Westwoods

This picture is about ten years old but it still has an element of reality for us.  This is us and how we are.  He makes me furious and happy all at the same time.  Maybe like fire and ice.  Anyway, he's still the one I want to fight with and laugh with... He's always there even when I wouldn't blame him for being far away from me and my moods. Recently, we have been made aware of the importance of scheduling time for each other.  We schedule everything else these days; if we want an appointment with each other, we'll need to plan and schedule this as well. Toria thinks this is a very unromantic approach to dating.  What I want to know is how did it come to this-  my almost fourteen year old giving me dating advice?  But by the time I had my props arranged with the kids on a movie of their own with snacks in another bedroom, Toria admitted our little plan looked fun and cozy. It was really none of her business anyway. In the basket w...

 How was your Easter weekend?  Ours was quite full.  Yesterday we did amazing things and were so tired afterward I didn't get to update and wish you a Happy Easter.  Good Friday was relaxing and I'm so glad.  Bruce got called in to the ER and it was also overtime pay so letting go of Friday together was kind of a relief.  Especially since he awoke on Saturday saying, "I think I'll cut a few trees down today."  What kinda guy does this?  Anyway, it was an all day job.  And it wasn't even our tree.  But my husband is nice and offered to help the neighbor guy so guess who was up in the tree doing the crazy work? I said fine. But I do have to make cinnamon rolls for Easter brunch at church and sew my girls Easter dresses and clean the house and do report cards and lesson planning for next week, but other than that I am totally free to help with trees and such. The tricky part was missing another neighbors house... My view of ...

I usually like to write about something inspirational or one of life's lessons, but today I am brain dead.  I have been most the week actually.  We are having a spring break from school so I am allowed to be a little brain dead, plus it's relaxing to stare off into space without deep thoughts now and then. Right? Amen. I spent a lovely day this week shopping with my sister and baby.  We talked some.  But with her being mom to a baby that is eight weeks old, and me being a teacher on break from fifteen students,  there were gaps and lulls in-be-tween the deepness.  It was good. We needed it the way it was. We hosted a home bible study this week.  It was extreme fun for me.  We cleaned house all day and I made a layered cake.  I served it to our guest on paper plates along with mugs of tea or coffee.  It was simple, plain, and perfect.  I haven't done much hosting lately but would love to change that.  It felt  normal ag...

I finally figured out why they happen, I  speak of Sunday Morning Conflicts.  They serve as a reminder to all saved- by- grace people, that we are indeed saved by grace and not by our good behavior on Sunday morning. Because on Sunday morning, your teenage daughter will  try to pull off a new hairstyle and outfit.  The hairstyle, you can look past, but the outfit is less forgiving.  Husband notices the hair 'pretty', which is supposed to be a headband.  He asks me to tell her to take it off.  I whisper the command and get a glare.  The outfit continues to nag me all during church and I am kicking myself for not getting the poor child a few more clothing options.  Things are much too tight on her blooming teenage self, so to fuss at her outfit seems wrong.  Between the two of us, I feel like the dress policeman. Also, on Sunday morning, husband seems extra boisterous and bossy.  I want to sock him one but instead practice the ide...

Through my window.  It has been raining raining raining.  It feels like a Spring rain though, so I am not minding.  I dreamed last night the kids and I were on a cross country bicycle trip to Seattle.  Suddenly, Shaunti was no longer with us and when I asked where she was, Toria said she took the bus.  I was quite relieved to find it was a dream.  Laife and Toria are flying to P.R. alone, end of May.  I am such a wimp.  Already I am dreaming haunting dreams of desperation.  Letting go is what is needed in this.  It feels wrong tho' my head tells me it is right.  Today I was inspired with the thought to think about what others are seeing through their window.  I prayed for a friend who always prays for me and lets me know.  I prayed for what's out her window. Ranunculus and a turquoise bird.  Favorite things are important. An orchid I brought back to life.  Actually, it was God not me. ...

Welcome to my dirty living room...Just sayin...It's Monday and things were piled high this afternoon.  Thanks to my three children, we plowed and shoveled our way through the mess and things are now relatively caught up.  I think we could have coffee or tea should you show up now. I am truly swamped, snowed under, and overwhelmed with all that is ours to say 'Thank you' for right now.  I did not get through all the domesticated chores of the normal weekend (I don't know why) I worked at them I'm sure...but did not succeed. Anyway, I've thought about this all day trying to figure out where I may have gone wrong and it all comes back to two simple reminders I am constantly using on my students. Did you read your instructions carefully and understand them? When all else fails...ASK FOR HELP! No wonder they are confused by me.  Do those two reminders even remotely go together? They do, I think, if you work at them in reverse order.  What I mean, th...

       The walk across my heart to yours can be a long journey;        Like roaming through a wilderness or desert.        There is an echo of my cry bouncing off the walls of the canyons;        Pangs of loneliness resound because no one heard.        Yet it draws me back to awareness of others' pain.        The nearby stream brings;         My listening round to burbles and joys happening in whirlpools near me.         Loneliness becomes a gift from God; a searching out of what He wants from me.