Poor Grandma, Part 1

Back when my "grandma" was raising children, she didn't know her arms were more toned than Mrs. Olsen's because they wore sleeves and didn't pin pictures of "6 Must-Do Exercises to Rid Your Arms of Flab Forever".  Nor did she have a full-length mirror (or the privacy to stand naked in front of one if she had one) to analyze just how bad her cellulite was.

And yet her husband loved her anyhow, delighted in her, and loved her faithfully until his last dying breath.

"Grandma" didn't realize there were "10 Things No New Mom Can Do Without", she thought her little stash of homemade cloth diapers and the wooden cradle that her husband made were just fine for bringing home another baby.  She didn't know she needed a Bumbo, a bouncer seat, a battery operated swing and a special bathtub.  On that note, she missed the list of "What to Pack in Your Hospital Bag" because she had homebirths and a kettle of hot water and a heap of clean towels was all she really needed.

And yet her baby's brains and bodies developed, they adored her and grew up healthy and strong.

"Grandma" didn't know there was 101 books she had to read to her children before they were six or that she had to prepackage busy bags for her younger children to play with while she educated her older children.  She didn't have to choose between 127 homeschool curricula, she just taught her children what she knew, how to read and write, how to add numbers, how plants grew, she taught the girls how to sew, cook and clean and shooed the boys out of the house to help their dad plant fields and do carpentry work or to manage the store or shoe horses.  The list of Date Night ideas escaped her notice and since there was no time to get away with just her &  the mister they surely also missed the "12 Mother-Son Dates" and "15 Daddy-Daughter Dates".

And yet her children knew they were loved and valued, were well educated, had good manners, made good friends and grew up to support their own families.

"Grandma" never found out what the words tablescape or gourmet meant.  Until they were older her girls shared a cup and most days if they had meat to eat it was a pretty special blessing.  She didn't fret over whether her grains were soaked and sprouted, the beef was grass-fed and their Omega 3s were in proper ratio to their Omega 6s.  She didn't stage her house when her husband said it was time to move, she just packed up everything they owned that would fit in the wagon and hoped the next person who found their cabin & made it home would appreciate the sturdiness of the bed.

And yet her family was well-fed and healthy, close-knit and called their mother "blessed".

"Grandma" never knew her rooms would seem bigger or her ceilings higher if she painted the walls a certain color.  She never knew her picture frames had to be hung a certain number of inches above her furniture or in odd numbers.

And yet her home always felt cozy, there was always warmth in the fireplace, and memories to savor.

"Grandma" never hosted grand tea parties for 12, made elaborate party favors for birthday parties, made seating charts for dinner parties or put mints on her overnight guests' pillows.

And yet her neighbors always knew they could stop in for a cup of tea, her friends always asked for her simple recipes, her church knew they could count on her to donate homemade pies, and her extended family didn't hesitate to spend the night when the weather was too bad to ride home.

Poor Grandma, she didn't know just how much of a mess she was.  She had no idea of her BMI or ideal weight, she didn't know how ill-prepared of a mom she was, she was unaware of how her children stacked up against other children in the state or country, she was incognizant about how simple and uninspiring her meals were, she was clueless about how unglamorous her home furnishings were, and she was simply oblivious to her entertaining faux pas.  And gloriously blissful in her ignorance.

As I talk to other ladies about their feelings of inadequacy, dissatisfaction with their lives, their marriages, their bodies, their houses, their children....their very purpose in life, I can't help but think of all the things "Grandma" missed out on. I am chief among the complainers.  I compare and covet.  I analyze and ache.  It's all just too much.  I agonize over comments made on Facebook, the lack of blog readers, I Pin every possible idea to help me feed, entertain, spend quality time with, impart value to my family.  I check out 10 books on the GAPS diet and vitamin deficiency along with 6 books on how to impart blessings to my family and make sure my children stay in church, and on top of that stack I add a few books on the proper colors for my home and the newest designs in home decor.  Many of these things are good things to think about, the food we feed our children, the coziness of our homes, the pleasures in life are not sins and may in fact be noble.  But the comparison game, the constant discontentment is just too much.  A little voice in my head screams "Enough!"  I want off of this ride of comparisons and inadequacy. 

And yet, I know that God put me here for such a time as this.  But He also calls me to come out and be separate.  Not to look like the world, to put my treasure in things not of this world, to find my value in Him, to let Him be God and be His servant.

(All pictures taken by Mr. Steady or myself at Sauder Village)

This is Just About To Get Weird

I think I slept through the entire month of December last year because I took all these pictures to post and then didn't.  Fail.  Would it help if I said I actually wrote this post in June and set it to auto-publish today?

I was searching Pinterest for tiny houses and came across this little gem. Is that not the cutest thing?

 

That definitely looked like too much work, but when the boys and I made gingerbread men, I decided to play around with the dough and cut a slit into this little guy.  Yes, he dipped a toe into the water to see how it felt prior to this picture.

 He enjoyed sitting on the edge of the cup but was noncommittal about actually getting in.

 

And then Mr. Steady got involved in the fun.  You can see where this is going, can't you?  He influences me in bad ways.  He suggested we make the hot cocoa into a hot tub.  This part of the post is not suitable for children {wink}.  This is our gingerbread likeness, enjoying the hot tub, except it wasn't until now I realized my doppelganger should be wearing a swimsuit.  Little hussy.  Oh well, at least she remembered to bring a dish rag beach towel.

No gingerbread men were injured in the making of this blog post.  Um, nevermind.

Awwww

I have to brag on my honey for a minute.  In the farthest stretches of your imagination you'd never call him a romantic.  He's practical and for the most part so am I.  So when we returned from Sauder Village I made mention that I was glad I hadn't gone into labor because I would have had no idea where the nearest hospital was.  We know several families up that way so I supposed we could have called them or just asked the front desk.

Mr. Steady replied that he had already researched that before we left and knew right where to go if something had happened.  Ever the practical guy, he assured me it was just because he didn't want to deliver the baby but it still touched my heart that he thought even ahead of time to figure that out!

Love you honey!

McDonald's at Midnight

Mr. Steady and The Reader both love to play the Monopoly game at McDonald's.  The Reader has been waiting for the new game to start since mid-summer.  So when he asked Mr. Steady to wake him up at midnight to take him to McDonald's because he wanted to be "among the first to play" we giggled.  But then we thought, "why not?"  It's fun to yes to odd requests sometimes.

Mr. Steady woke The Reader up at midnight....twice.  He is such a hard sleeper!  They headed to the store closest to us but they weren't handing out pieces yet.  So Mr. Steady went to find another store that was open!  I would have said "sorry, Charlie" and headed home!

 The lobby was closed so he posed for a picture outside the window - ha!

 How fun to go to McDonald's in your pajamas!

 He looks pretty pleased - not sure if it's because of the pieces he got or his hash brown & OJ!

Sauder Village

We were given a gift certificate to Sauder Village in Northwest Ohio almost two years ago and it just recently worked out for us to go.  We started out going for one night and then we were given the gift of two extra nights.

We stayed at Sauder Heritage Inn and this was the view from our window - unlike any other inn or hotel I've stayed in!

 On Friday we went to the Village.  It was Homeschool Appreciation week as well as Artisan week.  I am not sure how much that was going on is normal vs. what was special for the week.  This is the doctor's office, the doctor's nurse was showing us all the pharmaceuticals and tools he would have used.

 This was the one-room schoolhouse.

 A broom maker shows how to make brooms.

 The carpenter's shop, all the tools were man-powered, no gas, no electric

 The barber's shop, shave and a hair cut for $0.10

 The flowers and gardens all around the place were gorgeous...my photography skills are severely lacking the ability to convey the beauty.

 The print shop.

 A cabin from the 1800s

 Jail house.

 The Thinker making "beaten" biscuits.

 The train ride was a nice break in the middle of the day.

 This was my favorite, a wagon for Hungarian migrant workers.  Add a bathroom and some plumbing for the kitchen and this would fulfill all my "tiny house" desires.

 Glass blower

 Someone got all tuckered out before the day was over.

 On Saturday we just hung out at the Inn all day.  This was an area just off of the elevator and down the hall from our bedroom.  We put together part of a puzzle and at night after we tucked the boys in, Mr. Steady and I slipped down the hall and played cards out here.

 This was a nice eating area, where we ate the continental breakfast every morning and ate our packed lunch on Saturday.  The pool area is just behind Mr. Steady and The Reader.  We spent a LOT of time in the pool each day.

 

Several areas with wood toys for the children to play.

 A huge faux tree in the foyer.

 

The Inn also had several sitting areas all around with water fountains, koi ponds, couches, overstuffed chairs, it was just a really fun place

 There was a game room with basketballs, fuseball, air hockey, and ping pong.  This was, very obviously, a favorite of the boys.  And dad. :o)

We went out to dinner each night, the first night we had dinner at a friend's house, the second night we ate at Barn Restaurant at the Village where we enjoyed a delicious buffet dinner.  The third night we found a local pizza place and on our way out of town on Sunday we stopped at a place called Mom's Diner, which was modeled after a 50's diner.  The boys were impressed with the jukeboxes on the wall, even though they didn't work.

We wanted to do something really fun with the boys before this baby comes and rocks their world.  It was a wonderfully relaxing weekend and we were all so glad we took the time and made the sacrifices to do it.

Hello Monday!

Deborah has been doing "Hello Monday" posts for quite some time and her week always seems so full and intentional compared to mine.  I had a very fun and full week last week so I decided to jump on board.  I actually remembered to pull out the camera and document some things as well!

Hello long weekend trip!  We visited Sauder Village in Northern Ohio last weekend.  It started out to be a one night trip, then slowly morphed into a three-night trip, which utterly blessed our socks off.  More in depth post on this to come.

 Goodbye to old paint in the baby's room.  Mr. Steady and his friend put a fresh new coat of aqua on the walls.  Full reveal of the nursery will come when it's complete, which may or may not come prior to her arrival!

 Hello to fluffing up old things and making them new.

 Hello to Girls' Night In!  Mr. Steady and I started meeting with several other couples to pray & share our lives about 2 years ago.  These ladies have become so precious to me and even though we haven't met as couples lately, most of our husbands get together weekly and us girls try to get together once a month or so.  We had a healthy {cough, cough} dinner of pizza, chips, pop and Ho-Ho Cake.  Luckily, C brought fresh pears so we could pretend it was a well-rounded meal :o).  Then we watched October Baby, which is a must see, if you haven't yet seen it.

 Hello to science projects right outside our window.  If you hadn't gathered by the blog name, we live in town.  Hawks aren't something we see around here.  I would never have noticed him sitting there, outside my kitchen window, devouring a squirrel, if my neighbors, who go for twice daily walks hadn't walked soooo slowly, soooo apprehensively past him.  He didn't flinch as they walked by.  Then he waited for a while to make sure the coast was clear and had himself a tidy little breakfast.

No pictures of these last events but hello to finding out baby girl is head down and not in some other position as I feared - praise the Lord for hours spent in the pool trying to get her to flip!

Hello to date night, we haven't seen you in such a long time and it will likely be a long time until you visit us again.  That is okay because we make time to be together and laugh and play together as often as we can but there is something special about a quiet meal with adult food and conversation.

Hello to family reunions!  So fun to see people you haven't seen in a year, especially when you have news they haven't heard!  News used to travel fast in my family but it seems several didn't know we are adding to our family, Lord willing!

Hello to comments being turned back on.  Several of you noticed I had turned the comments off on my blog.  They should be back on now.  I appreciate your comments and although I don't respond very often, I do read each and every one!

Goodbye Summer!  We officially bid adieu to summer and I, for one, couldn't be happier.  I happen to adore fall to begin with, and the promise of meeting my daughter is the sweetest reason I could think of to say hello to autumn!

What did you find yourself greeting hello or wishing farewell to last week?  What does this week hold in store for you?