The Winding Road

With school days lurking just around the corner, I thought I would take the next few posts to share the adventures of my summer with you.

It all began just a few short days after school dismissed with packing, planning, and organizing all of the details needed to spend one month away from home, seventy hours in the van, 4,500 miles round trip with four busy children. With many anticipated adventures before me, I embarked on this journey fully equipped with games found here, stories on CD, activity pages found here, music, and DVDs in hopes of safe and peaceful travel.

Although there were moments of whining and back seat rivalries, sweet bonding took place through laughing at silly jokes, singing crazy songs, discussing deep subjects, listening to great stories, and playing creative car games as the van wound its way through Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Canada, Michigan, and then back home again.

It was an amazing journey, and one I would take again. The memories that were made were worth all of the exhaustion, hard work, and trouble it took to go.


(Each child decorated their own binder of car games and activities and journaled their trip adventures in notebooks that I put together for them. They had a lot of fun with these, especially filling in all of the states on a US map of the liscense plates they saw.)

Books, Stories, the Ultimate Story

In my home, books are beloved possessions. They get handled, read, loved daily. They carry my children on far away adventures, or teach them some new skill. They introduce young minds to the world of art, words, architecture, geography, and so much more. They are ready companions on a quiet day to both young and old alike. The words on their pages jump out and catch the attention of even a very young mind. They make an impact on use of words, creativity, and so much more. How grateful I am for the world of books, for their ability to say something to the soul of a child better than I can.

You see, I believe we are people of story. We love stories. We love to read them, tell them, hear them. We love to imagine our lives in them. Sometimes we love to hear the same story over and over again. For this reason, I love to find books that tell stories with deeper hidden truths. But more than that I love to tell the story of God to my children. You see, His story is the ultimate truth, and we are a part of it. It began in the beginning with His marvelous creation and carries on through time to today. It is a story of how He loves us and interacts with us. It is a story of Him as Creator of our very being, Father of our child heart, Shepherd over our wayward wandering, and Lover of our soul. It is the most amazing story ever told, and it never grows old.

The amazing thing about this story is that I know the Author. I met Him as a young child, and through the years have grown to know Him more. As I have grown to know Him, I have grown to love Him, and now long for each of my children to know Him. I want them to know that He is not a dry dictator full of rules and regulations, but rather the most intimate Friend they could ever have. I want them to hear His story over and over again, not as a tale of events of long ago, but as a living active story that they are a part of today. Then they, too, may love the Author and be filled with passion to share His story with the broken world around them.



I love the idea of sorting books by color. Perhaps then they might get put back on the shelf in the right place by my children. The inspiring collage was found at OhBrooke and the photo at HGTV.

Tiny Toolboxes

With the lazy days of summer once again upon me, I am excited to blog once more. Having just returned from a month long journey East, I look forward to sharing those adventures with you in the days ahead. As for now, I have been perusing my favorite blog haunts discovering so many fabulous ideas. I thought I might share this one from Alpha Mom.




With my youngest son's birthday coming up in a month, this might a fun idea!

Project Inspired

I am loving these projects from Diary of a Quilter and retro mama. Such fun, yet simple ideas that have sent me to my fabric box searching for the perfect scraps of material.



I suppose since Easter is past, I could wait on the eggs, and I think the quilt will also have to wait....


but I am very excited to begin work on the adorable 32 Minute Messenger Bag even if it takes me longer than 32 minutes!

Birthday Musings

It was my son's birthday the other day, and because he is my little contemplative artist, a party fully decked out with watercolors, clay, paint palettes, and vibrant color seemed to fit the occasion. Inspired most recently by garlands, I decided to make my own from bits of paper, fishing line, and office stickers. I then added balloons and other touches to create a festive environment for the celebration.







The boys arrived, and I quickly put them to work at decorating the birthday banner. They did a wonderful job, and decided to add splotches of paint to the balloons above the table as well. Yes, "Boys will be boys!" In consideration of their need to throw, shoot, or climb, I sent the boys outside with squirt guns loaded with watered down paint in order to create a unique masterpiece. They tried so very hard to obey the rules and keep the guns aimed at the paper, but every so often a random shot was fired in the wrong direction. At least they had old t-shirts covering their clothes in order to prevent too much damage! After devouring the pizzas they created themselves, they played some games of Wii, opened presents (of course), and decorated their own ice cream sundaes. The concoctions of M&M's, pretzels, cherries, fudge, whipped cream, coconut, Reese's Pieces, and sprinkles turned out to be beautiful masterpieces.






The party was great fun and such a reminder of the amount of energy even a small group of boys can exude. What a privilege it is to guide that energy toward greatness. Although only seven now, I often wonder what this dear contemplative son of mine will become. Will he be a great artist, a musician, an architect, or perhaps an astronaut? The possibilities are endless. One thing I know, whatever he chooses, it is the prayer of my heart that he will do it to glorify the One who made him so uniquely talented.

Eye Candy: Garlands

I love these images. As I am creating a garland of my own for my contemplative boy's birthday party, I am aware of the amount of work that went into creating these works of art. Beautiful!

Gorgeous origami photo by Snorkie Snork!. Inspiring garland by Sophie Cuvelier of Fabulous Garlands. Beautiful balloons by Tia Ramia.

Refreshed

This morning I found myself completely exhausted in the midst of a very busy week of delightful surprises from my dear husband, birthday plans and parties, celebrations with family, athletic events of the children, lessons, meals, the everyday activities as mom. So with a cup of tea in hand I retreated to my sanctuary (my bedroom), and spent some time in prayer, reading, and muse over my life.

As I pondered the days before me, and the plans I have, I was reminded how my dear Lord is the Shepherd who not only guides me, but refreshes and strengthens me. He walks with me on this incredible journey of life, and holds me in His hands. He fills my cup, and He is enough.

I was also reminded of how simple this life of trust in God can be. There is no need to please, no need to strive, no need to scheme. There is only need to seek His face day by day, ONE DAY at a time. What joy and freedom this thought brings, to simply to live life hearing voice of the One who loves me to the depths of my very soul.

Spring Cookie Art

Spring is here at last. To celebrate, I pulled out the cookie pans, cutters, and sprinkles, and whipped up some cookie dough and frosting for a delightful afternoon with my children. I love the imagination each one put into their creations. I love the refined beauty of my older daughters' cookies and the whimsical art of my sons' all piled together on one plate. I love the laughter, the joy, the conversation shared around a sticky table. I love the celebration tea that followed, and the dancing that concluded our day together. What a wonderful way to celebrate spring! The memories created today will not be forgotten.

Admirer or Follower?

"The difference between an admirer and a follower still remains, no matter where you are. The admirer never makes any true sacrifices. He always plays it safe. Though in words, phrases, songs, he is inexhaustible about how highly he prizes Christ, he renounces nothing, gives up nothing, will not reconstruct his life, will not be what he admires, and will not let his life express what he supposedly admires."
Soren Kierkergaard

This quote has turned over and over again in my mind for the past few weeks. Its depth has pierced my soul with conviction. Truly I admire Christ, all that He is, and all that He has done for me. My heart is full of deep affection, but has this affection led me to give up all that I have and all that I am? Have I laid down my life for His? Have I followed Him to the cross? Or do I still hold on to earthly ties?

I want to be considered as one who follows my Lord, but this following comes with great cost. Sometimes the cost seems too great, but is it really? What cost is too great for the One who gave up his right to be king, and came humbly as a poor man to this earth to live a short life, then die? He lived to die. If I am a true follower of Him, my purpose will also be to live to die.

I like how the Message translation of Luke 14:33 says it. It states, "Simply put, if you're not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can't be my disciple."

Living to die, truly is a process. At the moment I finally give in and die to that thing I hold so dear, I am confronted by yet something else that lies deeper, something embedded into my heart that my selfish soul refuses to let go of. Then the dying process begins yet anew. For this reason Paul said "I am crucified with Christ." In other words, I am daily dying.

There is beauty, though, in this death, this being "ruined" of soul. It is the life of freedom that follows. Freedom to be a true disciple of Christ. You see, the more self dies, the more joyful life becomes. Although the process is hard, as death is painful, the resurrection of life that follows is beyond compare.