Happy New Year!

"For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
To make an end is to make a beginning."

(T.S. Eliot)

"All very alarming."

"Magdalene" by Da Vinci

C.S. Lewis on Mary Magdalene:

"The allegorical sense of her great action dawned on me the other day. The precious alabaster box which one must break over the Holy Feet is one's heart. Easier said than done. And the contents become perfume only when it is broken. While they are safe inside they are more like sewage. All very alarming."

(Letters to an American Lady)

Small Boat on the Ocean

"At issue here is the question: 'To whom do I belong? To God or to the world?' Many of my daily preoccupations suggest that I belong more to the world than to God. A little criticism makes me angry, and a little rejection makes me depressed. A little praise raises my spirits, and a little success excites me. It takes very little to raise me up or thrust me down.  

Often I am like a small boat on the ocean, completely at the mercy of its waves. All the time and energy I spend in keeping some kind of balance and preventing myself from being tipped over and drowning shows that my life is mostly a struggle for survival: not a holy struggle, but an anxious struggle resulting from the mistaken idea that it is the world that defines me...."

-Henri Nouwen

The Return of the Prodigal Son

Jack is Four!

Our wild, sweet boy is four! He had a marvelous birthday week full of fun surprises like petting zoos and favorite dinner (he requested steak, homemade fries, corn on the cob, watermelon, and ice cream -- he must be growing!) and tractor rides and balloons. 

This little guy is all about the farm equipment...

and chocolate cake...

and fishing with Daddy (and catching a 17-inch bass on his little Iron-Man fishing pole that nearly cracked!).

  Happy birthday, little man. May you always keep your soft, loving heart and your zest for life! We love you so very, very much. XXOO

Random Monday Thoughts

• Happy Day After Mother's Day to all mamas out there! The next time you feel discouraged in your motherhood, check this out (after you grab a box of Kleenex).
• Our Blue dog had to have emergency surgery two weeks ago, then ripped open his stitches and had to go back under to have them redone. For two more weeks, he gets to wear this: 

 

          We cringe for him and laugh at him simultaneously all day long, poor guy.

• I'm reading Middlemarch for book club. I had not read it since Brit Lit with Dr. Fabisch fifteen years ago. I remembered how long it was but I had forgotten how insightful she is compared to, say, Austen. Good stuff. 

•  Does anyone else notice how churches preach Mother's Day sermons that focus on how much we need to appreciate our mothers, but then Father's Day rolls around and it's a lot of finger-wagging at delinquent dads? Why is that? My mother-in-law was telling me how her pastor went so far yesterday as to reprimand fathers for not praising their wives publicly, as the husband does in Proverbs 31. Interesting. Are we assuming there are far more delinquent dads out there than moms? Or are they just an easier target today? Hmm. 

• Today is our eighth wedding anniversary, and I have to say, I love being married to my guy. 'Twas the best decision I ever made in my life.
  
  

Life randomness

Today is sunshine, pure sunshine. I just came in from an hour or two out in the yard with Jack, cleaning up for springtime and sprucing up a little here, a little there. The log cribs went away; the Adirondacks came out. The grass is almost long enough to mow. And it is so so green! Aaah, fresh air and springtime is good for the soul.

I'm jumped on this a day late, but I'm goin' for it anyway, starting tomorrow: Renae's Detox Week. I love that it isn't crazy and is very comprehensive. Join up, pals! I eat pretty clean and healthy anyway so it doesn't even involve any extra groceries (which is good, but I went to Meijer and THEN read the post). Actually, I take that back: I have no almond or soy milk. But since I'm an official milk-hater, it's all good. (My medical records at my doctor's office say it officially: "Milk-Hater." My doc is a little quirky.)

I officially love doing laundry. I love sorting, loading, switching...and then it's so warm and smells so good afterward. And the best part is folding it all. Beautiful piles of white tee shirts, little piles of underpants and pink socks, kid-sized jeans with scuff marks on the knees...I just love being able to take care of these people in my home through all these neat piles of warm, clean clothes that God has blessed us with!

May is suddenly the new December - we have something going on every single weekend that month already, and I want to say No to it all (except for our anniversary and Jack's birthday, of course). Sigh.
 

 "There is not one blade of grass, not one color in the world, that is not intended to make us rejoice." 

(John Calvin)

 

Gratitude

991. The beauty of companionship within a marriage
992. Adele's bravery in mastering her bike without training wheels

 
993. Antibiotics
994. Sunshine, glorious sunshine, after a long, cold, dark winter
995. Knowing God's presence more keenly is certain situations of life
996. Waves and ripples - and no ice! - on all the inland lakes around here
997. Spring rain falling on our freshly tilled garden

998. Time at home to play, hang out, run around, just be together ... instead of school, play dates, meetings, etc. It's so good for our little family to just be together at home.
999. Whoever writes the BSF notes and study questions
1,000. Ann Voskamp for the idea to do this! My outlook has expanded during the past couple of years, especially early on when my children were small and we were at home all day, most days, and I really think that looking for blessings in the everyday grind was crucial to that. Gratitude brought sanity because it directed my eyes upward and outward instead of inward.