A time for bringing home our tree,
Showing posts with label faith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label faith. Show all posts
Thursday, January 5, 2012
There is a Time for Everything
And a season for every activity under the heavens. (Ecclesiastes 3)
A time for bringing home our tree,
A time for bringing home our tree,
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
These December Days
Christmas pageant tech is in full swing. Sets are now fully painted and out of the living room. If you see them at church, be sure to look for Betsy's gold glitter paint around the star. "See, Mom, I told you we needed the glitter paint!" she reminds me, and she was right. Four-year-olds do know about the glitter.
Pageant lighting and sound tech means it is now Club Pepper in the living room. Matthew taught the girls about dimmers, and now the girls take turns as board op for our in-house disco. And by take turns I mean fight. We hear a lot of, "No, you go dance, I'm doing the lights!"
Some Christmas crafts are complete. Teacher presents were finished and gifted this morning, the last day before winter break. Other things are still in progress. I have to stop myself from starting new projects at this point. I still wonder what secret things Matthew is making with all that wood.
I love that Betsy initiated creating gifts as well. As a person who'd rather spend time at home with needles, thread, fabric, and yarn than fighting traffic to park at the mall, I am glad. And I'm proud to think that she might take after her parents in this way.
Cookies are being baked--and eaten--and baked again. Abigail proclaims them "Yumyum!" We're becoming skilled at adapting recipes to accommodate various food allergies. I mean no, those cookies weren't quite right, we need to make more!
Abigail continues to bring in this year's crop of ornaments. It looks like she'll have quite the haul. Every day, if ornaments appear (or re-appear) on the branches that she can reach, she carefully plucks each one from the Christmas tree and places it in her little blue bucket. She is quite helpful. She also continues to assist St. Nicholas by leaving presents in our shoes.
In general, we're doing less running around to events and more making Christmas at home, and it's been good. More peaceful. We're having fires in the fireplace. Singing along with carols on Pandora. Listening to the whir of the mixer and the hum of the sewing machine. Matthew and I may still be wondering if we'll finish everything in time, but it's a fun challenge.
And if you ask Betsy, she can always tell you exactly how many days are left until Christmas.
Pageant lighting and sound tech means it is now Club Pepper in the living room. Matthew taught the girls about dimmers, and now the girls take turns as board op for our in-house disco. And by take turns I mean fight. We hear a lot of, "No, you go dance, I'm doing the lights!"
Some Christmas crafts are complete. Teacher presents were finished and gifted this morning, the last day before winter break. Other things are still in progress. I have to stop myself from starting new projects at this point. I still wonder what secret things Matthew is making with all that wood.
I love that Betsy initiated creating gifts as well. As a person who'd rather spend time at home with needles, thread, fabric, and yarn than fighting traffic to park at the mall, I am glad. And I'm proud to think that she might take after her parents in this way.
Cookies are being baked--and eaten--and baked again. Abigail proclaims them "Yumyum!" We're becoming skilled at adapting recipes to accommodate various food allergies. I mean no, those cookies weren't quite right, we need to make more!
Abigail continues to bring in this year's crop of ornaments. It looks like she'll have quite the haul. Every day, if ornaments appear (or re-appear) on the branches that she can reach, she carefully plucks each one from the Christmas tree and places it in her little blue bucket. She is quite helpful. She also continues to assist St. Nicholas by leaving presents in our shoes.
In general, we're doing less running around to events and more making Christmas at home, and it's been good. More peaceful. We're having fires in the fireplace. Singing along with carols on Pandora. Listening to the whir of the mixer and the hum of the sewing machine. Matthew and I may still be wondering if we'll finish everything in time, but it's a fun challenge.
And if you ask Betsy, she can always tell you exactly how many days are left until Christmas.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Days 4 Through 6
We were on our church retreat this weekend, and I wasn't sure if I'd get any writing done. I was ready to let the project go entirely if that was the difference between enjoying and not enjoying the weekend. I'm happy to report that I met my 3-day goal of 6K, and it was quite easy to write there. I suppose it's not surprising, considering that down time was actually down time there, not Time In Which I Could Be Doing Something Productive Like Laundry. And it's hard not to be inspired in a place as beautiful as Shrine Mont.
Day 4 Word Count: 1522
Day 5 Word Count: 3262
Day 6 Word Count: 1223
Total Word Count: 11,371/50,000 (23%) Almost a quarter of the way there!
Day 4 Word Count: 1522
Day 5 Word Count: 3262
Day 6 Word Count: 1223
Total Word Count: 11,371/50,000 (23%) Almost a quarter of the way there!
Sunday, October 16, 2011
The Volunteer Farm: Planting
We were part of a group from St. Matthew's that went to help with planting. Can you guess what was in the back of that truck?
Monday, June 13, 2011
Why Do I Do It?
Why write this particular blog at this particular time?
Well, first of all, there's the shocking lack of blogs from people in my demographic (white liberal overeducated stay-at-home-moms). I can think of at least three stay-at-home moms I know who don't blog. So there's that.
Actually, this blog had its genesis at Shrine Mont, where I was walking the labyrinth and meditating on the act of giving thanks. Abigail was maybe ten weeks old, and Matthew had taken both girls to the playground so I could have time to myself. It had been a stressful year, to say the least, but by some miracles we were all there, safe and healthy and strong. A blog, I thought, would be one small way to give thanks for the many blessings we'd received.
And then for several months I stalled on it.
And then my dear friend Kelly began her blog, which is sweet and delightful and a wonderful way to give thanks. And so I followed her example and finally began.
So, what's The Silly Pepper Joy Blog all about?
Matthew and I were talking about taking the kids to the beach for the morning. And how one could look at it this way:
"I spent all morning packing up towels and toys and food and swimsuits and sunscreen and getting myself ready and the kids ready and the kids ready again, and then we drove for an hour and then I unloaded all this stuff and ran around keeping them from drowning and keeping them from eating too much sand, and then I packed us all up again and drove home again and now I'm exhausted."
Or one could look at it this way:
"Instead of sitting in an office today I got to go to the beach with my kids, and it was a beautiful day, and Betsy had a great time swimming with her friends and Abigail kept crawling in the shallows and eating sand and laughing and we all had a lot of fun."
Both are true, right? My intention isn't to gloss over the more annoying aspects of life. I certainly do enough off-blog complaining. But here I want to celebrate and appreciate the good things, be they sweet or silly or a little bit surreal, as life with children tends to be. Here I want to share and give thanks for the many joys of this life, and to maybe inspire at least one other person to do the same. Thank you for sharing the journey with me.
Well, first of all, there's the shocking lack of blogs from people in my demographic (white liberal overeducated stay-at-home-moms). I can think of at least three stay-at-home moms I know who don't blog. So there's that.
Actually, this blog had its genesis at Shrine Mont, where I was walking the labyrinth and meditating on the act of giving thanks. Abigail was maybe ten weeks old, and Matthew had taken both girls to the playground so I could have time to myself. It had been a stressful year, to say the least, but by some miracles we were all there, safe and healthy and strong. A blog, I thought, would be one small way to give thanks for the many blessings we'd received.
And then for several months I stalled on it.
And then my dear friend Kelly began her blog, which is sweet and delightful and a wonderful way to give thanks. And so I followed her example and finally began.
So, what's The Silly Pepper Joy Blog all about?
Matthew and I were talking about taking the kids to the beach for the morning. And how one could look at it this way:
"I spent all morning packing up towels and toys and food and swimsuits and sunscreen and getting myself ready and the kids ready and the kids ready again, and then we drove for an hour and then I unloaded all this stuff and ran around keeping them from drowning and keeping them from eating too much sand, and then I packed us all up again and drove home again and now I'm exhausted."
Or one could look at it this way:
"Instead of sitting in an office today I got to go to the beach with my kids, and it was a beautiful day, and Betsy had a great time swimming with her friends and Abigail kept crawling in the shallows and eating sand and laughing and we all had a lot of fun."
Both are true, right? My intention isn't to gloss over the more annoying aspects of life. I certainly do enough off-blog complaining. But here I want to celebrate and appreciate the good things, be they sweet or silly or a little bit surreal, as life with children tends to be. Here I want to share and give thanks for the many joys of this life, and to maybe inspire at least one other person to do the same. Thank you for sharing the journey with me.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Lenten Lessons
I gave up anger for Lent. Or at least I tried to.
In the past I've given up things like sweets or alcohol or the internet; things that were pretty clear cut. Going into Lent this year, I didn't have a specific plan for how I was going to deal with my anger, just a rule that I was not allowed to get angry. I had to find some other way to handle what I was feeling.
I quickly learned that there are many shades of anger, and some were harder to resist than others. For me, anger that was really fear (like road rage) was easier to resist than anger that was really fatigue, or lack of control. And what about good anger, the kind that leads us to campaign for social justice and to protect others? Should that be ignored, too?
On really difficult days, I noticed that I collected things to be angry about. First I forgot my bag, and then it was pouring rain, and then traffic was bad, and the kids were making too much noise, and on and on. And the more I looked, the easier it was to find things to be angry about.
But I also found that if I tried collecting reasons to be thankful, it was pretty easy to compile those lists, too. If I hadn't forgotten my bag, I wouldn't have realized that I'd forgotten my hat too. Yes it's pouring rain, but doesn't it smell wonderful, and don't I love watching it on the windshield? The kids are noisy because they are making each other giggle, and isn't that a good thing to hear?
Now I wasn't always great at this. I failed at this Lenten challenge like I've failed at no other, and there were days where I was overwhelmed and snapped at everybody and got in a terrible funk. I'm not proud of how I handled those times.
But I learned that I could control my reactions, much more than I'd previously thought. On those long hard days when nobody was coming to help and I just had to deal, I could "hit the reset button" and stop collecting reasons to be angry. Sometimes the reset button was a walk around the neighborhood, sometimes it was trying on ridiculous wigs with the kids, sometimes it was taking time to clean the kitchen so one part of my life was orderly again. But I learned that a bad day could be stopped, and that anger didn't have to beget anger.
The Reverend Rob Merola recently preached a great sermon titled "Going Through No to Get to Yes". And I think that by saying no to anger, I was able to say yes to so many more moments of wonder and happiness. And if that helped to make just one other person's day a bit better, then it was a worthwhile effort indeed.
In the past I've given up things like sweets or alcohol or the internet; things that were pretty clear cut. Going into Lent this year, I didn't have a specific plan for how I was going to deal with my anger, just a rule that I was not allowed to get angry. I had to find some other way to handle what I was feeling.
I quickly learned that there are many shades of anger, and some were harder to resist than others. For me, anger that was really fear (like road rage) was easier to resist than anger that was really fatigue, or lack of control. And what about good anger, the kind that leads us to campaign for social justice and to protect others? Should that be ignored, too?
On really difficult days, I noticed that I collected things to be angry about. First I forgot my bag, and then it was pouring rain, and then traffic was bad, and the kids were making too much noise, and on and on. And the more I looked, the easier it was to find things to be angry about.
But I also found that if I tried collecting reasons to be thankful, it was pretty easy to compile those lists, too. If I hadn't forgotten my bag, I wouldn't have realized that I'd forgotten my hat too. Yes it's pouring rain, but doesn't it smell wonderful, and don't I love watching it on the windshield? The kids are noisy because they are making each other giggle, and isn't that a good thing to hear?
Now I wasn't always great at this. I failed at this Lenten challenge like I've failed at no other, and there were days where I was overwhelmed and snapped at everybody and got in a terrible funk. I'm not proud of how I handled those times.
But I learned that I could control my reactions, much more than I'd previously thought. On those long hard days when nobody was coming to help and I just had to deal, I could "hit the reset button" and stop collecting reasons to be angry. Sometimes the reset button was a walk around the neighborhood, sometimes it was trying on ridiculous wigs with the kids, sometimes it was taking time to clean the kitchen so one part of my life was orderly again. But I learned that a bad day could be stopped, and that anger didn't have to beget anger.
The Reverend Rob Merola recently preached a great sermon titled "Going Through No to Get to Yes". And I think that by saying no to anger, I was able to say yes to so many more moments of wonder and happiness. And if that helped to make just one other person's day a bit better, then it was a worthwhile effort indeed.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)