Post Category → just life
just another day
Today, so far:
– a quadruple batch of blueberry muffins
– a house to myself, and a chair with panoramic views of amazing beauty
– a quick vacuum of the whole house (because you can’t just sit forever, you know)
– a new shovel
– the 8th evergreen shrub removed from the front of the house
– referring T-ball and rake-sharing
– wheel barrow rides all around our [huge, awesome, amazing, I-can’t-believe-this-is-ours] yard
– baths for dirty boys
– eggs and toast for lunch, and not just any eggs: eggs from the boy down the road. so pretty. so yum.
– wiping golden goo from 10 little fingers
– naptime for two, a bit of quiet for me.
What a nice day.
this week.
My kitchen is painted and we’re slowly settling in.
I’ll put up pictures and words about that later.
Because the small joys of new wall colors and clean counter tops have been largely eclipsed by the tragedy of death this week. A 14 year old boy — a young boy — suddenly gone. A mama’s heart, torn, robbed. Siblings confused, aching. A daddy, soul collapsed beneath grief.
Some might say these are the moments when you ask, “Where is God?”
But I think these are the moments when the curtain of temporal shadows is drawn away, and suddenly, we realize what’s true: we, finite beings; He, eternal Rock. We, battered souls; He, tender Father. Our very real tears dried by His very real comfort.
Pray for that comfort, will you?
get me to the church on time
Yesterday morning, by the time my alarm went off, I was already trying to justify calling a sick day and skipping church. William hadn’t slept well, due to a bit of stuffiness, and I was exhausted.
BUT.
But roll out of bed, I did, and I got to work preparing myself and the boys for church. This all takes a bit longer, as we’re still very, very far from settled into a working organizational system. Actually, that makes it sound much better than it really is: barely contained chaos. In fact, I look around and am amazed that I’m not totally freaking out. I’m thinking maybe that has to do with this meditation. (When I wrote that, I wasn’t thinking that this season of craziness would extend into April and include sheetrock dust and paint fumes, but God knew!)
The big goal is to be at church at 10:00, so we can enjoy a bit of visiting before the service begins at 10:30. At 9:55, Ryan is looking for something and can’t seem to find it. Five minutes later, he really can’t find it. Okay, strap the kids into the car so we can check my parents’ house.
It’s 10:15 as we leave our driveway.
And no luck at my parents’.
Back to our house.
Give up, and Ryan decides to just drop me off with the kids, and he’ll resume his search.
10:27, we’re heading to church (which is, fortunately, a mile down the road.)
Did I mention that I hate being late? Than I wake up very early on Sunday mornings, just to avoid being late? That I had put in four hours of work, and was still going to get to church late?
I said as much to Ryan in a wry voice, and he laughed a bit, too.
“Good thing ‘being a Christian is about more than just Sunday morning church’,” I said, still a bit sarcastic.
But the Holy Spirit jumped on that thought. “It sure is, isn’t it?,” He whispered, and suddenly, suddenly I knew that my four hours of ironing and bathing and looking and finding and bed-making and cereal-pouring and tidying was not in vain, and that getting to church at 10 was so far down the priority list, really. The [somewhat miraculous] fact that I’d done all of that with a smile and joy and servant’s heart — well, that counts as important. I mean, really: does church count as a powerful Jesus encounter for my family if it’s preceded by four hours of Mean Mom? And is Jesus any less present in my conversations about how important the Lord is to me as I put on socks, buckle sandals, then He is in the 20 minutes of congregational worship?
Isn’t it great that being a Christian is so much more than getting to church spit-shined and on time?
I think so.
(Of course, we’re aiming at 10:00 next week. Wish me luck! Ha!)
this weekend
Jameson and his cousin, Jackson, wearing new shirts from Nana. These two boys are getting to be good friends. How fun.
William enjoyed dessert at my dad’s birthday party.
Do you even know how much fun it is to be at my dad’s party, and not just waiting to see the pictures from 3,000 miles away? Fun, I tell you!
We love each other.
some pics. but only some.
Both boys are napping, and I am sitting in quiet. This has not happened for over a week, thanks to the constant buzz of our current happenings. Can I just say: a bit of quiet in the afternoon is really nice.
Especially when the afternoon quiet occurs in a family room with panoramic views. From the comfort of my couch, I see golden fields, woods, farms on the other side of the river, and all of this hemmed in by the distant blue of the Adirondacks.
Beautiful.
We’ve made progress, thanks to the cheerful and inspiring help of Liz, Mama, and many others. I finally found my camera, and then couldn’t find the cord thingy that moves pictures from camera to computer, but at last, it’s all in one spot. Now I’ll start putting up pictures. Here is today’s meager offering:
[before: kitchen]
Please note the drapery and wallpaper. A bit dark for my taste, although removing the drapery from these windows feels almost wrong. We’re talking yards and yards and yards of no-expense-spared window dressings. Mrs. Livingston did things right — but more on that another time!
[before: kitchen]
Please note the cupboards above the sink peninsula. That peninsula is not on my list of “things to keep”, but those cupboards literally made me cry. I literally couldn’t bend over the sink without hitting my forehead on them. (I think I’m perhaps a bit taller than this designer’s target demographic?)
before: family room]
Now, this room was built as a sunroom adjacent to the kitchen. It’s accessed by triple french doors, and has three walls of windows. I immediately envisioned a wider opening between the two rooms in order to create a fabulous kitchen/great room. Once again, the wallpaper here is just not doing it for me.
So, where we’re at currently:
[kitchen/family room: during]
With the drapes and the overhead cupboard gone, it’s already well on its way to being the bright, open kitchen I envisioned the first time I stepped into this house. How exciting!
[kitchen/family room: during]
Wallpaper: gone.
(Please note the adorable split-rail fence area, which will one day [read: 20 years from now!] be my dream vegetable garden. Also note the dusting of snow, which does not faze girls like me in the least bit. I’m from around here. Snow in March does not shock me.)
[kitchen/family room: during]
This is where Ryan and I will grow old together. You’re welcome to join us.
[kitchen/family room: during]
This is the view from the windows across from the fireplace, where I’ve put my new cherry drop-leaf table. Many a deer will be spotted from this precise location. (Possibly spotted and shot, if my father has his way. Can’t you just see him sitting at the table, with a cup of steaming tea, a fire blazing, and shotgun in hand, ready to throw open the window and take a shot? That’s city-boy hunting at its best.)
And of course, the most important part: adorable boys.
They like to play in their sunny new family room while I work in the kitchen:
And sometimes they wake up grumpy, but most of the time, this is the sort of company I have early in the morning:
The end.
(For more “before” shots, including our bedroom and Ryan’s office, go here. To keep up with the “during”, subscribe to my flickr stream!)