a teeny bit of home this morning

Posted on March 14, 2017 by Shanda

In a little yellow house in Connecticut, there is a family. And in this family is a mom and a dad, along with a big sister, a big brother, a regular brother, a little brother, and a little sister.

(((There are also two bigger brothers but they are far far away, in Vermont.)))

Snow is blizzardly blowing around the house today, filling the darkened air with bits of white.

The dear dad is busy working from home.

Hi, I’m the mom. And I literally just suggested to Grace and David to “Go put together a pretzel.”

Then, Caleb came upstairs to tattle on Seth.

So I bought them a new movie (via a smart TV and amazon prime) to watch and now I’m in my room to do a quick blog and then go make lunch and gallons of popcorn……….

Grace has been in this same spot all morning, blissfully reading, napping, looking at her phone, and petting the cat. “I looooove himmmmmm” she purrs.

I decided to pick up the camera and take some photos but be aware that everywhere I look is life abundant in the form of stuff everywhere…not mess, but life….papers, coloring books, crayons, puzzles, stuffed animals, boots and shoes, dishes left out, a baseball glove or two or three, jackets, laundry to be folded, cereal boxes left out, a sock here and there, the smell of bacon, etc.

It’s all good! It’s FAMILY!

They play together all the time and I most-of-the-time love it. It’s constant laughing, problems, trying not to involve mom when working things out, and play.

(the dog yawns when he’s embarrassed and/or shy))

((The dog was anxious about Seth getting too close.))

Then, I sent the kids back about 7 feet and ((the dog was happy to have been released.))

Seth Caleb Sarah

8 11 6

I took a photo of him through the glass door. He was on a conference call. (those arms)

11:45 and look who just got up. He told me that last night after everyone went to bed he made a frozen pizza and “ate the whole thing.” To which I replied, “Sodium city” and he said, “Yeah.”

I guess it was the duct tape.

A Happy SNOWY Tuesday from me to you.

you are loved

“At the end of the day people won’t remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel.” ~Maya Angelou

the last of winter

Posted on March 13, 2017 by Shanda

Four nights ago, thanks to a text from my neighbor, we were able to see this amazing lunar halo around the moon. It was so wide around that I almost couldn’t get it all in the picture. It’s a beautiful sight that I won’t soon forget. I learned that these halos mean that a storm is coming and indeed the children did have Friday off from school for a snow day and we have a storm coming tomorrow.

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“It was a long cold winter for the birds and animals on the hill, but the little old man and the little old woman put out food for them until the warm spring came. And that was the end of the BIG SNOW.” ~ The Big Snow by Berta and Elmer Hader

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I aimed my camera through the windows of the dining room, watching the birds, thinking thoughts.

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“Well lived days are completed years, and the years well lived as they come make a life beautiful and full. In such a life no special preparation of any kind is needed. He who lives thus is always ready. Each day prepares for the next, and the last day prepares for glory.” JR Miller

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“And is this heaven? And am I there?
How short the road! How swift the flight!
I am all life, all eye, all ear:
Jesus is here–my soul’s delight.”
~Isaac Watts

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And today? The children are at school. Bright sun is shining but coldly and tomorrow we expect a snowstorm, another snow day?

These are the last frozen offerings of winter weather which will make the springtime thaw even more welcome.

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There is a spot on the eaves which constantly drips, and it’s so cold outside that we have not a burning bush, but an ice covered one! It’s so pretty when the sun shines through it.

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Happy Monday, friends.
You are loved.

“Here in the shadow of God’s love forever I’ll abide,
So glad, so blest, so sure, so safe; so more than satisfied!” Elizabeth Prentiss

now

Posted on March 9, 2017 by Shanda

Little joys.

Living in the moment.

Because the moment is what you have.

Look out with eyes of love, eyes of wonder. Live now.

Wrestling season is over and now it’s all about brothers and sisters, bare feet, early spring, and baseball.

thin ice and ripples on the pond

different mosses

things growing in the flower bed

Marvellous happy it was to be
Alone, and yet not solitary.
O out of terror and dark, to come
In sight of home.
~Walter de la Mare.

When you’re a busy woman and you step outside at the end of the day to let the dog out and see glory.

The sky was high and clear with a brilliant moon. But what made it special was a layer of clouds passing between it and earth. All the light from the moon lit up the clouds.

“my soul is elsewhere, I’m sure of that.
and I intend to end up there.” RUMI

the stars were twinkling

God’s glory is on tour in the skies,
God-craft on exhibit across the horizon.
Madame Day holds classes every morning,
Professor Night lectures each evening.
Their words aren’t heard,
their voices aren’t recorded,
But their silence fills the earth:
unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.

Psalm 19

The further the clouds got from the moon the darker they became so that I couldn’t make them out very well anymore.

*****

“The LORD will command his loving-kindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me” (Psalm 42:8).

someday (1 Peter 1:3-9)

Posted on March 8, 2017 by Shanda

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What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—life healed and whole.

I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.

You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don’t see him, yet you trust him—with laughter and singing. Because you kept on believing, you’ll get what you’re looking forward to: total salvation.

1 Peter 1:3-9

in the fridge

Posted on March 6, 2017 by Shanda

I noticed today that someone’s growing up.

(Seth, age 8)

sweet boy & sweet cake

Posted on March 3, 2017 by Shanda

The other day a sweet boy who lives here came to me and said, “Mom, when I was walking to Logan’s house I passed a construction worker on the side of the road picking up garbage,” he paused to self-consciously clear his throat and continued, “I stopped and told him he was doing a great job.”

“The reason why I said that to him was because Cody told me it was the little things like that which make a big difference in a person’s life.”

“When I was almost to Logan’s house, he drove by me in his truck and honked his horn and waved.”

We looked at each other and I saw in his loving eyes it was something that meant a lot to him. You might say, although he has never been anything like Grinch, “his heart grew three sizes that day”. His story touched my heart as well, and I’ve thought about it over and over this week.

It’s so strangely beautiful that when doing something for another person you not only bless that person but you also bless yourself.

In fact, this huge concept is something I use in my mothering bag of tricks. If I notice that the children (some or all) are not getting along with each other I ask them to do “something” (make a sandwich, pick a flower, give a mug of tea) for that particular sibling they aren’t getting along with. Maybe even give a hug or write a note. It does wonders in creating smiles, melting hearts, and breaking the tension in the air.

******

Cherry Coffee Cake

We explored an old abandoned house last weekend and took away a few recipes cards which we found like garbage upon the messy floor…..this was one of the recipes.

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It is simple and, without any extract, the cake itself tastes nice and buttery. The cherry pie filling could be switched out for any fruit filling and you could add a touch of cinnamon to the topping, too. I bought a can of raspberry filling to try next, with maybe a 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract added to the cake. Blueberries would be a nice variation, too, with lemon extract.

It bakes up as a thin cake, so it’s more of a snack (to eat with a mug of hot coffee). The kids ate it in their hands like a brownie and they all liked it very much.

eggs (a short chicken tale)

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Shanda

Welcome month of March, month of early springtime flowers, happy birthdays, and eggs!

E G G S

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As you may or may not remember, our family owns a flock of 14 hens.

But lately, NO EGGS.

The hens are eating them. I don’t know if a hen lays an egg and then cheerfully eats it, or if she leaves her egg behind and then the next hen wanting to lay HER own egg eats the one she finds “in the way” so to speak, to make way for her own egg laying endeavors. No matter, it is happening. It is annoying.

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We are in the market for one of those nesting boxes which are slanted on the bottom so the freshly laid egg rolls away out of sight and out of the hen’s reach. In the meantime, I am positively haunting the coop in order to snatch away eggs just as soon as they appear.

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In this fashion, I have so far collected 5 of them just this morning.

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Three of which I promptly cooked and ate for breakfast. Outside. So I could watch.

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“Yes, I am watching you.”

friend

Posted on February 28, 2017 by Shanda

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N A T U R E W A L K; God gave us 60 degree weather and we wore our boots. We smelled pine needles, picked up birch bark, peered down into deep springtime puddles and streams. The best part? Sitting for a while on the same big boulder in the middle of a rushing stream.

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J O U R N A L S; hers is HUGE and full of the best magazine clips, quotes, photos, art, and words.

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A B A N D O N E D H O U S E A D V E N T U R E; there is an old house nearby that is empty of people but full of stuff of every kind. The teenagers came with us and we explored to our hearts content.

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A N T H R O P O L O G I E; one of our mutual favorite stores… and we had the best time looking at everything and getting inspiration from the walls, bedding, clothes, books, stationary, etc.

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B A R N E S and N O B L E; in which we chose a huge stack of books and magazines, & talked, while looking through everything. We drank a chai latte.

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We found a picture of us as children in a magazine! (dreams)

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P A N E R A B R E A D; for an early dinner.

And so many other things seen and heart-noticed but unphotographed.

We’ve been friends for over 20 years beginning when we first met at Bible college in upstate New York. Like with all my soul mates, I remember the exact moment I first saw her. After college we each got married and started our families while keeping in touch using lovely handwritten snail mail letters (nice and fat) because there were no computers or email back then. When we did get our first computers we emailed almost daily. Now and then we would enjoy a nice chat on the phone.

We had visits when we could. She drove to my mom’s house once when our Grace and Jeff were babies (they are 17 now). Rich and I stopped at her family’s place on the way to amish country a few times.

EVERY visit was ALWAYS photographed. Pictures have been a huge part of keeping in touch. I have a whole album of photos she has sent me through the years.

Now we use FB messenger to text and send (miraculous!) *instant* photos of what we are doing that day…the kids, books we read, food, selfies. Yes indeedy, it’s such fun.

The snail mail has slowed down but we still spoil each other with a letter now and then, oh and boxes of gifts at christmas and birthdays, too.

She drove to my house on Friday afternoon for a long awaited visit (three years!), I had already been to the doctors that day and was put on antibiotics for strep but that did not put a damper on our visit which lasted until Sunday morning.

“Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person; having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but to pour them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then, with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away.”

Joanna has soul depth and wisdom. She has strength with an endearing touch of vulnerability. She is a forever friend.

She’s also at the doctor’s today, getting checked for strep throat.

starting with today

Posted on February 27, 2017 by Shanda

“What day is it?”
It’s today,” squeaked Piglet.
My favorite day,” said Pooh.”
― A.A. Milne

There are many sweet, simple blessings happening in my life lately but I am going to blog starting with today.

I woke up this morning in a hotel room after a lovely solid five hours of sleep and then deliciously dozing on and off for another four hours.

I had dropped Ethan off at college the night before after an evening of bowling and steak dinners and slept overnight in the hotel before heading home.

I am rather under the weather with some sort of upper respiratory infection; strep, ears, cough and headache so I’ve been on medicine since Friday. I drove home from Vermont slowly.

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I explored two shops along the way. The first was an antique shop with probably close to 50 or more venders in one big building. Right away I found a Rose Fiesta Disc pitcher, anniversary edition from 1996. It came home with me. I didn’t buy anything else but I took a few more photos of things that delighted my eyes.

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This mood board was in one of the little booths, full of magazine clippings and so on.

Inspiring!

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This was a sweet painting of ducks flying up off a pond, which was done on white birch bark.

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Fiesta glassware (stripes)

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Fiesta shakers and tumbles on the top shelf. The other dishes (middle shelf) are made by the same company but are not fiestaware so I don’t collect them; still, it’s fun to see.

*****

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Then, about an hour later, I found a used bookstore. It had been a huge selection, but it is now going out of business so the books “only” filled two rooms.

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“Book thieves will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

I was amused by the specific sort of thieves addressed. Would a book lover steal? Perhaps.

I didn’t steal my books, I bought them all for five dollars.

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A Walk on an Iceberg; true story written by the main character’s granddaughter. The book is about Eliza in the years before she became a grandmother, who was married at 19 and thereafter went on all of her husband’s sea captain voyages.

Honey I Love; poems for children

Friday Night Lights; about football -for Caleb

A Very Long Engagement, by French author Sebastien Japrisot, a novel of WW1

Summerball, another sports story for Caleb, this one about basketball

Because of Winn-Dixie, beautiful story of a young girl who adopts a dog

Thin Ice, a quaint 1956 book easy reader book for Seth to read to me

Good-time Charlie, about a cat

Joanna Runs Away, a story about a little girl and a horse

The Lady and the Spider, a Reading Rainbow book

Christmas in the Forest, peaceful christmas story with animals

Follow the Brook, a 1960 story about raccoons

The Story of Old Mrs Brubeck and how she looked for Trouble and Where she found Him

The Anne of Green Gables Storybook; with pictures from the movie

last but not least, my most exciting find for myself

The Kinta years, an Oklahoma Childhood, by Janice Holt Giles, who is the author of one of my favorite books (Hannah Fowler)

lately

Posted on February 22, 2017 by Shanda

“Mom, you’re the best mom in the world.” says Caleb

“I would have to agree with you,” I tease with a hug.

“You really are the best Mom,” says Seth.

“If you were the worse Mom ever, I would be crying right now.” he further explains.

***

Reason number one (why I haven’t been blogging):

WRESTLING

Wrestling is coming to a close for the season which means all the meets are even more important than usual. On Friday I drove to the HS meet to watch my husband’s team.

To watch my husband.

The gym was absolutely packed to the gills with people. Seth, Sarah, and Caleb ran off to the cafeteria to play with other random children and to say hi to the goat which one of the coaches brings to the all meets in a carrier. Seth borrowed my phone to take a video of the goat. I sat by Grace and Angelina and chatted with my wrestling mom friends. All our chats have to be done with yelling voices, so we can hear each other over the din.

Cody was wrestling in this photo. We had already been in the gym for several hours. He was the only one on the team to make states, which will be held this weekend. Rich and Jacob are in the far corner, coaching him.

After Cody had wrestled I decided to head out and go home. It was after 8 and the drive was 40 minutes. ~~The kids were getting tired.~~ And I was getting tired.

We walked out the door and behind the school through the snow to get to my car, which I had parked far away because there was no more room in the main lot.

It was magical to be outside at night with only the lights of the school shining for us.

(not sure what seth is doing, eating snow?)

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She thought it was super stylish to wear one of her black socks pulled up on the outside of her pants.

REASON NUMBER 2: The Stomach Bug

The strange thing is, by the time we got home she was complaining that she felt sick. I tucked them all into bed and I went promptly to sleep. The next morning Rich told me, “Sarah’s sick. She threw up all over her bed and floor. I gave her a bath last night at 11.”

Grace had helped him clean up the mess and inside I was singing praises that I missed out on the vomit clean up for once in my life.

REASON NUMBER THREE: Trip to Rhode Island

On Sunday we went to watch the last meet of Ethan’s college season. He wrestled twice. The first time was against the number one guy and he was pinned within the first minute of the match. The second time was a loss by only 2 points. 11-8. He has improved amazingly over the last few months. We stayed to watch the whole entire meet so we could bring him home with us afterwards.

REASON number 4: bird watching, house cleaning, cooking, too much distraction all around me, too tired, writers block, not taking pictures as I usually do and a general feeling of “who cares” anyway.

But all good things. How thankful I am to be able to be home with the children. They had Monday and Tuesday off from school for Presidents’ day and they were free and happy. We still have snow on the ground but the air was mild and sweet so they spent lots of time outside.