Outside my window…it’s sunny with a nice breeze.  I can’t even complain about the heat…that breeze makes it completely bearable.

I am reflecting…on this thought from Ann Ruethling and Patti Pitcher, “Parenting is a journey – an inner journey, an outer journey, and a journey of the heart.  Parenting brings us to unimagined heights and unparalleled lows.  It has the potential to transform our souls, heal our wounds, and lift our hearts.  But it also has the power to reduce us to tears, time and time again.  Parenting can bring out the very worst in our behavior, even when our intentions are stellar.  Every wart we thought we had hidden will somehow be exposed in the process of parenting.  No experience has the potency to touch us, challenge us, or transform us like the process of loving a child.  Parenting offers us lessons in how to grow and to strive and to seek.  If we choose to open our hearts to the possibility of transformation inherent in parenting, our children will teach us how to love, how to forgive, and how to be full expressions of our deepest selves, if only we let them.  Their love has the potential to crack open the hardest parts of our hearts, just as our love has the potential to carry them through their lives knowing they are cherished.”  from Under the Chinaberry Tree

I am thankful for…words.  Words to express my thoughts, my feelings, my frustrations. 

I am praying for…Landon and his family. 

From the learning rooms…lots of reading, some Right Start Math, and some new twists on old nursery rhymes with the help of a book called I Love You Rituals.

From the kitchen…berries, berries, and more berries!  I love summer with all of its glorious fruit!

I am wearing…a striped t-shirt and olive green shorts.  Not very stylish, but so very comfy. 

I am creating…a small list of last minute curriculum needs like the supplies to make the Wee Felt Saint dolls for our journey Along the Alphabet Path.

I am reading…How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish.

I am hearing…William proclaim “I am tall!” He’s standing on the tallest stool we have with his arms raised up, shouting with every ounce of strength that he is tall!  Perhaps if he’d eat more of his veggies, that would be true.

Around the house…the messes come in waves.  The toys are taken out.  The kids are learning to put them away.  Ever so slowly.  But with lots of coaxing, the toys are put away.  The house is clean.  Then the toys are taken out again.  It’s very cyclical. 

One of my favorite things…snuggling together before bed reading and telling stories. 

Here is a picture I thought worth sharing…

I am absolutely in love with my little nephew, Gavin.  After you see these pictures, I bet you’ll find yourself in love, too, because who can resist that hair?!  Despite desperate attempts to tame it, his hair seems to have a mind of its own, always standing right back up…perhaps his hair is a reflection of the little personality that lies beneath…time will tell.

 

{this moment} – A Friday ritual.   A single photo – no words – 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.

 

Outside my window…night has fallen.  The days are so long now, sometimes it seems as if darkness will never come.  Thank goodness for those black-out blinds…I don’t know how I’d get two little boys to sleep in the summer without them. 

I am thinking…about all that’s good in my life.  And there are many, many things…too many to list, so many to thank God for. 

I am thankful for…life.  Life within.  Life just born.  Life preparing for birth.  Life that plays and bounces, tells stories, uses imagination.  Life that loves. 

From the learning rooms…everything is being orchestrated from my perch upon the couch.  We are almost done with our first year of Sonlight (4/5) and are continuing our journey through RightStart Math. 

From the kitchen…today was Grandma Nury’s lentils.  Everyone licked their bowl clean.  And William repeatedly let me know that “Grandma Nury’s cornbread is mmm, good.” 

I am wearing…these days my choices are limited.  There are only a few shirts left that completely cover the baby belly.  Today it’s a tank top and knit capris.  Not so stylish, but certainly comfortable. 

I am creating…still working on next year’s curriculum.  Everything is ordered and on its way…now to just organize all the bits and pieces.

I am reading…Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne.

I am hearing…the whir of the fan. 

Around the house…Daxson is picking up my slack while I follow the doctor’s orders.  Bed rest is no picnic.  I find myself looking around thinking of a thousand things that need to be done and frustrated that I can’t do them.  It certainly is a very humbling experience for a control freak…having to ask for help and being at the mercy of others.  I suspect God has a plan here.

One of my favorite things…the imagination of a little boy.  Today the box that arrived in the mail became the spaceship, the packing paper was the spacesuit…suddenly we were all transported to Jupiter where Joseph kindly informed us, “You’re getting wet…it’s raining on Jupiter right now.” 

Here is a picture I thought worth sharing…

Everybody got a ride on Grandpa’s motorcycle…even the baby in utero!