3 peas in a pod.

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Something that makes me happy?  A little impromptu hammock photo session in the back yard yesterday evening.  Obviously I wasn't prepared, with my hair clip nonchalantly attached to my necklace and all.  But it captured the three of us in our element, and I love that.  I think I just might have to frame some of these.

I love my people.

The map and the terrain.

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I received this great advice today:

When the map in your head doesn't match the terrain before you,

change the map.

Pause and think about that for a second.  Let it become a visual.

It came as such a wakeup call to me.  99.9% of the time, I try to change the terrain, to make it work.  I want to make the "terrain" before me - the reality of my life circumstances and relationships - adjust to the idealized view in my head.  This valuable piece of advice suggests that sometimes you have to pause, look at reality, and reposition yourself to see it with fresh eyes.  Most of the time I cause myself so much frustration and resentment by trying to change my situation rather than changing myself.

I'm a dreamer and an idealist by nature.  Does this mean I shouldn't continue to dream?  Absolutely not.  But there's a way to have hope for the present and hope for the future in a peaceful way rather than striving, with humble surrender rather than pushing.  Letting go rather than squelching.

The old way I've been doing things doesn't work.  The map is going to change.  Starting now.

Hello, 2013.

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Hello, 2013.  Let's do this. Let's be more organized and more grateful.  Let's read more books.  Let's send more snail mail.

I've created an inspiring little space on the hutch in the butler's pantry where my leafy green 2013 planner can live everyday, safe from toddler hands.  Set on a beaded flower mat, surrounded by smooth river stones from Colorado and a sweet gum tree pod, it's far better than my planner from last year which floated from room to room and is scribbled throughout with a two-year-old's artwork.  I love my daughter's artwork but not in mama's planner, please.

So, I thought I'd share a few of my 2013 goals - none too many or too lofty, but realistic and hopefully inspiring...

  1. Plan ahead better on birthdays.  I always turn my calendar page and realize there are birthdays coming up that I haven't planned for.  Even if it's just a handwritten card in the mail, I want to celebrate birthdays better this year. 
  2. Send more care packages.  I think it's time for another snail mail exchange!  Snail mail is good for the soul.
  3. Learn to knit. I want to make handwarmers and mug rugs and scarves and hats and all kinds of fun things.  A visit to Shabby Sheep might be in order.
  4. Read more books.  I'll try to do better than the scant 8 books I read in 2012.  Man, 2010 was a good reading year - all those hours spent rocking and nursing a newborn - 27 books!
  5. Sew & embroider more.  Funky curtains for the guest room, pillows and pillowcases, and a "mapron" (man-apron) for Steven.  I've got a lot of projects in my mind that need to become realities, like this adorable typerwriter pocket pillow from the latest issue of Country Living...

  6. Yoga.  I've been saying for the last two years that I want to get back into yoga regularly.  It's time.  There are even mommy + me yoga classes in our neighborhood for $8/class.
  7. Make it back to the northeast this summer.  This past August in New Jersey was very healing for me.  I'd love to go for a little less than a month this time, and for our little family to take a drive up to the beautiful Adirondacks in New York state for a few days.
  8. 365 days outside.  I was inspired by my Instagram friend Aimee of the blog Wild Boy Yonder who recently posted this - a commitment to be outside every single day for a year.  Here in Dallas, most of the year will be easy, but summer...ouch.  The summer is scorching here, but we can still commit to make it outside every day, if just to play in the sprinkler.

 

What are some of your 2013 goals, friends?  I'd love to know!

Heart-sick.

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News of the elementary school shooting today in Newtown, CT has left me shaken, sickened, horrified.  I visited Newtown in grade school to stay with my pen pal Karen Lawlor one weekend.  It's a small town, like any small town in America.  A small town full of people just living their lives.  And today their small town has been victimized, touched by evil.

Today, I beg the Lord to come soon and redeem this broken, broken mess .  When days are good, I want to stay here on earth as long as possible, to continue experiencing the joy, beauty, and delight that's possible here.  But on days like these, I'm reminded how we are dust, how it's all temporary, how life in Heaven will make this sorry earth look like garbage compared to what's awaiting us there.

The worst part is, this news story will all "blow over" in a few days, but these families will still be left to face life without their sweet children.  How?  It's unfathomable.  As a parent, I honestly don't know how I would survive this.

For now, there is only one option for me - to believe there will be redemption.  There is comfort. 

Lord, break our hearts like those parents who lost their children.  Let us fight for the light that overcomes the darkness.  Let us wait in hopeful expectation for the redemption that will come.

Obama's speech was beautiful.

He will restore. (30 days of thankfulness - day 30)

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I can think of no better note on which to end this month of thankfulness.  A few weeks ago in the middle of my Bible Study Fellowship lecture I was reminded of this verse:

“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten..." (Joel 2:25)

I scrawled the verse on my notebook page, and underneath it in bold letters with my turquoise Papermate pen, I wrote, "HE WILL RESTORE."  Tears came into my eyes as I thought of our lives, the lives of so many close friends, filled with so much beauty and so much loss.  And so much hope.  God will restore.

Then, while taking a bath tonight, I read this passage in Anne Lamott's newest book, Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers...

I practically burst into tears right there in the bathtub.  My thankfulness posts are now all overlapping and intertwining, and I see how God weaves these beautiful stories.  I'd miss them if I didn't practice thankfulness, taking the time to write it down and see how it all connects.

My little family, we've lost much - more than is appropriate to share here in this public space.  But we will - and already have - receive back for what we've lost.  It might not be in the way we've pictured, but it will be good.  The details don't really matter, because what I want to communicate today to each and every person who reads this is that He will restore.  And that's the best possible news I can think of at this very moment. 

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During the month of November, I'm practicing "30 days of thankfulness" - will you join me?  Use your blog, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram to voice your thankfulness for something every day in November.  My hope is that this daily routine will create in me a heart of thankfulness and gratitude, no matter the day or month or situation.