Simple living: thankfulness frame.

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I've seen the blog posts circulating about how excessive Pinterest-surfing is causing moms to ignore their kids because they're too busy pinning at every spare minute.  And I get that, as I have to be careful not to retreat to my computer instead of engaging with the people in my home.  Anything can be taken overboard and abused.  Personally though, I have to say that many of the simple, creative ideas I've seen on Pinterest have actually helped me engage with the people in my life more.   This project is one of them.

First, I saw this idea on Pinterest, and then a sweet friend gave me a cute gift wrapped in burlap, and I thought I could repurpose it for this simple project. Who doesn't love burlap?  I wrote on a 5x7 frame with a white paint pen, framed the burlap, and in literally less than 5 minutes and $0 spent, I had this:

The idea for this frame, which is now perched on the dresser in our bedroom, is that my husband and I would use it to write notes back and forth to each other in the form of thankfulness. The notes are written with a dry-erase marker and easily wiped off.

Practicing thankfulness is one of the most important things we can do every single day.  For me, taking a moment to write or speak thankfulness is the difference between spiraling into a sea of chaos, resentfulness, and entitlement vs. peacefully surrendering my life and seeing the multitude of gifts I already have.  Yet, it's something I easily forget.  Every single day.

Writing on the thankfulness frame encourages me to search for something to be thankful for, even when I don't feel it at that moment.  And a bonus is receiving encouragement by what my husband writes.  The other morning after he had left for work, I found this:

Sigh.  I do love that man.  He knows me, he sees what's important in life, and he'll take two seconds to write on a picture frame to put a smile on his wife's face.  I've always wanted our home to be a place of beauty and peace, and it made me happy - and thankful - to know he sees it that way too.

So, I encourage you to make a thankfulness frame - for yourself or even as a simple gift for a friend.  We can all use a little more thankfulness in our lives, can't we?

Inspiration today.

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Here's a collection of inspiring things to start out your week...

Thank you, thank you, thank you. This brought tears to my eyes. As I was reading this actually, my 23-month-old cried out “Mommy Mommy Mommy!” in the middle of her sleep and I went to her tonight with a lot more hope and peace inside of me. So many nights (especially during teething) I feel like I’m losing my mind still night-nursing an almost 2 year old who has never slept through the night. But then other nights I feel just as you – that I’m part of a beautiful tribe of weary, hopeful mamas up in the middle of the night with their babies, and there’s comfort in that. And when my daughter sighs and goes back to sleep contentedly as she did tonight after a few short minutes of connection with me, I know I’ve done the right thing for her. The Lord has refined me during this time in unbelievable ways, and I KNOW I will miss it whenever it ends.

Have a wonderful Monday!

Puddles.

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Luci Belle,

I hope I always remember the day you asked me, "Walkin?  Red boots?" and you dressed yourself quite creatively to take a walk in the rain puddles after all-night thunderstorms saturated our neighborhood.   Armed with a tube of chap stick and a bottle of bubbles, you eagerly climbed down the front steps and asked me to draw "tat-tats" (kitty cats) on the wet sidewalk with soggy turquoise chalk.  Exchanging the bubbles and chap stick for the chalk, your new treasure, you sought out the biggest and muddiest puddle on our street to splash through with utter and complete toddler joy.

After a few minutes of splashing, you asked, "You too?," gesturing for me to join you.  In my adultlike practicality, I hesitated to put my clean shoes in the puddles or sit on the wet sidewalk with you.  But I'm glad I did.  And as I felt my pants soak through with water and my freshly blow-dried hair curl and frizz in the humid drizzle, I knew that life was made of glittering moments like these.

As you get older, here's something to remember, my sweet girl:
adults walk around puddles; children run through them. 

Keep "running through" as long as you can, and hold on to your childlike joy.  This life is the only one you've got.  And it just isn't as fun without puddle-splashing and walks in the rain.

Love,

Mommy

Ode to Lauren.

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Lauren & I at her home in 2006

Today is my dear friend Lauren's birthday.  Lauren is a fellow Jersey girl, but we first met back in '99 when we were both working for Grassroots Music in Houston.  We both soon moved to Nashville and then she returned to the South Jersey area when she got married.  Lauren is a gifted writer, photographer, creative soul, mother, and wife, and I'm thankful to have the opportunity to learn from her.

The last time I saw Lauren was in 2006 when I visited her home on a quiet suburban street in New Jersey just outside Philly.  I still vividly remember the moments we spent together that bright April spring day, sipping strong French press coffee on her screened-in front porch while her toddler daughter Ella played contentedly. 

I had the opportunity to make amends for my failings in our friendship, things that had been weighing heavily on me for years.  Of course, she accepted it graciously, and we started anew. 

When I later wrote about our time together, I said, "Lauren and I also talked a lot about her method of natural mothering, which I would like to model one day."  And I have.  As Lauren shared with me her thoughts on motherhood that day, I felt her words resonate deep in my soul.  It was the first time I had heard of the attachment parenting style and a more natural way of mothering.  What I remember is the respect and love in Lauren's voice as she spoke about parenting her daughter - trusting her gut instincts, seeing her child not as an inconvenience that needed to quickly adjust to her and her husband's world, but as a unique human being who was to be welcomed and celebrated and adjusted to.  Big changes came with motherhood, I could tell, both difficult and wonderful.  Talking with her made me excited about having children one day.  Little did I know how much the Lord would use this conversation in my life, how much I would draw upon it when I actually became a mother four years later.

So this August, I will pack myself and my daughter in my dad's Honda CRV and make the 2-hour-drive to Chester County, PA to be reunited with this sweet friend.  Lauren promises to give me a tour of the Waldorf school where she works and where her daughter attends, which is set on acres and acres of sustainable farmland.  Yes, please.  I'm sure there's also a hot French press and deep mugs of coffee in our near future, and plenty of time to mull over the joys and struggles of this imperfect life as our daughters play together. 

So on her birthday, I can think of no better way to celebrate Lauren than to say, "You have inspired me, my friend. And I love you."