Skunks...

Have you ever wondered about skunks??? They are really beautiful creatures- from a distance. Even if they don't spray at you, they stink. One keeps coming to the yard for grubs. You can smell them coming. The smell leaves with them. They really stink while they are here. I haven't gotten a picture yet, will keep trying. Just not from up close and personal!

Living in the moment...

Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!
Luke 12:24

As I see it, there are two times one lives in the moment the majority of the time- babyhood and elder care.

The first- the blissful, sleepless days of being new parents. I mean face it those are the days we are so sleepless it is a stretch not to live in the moment! We live, eat and breathe our babies and new family dynamics. We sleep with a little one on our chest, we have the bouncy seat in the bathroom for the crying baby while we shower, and we try to remember to feed ourselves in between feeding the sweet- always hungry- little baby. We also savor the moments that come along... first baths, smiles and giggles, rolling over, sitting up, crawling, walking. Many of us even savor the harder parts... the colic, first colds, teething, changing diapers, separation anxiety. Somehow as they become more independent, develop along their own personal curves, we move out of the moment.

The second time of in the moment living comes when suddenly something happens and you are dealing with elder care. A parent or grandparent is no longer able to care for a spouse or sometimes even themselves. Again you are in the moment. Is today a good day? You enjoy it with everything in you! Is it a bad one? You agonize through it, knowing that you are here, now, in the moment. You visit, you email out updates, you talk to the nurses, you play the game as you are part of a skit without a script, you wonder how much more you can handle.

GG in the courtyard

And then there is the time in between. It is hard to live in the moment when you are dealing with schedules, usually color coded by family member, school projects, sports, clubs, after school activities, play dates, sleepovers, juggling daycare, worrying about the next meal (not the one you are eating), bills, car troubles, school payments, yard work... The list can go on and on and never seems to decrease! Often life may seem to be the roadway that your wheels are just spinning upon, an out of control vehicle spinning upon black ice. Meanwhile we spend so much time worrying, we forget the beautiful glories that have been given to us. We wait for the kids to be older, we wish they were still younger. The car of life seems to jolt unhappily as we speed up and slow down readhing and running for things not in our grasp. The medium is truly not a happy one for most as we seem to dread the school years, the tweens, the teens, dating years, college times...

While my life is one of chaos and rushing during the school year, I work on slowing down to be in the moment during the summer. The children and I take our time at many things. We go on outings, often reveling in the changes to us since the last time we visited said location. We visit friends and families and savor those times, as those memories need to last a day, a week and sometimes a lifetime. This week we worked on savoring time with my grandparents; still each others love of a lifetime, separated by differing care needs! We also saw my childhood BFF and her folks also separated by differing care needs. The funny part of those visits is how they make time stand still. My BFF and I click right back together, even though we are now married mothers with growing children. I am still the granddaughter coming to visit, even though now I am the one driving my children there.

Cousins enjoying a chat

While my days dealing with babies seem to be too long gone, and my days of helping to care for my elders seem to be steadily approaching I shall remember that I am in today for a reason! I can work on finding a happy medium!

Home, Sometimes Sweet Home

Coming home yesterday was a big shock after this past weeks storms. Many people lost trees, power was knocked out, and two homes burned after being struck by lightening. Our view of the house from the street was completely blocked by fallen trees. It looks like 3 will need to be removed, an undertaking bigger than we can do on our own. Our house was not hit, which is an amazing feat when you live amongst large trees!!!




Today I went outside to walk the dog and take a closer look at things. A couple pieces of siding need to be fixed it seems. Our roof held strong and solid; a blessing we couldn't have counted on before replacing the old one. The bluebirds nest in the eaves must be untouched still as she chattered me away from it when I was on the porch.

We found some strange things also. There is a dark little moth clinging to the front window. When I looked above the window there is a gray bug that somehow resembles a dragon. And the little peeps I thought were birds, my daughter pointed out wisely are actually little bats. It is neat to see nature surrounding us.

Below you see the brown moth, the dragon-like creature and some kind of walking ant. The picture of the bats is difficult to see so I will work on editing it a bit before posting it.

Endings and beginnings...

Good things must end so new things can have a chance to start. It happens with hours, days and nights, months, seasons and so many concepts of time. It happens in relationships sometimes in the form of ending, other times in the reality of change and growth. Some of these things we enjoy watching like flowers blooming in spring and leaves changing colors in fall. Other times we dread it.

Teaching is a profession where we get to witness constant change. Children come in to you at one stage and leave in a different one. One of the things that marks profoundly the end of your time with that class is the cleaning of your room, finishing report cards, making your honors list, and sending final papers home. Today I finished all that for my group.

It is a day that brings some sadness. I had this group for the last two years in some capacity, either as their primary teacher or a significant member of their team. Earlier this year as I was enjoying my small class, the other teacher chose to leave her position. This brought some significant change as my class grew from 13 to 27 students. It was an experience I couldn't seem to help but fear.

The amazing part was finding God within it all! I was blessed to see my heart grow as it filled with a teacher's love for each individual, my ability as a teacher stretch and grow as I planned and carried out activities, and my faith continue to expand as the Lord blessed every moment with the children. I realized part way in that God had given me a gift through that human-made situation... every morning I faced my students with the excitement of facing a wrapped present waiting to be opened, every evening I looked back with the joy and satisfaction of having truly enjoyed the gift itself! Having this come to an end has brought me such mixed feelings.

But their are always the beginnings that follow the endings. I was able to think of the fun we had doing many projects and look forward to implementing them again. Other activities will be shelved, probably not to be repeated soon. Some newly promoted students made sure to wave from daycare, and a new to the school student stopped by for a visit. The excitement and anticipation will be building as I take the time to enjoy the summer!

And for each of my littles, I hope you remember...Jesus loves you and so do I!

Vocal rest and customer satisfaction...

Vocal rest is one of my goals for the summer. For those who know me, there is a certain realization that I like to talk. And talk. And talk. Being diagnosed with "teacher's nodules" was a surprise, and requires vocal rest to heal. So this has been pretty hard!

This week has gone so much better overall. Until today. Sears Service did not show up...again. And I had to spend over 2 hours on the phone...again. With no satisfactory result...again. Rather than continue especially since my throat is now INCREDIBLY sore, I wrote a letter to the president of the company and am cc'ing it to each of the members of the board of directors. Guessing it'll be ignored, but wanted them to know that they have missed the mark on customer satisfaction.

So tomorrow I will get back to my vocal rest while I take a ride down to the post office to mail my letters out.

Summer Time To-Do List...

Read “The China Study”

Create a BUDGET!!!

Stick to said budget

Stay “No-shampoo”

Rest my voice

Write

Spend time daily praying

Walk more

Occasionally ride a bike

Visit at least 5 new spots with the kids

Visit some favorite “standards” with the kiddos

Sew

Crochet

Have a BBQ

Learn to use my camera well