The Creative Life

It's been a strange few months for me.  I am usually busy doing, thinking and getting things done, but I've found myself just wanting to sit still and be quiet.  It's been a good thing.  In all my sitting still I've come across a few books that have fed my needy soul.  Every time I go to Karen Andreola's blog, Moments with Mother Culture, I come away with a new book I want to read or am inspired to start a new craft.  Not that I have time to start a new craft, but I have found time for the new books.  Grace is still nursing and I've begun reading while she eats.  I wasn't always able to do that with her. 
Back in December, Karen recommended the book Christmas at Fairacre.  As I was checking it out on Amazon, I realized that it is part of a series.  Being the all-or-nothing woman that I am, I just had to start with the first book in the series, Village School.  I'm so glad I did.  It has been encouraging for me to read about the ups-and-downs of life in a small English village and its even smaller school. 

The second book in the series is Village Diary.  Life in the village as recorded by the school's headmistress.  Reading what she wrote about one of the busy housewives in the village made me think of my job here at home...

Mrs. Willet is small and pale and yet she is 'always on the go,' as she herself will tell you.  The fact that she can do so many things, and takes enormous pride in doing them well, is, I think, the secret of this apparently inexhaustible energy.  There are so many different activities to engage her, that when she tires of one, there is another to which she can turn and get refreshment.  From turning her heavy old mangle in the wash-house, she will come in and sit down to stitch a new skirt.  She will prepare a stew, and while it simmers on the hob, filling the little house with its fragrance, she will practice her part in Mr. Annett's new anthem, ready for the next church festival.  And - this perhaps is the most important thing - she sees a satisfying result from her labours.  The clothes blow on the line, the skirt is folded and put away in the drawer ready for next Sunday; Mr. Willet will come in 'sharp-set' and praise her bubbling stew; and, with any luck, Mr. Annett will congratulate her on her grasp of that difficult passage just before the basses come in.

It is a creative life.  There is something worth while to show for energy expended which engenders the desire to accomplish more.  Small wonder that the Mrs. Willets of this world are happy, and deserve to be so.

What Making?

Grace, our 22 month old, always asks, "What making, Mama?"  What a great question.  I've started using her question to hold me accountable to be "making" something at all times.  It's easy to become distracted by so many things and forget that I've made a conscious choice to be a full-time mother to my children.  Those days when I'm busy being distracted or unmotivated are the days when the kids are cranky and disobedient.  They can see what my level of committment is and respond accordingly. 

The days are short.  Time is flying by and my kids will be out of the house longer than they were in it and one day my actions will be tested by fire - will they withstand the heat, or burn with the chaff?  Thomas a Kempis wrote,

"Learn to obey, O dust! Learn to humble thyself, O earth and clay, and to bow thyself beneath the feet of all. Learn to crush thy passions, and to yield thyself in all subjection."

Can I?  Dare I give all my desires for leisure time away so that I can "lay down my life" for my children?  Can I humble myself and accept the head-shaking and finger-pointing when I tell someone I don't have a hobby because I've given it up for the greater good of raising my children?

But most importantly, can I put aside the pride I might feel about laying down my own desires for my children's needs and be a true instrument of God?  The November 7th entry from my God Calling book slapped me right between the eyes...

"Dwelling with Me, desiring only My Will and to do My work, My Spirit cannot fail to pass through the channel of your life into the lives of others.

Many think it is humility to say they do little, and are of little value to My world.  To think that is pride.

What if the pipe were to say, "I do so little, I wish I could be more use."  The reply would be "It is not you, but the water that passes through you, that saves and blesses.  All you have to do is to see there is nothing to block the way so that the water cannot flow through."

The only block there can be in your channel is self.  Keep that out, and know that My Spirit is flowing through.  Therefore all must be the better for coming in contact with both of you, because you are channels.  See this, and you will think it natural to know they are being helped, not by you, but by My Spirit flowing through you as a channel."

Pumpkin Lapbook

I've been dealing with mastitis this week.  Being sick can be a very productive time for me and this time is not any different.  While I did spend a lot of time sleeping while the kids played outside in the tents they dragged down from the attic, I also did a little internet surfing.  Once they come back in from playing, the babes are usually grouchy and tired, so sleeping is over for me.  ;-)  Last week, I printed out an insect lapbook to begin with Henry, Sophia and Grace.  Well.  Not very good timing on my part considering it's getting cold outside and the insects are hiding!  So we are going to put that one aside until spring.  I'm brilliant.
Anyway...today I printed out, cut and organized needed supplies for a Pumpkin Lapbook that we will begin tomorrow.  I feel mostly better and am tired of laying around and not being with my kids.  I so love being with them. 

Here's a link to the lapbook if you're interested.  Interesting lapbooks written and compiled by Melissa Telling.

Useful House

Yesterday Darin filled the house with dust as he sanded down some spots he is repairing on our walls.  Really, it's overwhelming when we start to look around at the various spots on the walls that need repair.  There are a couple of places where a lacrosse ball has left it's mark, then there's the time when Darin repaired Henry's bike tire in the house.  Henry was so excited he rode it up and down the hallway when it was fixed - then ran into the wall with the handlebars.  Ouch!  Rollerblading, hockey, chasing the dog, basketball...our entryway and hallway just calls for these activities.

The last few weeks, I've been overwhelmed as I've been trying to juggle all our stuff around.  We are gearing up for a renovation of our entire downstairs.  New floors, kitchen cabinets, paint, and floorplan.  Our growing family no longer fits in the plan that we have.  With all the books, school things, toys, and clothes, I am almost at my wits end at making a place for everything.  If only we didn't need beds - think of all the bookshelves we could put where the beds are.  Every inch of our house is being used.  This irritated me at first because I was frustrated.  I felt as if I were standing in the middle of a room with my arms full of stuff and no where to take it.  Then I thought about all the houses with the kids and parents that are gone all day, the rooms that are unused and yet filled with furniture that never gets sat on.  There is not one room or chair or bed that doesn't get full use in our house every day and in the end, I can't help but think what a blessing that is. 

Sisters :-)

Lydia and I just took the "Which Austen Heroine Are You?" quiz.  Here are our results.  I am Elinor Dashwood.

Take the Quiz here!

Here are Lydia's results.

Take the Quiz here!

Lydia is on a big Jane Austen kick these days.  And of course I am toturing her by making her read each book before she is allowed to watch any of the movies.  heh heh  Really.  I think that should always be the way it works, don't you?  So far she has read "Emma" and is now reading "Pride and Prejudice".

A Saturday at Our House

Sitting around, waiting to recuperate from the miscarriage has really tried my patience!  I am not one to sit around and enjoy it, but I have had fun re-connecting with my scrapbooking supplies.  I've knitted us a new dishrag, organized myself for the co-op class I'll be teaching this year (Apologia General Science), written more blog entries in a week's time than I think I have all year, and plowed through a couple of BBC miniseries on Netflix...Middlemarch and The Buccaneers.  I enjoyed Middlemarch, but not The Buccaneers...Edith Wharton is "sleazy Victorian" IMHO.  Anyway...the rest of the family have been busy too.  Here's some pics from this past Saturday.  We have had to find things to do inside because the heat outside is insane.



Darin has been planning on making grape jelly from the grapes he nurtured and picked from our backyard.  He is a true manly-man...not afraid of seeming unmanly just because he's doing "woman's work."

Grapes!

The beginnings of building a bridge out of craft sticks.  Henry's personal goal for the weekend.

This little beauty lives to color.

Building...

Straining grapes and seeds from the juice.

Me...in between knitting and scrapping.  I love the flattering angle of the picture taken by one of our favorite knee-biters. ;-)

This dirty looking stuff is really grape juice!

Wait...the day isn't over yet.  Gingerbread men!  And maybe a heart or butterfly here and there.

Love them!

Reading a good book.

Grape jelly!

Time for a swim.

Finished dishrag...kinda ugly, but I guess it'll get the dishes clean.

I've been sitting around, wondering just how it was that I filled my days before now.  What was I so busy doing?  Well, the good news is that I'm about to find out!  I can feel the old energy coming back.  I can't wait to get up and about again! 



Waiting

The hardest thing about the miscarriage for me is recuperating.  I can handle the fact that God chose to bring our baby home on His schedule and not mine.  I really can.  It is a little strange to finish a pregnancy and not have a little warm head to snuggle and kiss, but I am still so blessed with a little one to snuggle.  Grace is only 19 months and is still nursing.  I've never had a baby nurse so long - she shows no signs of wanting to give it up.  But again, I think of what a Providential thing that is.  I'm sure that Grace's nursing has helped me heal more quickly.  Just like the nursing of a newborn helps bring things back to shape.



Grace at 15 months



I did too much this past Monday.  Darin had a website launch at work and was working most of the week.  After a weekend of laying around, I felt ready to go!  So I did.  I did everything I would normally have done and by dinnertime I was feeling it.  So since Monday night I've been a slug in my bed or on the couch and I'm starting to feel the effects of that as well.  I'm ready (in MY mind) to get up and get busy, but Darin keeps gently placing his hand on my shoulders and giving me a shove back down.  ;-)  He's also keeping me supplied with Chai Tea from Starbucks - the man knows how to keep me as putty in his hands.