And, I tried something new with the shots for Seth. I didn’t mention them at all and let them just happen. He didn’t make a peep. It was as easy as getting his ears checked.
Seth is average in height and weight. Sarah is tall for her age (!) and skinny.
I’ve come to realize that the late afternoons are going to be the busy time of day. Yesterday David and Caleb got off the bus, ate bagels and got right into the car to go with me to the schools. We dropped off Grace and then went to the playground until Ethan’s soccer meeting. It turned out to be a beautiful late afternoon together. They played for hours out in the bright sun. I looked through a magazine and then pushed the little ones on the swings…magical….
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| and two more, smaller sunflowers, down the path a little |
the books:
1. Are You my Mother? by P.D. Eastman
2.Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
3. What a Bad Dream by Mercer Mayer
4. The Great Gracie Chase Stop that Dog! by Cynthia Rylant
My prayer for this Monday, and all days.
I hope it’s a blessing to you, too.
You are loved.
This afternoon I was interviewed. Here are my answers to those questions.
P.S. I interviewed my self.
Q. What is that smell?
A. Oh. Do I smell? It is probably Frank’s Red Hot, rotten juice, and poop. Sorry.
Q: I’ll just move my chair back a little. Okay. Let’s begin. You say you are a stay at home mom, but we noticed that you were gone all morning again today. What were you doing this time?
A: I am a stay at home mom but I prefer the term Domestic Goddess. (smiles and winks) This is currently a very busy season (back to school) in a very busy season of life (teenagers, elementaries, and preschoolers to care for). It is true I was out again this morning. My oldest son Jacob had a check up and so did my two middle children. We went to the Doctor’s, the Tractor Supply store, and Target. Then, we had Wendy’s drive through for lunch.
Q: How did the appointments go? Did the boys grow much over the last year?
A. Yes, they did. Jacob is now 6 feet, one inch tall. David and Caleb each gained over 10 pounds and grew three inches. All three of them are perfectly healthy and I am very thankful.
Q. When you dropped off your son at the High School, something fell out the back of the vehicle when he was getting his football stuff out. What was it?
A. That….. was an entire bottle of Frank’s Red Hot. I had just bought it at Target, a nice big bottle for two dollars. We were going to have it with our chili dinner tonight. It smashed in the driveway right in front of the school, we picked up the glass and left a large red puddle.
Q. Did anything significant happen when you dropped off the other two boys?
A. Yes. When I was in the office I saw David’s teacher from last year. She was happy to see us and told me she missed David and that we had a wonderful family. That made me feel good. Then, I filled out two tardy notices for the boys and wrote David’s name on both of them. The secretary had to fix it for me.
Q. We saw you pull into your driveway when you got home and then we heard you made very loud groaning noises. Did something happen?
A. Yes. Um. Well, the last time I went to Costco I had left the heaviest boxes in the car for the boys to get out for me. The boxes have been sitting in the car for days and days. Well, when I got home today I noticed that someone had taken the bulk juice pouch box out and left it in the driveway behind my car. I never saw it, so ran over it with car. I was pretty upset because I hate waste and I hate buying juice pouches. I opened them all up and counted 10 popped juice pouches. I had to bring all the rest inside to wash in the sink because they were covered in juice.
Q: Did you groan for any other reason?
A: Yes. I had bought a five dollar meaty dog bone for Parker today and apparently left it in the cart. I looked all through the car and couldn’t find it. SO frustrating.
Q: Why do you have suitcases lying in the grass on your lawn?
A: I have suitcases on my lawn because my younger three boys watched one of those ridiculous Lego cartoons the other day. They were inspired to continue training to be Ninjas and took the suitcases outdoors to practices their turns and high kicks. In other words, the suitcases are the enemy.
Q. Oh my. Is your life always this crazy?
A. Next question please.
Q. Why do you have a pan of rotten tomatoes on your porch?
A. (groans again? and startles interviewer) (sighs) Yesterday I felt terrible about the tomatoes. I really had to get working on that last half bushel for my homemade sauce. I noticed that some indeed were spoiling, so I sat and sorted through them all to get ready to use them up today. I asked my daughter Grace to take the rotten ones down to the chicken coop and just this morning I noticed that she took the good tomatoes down to the hens instead of the rotten ones. I’ll never get over it. I mean, it may take a while.
Q. Can you say a little something about the poop?
A. But of course. While I was putting away the groceries, Seth and Sarah were playing outside. On my way back through to get more bags, I noticed that Sarah had her pants down around her ankles so I went to help her. She had left a little poopy pile on the lawn and I had to clean her up. I washed my hands but I guess the odor is lingering this time.
Q. Well, you seem like a very busy woman and I’m sure exhausted. If you had an afternoon to yourself and weren’t so tired, what would you do?
A. Take a nap.
Q. Would you like to share your “this moment” picture with us today?
A. Surely. So glad you asked. Actually, I have several to share.
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| painting on the patio |
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| sarah picked my only blooming dahlia |
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| sunflower managed to survive |
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| fireplace stone work, he’s almost up to the ceiling now |
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| so I put it in a small pitcher |
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| as I was frying this morning’s bacon |
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| I had an audience |
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| the little diners |
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| boys wore matching shirts |
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| so tired, but happy to tears with my Caleb in my arms |
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| we end with a goose in the bible study parking lot |
Good to be Home 