the shepherd's cadance

I'm pretty certain most of my readers have fallen by the wayside in their need to do other things....other than wait for me to sit and write again.  The truth is, I can't figure out why I'm not sitting to write much these days but I miss my blog like one misses an old friend so I'm sitting down for 10 minutes in between lasagna prep and reading to the boys this drizzly afternoon.

My head pounds a little today as I sift through the laundry list (oh shoot, laundry!?) of things to do & put the list in triage.  I won't accomplish half of what I want to today...why is this?  I don't even have a toddler!  And yet here I am in the middle of the same old battle of trying to figure out what can slide another day, what must be done, and what might keep me up at night if I don't do it.

And then I stop.
Breathe.
Blink.

And I smell the cinnamon granola on the air and hear the counting of the little boy with his LEGOS.  I stop and my heart slows a little.

Blink, blink.

I hear the birds sing their song and I wonder where my mind has been, and where have I been and am I lost?  I am, my mind is so very busy & loud.

I think on the things that are important and I walk over and pick up my Bible and read one verse.  I pass by another boy snacking and reading at the kitchen table and ruffle his hair.  I smell the iris cut and shining in all their momentary glory.

            1 Peter 1: 24,25

All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the fields, the grass withers and the flowers fall.  


But the Word of the Lord stands forever.  


And then I walk back to my tasks and my heart sinks and I can't help feel life is just slipping through my fingers while I whittle away at my list.  


I've been thinking of David.  The David from the Bible.  He was a King, an adulterer, a best friend, a not-shining-example of a father.  He killed a lion and a bear with his own to hands, and faced a giant in spite of the jeers of his brothers.  He was a shepherd boy.  Back before he was a king, or anything, really, he stood in a field and watched sheep.  He was to protect them, make sure they ate, drank, and got up when they fell down (this can be a problem.)  It was probably the most mundane of jobs.  He was probably alone a lot and didn't have fun food or any entertainment.  


But because of his hearts' position, he was a favorite of God.  "A man after God's own heart," God called him.  I think it's because of the Psalms we still have.  He stood in that hot, dry field and talked to God.  He wrote songs to sing of how good God is.  When he was discouraged, he remembered who God is and took comfort in it.  He was just a man.  A man with mundane tasks but he was a shepherd who talked to God all day long.


I'm also thinking always how I can be present; present to my family, present to my husband.  And now I'm thinking how I can be a David, shepherding & ever present to God, whispering my prayers with my heart open to hear what He whispers to me, living each day with the Wisdom He gives for this day.   


I'm going to slow the cadance of my day a bit.  Write the list down and leave the words on paper.  Be present in this task.  Look my kids in the eyes and murmur thanks to the One who made it all, who gave this good life to me.  The Word of the Lord stands forever.   




          

Random Pictures...because I have learned how easy it is to share photos from my Smartphone

Words With My Son - aKa Scrabble lunch break

A charming pic of my husband eating a burrito the size of my arm

Joey is awarded first place for blind Kata at his first tournament

Queen kitty perches on a ladder in our bedroom

I ordered a truckload of sunflowers, for the yard. :)

Have a good Monday!

Progress Report

This is the treehouse today: it's delightful to watch my men work together!

Before School Starts...

A Thursday morning, this is how you might find us...

Painting, building, writing, and I would be cleaning or out in the garden. :)

A Place To Play

I'm certain that there is a boy in my grown-man husband. All other projects came to a screeching halt when the boys began asking about a tree house.

And so the work began yesterday, I don't know who is more excited...the boys or my handy husband.

Very fun to watch!

Fresh, Hot Muffins Any Day

Muffins are a quick, easy & economical breakfast for our family...& everyone seems to be happy with a muffin & a piece of fruit.

I want to share my new trick with you, of course I think it's a moment of brilliance & I don't have many of those so I'm sharing:

When I make muffins, I double the batch. Sometimes I make two different batches at a time. Then, rather than bake them all up, I pour the batter into the muffin tin with paper cups & pop the whole tin into the freezer. When the dough cups are frozen I drop them into a ziplock & freeze up the rest of the batter the same way.

Then in the morning when I get up, I can pull 6 muffins (2/ per boy) from the freezer & pop them in the oven. I bake them at usual temp for usual time + 2 minutes, and we get fresh hot muffins any old day.

My boys LOVE it!

AND I love that I can put good, whole foods in my boys' breakfast!

On The Pace of Change

That day, you look up from your work and think, "When did you grow so tall & capable?"

Seems like that's happening repeatedly these days, Nate can make his own eggs, start to finish. Joe is beginning to enjoy sitting with the adults for conversations to test his own story telling & wit. Elijah, who is nearly 7 but seems to be 9, is as independent one moment and snuggled up next to me the next is stretching himself to fit in the footsteps of his brothers as quickly as he can.

It's all just too fast, but absolutely correct, I say. Before I know it...never mind.

Our Week in Review

It's Friday....Friday to kick off Spring Break.  Like most Fridays we did light school today.  Light school means that the kids work independently while mom runs to donate my blood and question the sweet lady at Sherwin-Williams.

While there our conversation went like this:
She:  Hello, can I help you?
Me:  Yes, would you come to my house and help me choose my colors?  (snicker g'fahh)
She:  Actually, I do that!
Me:  (Dumbfounded, just standing there...) Okay?  Realllly??

I'm thrilled!  We have so many walls on this floor that are screaming at me for color, but I really don't know where to start.  Living, Family Rooms, School Room, Stairwell, Halls and our Breakfast Room all need to be painted.  Teresa is coming over next week and then we'll be painting and painting...

Back to Light School.  The boys did their Math and Reading and then I came home (after a hard morning running errands) and took a long nap.  It was raining, couldn't be a better day for a nap, right?  I'm still tired from long nights of sick kids, I must be 37, this sleep is taking longer to catch up on.

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

My favorite thing this week was...

Working on our Life of Jesus Timeline.  I worked on a timeline for the life of Christ, the boys and I started at his ministry in order to work up to the crucifixion and resurrection by Good Friday.  Each day I assign the boys to sketch a picture for an event while I read the stories to them.  It's been a fun way to work up to Easter.

Questions/thoughts I have....

Wondering how I'm going to keep these boys occupied over Spring Break, and still wondering how to keep my eldest student challenged over the next months.

Things I'm working on....
rearranging our school stuff, decluttering, decluttering, choosing paint colors, oh! and I have some studying to do too!



Books to go on the to-read list....

(Eli finished his first chapter book this week!)

The boys are finishing up their assigned reading, I'm looking through these lists:

1000 Good Books

Books for Boys & Other Children Who Would Rather Make Forts All Day (if you click on this link it will download a doc with a fantastic list of books)

I'm reading..... Total Truth by Nancy Pearcy (for book group), Shepherding a Child's Heart, & Great Expectations by Dickens.  Good, good books.

Something a Little Crazy....





New Fun Idea Here:

It comes from Pinterest, of course.  Hoping to promote some reading and writing I picked up some poster board at Winco (.37!) and drew up a fun map for Eli.  He's had so much fun, enough fun that his big brothers quickly followed suit and drew up their own maps. 

I almost forgot...queen kitty: