On Monday Afternoon {in Florida}

I find myself:

::noticing God's glory

Outside my window right now, the Atlantic Ocean stretches beyond my sight's end. The day is sparkingling clear, a bit cold and brightly beautiful. Definitely the way to begin a vacation.

::listening to 

the music coming from a wonderful tabletop carousel that has Sarah utterly enchanted. Sounds of The Nutcracker fill the air as my girlies make donut holes with my Aunt Diane. Happy morning!

::clothing myself in 

I've been thinking and think about Kelle Hampton's wise words. She said,  "I like dressing up. It makes me happy. Skirts, cute heels, red lipstick, hats. It's art to me, and I do it because I like it. I used to make crap up like "I had an appointment" as if I had to have a reason to wear a cute blouse. You know what? Sometimes I wear them in my house. On Saturdays. When I have no place to go. Because it makes me happy." Getting dressed in the morning can be a matter of pulling on whatever clothes or it can be our first opportunity of the day to express creativity and maybe make a little art. Dressing as art? I think I can see it that way. I'm wearing new jeans--ones that fit--and a long sleeved shirt with a blue batik print. Mike noticed the shirt first thing this morning and commented on how much he likes it. See? Art? Works for me.

::giving thanks for

Safe travels. Thirteen hours in the car. Mike drove the whole way and it was really a good trip. Really.

 

::pondering prayerfully

It is requisite for the relaxation of the mind that we make use, from time to time, of playful deeds and jokes.-- St. Thomas Aquinas 

::clicking around these links

No clicks this week. I'm on vacation :-)

::turning the pages of this book

Nikon D40 for Dummies. I plan to read this tonight. The whole thing. 

::thinking thoughts as I go about my daily round

I'm flitting from my mother's house to my aunts' houses. My family knows how to rock interior design. It's crazy how beautiful these homes are. So, so much to see and absorb and love. Art, furntiture, cabinetry, fabric. Sigh. Truly beautiful here.

::creating by hand

I stitched a pillow cover all the way down here, just sweet square from Loulouthi Needleworks. It makes me happy just to look at it. The very first part of my grand bedroom renovation. Yay!

::learning lessons in

vacationing. 

 

::encouraging learning 

it's art history all the time here. We are blessed by beauty.

::carefully cultivating rhythm

after we leave here, I'm going to adjust the schedules offering by this awesome website to every one of our Disney's days.

::begging prayers

for peace, patience, and safety.

::keeping house

it's all about keeping the van organized

::crafting in the kitchen 

No cooking for me. We did have a Trader Joe's treat at every state border crossing. The girlies gathered Meyer lemons from the tree in my mom's yard this morning. Then, they squeezed them to get plenty of juice for lemonade.

::loving the moments

of being together in the sand and the sea under a bright blue sky.  

::planning for the week ahead

Did I mention that we're going to Disney World?

Intentional Weekend: Packing and Planning

There will surely be some dipping and dancing this evening, but today we're all about packing and planning.

{this moment}

I really wanted a picture to capture what I see when everyone is gathered around the table, each in his or her own place. Sarah Annie was feeling poorly on this night and didn't want to be anywhere but on my hip...In the end, maybe this is more real.

{this moment} - A Friday ritual.  Photo capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, visit Soulemama to leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Looking Back, Looking Forward

I wish I could tell you what criteria I used for this collage post. I can't quite articulate it. This has been a year of enormous interior change for me. Some of it --a very little bit of it-- I shared here. Most of it is held in my heart, where I ponder, but will probably never adequately speak aloud. And perhaps that is for the best. Because some things are better left within the heart of a woman, taking root, growing, flowering into what God wants her to be. I pray for the peace that comes with the blossoming.

So here are some pieces of my heart from the past year.

1. Knitting Lessons (This is not really about learning to knit at all. And the woman who needed that fax immediately? The one for whom I turned the day upside down? The one who promised the moon and the stars? I never heard from her again. These were lessons, no doubt. Very important lessons.)

2. The First Day Never Goes as Planned (neither does the second day:-)

3. What I'm Never Going to Tell You (This one was read far and wide and I'm still so very grateful for your warm response. We need each other and the outpouring of community in response to this post makes me very hopeful, indeed.)

4. Healing (Whether big or small, when women love, they risk unimagineable hurt. I experienced that with my girls last fall. We survived. And even more, we didn't stop loving.)

5. Homecoming (Happy, happy sigh.)

6.  So Much More then a Basketball Game (I relive this game again and again when I want to remind myself that God has a plan and it's better than anything I can imagine.)

7.  Uncluttering and Midlife (These days in my basement were a pretty big deal. My soul is definitely still uncluttered. The basement is a mess again. Not sure exactly what that means.)

8.  Clearly, Through a Lens (As I re-read this one, I resolved to use my camera to its greater potential in the new year.)

9.  Gentleness in the Real World (We really need to challenge each other to love more.)

10.  Candlelight at the Table (Dinner time anchors our family.)

11.  Once Upon a Time (an Engagement Story) (This one is just too sweet to leave out.)

12.  Patchwork Twirly Skirts and Thoughts on Other Stuff (I haven't written too much on what finding needle arts has meant to me interiorly, partly because I always think those thoughts while sewing or embroidering or knitting and then it just sort of never makes it to the page. But it's sort of here.)

13.  It Takes Courage to Encourage (Yep. It does.  I was rocked by the incident in this post, forever changed for friendship. But I see the good. I do.)

14. Competing and Comparing (This one and the one below--I pray I can be a good and faithful friend.)

15. Competing and Comparing Revisited 

16. Joy, Peace, & Contentment  (I think PEACE will be my word for 2012. More on that later.)

17. Maintain Key Friendships (Again, with the friend theme)

18. Not Really Kindergarten  (These days are fleeting. I love, love, love the golden, happy days of early childhood)

Happy Birthday, Nicholas Karol!

Nicky Nick, you're staying up tonight until 11:55 because that's when you officially turn 11. This comes as no surprise to any of us because you're precise like that. I'm not staying up. Because I'm tired. You're staying up past my bedtime, in the company of your big brothers and sisters. I guess that means you're officially one of the big kids now. I look at your still-round face and remember the baby I hauled out of bed every morning, rain or shine, heat or frost, to go five miles in the stroller. Still the child of my heart, the morning is ours alone most days, even now.

You are my fifth boy. I know that the round face will soon yield angles. And just yesterday, I heard a big brother say that he's kind of scared of what the next year or so holds for him. He knows. He knows that just a few flips of the calendar pages away, you will tower over all of them and, at long last, you will settle a decade of scores. Because you've been keeping count. You're precise like that;-) Watching quietly as they all grow up before you do, praying fervently even still for a little brother (hear him, St. Andrew?), you are the last little boy. And you are becoming a man. 

I love you so much and I'm so glad I get a front row seat to watch you grow!