in the thicket

Life is messy

I've been smiling recently as I've been running across more and more "keeping it real" posts from bloggers that I read regularly. I have just a little blog here so it's not that hard for me to be "honest" but I'm sure that some bloggers with "picture-perfect blog lives" do feel the pressure at times.

We're home sick from church this morning, some fevers still lingering (oh dear, I can't even remember the last time we made it to church, gah, that does not make me happy... accept, move on, and pray for good health & motivation!). But we're doing some Christmas crafting. This is a typical level of daily clutter for us, though it does get cleared off in time for dinner at night. I left out my grizzly-looking "razor broke after 15 years but can't commit to a new one" husband, though.

Today we're more than a little bit messy and cranky (anyone else's kids get really cranky as they are getting over being sick?) and less than motivated to whip it all into shape. I'm too lazy to take pictures of my whole house, but not too dissimilar from thi

 

Some new and old blog posts that have encouraged me!

Chatting at the Sky- Embrace the Living

Meg Duerkson- I want you to know

Remodeling this life- Done with love, not perfection

And The Nester's series on 31 Days to a Less Messy Nest... because even though our "nests" do get messy, we don't want to become potential Hoarder's episodes!

What are my habits, anyway?

I think about this a lot, what my habits are and what they say about me. When I read what educator Charlotte Mason writes about habits, sometimes I feel a bit unformed and hopeless myself- how can I cultivate good habits in my children, when no one really took the time to cultivate them in me, so now I really have to train myself, in a way?

That's discouraging. But maybe I shouldn't be discouraged. I'm sure I have some bad habits "to break" so to speak, but I also have some good habits, too. And I think they show where my heart is...

Things I do pretty much every day...

Hug & snuggle & "love on" my children.

Kiss my husband and tell him I love him.

Enjoy my kids and spend time talking to them.

Prepare one to four meals a day (sometimes I do two dinners, an earlier, simpler kid dinner and something later for the adults... that's a new habit, actually.)

Clean something. Or a lot of somethings. Or clean a lot.

Plan something.

Laugh with my girls or say silly things.

Put my glasses on. I can't see otherwise.

Comfort someone who is hurting.

Read... for myself and to my girls. Always.

Put my children to bed every night with our fairly elaborate bedtime routine. I am blessed to watch my four year-old fall asleep every night. (Take that as you will, how I feel about it depends on the night!)

"Check in" with one or more of my friends.

Check my email and check in with imaginary friends (some of whom are real people I have met, I swear.)

Things I wish I did every day but I still do a lot but should do more... I guess things I want to become habits, to become natural?

Pray, more than short desperate "help me out Lord" prayers.

Along with that, spend more time in the Word...

Write more. Write everyday. Not just messageboards, email or blogging.

Walking... for exercise and more regularly. (I sort of have a plan on this one.)

Discern what's really important and let the rest go. Cease from beating myself up.

Count my blessings and rejoice.

How about you? What do your habits say about you, the good ones anyway? How do you go about establishing new habits? Mine just came to be because they are what's important for me and necessary for my life. They come from the love of my heart and from the hopes and dreams that I have. I don't think I can adopt habits that are not "me" or that don't fit my purpose in life and God-given personality.

Maybe what I'm describing above is more habits as a way of being, rather than a tool for accomplishing goals or being super-productive or wealthy or such. But they certainly shape and enrich and in part define my life, and I think show who I really am and what I want my life to be like.

 

Magical December Day

It started with the "really big gingerbread men" that Granddaddy brought from Trader Joe's. Much fun to decorate, not so tasty for eating we figured out!

Sometimes life gives special little gifts. "Movie moments" I sometimes think, where things seem more magical than they normally do. Here in Central North Carolina, we are not accustomed to snow in December, so it was a sweet surprise when it started falling about two o'clock on Saturday afternoon.

My husband had just finished getting the leaves up in the front yard, and was thinking about tackling the back yard when it started falling. The girls ran outside (barefoot!!!) to see it. They went back out later, bundled up MUCH better because it was really cold!

This weekend was also the logical weekend for us to get and decorate our tree, though I wasn't feeling quite ready for all the Christmas decorating- house not clean enough, didn't declutter enough, blah blah blah. Thankfully we let the girls' enthusiasm propell us out the door to the Christmas Tree lot where it is now our "tradition" to purchase our tree, Wagoner's. Every year we have gone since we moved here there seems to have been a weather calamity of some sort- one year there was gusty wind and a tree almost fell on Gwen! It was definitely cold and wet but beautiful this year.

I love the JOY and HAPPINESS that Charlotte in particular radiated. I feel so blessed when I catch those "real" smiles from here, see her silliness. Her dad and I hope she stays like this for quite a while, and doesn't too quickly slide into the cynicism that seems to happen for some pre-teens and teens, and sadly for many adults, including us at times.

I have lots more pictures of the beautiful snow, but will refrain from posting them because I think I've shared enough at this point! It was my kind of snow, though, enough to look beautiful and thrill the girls but not enough to hang around and become an unwelcome guest. Thanks for sharing a bit of our magical day with us. :)