Tea Time on Independence Day

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O God our Creator,
with the founders of our country,
we believe that you have given all people
"certain inalienable rights...among these life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness."
We thank you for our country, for the freedom and opportunity it gives us,
and for its beauty and bounty.
As we celebrate with this meal
we ask you to bless our food and to bless our nation.
Help us to choose leaders inspired by its ideal
and mindful of the rights of all people.
Help us to use our nation's gifts wisely, and to extend your care to the needy of the world.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen
~from Let's Say Grace

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Why didn't I think of that?

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To my husband, who is more than half way across the country and sad because he misses "stuff:"

This morning, after two trips to the grocery store to assemble ingredients to make this again this year (only maybe we can keep it from sliding this time), and some very frantic searching for all the parts for two ice cream makers (because one doesn't make enough ice cream for all of us), and a fruitless search for Katie's "matching" Fourth of July dress,  and one cranky Mama-- all before 10:00-- Nicholas said:

What kind of ice cream are we making?

Me: We're making vanilla.

Nicholas: Vanilla? We're going through all of this for plain, old vanilla?

Me: No, vanilla with raspberries and blueberries to make a flag.

Nicholas: Wouldn't it be easier to just go to Costco and buy a cake?

Patrick: Yes, but that's not the tradition. The tradition is to do all this other stuff.

So, how's your day going?

We're Rockin'

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RockinMany, many thanks to Sherry at Large Family Mothering for honoring me as a Rockin' Girl Blogger. I'm so in awe of Sherry that I can hardly believe I'm mentioned on the same page as she is. What kind words! Now I get to nominate five Rockin' Girls myself. When I was in Denver recently, someone commented that I didn't seem old enough to have an eighteen-year-old son. She said it must be my little ones who keep me young. Maybe, but I also think it's a rockin' group of young, faithful, beautiful women who remind of how idealistic and in love with this way of life I was when all my children were little and I had no gray hair. So, here in the order I came to know them, are my totally, totally happening, totally holy rockin' friends:

  • Danielle Bean. She's raising eight kids in New Hampshire with such warmth and humor it spreads all over the country. We're already lining her kids up with mine for as many arranged marriages as possible. One thing's certain, our grandchildren would know how to write;-)! Danielle introduced me to....
  • Danielle's sister, Suzanne. Suzanne has a house full of little men. She an artist, a poet, and a pensive essayist. We pensive types have to stick together!Suzanne introduced me to her best friend in the world, her partner in the kitchen,
  • Kristen Laurence.  Kristen mothers two little girls in Orange County, where the fruit is always luscious and the daily uniform is capris, no matter what the season (and she puts a good deal of thought into those simple capris, too). She reminds me to treasure every moment and inspires me to strive for simplicity. Kristen introduced me to...
  • Matilda  . Matilda rocks. She also waltzes and does the salsa! Matilda thinks out loud and she thinks such interesting thoughts! I often hear her inside my head. Matilda introduced me to...
  • Nutmeg. Admittedly, Nutmeg hooked me with her "about" phrase. How can I not find a kindred spirit in someone who professes to be a soccer-playing mama with hair in a bandanna and bare feet on the floor? Nutmeg's posts are Honest and Unaffected; I especially love her thoughts on her marriage and I'm with her all the way on the neighborhood kids.

So there you go: my secret to youth and vitality this side of forty!