Author Archives → Danica

seven months of fiona

She’s been around seven months, or so the calendar says. Gone like a breath. Sweet days, but fleeting.

Happy. She’s found a happy groove. Rolling all around the room, never ending where she began. Talking and screeching and loving to be a part. So big. So cheerful. So precious to us all.

six months:

five:

four:

three:

two:

one:

new:

See? Just like that.

It flies. It drags. It’s sweet. It’s terrifying. It’s highs and lows and calm and turbulent and mundane and beautiful and everything in between. But in the end, it passes. A wise man knows, numbers, and remembers his Creator.

means, ends, and tyrannical tools

You know those “job descriptions” of a mom that include everything from taxi driver to medic? They’re funny to read, and they’re certainly true enough, but confession:

I get things topsy-turvy.

I easily get into Nutritionist mode and forget that that’s not actually my job. Learning about health and nutritions is simply a means to an end: nurturing and caring for my children. I get into Housekeeper mode and suddenly we will have a clean house! Now! OR DIE TRYING!!

My means become the end. And my true end becomes collateral damage.

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You’ll hear me and so many other home schooling mamas say, “Your curriculum is a tool, not a master. It’s there to serve you, and not the other way around.”

I think of that this week. I have lots of tools in my box — not just my “mom” box, but in my “life” box. But too often I stop seeing them as tools to serve me in my goal as disciple and disciple-maker, and I begin serving them. An organized home is a blessing as I raise children who love order and work and peace. But an organized home is a terrible slave master, showing no mercy, when I let it become tyrant rather than tool. Healthy eating is a serious responsibility with lifetime effects, and I want us to be responsible with these bodies. But nutritional eating is a master that will drive you to the brink of nervous breakdown if you let it become your end, and not the means. Those are just two examples, but I’m amazed at how well that applies to every single good endeavor. (Being On Time to Church, Family Devotions, Modest Dress, Coupon Clipping, Real Play Only, Chore Charts, Gas and Mileage Savings, Bible Study Attendance, Exercise, Good Book Reading, Theological Studies… All fabulous tools and terrible Masters.)

*****

Who’s in charge here?

That’s a question worth asking myself regularly.

What’s the End (knowing and loving Jesus, and loving those I’m called to in a way that shows them Jesus), and what are the means? The end usually requires the means (don’t throw babies out with bathwater), but let’s not get lost somewhere in the middle, chasing our tails.

Hone my skills with the tools in my box. Learn how to use them. Walk by the Spirit, knowing which tool to use when, and when to lay your favorite one aside for a season. The Holy Spirit isn’t a tyrant: when I feel like I’m slave to a dictator (including my own selfish desire for clean and quiet), chances are I’ve lost sight of the Goal and have become servant to a tyrannical tool.

Down with tyrants. I’m all for freedom.

*****

Because we all like pictures in our posts:

catching up

the baby

She’s six months old. Already heading towards seven months, twelve months, childhood. She rolls. Chews. Laughs. Verbalizes in an attempt to do what she sees us all doing. Cries at dinnertime every night. Wakes up early, thus ending my season of early morning walks alone. Ushering in a season of mornings with Fiona.

our days

Several days of not getting outside together have happened lately. I notice. I read about maintaining hardstops in your homeschooling days — times that, no matter what is in the middle of happening, every stops and gathers. For us, right now, those times are morning devotions and going outside after lunch. We may spend every single moment of the day together, but those times are together. I notice when we miss it. It’s good for my soul to just put the rest on hold and take a breath, recalibrate, see these people and hear the Holy Spirit.

We get ants-in-our-pants this time of year. Don’t we all? After being outside for a long trek two weeks ago, I packed up already-dressed kids and headed to the library. “Does anyone remember the #1 rule of the library?” Nope. It’s been that long. We left with the most ridiculous pile of books and days of excitement over new stories to read and pages to turn and worlds to discover. Thank You, Jesus, for dropping that idea in my head.

speaking of…

For history, we’ve been using Beautiful Feet Early American history. I was excited to have a curriculum that I could just do when there wasn’t time or energy to be creative, but also would allow for creativity and extras when appropriate. I love history, I love reading, and I love bunny trails, so literature-based unit approaches are the ticket. Of course, there is no perfect curriculum. What works now won’t work then, or for them, or for you, or whatever the variables may be! I’m the teacher. Curriculums are tools to use as I see fit. (Thanks, Mom, for modeling that!) We’ve very much enjoyed adding plenty of titles to our studies, as well as making up writing assignments and art projects and character studies (which sounds so official, but it’s just 2nd grade and K!) So far, some favorite additional titles have been Living Long Ago, A Viking Adventure, Exploration and Conquest, Blood on the River, and Our Strange New Land. We are, at last, about to leave Jamestown behind and plow ahead to 1620! Speeding right along. ;-)

still about books

One of the first ships carrying women and children to Jamestown was shipwrecked in the Bermudas, and its story inspired Shakespeare to write The Tempest. Well, you can’t just breeze over that fact! So we looked at William Shakespeare. I borrowed this book from the library, but thought it was really shooting for the moon. A 7 and 5 year old boy, sit and listen to a Shakespeare play? Really?

Really! They were on the edge of their seats! Clearly, he was a great playwright! At any rate, I recommend that series for an intro to Shakespeare.

Totally unrelated, I borrowed this book from the library. I mean, come on. Who could pass up those illustrations?

We read it. We talked about the paintings and the emotions they evoke. Then we listened to the Queen of Jazz. All this while eating pb&j around our kitchen table at lunch. Homeschooling doesn’t always feel like magic. But it’s incredible.

also

Jameson loves jazz. He wants me to buy him a jazz piano book. Mean Mama says not yet. Read that music, boy, and then we’ll talk.

Jameson also split his chin open and got himself some bright blue stitches.

Beatrice sings every song from The Sound of Music. Also, Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep. All day long. While she twirls in her dress up skirt and does ballet. She quite genuinely thinks she’s the boss, but she’s learning.

William quietly is flying through his kindergarten math work. He loves every opportunity to better his reading skills. He cares for Beatrice and Fiona with tenderness.

There is the usual slacking off with chore diligence, heightened propensity toward bickering, and general end-of-winter troubles. Funny how life will routinely provide you with opportunities to deal with the sin inside. We’ll be happy when grass is growing and all, but right now is a chance to look at ourselves frankly and say, “Lord, change me.”

what have you been eating?

It’s almost March.

In Northeast terms, that means it’s been five months of potatoes and carrots and onions and that disappointing tomato you were lured into buying at the grocery store because you just want fresh.

It’s also almost 9 years of dinner-making in my life.

Also, I love cooking — I really do — but time and budget and just season has required that I keep things simple. But that also means it’s easy for me to lose steam.

So, a bit of fresh inspiration is in order! Want to do a bit of late-winter sharing? How about I share a bit about my cooking and what we’ve been eating this past week or so, and you do the same! (Even if it’s eggs and cereal — that’s okay, too!)

I’ll start:

My “style”: No menu planning. Cook from the cupboard (in an extreme way, these days! Tight budget = creative [and sometimes very, very simple] dinners!) Read recipes as a hobby but never follow one when I cook. Some days I wish I did the opposite of all these things, but this is who I am for now!

Here are 5 meals I’ve cooked recently. (Not included: pb&j on nights when Ryan’s not home. I assume that “recipe” wouldn’t be world-changing for anyone!)

1. Jamie Oliver’s chicken in milk, which is being converted to a creamy soup tonight.

2. A white bean, garbanzo, spinach, bacon soup in parmesan-rind broth.

3. Grilled cheese sandwiches and homemade tomato soup.

4. Scrambled eggs, homemade toast, and salad.

5. A casserole of brown rice, ground beef, slow-roasted tomatoes from last year’s stash, and cheddar.

On the docket for the coming days:

Red lentil coconut curry on rice.

Homemade pizza.

Baked falafel with Greek salad and homemade pitas.

Split pea soup.

White beans and ham.

(With veg on the side, where applicable. :-))

Your turn! (If you have a blog, just post the link to your entry here in the comments. Otherwise, feel free to answer right in the comments.)

more pictures.

I wrote today’s date in my journal this morning and sort of choked on the truth: One more week of the month that I swear just started.

I’m glad to have taken a few photos of our doings, because these moments that I cherish? They are gone before I know it.


Basketball that is serious…


and just good fun. (Thanks, Dad, for taking these pictures!)


Playing at Nana and Papa’s house with cousins.


Learning to be a big girl.


Winning our hearts.


Being astounded by the whiteness, the brightness, and the bright blue sky reflected on fields of snow.


Brilliant.


Loving being a mother to this one, my oldest, as he leaves the world of Little Boy behind. But not completely. His freckles are still Norman Rockwell, and his hand always ready to hold mine.*


Orange is his favorite color. And never fails to be the perfect contrast to North Country skies.


And on stormy days, I can usually figure out where he’s wandered to.


Catching snowflakes on tongue. Letting them collect on my bare head. Loving that the world looks like it’s veiled, viewed through vellum. That’s what I always imagine, anyway.


And this. No words.


Okay, maybe one: bursting.

*****

*And, regarding that joyful son of mine? Last Thursday evening I was tucking them into bed, telling them that Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day!

And Jameson said, “Four party days in a row?!”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well, tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. Saturday is basketball. Sunday is church, and then Monday is the first day of a brand new week!!”

Are you kidding? This kid is the best. His melancholy brother and I are very blessed to have him in our lives.

Valentine’s Day

Before it’s long gone, pictures from last week’s snow day/Valentine’s Day celebration. Friday morning was supposed to be our first week back at Friday School after the winter break. Instead, we ended up being able to watch Mother Goose in pj’s, linger around a special breakfast, visit Grandma and Grandpa, play Parcheesi, and (of course) play in the ridiculously deep snow! Wow! So fun.

Our celebration was very simple, but made special with little cards and such the children created for each other, cards from us for them, and paper hearts and Hershey’s kisses scattered on the table.

I really, really love these kids.

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