Category Archives: home life

home education home life I made something

Neuter Day

January 5, 2011 – 11:35 am

Yep, today is. Our dear Rocky Thunder will be clipped or snipped or whatever they do. I cannot claim to be an animal lover (though I do love observing animals in their natural habitats), just ask our pets, but I’m trying to be. I definitely am a surgery day sympathizer, so I made this little toy for our kitty for when he gets home tonight.

Fake it till ya make it, right?

On another animal note, Dogs Decoded is on Netflix and it has transformed my relationship with and appreciation for our dogs, I really am trying! The kids and I really enjoyed watching together and we learned a lot, too.

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contemplative mothering home education home life thoughts of others

Stand Still

December 15, 2010 – 1:04 pm

I feel really vulnerable sharing this but… The other day I had a moment where each of my 4 children were doing something to make my head spin, all at the same time. I was sitting with Jonny at the school table, he was taking a math test and I was guiding him with the instructions, this was very challenging requiring all of the patience and concentration I could muster. Indy was fussing in my arms and in the next room the girls got into a quibble. June screamed like crazy and there was no sign of the inevitable calm that always takes a little too long to arrive. I snapped. I walked over to the girls not knowing what I was going to do, afraid of the intensity of my frustration. I don’t spank my kids (and even if I did, I would not have in these angry moments), but I’ve been known to throw objects here and there. I hate how much I yell, and I suppose I couldn’t think of anything to say in the moment, so I screamed like crazy. A good, long, scary scream. I didn’t stop until my lungs were empty. I shocked the girls out of their quibbling and went back to Jonny fully grounded and ready to move on. I had scared Indy and he cried a bit, but it seemed a little maybe worth it for how calm I felt afterward, okay not really. I got back all of my gentleness and patience after pushing all of the anger and frustration out of my mouth with that scream.

I loved how quickly I got calm, but immediately knew I didn’t want to ever scream like that again, unless it was maybe into a pillow, or unless someone was murdering me, but still I don’t really want to scream like that again. So, I thought, “What should I do instead that might offer me as quick of relief without the traumatizing-to-my-children factor? I asked the kids as well . . . you never know when they’re gonna give you that life-changing, kid-wisdom advice they’re so full of and the stars align and you change. Well, we didn’t come up with anything. (I’ve since read about snake-breathing, the current issue of Mothering Magazine has a good article about feelings.)

And then I got the Shalem newsletter in my e-mail box. I read an article that linked me to the Shalem website, which is such a great resource for contemplative information, motivation, and inspiration. After the article I read on the website I scrolled down to the next article which happened to be written by my favorite non-fiction author ever, Gerald May. He did a word study on the beatitudes and oh my, look what he uncovered:

“‘Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.’

“Blessed are those who pray with and for gentleness, who turn to God with their anger, who stand still in the midst of their own turbulent feelings, for they will be empowered; the energy of their feelings will join with God’s love and give them freedom in all of life.”

from Shalem Newsletter Volume 28, No. 2-Summer, 2004

What do you think? I thank God for that. The extra insight into the words gives it such dimension, offering applicable guidance as it grants the blessing. I look forward for a chance to exercise this wisdom, even if I don’t look forward to reaching my boiling point. Just thought I’d pass this along since I found such value in it : )

I know that most people don’t like a blog post with words only, so here’re a few photos from last week when we did school fireside. I share these in particular to remind myself (and inform you, j.i.c.) that most days I don’t have to deal with such turbulent feelings. So good.

We were listening to a CD with skip counting songs on it. The kids love the music so they broke out into The Skip Count Scamper!



Jonny gettin’ the 7s down.



It blows me away that Indy can sleep in the midst of the fun and noise!

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4th child journal home life I made something my children

A dream come true

November 12, 2010 – 10:45 pm

Way back before I was ever even pregnant with Indy, I ordered some Japanese fabrics from an Etsy shop called Choki Choki. Such a cute name as that is how Japanese peoples describe the sound scissors make as they cut. Anyway, I was ordering stuff for some projects for myself and Aveline. They happen to have a super cute linen that looked as though it had been stamped with little cars and trucks. I went ahead and ordered it, just because it was on sale, but also because I could just see that fabric sewn into little pants on some lucky mother’s adorable baby boy. I wanted to be that mother, it was my dream. Well, look!

By some miracle I managed to steal the time last Saturday and whip these little pantsies up. What a satisfying event.

P.S. That’s him, today, he’s 10 weeks old :)

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home life mothering

Windrous

November 11, 2010 – 10:47 pm

Wind seems to be the theme of the day! The kids and I have been reading At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald at bedtime and tonight we came across such a wonderful part. If you have followed my blog for a little while, you most likely have been urged from time to time, by me, to read the story of June’s birth (which can be found under the ‘birth stories’ category to the right). Let’s assume you’ve read it. George MacDonald wrote of a wind, much like my own wind that revived me with it’s cool kiss during June’s birth. I will just go ahead and copy here what is in this most wondrous (Ha! I initially accidentally typed “windrous” there!) part of At the Back of the North Wind by my absolute favorite fiction author ever (and whom I dream of meeting in heaven, along with Gerald May, my favorite non-fiction author).

I should preface this excerpt by letting you know that this story is about a boy named Diamond who is invited out from time to time, during the night, by North Wind, who is the North Wind and a woman. She changes form frequently, and how her hair behaves expresses the characteristics of the way she is blowing, sometimes violently, sometimes softly, often somewhere in between. This night she has brought Diamond out and they are in a cathedral where she will leave him for just a bit so as to spare him from witnessing her perform her duty of sinking a ship.

“But move he dared not. In a moment more he would from very terror have fallen into the church, but suddenly there came a gentle breath of cool wind upon his face, and it kept blowing upon him in little puffs, and at every puff Diamond felt his faintness going away, and his fear with it. Courage was reviving his little heart, and still the cool wafts of the soft wind breathed upon him, and the soft wind was so mighty and strong within its gentleness, that in a minute more Diamond was marching along the narrow ledge as fearless for the time as North Wind herself.”

When they’ve met up again they have this conversation . . .

“. . . ‘But I wasn’t brave myself,’ said Diamond, whom my older readers will have already discovered to be a true child in this, that he was given to metaphysics. ‘It was the wind that blew in my face that made me brave. Wasn’t it now, North Wind?’
‘Yes: I know that. You had to be taught what courage was. And you couldn’t know what it was without feeling it; therefore it was given you. But don’t you feel as if you would try to be brave yourself next time?’
‘Yes, I do. But trying is not much.’
‘Yes, it is – a very great deal, for it is a beginning. And a beginning is the greatest thing of all. To try to be brave is to be brave. The coward who tries to be brave is before the man who is brave because he is made so, and never had to try.’

I appreciate that last part, too, because I have experienced significant anxiety from time to time in my life and at times I have felt so cowardly because of it. But if I believe North Wind, then I actually have behaved very bravely many times!

Anyway, that wind that revived Diamond does remind me so much of my wind, during Junie’s birth and I just wanted to share that here.

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home life my children

Jesus’ “Lab”

November 7, 2010 – 4:38 pm

Today Aveline was making a case against my having named her Aveline, because we have since heard of one other little girl with that name. She wants to be the only Aveline. I told her that she was meant to be named Aveline, that God designed her perfectly before the dawn of time, to be exactly who she is and to look precisely the way she looks and to have the name Aveline. She responded with her signature Ave-titude, “So Jesus has some kind of (air quote) lab (air unquote), where He makes people and then sends them to Earth?” Yes, I suppose He does, you little Smart Butt! (Where did she learn to air quote? Probably from cartoons, those are always on around here lately.) She has since elaborated on what goes on with Jesus in his lab and it’s something like Stardoll.com!

The Little Smart Butt eating an apple.

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4th child journal home life my children

What Has Become of Us? -or- Life Has Never Been Better!

October 18, 2010 – 6:28 pm

We have four kids?!

And a minivan?!

Here’s a look at the new little dude (and me) in the minivan. (Much more of him come, including the story of his birth.)

Seriously, this is an excessively challenging time in our lives, and equally wonderful.

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a special morning

August 21, 2010 – 12:33 pm

This morning I got to take my family to the Grand Opening of Hoag Hospital, Irvine for a special breakfast and tour of the beautifully refurbished facility. How did I gain access to such an elite event (ha ha!)? So glad you asked. Well, I shot one of the 100 photos named winners of the Hoag Hospital Irvine photo contest. Cool? I sure think so. Below are some pictures of the fun. The one thing missing? My photo! I walked all of the open floors of that dang place (no small feat what with the large baby currently inhabiting my abdomen) and it turned out that my photo was one of the 50 or so that are still “in production.” It was definitely fun wandering around the hospital with no patients and very little staff. Not to mention Sid and I agreed that the photos, all taken on the Mountains to Sea Trail, as well as the other aspects of the refurbishment, really make the hospital a pleasant place to be.


The breakfast was given in the cafeteria of the hospital, it was nice.


Ave asked me to take a picture of the back of her hair so she could see what it looked like. Lovely, no?


I like them.


Wandering. Isn’t it pretty in there?


How rad is that?! I love that! When I get my teeth cleaned, I always close my eyes and pretend that the super bright light in my face is the sun and that I am on an empty beach with God, so I almost felt like this was my idea! This room was labeled “Nuclear Medicine,” I would like to know what that refers to, exactly.


Because of this photo, the baby will have bragging rights when he/she needs ‘em one day, “Oh yeah? Well I’ve been winning photography contests since I was in the womb!”


Jonny was the first to spot my name and the look on his face when he saw it was very gratifying. I’m always trying to impress my kids and it isn’t easy!


Here are my lovely gifts, a glass paper weight and a really nice book of some of the winning photos.

The other winning photos are so amazing that I wish I could go out into the wild today and take some pictures. But that season will be here, with the funny, coincidental circumstances that always seem to accompany such times, soon enough. There were definitely some funny and coincidental circumstances surrounding my becoming aware of the Mountains to Sea Trail (part of it is in my hood) and the contest itself. I’m super grateful that everything lined up just right for us to share this special morning. My only issue is, how will I ever get to see my photo in the hospital? I suppose I could wait a few months, and then try to fake an orthopaedic, pulmonary or cardiac event, so that I would require care from the facility (did I mention how nice-hotel-like the patient rooms are? They all have huge windows, thus a view and natural light as well as lovely photos on the walls taken on the Mountains to Sea Trail! I would fancy a stay in one), and then sneak out of my room in the middle of the night to find my photo . . . Hmmm . . .

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