Days Like These

I am just loving this spring weather. I'm thinking having a spring baby is really going to work nicely in our favor, as we'll be able to get out and enjoy the sunshine. The sun really picks me up, and hopefully force me to get outside, even when I'm exhausted. If that doesn't work, I'm sure the kiddo below will encourage me to go anyway. :)
I am so impressed by this little girl that will soon be a "big sister". She has so much life inside of her, so much curiosity, so much joy. We've spent our fabulous afternoon playing outside, planting flowers, having some of Daddy's ice cream (shhhh!!), and drinking this. I love days like these!

God has made motherhood such a special responsibility. It's hard and demanding and tiring, but it's the most rewarding role I've had yet. :) I feel like I should be thanking her for being such an incredible person than for her to be thanking me for being her mommy. She's way cooler than I am, no doubt.

Incoherent Thoughts

This is what I wish I was doing right now. E and I have caught a cold from someone somewhere, and now all I want to do is sleep. Of course as a mom, that's not really possible, so I'll have to live vicariously through my kitty. She looks like she's having a good rest, yes?

It's been a quiet couple of days around here. Dinners have consisted of salad after salad for the most part (thanks to our CSA). Time to start thinking of some ways to spruce up our salads, so we're not sick of them by the end of the harvest season. We are enjoying the peas that we've gotten the past couple of weeks. You must eat them straight out of the pod though - they're more nutritious and taste SO much better. Just try it. You won't regret it.

And of course, with the summer season here, I've been loving the watermelon we can buy so easily... seriously. I think I could eat a whole watermelon, it's that yummy. E's still loving her blueberries. Must find u-pick farm for these. As soon as she sees the container of blueberries she'll point and say "Blue! Blue!!" until there are a few in her hands.

Anyway, forgive this post if it's not the most coherent. My mind is feeling very fuzzy at the moment. I can tell because I've been staring at that sentence for about five minutes now... just staring....

More Joy

This little girl has taught me so much about life in the short time she's been on this earth. These are just a few things:

1. She's taught me how quickly time flies.
2. How much fun it is to laugh so hard it hurts.
3. That life is meant to be LIVED to its fullest.
4. That sitting still can be a blessing!
5. She's shown me how much beauty one person can hold.
6. How to be alive.
7. How we're surrounded by an exciting world, ready to be explored.
8. That simple things are the most interesting.
9. She's taught me how much God has blesses His children.
10. And of course, how much one person can love another.

Day Two: Simple Pleasures

I've been craving lemonade for weeks, but didn't act on the craving until yesterday. Oh, my goodness... it was SO good. This was the first time I attempted to make lemonade from lemons I squeezed myself, and boy, it's much better this way.

Springtime Rainy Days

I much prefer sunny days to rainy ones, especially since E will stand at the door and cry to go outside even if it's pouring. Ummm... sometimes I wish we owned a rain jacket and boots, so she could splash in the puddles and sometimes I'm happy to tell her "no, we need to stay dry."

And in rainy day "fun", I was completely inspired to clean and organize. Of course this doesn't happen often for me, so I tried to keep going without taking long breaks, in fear that this urge would leave. My house looks amazing right now... well as amazing as this rental place can get. Now if only it could stay this way FOREVER.

Lately I've been feeling the urge to buy a house. Hmmm... not good, because we're completely happy with this place in our lives. I'm glad that we can make our rent payment and not have to worry about utilities, lawn maintenance, broken appliances, etc. So, in an effort to squelch this desire, I'm focusing more on our little place and making it feel like home (which it really does feel like home, even moreso than our last rental which was larger and "nicer" according to some family and friends). Next task? Painting our bedroom, I think. It's really a dreadful color right now with a terrible border. Why do people put borders on their walls?! I HATE peeling them off.

In the spirit of spring, I bought some cheap yellow tulips when I was at the grocery store. I'm in love with them, and now yellow tulips may be one of my favorite flowers. Maybe God created flowers to make us smile and feel more alive?

I'm hoping to get some flowers planted outside in the next few weeks. It seems that E should like to garden at some level given her name, right? Shouldn't be too difficult, since that's where she seems to be the happiest.

Anyway, the kiddo is walking around in circles and loving it. I think I might join in on the fun.

Wonder

Our weekend was full of sunshine, laziness, and bike rides (I rode over 20 miles in two days!). Our church had their anniversary service yesterday, and the message was very convicting. The pastor spoke about how we need to maintain a sense of wonder about our faith, much like a child approaches life. E loves to go outside and explore the smallest details - rocks, dirt, a pinecone. I'm praying that my sense of wonder will return - that I will believe and expect God to do big things, yet take so much joy in the smaller details, like my girl does.



The weekend was pretty much spent at the beach - with picnics and ice cream. Yes, our child loves ice cream (what kid doesn't though, right?). Admittedly, there are moments when I miss life downstate, but this weekend's beauty reminded me of how blessed we are to be surrounded by God's amazing creation.

Okay, back to reality and chores. My house needs a serious cleaning.

Handmade by L

Isn't this picture lovely? My sister-in-law, L, made this for E's first birthday. I love having handmade items in my house - it just feels so warm and happy. She even took into account that E has a purple butterfly theme. How sweet. We're pretty blessed to be surrounded by such talented people in our lives!!

Thanks, L, we love it!

Easter - He's Risen!!

Our beautiful little girl. :)

Coloring Eggs
The finished product

Randomness

The four of us at the reception... Jess was a beautiful bride!!
My two favorite people.
F getting ready for her fourth "flower girl" moment
The babe sleeping on the plane. She was amazing during this trip, even though she was sick.

The Mission.... God's Creation

I am currently re-reading "Mission of Motherhood" by Sally Clarkson. It's really been such a challenging, yet inspiring book to read. It's really forced me to think about my role as a mother, and what my priorities are as far as parenting goes. What should my main focus be? How do I incorporate that in my every day living?

Well, my main desire for E is that she will come to love Jesus. I want her to enjoy serving, being God's creation, loving others, being in God's presence, love creativity, be inquisitive. Let's face it, though... This means I need to model all of this for her. Not such an easy task.

The current chapter I am reading is about the "Creative Mother". Here is a rather long excerpt for the book that has inspires me every time I read it:

"Helping my children to enjoy and appreciate God's handiwork in its many varieties requires a choice. It means that I must take time to expose my children to the beauty and grandeur of nature, to stop to enjoy and admire it with them, and to choose to allow the intangible reality of God's design to fill their souls - time when the televisions and computers are turned off, no phone calls are made and activities are balanced so that quiet pondering and thoughtful enjoyment are a regular part of our days.

In our culture we have too often secluded ourselves and our children from the beauty and mysteries of God's natural creation. In the interest of convenience and progress, we have substituted man-made materials for the real thing. And while I believe that human creations can indeed be indirect expressions of God's creativity, I also believe that the farther we move from nature the more out of touch we can get with God' s power and reality.

We may substitute silk flowers for fresh flowers cut from a garden or wildflowers plucked from a hillside. But while the silk flowers never wilt, they lack the incredible fragrance of roses or honeysuckle or lavender or the freshness of buttercups or Queen Anne's lace. And while the real flowers may wither, they also teach us lessons about the fragility and temporary state of this life that perfect artificial ones never could.

Even the food we eat tends to be prepackaged and institutional. The natural tastes of spices and herbs in homemade soups, the chewiness of whole-grain bread, pasta, or brownies with pecans; the natural sweetness of real fruit and the juicy crunch of fresh vegetables are replaced with vitamin tables and commercial substitutes.

So many of us in our plastic, industrial world spend the bulk of our lives apart from any true natural beauty. We travel inside protected cars and feel the wind, rain, and snow on our faces, only as we move from one enclosure to another. So many children in our industrial society grow up surrounded by glass and plastic, steel and asphalt. They spend most of their time with machines - televisions and stereos, game consoles and computers, and cars. They are rarely exposed to the natural elements that were meant to daily confront our soul with the greatness of God.

No wonder current generations seem to give in so easily to doubt and skepticism! They have had little opportunity to wonder at the greatness of God in the vast ocean or in the middle of a snowy blizzard or felt tiny when standing under the canopy of stars."

Wow. Besides making my heart scream "take care of the earth!", it also causes me to remember all of the times I have felt closest to God. Going for walks during the autumn and seeing the deep, vibrant colors. Being at the beach and seeing the waves, or finding unique shells and stones. Feeling enveloped with all of the snow on trees - having that mystical feeling.

My heart longs so much for E to experience God in this way - feel with her soul that He's there amongst His creation. There is so much beauty for her to know. But as Clarkson states, it's a conscious effort for me, as her mom, to make sure she has the opportunity to experience God with her senses.

It requires me making the time to spend the 20 minutes getting her bundled up, and taking her outside to explore, experience, feel and know on her own. It takes the time to make our food from scratch, when we could buy it already made, and allowing E to be involved (this is tricky now as she is still so young).

This is when I feel the rawness of God - the essence of who He is. Oh, for E to know this as well...

I hear E stirring from her nap.... and it's snowing outside.... time to find beauty in the winter...

Pomegranates!!!

They're beautiful (and so good for you too)! I just couldn't resist them when I went to the market recently. It's a newly acquired taste that has just developed, but now I've been scouring all things pomegranate. I'm thinking about making some fresh juice for e, and then doing some marinades for chicken.

But I found this recipes spice pomegranate apple cider that sounds delish!

6 cups of apple cider
6 cloves
1 stick of cinnamon
1 - 1/5 cups of fresh pomegranate juice

Heat apple cider, cloves and cinnamon until juice reaches a simmer; remove from heat. Let steep, covered for one hour. Stir in pomegranate juice. For each serving, heat 3/4 cup mixture (do not boil).

Yum yum!!!

Yesterday we took our little tyke outside, for the first "big" snowstorm in December. In fact, it was heavy enough to close most of the northern Michigan schools. Anyway, we went outside - we bundled her up in her snow pants, shoes, hat, coat and sat her in the snow. This was the result. :)

Well today is a big day for me. Through the 26 Decembers that I've been on the earth, this is the first time I will ever experience Christmas with a real tree. Yay!! I've already heard the "What? Really?" from a million people, but it's true. My parents had five children, so paying for a tree each year and dealing with pine needles wasn't high on the priority list. And really, I'd probably be the same way.

We probably would have had a real tree before this point in our married lives, had we not lived downstate. Seriously, who wants to pay $75 for a tree?!! I just couldn't do it - especially since we're never home for the holidays.

So this year was different. We're in a cheaper area (pine tree speaking), we have a baby, and I'm home to take care of pesty pine needles. L was all for it, so we decided that this would be the year.

We found a beautiful tree, and L even agreed on buying a tree skirt and fun ribbon to put on the tree. It turned out to be better than I could have imagined it... and better yet, e hasn't shown a bit of interest in it since she pricked her fingers (and face) a few times.

Soooo.... though it's not fancy, I love it, and thought I'd share the beauty with you. :)