Lord, Hear Our Prayer

Gospel
Luke 10:25-37
There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test him and said,
“Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law?
How do you read it?”
He said in reply,
“You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with all your being,
with all your strength,
and with all your mind,
and your neighbor as yourself.”
He replied to him, “You have answered correctly;
do this and you will live.”

But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus,
“And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus replied,
“A man fell victim to robbers
as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho.
They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead.
A priest happened to be going down that road,
but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.
Likewise a Levite came to the place,
and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.
But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him
was moved with compassion at the sight.
He approached the victim,
poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them.
Then he lifted him up on his own animal,
took him to an inn, and cared for him.
The next day he took out two silver coins
and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction,
‘Take care of him.
If you spend more than what I have given you,
I shall repay you on my way back.’
Which of these three, in your opinion,
was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?”
He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.”
Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."
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Think
"We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures; we are the sum of the Father's love for us and our real capacity to become the image of His Son Jesus. "Blessed John Paul II"

Pray
Please, Lord, let me be the person you created me to be. And let me see in my neighbor the person you created him to be.

Act
Wherever you are today, be a missionary for Christ.

How can we pray for you this week?

Let's Organize Hearth & Home Once and For All! {and some sweet giveaways}.

Good morning! A few weeks ago, I whined mentioned that my email was out of control and my computer was a messed up jumble of inefficient digital chaos. Sarah suggested that I needed a system. Specifically, she encouraged me to look at Paperless Home Organization. And there, I met Mystie Winckler. Now, I want you to meet her, too.

My guest this morning is Mystie Winckler. Mystie is the oldest of seven children, homeschooled from birth through high school, now married for twelve years with five children of her own – ages 10 years to 8 months – whom she homeschools. 

She is the author of Simplified Dinner and Paperless Home Organization, two ingenious publications crammed with tips and systems we all could use. Here's my Saturday morning breakfast chat with Mystie. Please join us (there are some goodies for you at the end)!

What path led you to the work you do today? Tell us about The Great Simplification.

I consider homemaking, mothering, and homeschooling to be my work; my two eBooks are gussied-up versions of projects I did for myself for my own homemaking. I have been blogging as a hobby for about seven years, so writing & selling the eBooks has been an extension of my blogging hobby. By the time I had my third baby over 5 years ago, I'd already tried all sorts of homemaking and menu planning systems and failed at them, but I'd learned a lot-- not only about housekeeping but also about myself. I found that with baby #3 and, at the time, my husband traveling quite a bit, I had zero extra brain cells. It might not have been the best time to undertake a major system overhaul and recreate how I did all things food, but, honestly, I was scared that if I had so little energy and brain power for meals at that point, I would never be able to handle more children and more homeschooling (I was only teaching my oldest phonics at the time). So, I wrote down what I wanted in a menu planning system, and I threw away almost all my recipe card and food magazine collection. The end result, 3 years later, I was able to package up (over the course of another year)  Simplified Pantry as my eBook, but it was a 3 year, real-life process that I did for my own sanity. When I was happy with it, I thought I'd fix it up to give to my newly married sister and a few friends, and in the process, it turned into a pretty and highly practical eBook that has helped hundreds of moms make keeping the pantry full and dinner coming every day much less of a headache and energy drain.

How do you come up with new menu ideas?

 

Actually, I created Simplified Dinners so that I didn't have to do that anymore. :) I sometimes get ideas from food blogs or Pinterest, but I only use new ideas if I feel inspired to do so, and I make myself stick to my basic master pantry list and not buy any special ingredients unless it's for a holiday or birthday. Most days I pick a meal variant from Simplified Dinners (I've been using it for a couple years now, so it's mostly in my head, though I reference my Evernote version a couple times a week still based on what meat I want to use or what vegetables I need to use up. I do a lot of ad libbing as I cook and I never measure, so even though I make the same dinners, they are never quite the same, and making those on-the-fly variations based on what I have fulfills the creative urge and keeps cooking from becoming dull repetition. 

Is your business a family endeavor? How do combine your work and your family life? Are your kids your taste testers? 

 

Yes, my kids are my taste-testers because all my cooking has been done for them first. Recipes for the Simple Pantry Cooking Blog or Simplified Dinners were first real meals for my family on real days. I'm not a real food blogger. I don't have time for extra cooking beyond what I already do – which is a lot! My husband is a software programmer and web developer, so my blogs and webpages are designed by him. He made the covers for both eBooks and also proofread them. He would like to offer products and services online independently someday, so my endeavor is a little guinea pig to find out what it's like to sell intangible goods online in a low-risk way. It's been a fun little adventure!

The hardest part is the draw to always be at my laptop, especially since all my calendars and school plans are there, but I decided to not do social media at all for promotional or personal use, and that has helped curb the time-sucking nature of the internet. It's so easy to bury my head in the quicksand of link-clicking when I don't want to deal with my real life, so that is a temptation I have to always be aware of and fight against.

In your own life, were you always super-organized?

I have always been an administrative type, but not a neat or tidy type. When I was 10 or so, I remember spending long afternoons planning imaginary parties out on paper with lists that I knew would never happen. Over the years, I've tried to leverage my administrative tendencies to help make up for my messy tendencies and my distaste of housekeeping. I have improved a lot over the years in a sink-or-swim fashion rather than a carefully methodical way. I've finally realized that, unfortunately, "getting organized" is exactly the same as "cleaning the house": It's often a big project, and even when it's "done," it's never actually done - it has to be maintained. Moreover, it will soon have to be a project again. 

How does organization enhance creativity? 

Honestly, the most significant way organization enhances creativity is that you know where things are, so you don't spend time hunting for them or repurchasing items that were in your stash. Decluttering and working toward giving everything an intentional home is like turning off a constant white noise track in your mind: you won't realize how much tension and static was there until it's off. You might think the white noise helps, but once you experience silence instead, you'll never call white noise peaceful again. 

What is the single most important piece of organizational advice you can offer to a mother?

 

Organization is being prepared, knowing where things belong, having clear working spaces, and knowing what needs to be done. It is not having color-coded, cutesy bins in all your closets. It is not necessarily pinterest-perfect. Organization means your stuff and your house is ready to use, not that it always looks ordered and impressive. Don't be discouraged if it gets used. Using the stuff and the house is the point, not keeping it constantly just-so.

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Gosh, I like Mystie! The italics above are mine, because I think what she said is brilliant and I want it to stand out in my very visual brain. 

Now, it's your turn. Leave a comment below and tell me your best organization tip or ask your most pressing organizational question. Comments enter you to win one of two copies of Simplified Dinner (there's a gluten free, dairy free version, too) or one of three copies of Paperless Home Organization. I promise to ponder your questions and Mystie will be back here early next week to chime in, too. And of course, if you can answer someone else's question, we're all the better for it, so please do!

Both eBooks at Mystie's site 30% off for readers here. Just use the code heartofmyhome.

The winner is Patty, who said, 

If your children leave something out (food, dirty dish, the lid for the empty container they just threw away) make them come back and put it away even if it would be easier for you to do it. One day they will realize it will be easier for them to just do it now instead of have mom interrupt them later.

Date Night

I hung the outfit on the bar in my closet on Tuesday morning. I knew then that it was a sort of silly thing to do and I also knew that in this crazy life, it was highly possible that plans would go awry. Still, I hung it there. And now it's Friday. And tonight is Date Night. I think we're actually going to go.

I nearly forgot that my reliable "babysitter" would be in Steubenville, but Michael and Kristin can make a last minute save. The under-13 crowd approves of my choice of supervisors. Cross my fingers and click my heels, I think Mike and I are going to go out tonight.

This whole date night concept is kind of new to us. I think my husband was on a bit of a quest last year. He's very smart guy. After 25 years of nursing babies and very attached toddlers, he made his move. Not just dates, but trips. Actual "vacations" away. Three of them. In the same year! People, we never had a honeymoon. These were the first three trips of our marriage. We went to Miami and to Baltimore and then, in September, we spent a week in California. 

On these trips--particularly in California--I learned the language of date night. My only regret? That I didn't learn it sooner. Not day goes by even now that our trip to California doesn't come to mind. I think I actually said aloud to someone the other day that it was "life changing." And it was. It was a honeymoon, 25 years later. Now, we have mini honeymoons when we have a date night.

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In California, we visited Napa, and toured wineries. We watched the sun set over the water in Monterey. We took a leisurely drive down the Pacific Coast Highway and we meadered back on 17 Mile Drive. We went to Mass in an old Mission church. We met friends for dinner in an amazing restaurant. We hung out backstage at a Dave Matthews concert (haven't blogged that one yet, have I?). Mostly though, we had hours and hours of uninterrupted falling in love--again. 

Tonight's date night will take us to dinner and a Virginia winery we've grown to love since returning from Napa. We'll drive our own mountain roads and sip some local artistry. My guess is it's all going to feel very much like California did, deep down in our hearts. Sometimes, though, instead of sun setting over Monterey Bay, we sit at the lake in our neighborhood and watch the sun go down as we eat a carryout Chinese picnic.

Good enough. Really good, actually. 

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I spend so much time here talking about living an intentional life with our children. It occurs to me that Date Night is the best of intentionality at the heart of a marriage. Mabye it's not a night out. Maybe it's getting up a half hour earlier so that you can [try to] be up before the baby and have breakfast together out on the front steps. Maybe it's hiring a sitter or asking the empty-nester next door to just come for an hour after everyone's asleep so that you can share a dessert and a cup of chai on the patio of a local coffee shop. Slip out. Get away (even if it's just to the playhouse in the backyard).

Fall in love again.

with needle & thREAD

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We're binge sewing this week! Monday afternoon, I found myself alone in the house and I wandered into my sewing room to see about putting together the blouse I cut for Katie weeks ago. I didn't have the right shade of pink thread. Since I really wanted to settle in with my machine, stitch a little, inhale steaming cotton, and feel the contentment that comes with creating a bit with my hands, I found another quick project.

It's been the Summer of Humidity here. It rains nearly every day and when it's not raining, it feels like a steam room out there. My hair is looking ridiculously unruly. My go-to is always a folded bandana to pull it out of my eyes, but that look isn't the greatest very often. 

Andrea posted some really cute headbands on Instagram last week, so I followed her lead. I used the turtorial at Happy Together (I love the name of that blog!). Once I finished one, I saw the potential.

Last spring, I promised several girls in Katie's dance class that we'd sew this summer. These headbands are perfect for dancers and they are also the perfect small project to get girls sewing. Yesterday, we had a friend for Katie and a friend for Kari come sew with us. Each girl chose her own fabric and I helped each one make hers individually. After making the first four, I recognized that the younger girls' probably needed a slightly smaller band, so I cut Sarah's down as I went. There is actually a link to a smaller pattern at the Happy Together  site. I think I'll check that out before our next pair of sister friends come to sew next week. 

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 All pictures above are kindness of Katie with my iPhone. I had every intention of taking good pictures with my big camera but quickly discovered that I had my hands full. 

I've been reading Educating the WholeHearted Child this week. It used to be that I read this book the first week of July every year. The book was revised a few years ago and now it takes me much longer! It's so well worth the time though. I don't tend to go to homeschool conferences or retreats. This book is it. I take time to sit with  pretty pens and notepaper, a cup of tea, and intention to pray and I let the wisdom seep into  my bones (hopefully).

The nice thing about the revised copy is that the Clarksons have perspective now. Their children are grown. They can look back with some sense of confidence. They can also draw upon the reflections of their kids. What worked? What didn't? I can tell you this. The Clarkson clan is real. They struggle like the rest of us. But a great deal worked!

Lest you think all the fun was had by girls druing yesterday's crafternoon, I assure you the boys created, too. Nicky made cupcakes while we sewed and then everyone got in on the act of decorating. A good time was had by all:-)

What are you sewing and reading this week? I am eager to hear!

What's on your summer reading list? Do you have a summer sewing list?  Or are you embroidering? Pulling a needle with thread through lovely fabric to make life more beautiful somehow? Would you share with us just a single photo (or more) and a brief description of what you're up to? Will you tell us about what you're reading, also? Would you talk sewing and books with us? I'd love that so much.

    Make sure the link you submit is to the URL of your blog post or your specific Flickr photo and not your main blog URL or Flickr Photostream. Please be sure and link to your current needle and theREAD post below in the comments, and not a needle and theREAD post from a previous week. If you don't have a blog, please post a photo to the needle & thREAD group at Flickr. 

       Include a link back to this post in your blog post or on your flickr photo page so that others who may want to join the needle and thREAD fun can find us! Feel free to grab a button here (in one of several colors) so that you can use the button to link:-).

Simplicity in the Midst of Complexity

::noticing God's glory

We have some okra in our garden. We also have mold, mildew,  and root rot... Not the best gardening year:-(

::listening to 

Nick and Sarah singing while they draw in the sunroom. Nicky is making up new lyrics to the Signing Time Rainbow Song. It drives him crazy that the colors are out of order on the video, but he does love the song. He's keeping me very entertained. And it's nice to hear him sing again. He's been sick for a week now. I've missed his cheerful singing voice. 

::clothing myself in 

Denim shorts, crochet trimmed T-shirt, these awesome shoes. 

::talking with my children about these books

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Lightning Thief. We've had some interesting conversations about ADHD and dyslexia around here lately. And, of course, reading Percy Jackson inevitably leads to someone reading D'Aulaire's Greek Myths...

The One Thing is Three: How the Most Holy Trinity Explains Everything I have just started reading this one, but I find myself wanting to share something with Mary Beth about evry other page.

::thinking and thinking

(Still;): about battling back from burnout. I have to admit that I'm burned out. I tried to deny it, tried to defy it. Now, I'm "battling back." Actually, I plan to retitle that chapter in its new edition."Battling back" sounds like so much work. Instead, I'm embracing renewal. I've got lots of new ideas about burnout. When I wrote that chapter a dozen or so years ago, no one was emailing with team updates every ten minutes. There was no constant barrage of social media. My phone didn't go with me when I left the house. I was thinking about survival in the near term and not necessarily sustainability over the long haul. It just seems like there is so much more noise, so much input.

Ah, but I was also unable to pray the Liturgy of the Hours while sitting in the waiting room outside an college IEP meeting.  couldn't text a friend when I got stuck on the renewal journey. So, it's not all bad. Can the internet be a tool in renewal? I'm pondering that.

::pondering prayerfully

"The woman is at the heart of the home. let us pray that we women realise the reason for our existence; to love and be loved and through this love become instruments of peace in the world."  ~Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

::carefully cultivating rhythm

The Screen Rules are doing good things for rhythm around here. So is the fact that I don't have to drive hardly anywhere this week. There is definitely more time for the important things. The screen rules stipulate that some things only happen after chores are finished. Next up: create a practical, functional chore chart.

::creating by hand

We're kind of on a sewing binge here. My hair is crazy curly out of control. Katie and I are making as many of these as we can without having to go to the fabric store. Fortunately, we have an abundance of elastic and seemingly endless fat quarters. We are planning to invite some friends to help us create...

::learning lessons in

Simplicity Parenting. Always learning those lessons, always needing a refresher course.

::encouraging learning 

Have you read this? Please do. So, so good. 

::begging prayers

In the last three weeks, three people very close to me have confronted a cancer diagnosis. I've told you a little about Shawn. And my friend Carmen is recovering from a double mastectomy. The third one I'm holding very close for now.. Please, please pray for all!

::keeping house

Michael and Kristin came over the other day to make T-shirts for Shawn's family. we had to drag the whole production into the living room because the three of us couldn't turn around in the sewing room together. This prompted me to deep clean the sewing room after they left. And that makes me very happy! It's so nice to be there now:-)

::crafting in the kitchen 

Green smoothies every day and all kinds of variations on "beans and greens." My favorite smoothie this week was watermelon, spinach, cucumber, ginger, lemon, and mint. It's the perfect breakfast after a holiday weekend of eating.

::loving the moments

when the news isn't as bad as we feared. Of course, the flip side is that the other news is so much worse than we feared. Life is hard sometimes.

::giving thanks 

 for a friend who just happened to be in the same place where John Paul II's intercession was begged for the second miracle at the same time I was texting her that Shawn needs a miracle. I struggle sometimes frequently with my inability to talk to Colleen whenever I want, like I used to when she was in Louisiana. But I do know that God knows what we need and He does provide.

::planning for the week ahead

More revolving doors, but a little more relaxed these days.  Mary Beth and Stephen are Stuebenville-bound. Some of the rest of us are going to wander a bit, too. There's a date night on the horizon for Friday night and then on Saturday we'll go to Richmond to watch Paddy play and hang out with my friend Jan and her family. And I think hear Charlottesville calling my name.