Contentment

One area that I struggle with in my life is contentment. Part of it is the culture, part of it is being the baby of my family, and most of it is just being downright sinful.

GOD has been showing me examples in my daily living of what contentment looks like. From little children being absolutely content, nay thrilled, with the crumbs in the bottom of the doughnut bag to pictures of Kenyan natives praising the Lord for fresh, new mud on their mud hut.

We are such a blessed people, why do we want more? It aggravates me and it's just plain wrong and yet still I covet and am discontent.

Today I was at the library and was grumbling about some of their policies when I realized I was grumping about the fact that I have access to tens of thousands of books - for FREE! How childish! (Just for the record I still think their policy is stupid but I'm not longer pouting about it).

We have food, yet we complain that it's too hot, too cold, too spicy, not spicy enough.

We have shelter, yet we complain that we don't have enough space, don't have the right furniture to fill the space, don't like the color.

We have family, yet we complain that they are meddling, not present enough, weird, or too stuffy.

We have every.thing.we.could.poss.i.bly.want and yet it's not enough or not good enough. I even hear in it my children's voices "What else did you get me? That isn't what I asked for! I don't like broccoli."

It's the wrong color, the wrong size, the wrong shape. Just not exactly what we were looking for.

Do you think she would care if her house didn't have radiant heat?

Do you think he would care if his coffee was a grande, double shot, no whip frappe-whatever?

Do you think he minds that his blanket isn't 600 thread count with high loft or that it doesn't match his duvet cover?You get the idea. When Angie went to India I didn't think it would affect me much. But when I read her posts and saw her pictures tears streamed down my face. Over my hot meals in my comfortable house I relayed her trip to Mr. Steady. And then I got up the next morning and forgot about it and grumbled about something or other, (I'm sure it was how someone left 52 pairs of shoes in the kitchen or some ungrateful thing like that). But those pictures assault me in the most inopportune times.

God has been speaking to me a lot lately about what I have and don't need. I don't think he calls us all to a life of homelessness. But this guy sure got my attention when he was on Focus on the Family a few weeks ago. What an experience.

I know this post seems like it's all over the place but so are my thoughts lately. Contentment. I think I'll be posting a lot more about this in the coming weeks and months. Maybe even years. Did I mention I'm the baby of the family?

Winner and Checking In

I know it seems like I flew in and then back out and left both all of you hanging. It was the boys' last week of summer vacation and I wanted to spend as much time with them as possible. Doesn't that always seem like enough is never enough? Alas, there is this dreadful thing called work that always seems to get in the way. So give me a few more days and I'll be back in the swing of things, I do believe.

The winner of the Beth Moore Daniel Bible Study book giveaway is Rachel. Her advice is to get up earlier than your children so you can have your quiet time and get ready for the day ahead. I agree that this is crucial to a smooth running day. It doesn't happen around here very often (particularly since I have one that likes to get up around 6:30) but when it does it really makes a huge difference in my countenance, if nothing else. Rachel, I will get with you to make plans to get your book to you.

And if you aren't already familiar with Rachel's blog, please go visit her. School is back in full swing at her house already. She's always full of great ideas.

See you later this week, Lord willing!

Baby Joey and the Mean Dog

I am one of "those" mommies. The ones who don't like playing with dinosaurs or pretending to be farmers or pirates. And don't even get me started on Hot Wheels. Give me a game of checkers or a book to read aloud and I'm golden. I will cook with them, color with them, whatever, just please not the pretend play!

Most of the time when my children ask me if I'll play "fill-in-the-blank" with them I say "not right now" and The Reader will say "You can be the busy pirate". This morning I was the "busy farmhand".

But today, round about eleven, I was hot. Hotter than hot. The boys were complaining about how hot it was and asked to put their swimsuits on. I don't know why they think just the act of putting on ones swimsuit makes them cooler but they do. The Entertainer thought this was a great idea and stripped down naked in the back yard. I couldn't tell him he couldn't swim so I put my suit on quickly and let the three of them get in the pool.

Mr. Steady came home soon after this and we convinced him to join us. We were having an absolute blast. Sometimes we need to just abandon all sense of....what is it, pride, prudishness, just plain busyness? We need to let it go and have fun.

The boys were climbing on me and fooling around. One of them suggested they be baby joey kangaroos and I jumped all over the pool with one on my front and the other on my back. The five of us made a whirlpool (talk about a terrific workout). Then they went back to the kangaroos. There was a mean dog trying to attack the baby kangaroo. So the mommy kangaroo had to attack (read: wrestle) the mean dog. It was great. I felt so engergized and relaxed afterwards.

In the afternoon the boys were told to pick up the playroom. Because we had filled up their Love Tanks with attention earlier in the day it was easier (NOT a piece of cake) to get them to complete the job.

We finished the day with Mr. Steady's famous nachos and red pop for dinner and a viewing of Night at the Museum for the older two. The Thinker declared on his way to bed that "this was a great day". I concur.

How about you? Do you find pretend play to come easy to you or do you struggle with it? What pretend things do your children always beg you to play?

Back To School Giveaway

UPDATE: If you want to leave a comment as Anonymous please email me or let me know who you are so I can enter your name in the giveaway. Photo from http://www.allposters.com/

I love back-to-school time. Not because I don't want my children around (in fact, it's quite the opposite), but ever since I was a young girl I thought back-to-school was it's own season. What is not to love? New schedule, new clothes, new friends, new crayons.

As a teacher candidate one of my philosophies is that we need to instill a lifelong love of learning in our students. We never stop learning and experiencing life. I was so blessed to attend Beth Moore's Daniel Bible study this spring. It was simply phenomenal. I can't say enough good about it. Here's the description from the LifeWay website:

Daniel: Lives of Integrity, Words of Prophecy by Beth Moore
shows how individuals can live with integrity in today's self-absorbed society.
Join Beth in a faith-building study of prophecy and learn how to shine for
Christ in our modern culture. Just as the prophet Daniel faced unbelievable
pressures—to compromise his faith, to live in a hostile culture, and to confront
temptations and threats—today's believers face many of the same trials.

So while we start the children on their next several months of studying, I thought it would fun to offer the women something to study of their own. So I'm giving away my copy of Beth Moore's Daniel Study Guide. It's very gently used but I did not write in it at all. The only thing I ask is that you also use it but don't write in it and then pass it on.

Here is how to enter: Leave a comment with your best back-to-school smooth transition advice, maybe a great idea for getting clothes organized, a terrific crock pot meal, a scheduling idea. Homeschool moms, jump in here. Teachers too! And if any of you have a phenomenal tip for making sure all the papers and agendas get signed on time and put back into the proper backpack, I'm ALL ears. I am bound and determined to tame the paper monster this year!

The contest will close at midnight Saturday, August 22 and one winner will be drawn at random.

Rested, Revived, and Ready to Go

Hello Friend! I am dipping a toe back in the blogging water and seeing how it feels.