today.

If you live in America - go vote today.

Bring your kids, wear your yoga pants, have your hair in a pony tail, wait in line - it doesn't matter. Just, please, exercise this freedom to vote.

A couple years ago I was called for jury duty - I grumbled the entire week before, and the morning of, and even as I walked into that crowded jury room. Then they showed this video, this kind of cheesy video called Jury Duty in Minnesota and then I started to get a bit teary-eyed {doesn't take much} while watching it when they started talking about what a privilege and honor it was to be able to partake in the jury system in this way and that it should never be taken for granted.

what i proudly am wearing today.

It's the same with voting.

It's a right. An honor. And your vote counts. Do not take this right for granted.

So today, take a moment, be intentional, and go vote.

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when the plan changes

Did I get up early?

Nope.

{I'm going to blame it on my awful shoulder -- which is an old rotator cuff injury (with 2 surgeries) back from highschool.  The pain was almost gone yesterday, and then at 3:45 am I reached behind me to check the time (because my sweet Samuel was waking up) and out went my shoulder. Again.}

Earlier today I was having a hard time managing the pain.

Thankfully, after some heavy duty ibuprofen I'm able to sit still now.  But, it's 11:29 and we've accomplished very little.  Make that no school work yet -- besides Gracie's Saxon Math.

And I'm okay with that.

If I adhered to such a rigorous schedule that wouldn't have grace for days like this I'd drive myself crazy with overwhelm and guilt.  So I've had to learn to be content.  In the good/great days and the middle of the road days and the bad days.  I've discovered the days where I think I'm failing that they can still be redeemed.  They just don't go the way I planned in my head.

{that's the good arm in a pic taken by my Hannah}

The sooner I relinquish my ideal agenda and embrace picking up where I left off the better.  I've had to learn this -- slowly. Sometimes I'm such a black and white gal.  If the day is flopping by 11:32 am (which is now) then I used to throw in the towel.  Now, I'm starting to realize that instead of looking at the day as not measuring up that I now look at the day as having 8-9 valuable hours right in front of me. It's a reversal of thinking.

How will I use those minutes? Lamenting the morning that didn't follow my original plan? Or grateful for the full afternoon that I'm blessed with?

I'm choosing the latter.

So, with my shoulder pain slightly reduced, and my kids happy because they got to watch a movie in the morning, and the light snow falling I press on.  We'll work on our lists, I'll rest, but above all I'm content in our day.

**************************

By the way, do you see this adorable picture of my Gracie dwarfed by that enormous frame?  My daughter Hannah is hosting a giveaway on her blog (an original Organic Bloom frame) and I, of course, had to mention it.  I can't win.  But, maybe one of you can.  I'm working on trying to convince Hannah that the best place for that frame is in my living room.

Go to Hannah's blog

aspire

and enter.  Win for me.  And tell her that it would look perfect in my living room.   Thanks. :)

the light yoke

The snow has fallen many times this winter.  We've had four winter storms in just over four weeks -- not little storms, but large snowfalls exceeding 8inches at a pop.  And with it? Dark skies.  Overcast.


Where is the sun?


The sun has become lost in a blanket of clouds -- to the point where my little Elijah wonders if it's truly morning. This lack of sunshine wears me out.  


Where is the light?

There are seasons in life where everything is dark and dismal.  Perhaps it's finances, or health, relationships, or just the daily grind of life.  Here there back and forth move move move.  It is difficult in the midst of trials to look beyond the present reality and set of circumstances.  Society and human nature can apply pressures to our lives at an unrelenting pace so that after awhile the future seems to be tainted a dismal and cloudy gray.

Come unto me, all who labor and are heavy,and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you,and learn from me,

for I am gentle and lowly in heart,and you wil find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Matthew 11:28-30

In the NIV I believe labor is replaced with the word – weary.  Oh, how true those words of Jesus are for us today. Especially now at Christmas time we can seem to labor endlessly -- dishes, laundry, phone-calls, email, cleaning, driving, teaching, cooking, preparing, and on and on and on.   Our work doesn’t cease when the skies of life become overcast, no…we simply press forward.  And yet, after awhile, if we only wear the yoke of the world we'll burn out. I've done it.  So many times.  I was simply wearing the wrong yoke and "too busy" to replace it with the light yoke. Or I was too full of my own pride that I didn't want to let go...

Jesus tells us to come to Him.   In Him is true rest.  I always chuckle when I think about a yoke being called easy.  When is it easy to be constrained?  But, when I read these words I don’t picture life with Jesus being constrained…rather in yoking myself to my Savior I know there is real freedom even in the midst of overcast and weary days.

Who knows when the skies here will finally part and the sun will shine?  I know it’s under there, waiting to shine.  I have faith that there will be sun again.  I also have faith that our Savior is always there, wanting us to release our fears and anxieties to Him and that He will give rest.  A rest that cannot be found in self or in this world, but a rest that is sweet and peaceful…in any weather...in any season.

we homeschool. And...

...we take most of December off.

For years I've found myself stressed out in December.  The schedule bursts with activities, places to go, and things to create.  Instead of fostering an environment of peace, excitement and even joy -- I let my home become a place of anxiety.  Even simple things, like making cookies, became rushed.  We were moving so fast that we lost Christmas.

Then, in the same breath, I'd be trying to cram in our studies.  We'd work through the day, and due to the high level of activities, academics, and Christmas planning, we'd end our day exhausted and ungrateful.

So I stopped.

Several years ago, I realized that I needed to take most of December off from homeschooling.  In fact, I also realized that it is okay to do this -- it really benefits my family.  We need the time to be a family.  To serve others.  To make cookies -- okay, we don't really need it, but cookies are important. When I overloaded our schedule we lost time to focus on our Savior's birth.  I'd rush through Bible lessons to get to Math to get to Spelling to throw some clothes in the dryer to switch out the cookies to knit a couple rows to shovel the walk to take them to ballet to change a diaper to wrap some presents to help with phonics to.....

It was simply too much.

Now, I plan our year knowing that December will be busy.  I'll tuck extra lessons in here or there, or we'll do some phonics or math, or I'll cross out the repeated lessons.  I don't follow my regular schedule.  And I let it go. Sometimes that's even harder as I'll find myself worrying that we didn't get any academics done.  But, I overlooked all we did do.  Like handwriting when we write out letters of thanks.  Or math as we double (or triple -- hee hee hee) cookie recipes.  Or history when we read Jotham's Journey and discuss nomads, and Israel, and more.  I'm amazed at how much we've learned this month -- I'm simply aware to what questions they ask or where their interest is piqued.

Learning doesn't always need to come with a list to check off.

Learning can come in living life.  

So there.  I've admitted it.  I am one of those homeschoolers who gives her kids a good 3-4 weeks off in December.  And I'll tell you one other thing -- when we get to January my kids are incredibly motivated to do their work. They really are.  And so am I.  We're refreshed from Christmas.  Imagine that?  Refreshed and revived instead of stressed and burnt-out. Oh yeah, and I've also discovered that at the end of the year we're exactly where I need to be -- in both scenarios -- knowing that allows me to really relax for these couple weeks.

December, while still busy, is now a beautiful month of freedom, laughter, and joy.

I call this picture - Me, the less-stressed, Mom. 

(thanks, Hannah, for taking it on our girl's day.)