Hospitality

"Here is the core of hospitality: May I know you better? Will you come closer, please? No, it will not be easy, but...your life depends on this saving stranger coming to you and stretching your tight little heart." ~Radical Hospitality: Benedict's Way of Love

Dear Lord,

Today, help me to live this kind of hospitality in my own home. Help me to draw my children closer, to recognize that we are a community in this family and that each of us comes with our own quirks and temperaments and gifts and needs.  Let me see that the ones I love, the ones closest to me, are still "saving strangers." Give me a heart that can be stretched. Amen.

Home

Michael will be home for the summer soon. He's going to be working nearby and living here. And then, he has just eight credits and a final season of soccer on campus and he will be home again, newly graduated and living here before he is launched into the world.

Patrick is at home now. But there are opportunities on his horizon that will take him far from home --- and then home again. And then far from home. And then home again.

And of course, it is a well-established fact that my husband leaves home frequently to bless his family and then, he comes home again.

I stand at the dawn of a new season of family life. The season of leaving and coming home again.

What is this place that my family calls "home?"

Is it a soft place to land after working hard in the world?

Is it a place of encouragement and kindness?

Is it warm and familiar and predictable?

Is home an anchor in their hearts and minds and souls, the place of peace they carry with them?

Is it a domestic monastery?

I think I'll think upon these things in the next few days.

Dandy Day!

The day began with an announcement from Karoline:

"Mama," said she, her fist full of dandelions for me to put into a tiny pitcher, "we have so many beautiful yellow flowers and the neighbors have none. I'm going to pick them all and scatter them in everyone's yard just like Miss Rumphius. Then, there will be beautiful yellow flowers everywhere."

 

As luck would have it, Catherine shared a recipe for Dandelion Syrup on Kind Conversation. So, we suggested that Karoline and her sisters and her friends gather the flowers for syrup making purposes.

 

They spent a glorious couple of hours making their fingers a lovely shade of yellow.

They stirred some "dandelion soup."

They measured until there was enough.

They brought it in to boil and steeped.

We read Miss Rumphius and Dandelions  and The Dandelion Seed and Stars in the Grass at bedtime.

The next day, we added sugar and cooked and cooked.

Dandelion Syrup.

Brings sweet tea to a whole new place:-).

When I tucked Katie into bed that night she commented, "Some people call dandelions weeds. Don't they see the flowers? Everyone should have a girl to show her the flowers when all they see are the weeds."

Everyone should.

 

One of those rare posts:

This is one of those few, rare posts that you send all over the internet; you clip and mail to a friend who "doesn't do the internet;" and you tuck inside the cover of your prayer journal. Whatever you do with it, do read it.

Daybook from the Coffee Shop

Outside My Window

Is the parking lot. I am grabbing a few minutes of time to myself at Starbucks. So how about that?

I am Listening to

Jazz and the expresso machine

I'm pondering

"If you have to choose between being right and being kind, always choose to be kind." Immaculee Illibigiza

 The more you think about this one, the more there is to think about.

I am Reading

some very sweet emails. I promise to write back, but it might be a few days:-)

From the Kitchen
transitioning the spring menu into summer...grilled maple-dijon glazed pork chops with creamed corn and asparagus were a real hit last week

I am Thinking

about silence and conversation. About boundaries and embraces. About activity and stillness.

I'm having a Kind Conversation about

sweet things to do to let your husband know how much he's loved.

I am Creating

a lifetime of memories with my children. As I approach the twentieth anniversary of being diagnosed with cancer, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the gift of just being here.

On my iPod

Books, not so much. I'm finding that my Kindle reading is not kind to my eyes. I really, really need to give in and go to the eye doctor. My eyes think I'm middle-aged.

Towards a Real Education

I'm finally looking towards next year. The plan is pretty simple and I'm detailing quite a bit in order to create a very big safety net. I think our lives might include some travel so I'm looking to make sure we're portable.

Towards Rhythm and Beauty

I'm working out some new bedtime routines. When I was on bedrest, Mary Beth fell into the habit of putting Katie and Karoline to sleep. The habit continued was Sarah Anne was tiny and then it just became a part of what we do. I'm reclaiming that time with my little girls. They need me. And I need them. And Mary Beth needs some time to herself at the end of the day.

To Live the Liturgy

This week, we are praying the Divine Mercy novena and lulling small children to sleep at night with the chaplet, sung over and over. Still:-)

I am Hoping and Praying

for someone who could be on the brink of things bigger than ever imagined. For grace and strength and wisdom to know His will.

In the Garden
The peonies have shot up. The roses are full of buds. And we had a bumper crop of dandelions (they have a post of their own, tomorrow).

Around the House

I am trying to think creatively as we anticipate Michael's homecoming for the summer. He's going to be interning at USAToday and he'll work in the office and also at home. We're running out of quiet pockets and he's going to need one.

  
On Keeping Home
Totally re-worked my iCalendars. I was inspired by a thread at Kind Conversation to take another look at Mother's Rule of Life and at my homemaking notebooks. I haven't really had time to sit and gut those notebooks and then make pretty pages, but I am working to being very intentional in everything I do.

One of My Favorite Things

Quiet.

Sarah Annie this week

Oh my goodness! This sweet baby has bloomed with the spring:-)! She still won't walk unless she's got a finger to hold onto, but she's talking up a storm. And if you hold her hand, she kicks a soccer ball, too. She loves, loves, loves chocolate and is having serious withdrawal from Easter candy. I am still in shock that a baby of mine even knows what chocolate is. Some things they say about the baby in big families are true.

A Few Plans for the Rest of the Week

There is a whole lot of soccer in the plan book this week. That means I will be in the car a lot. We're also going to head back to Bull Run (sans bluebells) for springtime nature study. There are some tadpoles that need chronicling, among other things.

And I'm going to sleep. I'm planning naps and early bedtimes. And I'm sticking to the plan.

Picture thoughts:

Karoline loves to twirl. This is her very favorite dress and we have to hide it sometimes just to keep her from wearing it every day.