Monthly Archives: June 2010

Value and Reward

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Often I hear my tone echoing throughout the van or the house as the children quiet under my scolding, and I sigh heavily, conviction swirling through my heart and mind. This parenting thing is hard, and my expectations for my children and my home are often unrealistic.

Perspective.

The Lord has changed mine on many levels as He walked with us through trial after trial, and He taught me much over these past years about valuing my children.

Valuing them by presence.

Valuing their presence. Valuing them by being present with them.  Read more... (911 words, 1 image, estimated 3:39 mins reading time)

Baking with Bella (Butterfly) and Bear

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We’re at it again… baking together. Only Bear wanted in on the action, and Bella had transformed into a butterfly this time, which by the way is what she wants to be when she grows up. Either a butterfly or a dolphin.

This post is much more about the children than the process, because, well, I just find them so stinkin’ cute!

I give you… a Butterfly and a Bear Baking Grasshopper Brownies:

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Once the brownies were made and the beaters licked, these two delights sat for almost the full baking time watching it cook. They make me laugh so much.  Read more... (270 words, 8 images, estimated 1:05 mins reading time)

Thank You

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I can see it in their eyes when they look at you.
I can hear it in their voices when they call your name.
I can feel it in the energy when they run to greet you when you come home.

Whether it’s traipsing through cold fields looking for a Christmas tree
or sledding through deep snows on frigid days.
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Whether it’s dressing up for birthday parties and being slain by valiant knights.
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Whether it’s playing basketball with Ash, comforting a wounded Bear,
or teaching Bella how to hit a ball.
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Whether it’s soccer games in the backyard or camping trips with our Boy Scout.
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Whether it’s planning your next move in football or mowing the lawn for hours.
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Whether it’s snuggling a little girl or rocking her to sleep with a book.
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p1020020.jpg  Read more... (188 words, 13 images, estimated 45 secs reading time)

Getaway… (Part 2)

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“…this way of living, this focus on the present, the daily, the tangible, this intense concentration not on the news headlines but on the flowers growing in your own garden, the children growing in your own home, this way of living has the potential to open up the heavens, to yield a glittering handful of diamonds where a second ago there was coal. This way of living and noticing and building and crafting can crack through the movie sets and soundtracks that keep us waiting for our own life stories to begin, and set us free to observe the lives we have been creating all along without ever realizing it. (~Shauna Niequist, Cold Tangerines)  Read more... (293 words, 16 images, estimated 1:10 mins reading time)

Glittering Days

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The only option as I see it, is this delicate weaving of action and celebration, of intention and expectation. Let’s act, read, protest, protect, picket, learn, advocate for, fight against, but let’s be careful that in the midst of all that accomplishing and organizing, we don’t bulldoze over a world that’s teeming with beauty and hope and redemption all around us and in the meantime. Before the wars are over, before the cures are found, before the wrongs are righted, Today, humble Today, presents itself to us with all the ceremony and bling of a glittering diamond ring. “Wear me, ” it says, “Wear me out. Love me, dive into me, discover me,” it pleads with us.
(~from Shauna Niequist’s “Cold Tangerines”)  Read more... (304 words, estimated 1:13 mins reading time)