{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.
*Joey and William will be guests here on the blog as they document our Nature Challenge journey for 2016.
The Challenge: Visit one of the Nature Preserves in Port Aransas. Choose a topic from the list of ideas and present our experience in a creative way. Share it online.
J: We went to Port Aransas with Walker and Gavin. We saw a lot of plants on the first trail. We saw a lot of Duckweed. We also saw Sesbania.
W: We saw Chinese Tallow, which I can identify by its leaves.
J: We each had a camera to use. We were shocked that there wasn’t any water in the pond and we thought it was because there was a drought.
W: But we found a sign called Freshwater Pond Hydrology and we learned that…
J: There wasn’t supposed to be much water!
W: There wasn’t much water because the pond was at the point of its evaporation cycle. It evaporates during winter and summer and then when it rains in the fall and spring, it fills back up.
J: It’s important because it gives plants like duckweed time for their seeds to grow without the seeds being washed away. I think it’s very exciting.
W: We found a chalkboard at the end of the trail and I think people are supposed to write the names of the birds they see on the trail except we didn’t see any birds so we added one of the plants we saw…Chinese Tallow.
J: I raced to the car ready for our next adventure.
After we finished at that trail, we headed over to the Nature Preserve at Charlie’s Pasture. We had lunch and found a nice spot for some nature sketching.
J: I had a cup of mangoes.
W: Me too! I ate everything that he had.
Mom: Enough about lunch! Tell us about your nature sketching…
J: I sat on one of the Gazebo rails and pulled out my colored pencils. I drew me looking out at the pasture.
W: I did the same thing.
J: After we finished drawing we saw a freighter and some dolphins. We followed the ship around the bend and started on the trail.
W: Me too! I saw the ship first.
J: That’s because I was busy drawing.
W: Oh! Remember how the birds were flying and then stopping and going straight down?
J: Yeah, they were diving for fish! We went to three gazebos on the trail and I wanted to keep going because there were 18 gazebos but Mommy and Daddy wouldn’t let us. On our way back we saw a gopher.
W: I saw lots of different birds, maybe even a pelican.
Katie: I saw butterflies!
Andrew: I saw rocks!
J: Nature Challenges are tons of fun and they make us more like the Wild Kratts. The next day, while it was still fresh in our minds, we completed the challenge. I chose to pretend I was a gopher on the trail.
W: I pretended like I was stuck on the trail for a week and I had to pack for it. (Mommy says not to worry, she’ll be sure to check any future packing lists before I head out into the wild!)
J: Andrew wrote a narrative (which is a story about what actually happened while we were there).
J: Well, until our next adventure…
If you asked me my priorities, I’d easily spout off a healthy list of the things I rate higher than others: my faith, my husband, my kids, homeschooling, reading, journaling. Oh, but wait, I could go on. Extended family, friendships, exercise, herb studies… When I start making a list like that, it’s easy to see why I constantly feel pulled in a million different directions.
I’ve been listening to Greg McKeown’s book Essentialism and he talks about the definition and history of the word priority.
Priority: (n) something given special attention; (adj) highest in importance
“As I have written before, the word “priority” came into the English language in the 1400s and it was singular. It meant the very first thing. It stayed singular, very sensibly, for the next 500 years! Only in the 1900s did we pluralize the term and start speaking of “priorities.” So while we can find ourselves feeling that everything is a priority, literally by definition, it can’t be.”
That gives me pause. One priority. Not a list of priorities. That changes things. A lot.
“So while we can find ourselves feeling that everything is a priority, literally by definition, it can’t be.”
So I get one choice. One priority. This one has got me stumped. I spent yesterday seeing if I could come up with a word or idea that would allow me to lump all my “priorities” into one main idea. Pretty sure that defeated the purpose of the exercise.
“By creating the space to think and listen we can discern the first or prior thing among many other good and worthy tasks.” Greg McKeown
I woke up early this morning before the chaos of the day sets in to toss around some ideas. I wanted to sort out all the good and worthy tasks of my day to determine the priority amongst them. First I tossed around the idea that obviously my kids are my priority. But that’s not right, because Daxson and my relationship with him is just as important. I tried to put it in perspective that without my faith, I cannot function so I considered that as my priority. But how does that include my responsibility to care for the people in my lives. Perhaps it does naturally. If I make my vocation, my calling as a wife and mother, my priority, it shifts the priority from one of caregiving to one of being called to care. There’s a big difference between caregiving out of duty and being called to care out of love and service for the Lord. I think I might be onto something but I’m still not quite there yet.
I remember attending a funeral for a sweet little 6 year old a few years ago. The priest gave a homily that seemed to inspire every mom within those church walls (and probably hundreds more as we all rushed forth to share the message). His homily posed the idea that the things we spend time with here on Earth should only be the things that help lead us on our path to Heaven. In terms of parenting, we should be selective about the activities we sign our kids up for and the ways we allow them to fill the gaps of time in their days. Violent video games? Not so much. Books filled with heroic stories? Yes, please. Days spent with neighborhood kids that don’t share the same values just so we have social opportunities? Skip. Days spent in nature glorifying the magnificent handiwork of our Savior? Definitely. Time spent idly watching TV? Of course not. Time spent in the company of like-minded people? Obviously.
But that all probably seems obvious, right? Clearly, we want to fill our children’s lives with the good, the beauty, and the truth. But then I stop and think about myself and all the meaningless tasks I fill my moments with and suddenly it can feel as if I am a terrible steward of the gift of time I have been given. It seems so easy to set a priority for my children (get to Heaven) but it certainly seems more complicated to do the same for myself.
But isn’t our priority all the same? If we are Christians then I’m afraid dear friends, that we cannot be too original in stating our priority (although I’m sure some of you with the gift of wise words could easily come up with various ways to say it). Our priority is to get to Heaven. The means of accomplishing that priority differ for each of us. Some of us are called to marriage and parenthood. Others are called to serve the Lord in the church. Still others are called to remain single.
It seems that once that priority is established firmly in our minds, it should make it a little easier to set forth with making our to-do list. There’s only so much time in the day. It’s important to keep focused on our priority.
So that list you’ve got going…the gardening and the blogging and the social media time and the cooking and the laundry and the schooling and the reading and the…well, you get it. That list? There’s only so much time. Choose wisely.
“When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives.” Ezra Taft Benson
{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.
*Joey and William will be guests here on the blog as they document our Nature Challenge journey for 2016.
Opening Ceremony by Joey and William
On August 13th Auntie Leslie, Uncle Dustin, and Alex came down from Austin to go to the Opening Ceremony at the South Texas Botanical Gardens with us.
We started by visiting with Ms. Pringle from the UT Marine Science Center. She showed us how to observe different types of sand. We used tiny microscopes to help us see the details.
J: I did Mustang Island. The tan sand had little grains. Its shape was circular like dots and it had shells in it.
W: I got to see a few different sands. My favorite sand was the black sand. It was black because it is volcano dust. It was from Hawaii. Mommy said, “Good job! How did you identify that by yourself?” Ms. Pringle asked me if I knew why it was black and I said, “Yes, because it was from near a volcano.” I was right.
J: I also got to see sand from Dunstaffnage near Oban, Scotland. It was made of medium dots and it was gray and reddish. It was very colorful and pretty.
Next we went to say hi to Ms. Sara Jose and sign our team in. Our team is just called The Satery Family because our team consists of our family…Mommy, Daddy, Joey, William, Andrew and Katie. Ms. Sara gave us a crossword puzzle to complete.
After signing in, we went to visit the Texas A & M Forest Service. They had leaf plates for us to rub our crayon over and make a leaf rubbing. Then after we rubbed it, we had to identify it. They also had a sign that showed how you can tell a tree’s age by counting its rings. That was very neat.
J: First I did a sycamore rubbing. Then I did a leaf from an Elm Tree. It was very fun. I love doing crayon rubbings.
W: Alex and I did our rubbings together. We both used the same color and we used the same leaf. I don’t remember what my leaf was but I’m going to check with Alex to see if he remembers.
J: Katie and Andrew made their own crayon rubbings using the leaf plates, too.
Once we were all done rubbing leaves, we moved over to visit with the Wildlife in Focus representative. She had some nature photo books for us to look at and then we got to dress up as a nature photographer and use her camera.
J: The books had a lot of animals in them and beautiful photographs of plants. I also liked dressing up as a nature photographer.
W: So did I!
J: I liked using her camera.
W: So did I!
J: I took pictures of my family which wasn’t really a nature photograph…
W: We’re made by God, so we really are kind of nature. I took pictures of the family, too.
J: It was good practice so we can take pictures on our excursions this fall.
After taking photos, we visited quickly with the Corpus Christi Science and History Museum and we got the materials to make star catchers. Katie was starting to get restless so we took those home to make. We also stopped by the table for the Botanical Gardens.
After that we went to renew our membership at the Gardens and do a little exploring. We visited the Reptile Room and got to hold a snake. It was a rat snake. We went to visit the birds and see the butterflies.
J: I had lots of fun at the Botanical Gardens and I also realized that the opening ceremony was a lot of nature places under one big roof. So I got to go from Wildlife in Focus to the Science and History Museum by only walking a few feet!
W: I had fun, too. My favorite part was when I observed the sand.
J: It was fun coming home and finishing our work, too. We spent an evening coloring our Wildlife in Focus pictures (I colored my bird so it would look like a Woodpecker) and making star catchers. Now I’m going to have to look for the constellations next time we go camping.
W: Me too!
W: Oh! I almost forgot! Andrew and I were in the newspaper! Andrew got excited when he went to HEB and someone recognized him there. We’re famous!
Dear Les,
You’re 40. 40. 40. (I can’t type with echoing effect, but that was meant to echo in your head as it settled in your brain that yes, indeed, you are 40).
And to think we used to dissolve in a puddle of disbelieving giggles when the show Thirtysomething would come on. We’d look at each other and exclaim, “30! That’s so old!” Well, dear sister, according to that logic, you must be ancient.
Except that you’re totally not. Except maybe in the wise advice you give me because sometimes your advice seems to channel a very wise old being inside of you because surely someone as young as you could not possibly be so wise! (Yet you are.)
Other than that (and the few gray hairs I lovingly pointed out to you a few weeks ago), you don’t seem a day over 16 (or 20 or 25 or whatever your magic age was) cause you’re still my sister. And I still adore you. And I still want to be just like you when I grow up.
I remember being little and thinking that if there was one thing in the world I wanted to be it was a big sister. Not so much because I’d really thought it through and thought about what all that might entail. Like having a shadow follow me around day and night. Or having someone beg to borrow my clothes or fix my hair. Or having someone in my life that I’d have to drive around til she could get her own license. I definitely didn’t think about having to share a phone or shampoo with a younger person. I surely didn’t think about having someone younger than me make silly mistakes and having to try to save her from herself on many a near occasion. And good gracious, I never considered the prospect of having a younger sibling only for it to turn out to be (gasp) a boy! Nope, none of those things crossed my mind. I just wanted to be a big sister because you made the job look so cool.
You shared your toys. You shared your friends. You shared the phone. You shared your car. You shared advice. You shared your life. You invited me in and held me close. For all those years. For all these years.
Our relationship evolved over time. We were always friends. Best friends. There’s hardly a memory in my mind that doesn’t involve you. But life changes and sometimes life changes people. Yet our relationship, though changed, has only gotten better.
You got married. And still you kept me close.
You had a baby and you lost a baby. And you held me closer still. You let me share in your grief. Your pain was my pain. Your emotions have always been my emotions.
I got married and you stood beside me. You sang joy when I sang joy.
I had a baby and you were there, welcoming him into the world, sharing my moment.
Then we journeyed the path of pregnancy together. What joy to have you beside me, wailing about morning sickness together, giggling over round belly bumps together, delighting to feel life inside of ourselves together. We brought babies into this world 7 weeks apart and we journey that trail together every day. We share our triumphs, our struggles, our joys, our frustrations. There is no one I’d rather share it with.
But I still haven’t shared with you my 40 reasons. My 40 reasons why I LOVE the chance to celebrate YOU on this special day…
I’d like to think that your life was empty for the 4 years before I arrived, but the truth is, my life would be empty without a sister like you…”I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers.” Philemon 1:4
I love you,
Stace
Outside my window…it’s still mid 90s, the kids are still swimming and I promise, fall seems like a distant thought.
I am remembering…the pure joy of something as simple as painted nails.
I am thankful for…the delightful sound of baby giggles and the joy radiating from my children’s faces as they watched this sweet baby explore her surroundings.
I am watching…a reenactment of Clint Eastwood. He’s got the moves down but I’m pretty sure if he addresses me by fair lady once more, I’m going to have to look into that. I just can’t imagine Clint Eastwood approaching a woman and asking, “How goes it here my fair lady?” I think we’re getting our heroes confused. (By the way, the paper on the front of the bike is a hand drawn horse’s head…because that’s clearly not his bike, it’s his horse, of course.) 
I am listening…to Katie. She is trying to convince me that it would be okay for her to get on the table. I just told her no and she replied, “Well then how about if you don’t watch me get on the table?”
I am wondering…what poems my kids will choose to memorize. I asked them each to memorize something to recite to Granny and Pappy next time we see them. It’ll be interesting to see what they choose.
I am laughing…at the response of the kids the other night to Daxson’s reading. He was reading aloud to them before they went to sleep and he read a sentence that said, “Mother and Father agreed that a tutor should come to the house every day…” Andrew’s little head popped over the side of his bunk and he said, “Did you say tooter?” All of the kids just dissolved into giggles. Even Dax got a good chuckle out of it as he realized their interpretation of tutor.
I am reflecting…on a friendship that makes my heart smile. 
In the schoolroom…we’re moving onto 6 weeks of Jamestown studies, reading A Lion to Guard Us and Surviving Jamestown.
Around the house…finishing up thank you cards and catching up on emails. Long forgotten emails.
In the kitchen…Auntie Pie tonight. Although in this house, I guess we could call it Mommy Pie but Alex named it and now it is what it is. And Auntie Pie it is (which just for the record is really Taco Salad served with Fritos).
I am wearing…GAP shorts that are an unidentified color with a Target Knox Rose olive green tank top.
We are preparing for…our 2nd co-op meeting by reading a few scenes from Hamlet and watching some youtube clips.
Someday I am going to miss…this.
I am reading…Circling the Sun by Paula McLain.
One of my favorite things…discovering new-to-me old places.
A peek into my day…
Please visit The Simple Woman’s Daybook for more daybook entries.
I am an addict. I’m addicted to the finer things in life…books, chocolate, pretty journals, puzzles. 
I inherited my puzzle addiction from Mom. Few things from my teen years stand out clearly in my mind but puzzles on the dining room table? Those mark the years for me. 
Mom would open up a new puzzle and spread the pieces out on the dining room table. It was an ideal place for a puzzle as the puzzle only took up a small space (our dining room table could easily have been considered for The Last Supper) on a table we only occasionally used (we had both a kitchen and dining room table) so we didn’t have to move it at the end of the day. The dining room table was always in the center of the house, a passing point for wherever I was going or wherever I’d been (and I have never been able to pass by a puzzle without trying to put in at least one piece). 
The puzzle just sat, inviting each of us to join in. Friends would come over and pitch in. It was a meeting point that allowed us to chat with Mom without feeling the pressure of a formal conversation. Talk was easy, the puzzle was challenging. It’s not easy being a teen. Somehow the symbolism of the puzzle made life seem less confusing. As if all the things I was working out in my head just needed to be twisted and turned until it all fit just right. Having a place to sit and chat made life feel less stressful. Sometimes just being present with one another, even if in silence, made the world seem just right…even if only for a moment.
I remember one Christmas Mom and Dad rented a cabin in Burnet for us all to meet at. Bet you can’t guess what was set up in the middle of the room? A puzzle, of course. And we all sat around it, jostling pieces from side to side, chatting, laughing, sometimes just enjoying the silence of the company around us. It’s not the cabin I remember. Or the delicious food served. Or even the presents waiting under the tree that I remember. It’s that puzzle. And the time we all spent in front of it. 
I want to breed that some atmosphere in my house, so the dining room table is now home to a puzzle. Let’s hope the boys get sucked in just as I did.
{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…two eager little scientists are happily experimenting with goop.
I am remembering…this spontaneous playdate right before William’s surgery with some of our favorite people. Belle gave hula hooping lessons to the boys, Joe and Gavin practiced shooting hoops and Katie soaked up the thrill of having another girl in the crowd. Later, Belle had the simple idea to use chalk to draw herself a house and the next thing we knew, a neighborhood developed on the driveway. 
I am thankful for…a new opportunity that has come my way. I’m going to be a contributor for Corpus Christ Moms Blog.
I am in awe…of Jessica. She is an incredibly talented seamstress, a budding beekeeper, a homesteading guru and now she can add leather work to her repertoire. 
I am watching…nothing these days. We didn’t realize there was only one season of The Man in the High Castle, so while we’re waiting for some new episodes, we’ve been making wise use of our quiet night time catching up on reading.
I am listening…the ding-aling of the timer, letting me know my herbal tea has finished infusing.
I am wondering…if there is some way to access my iTunes account (where I’ve downloaded audio CDs) so I can listen to it on my phone? Any advice?
I am laughing…about William. He wanted to be Indiana Jones, but he said he needed some stubble on his chin. He asked if I had an idea of how he could do that. I’m pretty sure my face reflected the blank feeling I had in my head. He disappeared for a bit and when he returned he had stubble on his chin. He had taken bits of paper, colored them and taped them to his chin. Later when he was complaining that his chin was itchy, he decided that his method might need to be revised. 
I am reflecting…on this thought from The Man in the High Castle, “Fate is fluid. Destiny is in the hands of men.”
In the schoolroom…it is our week off. We’re making good use of our time. Lots of reading, playing, exploring and relaxing.
Around the house…using the week to catch up on digital photography. Photos are uploaded, prints are ordered. Yep, I’m still fanatic about printing my photos…cause there’s nothing more entertaining than grabbing a box of photos, snuggling up on the couch and reliving some of our favorite memories!
In the kitchen…it’s Waffle Wednesday. Gluten free King Arthur waffles. One of our favorites.
I am wearing…jean shorts and a blue t-shirt.
We are preparing for…a new 6 weeks of school. Our POE plans are all about Jamestown.
Someday I am going to miss…the giggles from these kids as Grandpa Larry chases them around the house trying to get their meechees. (These pictures are AWFUL but I love Nury’s expression in the second one and Larry’s in the last one!)
I am reading…Circling the Sun by Paula McLain and Discovering Your Personality Type by Don Richard Riso. The kids and I just started reading Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi and we are loving it, laughing about all the subtle humor.
One of my favorite things…being introduced to a whole new idea. We had the opportunity to go see Uncle Bryan at work (he is a jeweler). We got to learn about the process of lost wax casting and then we got to witness metal being melted. It was the highlight of my little chemist’s week. 
A peek into my day…
Please visit The Simple Woman’s Daybook for more daybook entries.
With Every Intention 