Superhero husband

Last night my parents babysat for us so that we could go out with our small group to see "To Save a Life."  I cannot believe it is playing in theaters!   It is very realistic and has a great GREAT message.  It covers almost every single issue a teenager would face: cutting, teen pregnancy, abortion, peer pressure (fitting in), drinking, drugs, and hypocrisy among Christians...some of the scenes were very intense.  I felt like the pastor's son was overplayed a bit, but honestly everything was so true to life.  If I had teenagers, I would watch this with them because of the opportunities for conversation.  It has a definite strong Christian message.  Steve and I both thought it was excellent. 

I woke up with a powerful headache.  Every so often I get migraines and have unfortunately passed this lovely trait onto Jeffers.  With him the pain usually hits a wall and does not let up until he throws up.  Poor guy.  I felt so sick this morning.  I was just sitting with my eyes closed and asked the Lord "What can I do to redeem this day?"  I ended up sitting on the couch with Coco.  We shared a cozy blanket and I read her Beatrix Potter, and some poems (Edna St. Vincent Millay poems for children, also Baby by George Mcdonald, Who Has Seen The Wind?  By Christina Rossetti, The Hayloft by Robert Louis Stevenson and others).

I read them softly so she had to snuggle close to hear but it made it nicer.  The huge flakes of snow were falling so softly out the window. It made me want to lay a picnic blanket out in the yard, play classical music on my mp3 player and lay on my back and watch them fall.  I would have Coco snuggled up in the crook of my arm, with her snowsuit on and I would give her an ear bud so she could share in the magic. Hopefully we will have another beautiful snow day like this when I do not have a migraine.

In the bunnies' wood

(Written by Vivienne Dayrell when she was between the ages of nine and fifteen.   She has a fascinating biography that you can read a bit about here )

"There the Young leaves sway in the wind,

And the little shy fern uncurl to the kiss of the sun,

Where the wood is dark and cool,

With the wild flowers by the pool

There let me lie...

The soft breeze passes by...

I am one with the wild blue sky

And the grass where the rabbits run."

There was a pet "expo" at Eti's school today.  He asked me over and over again to bring his rabbit and I said no because "how in the world would he fit that big cage onto the bus?"  Steve goes to work an hour before they leave. We are trying to live a simpler life and have down-sized to one vehicle, so I could not drive the rabbit over.

I bought Eti a display board and printed some 8x10s of the rabbit (the ones from the blog a few days ago) and he was all happy with it.  I figured a display with pictures is the next best thing to actually having the rabbit there. Steve showed me up (this shows what a superhero dad he is).  He got permission to come home early and work the rest of the day from home so he could surprise Eti.  Steve emailed the teacher and found out when the show started.  The teacher was excited and had it planned out so that Eti went first.  When he was about to stand up in front of everyone with the display board of the pictures in walked Steve with the real rabbit, and the rest is history!

Steve had me stop cleaning and lay on the couch when he saw how bad my headache was.  He made me a bowl of soup and kissed my forehead.  Chloe was very excited because I hardly ever lay down on the couch.  She ran up and  got her Fisher Price tool kit and then hammered my knee caps, sawed my legs, wrenched my fingers--in order to "fix" me.  Somewhere in the middle of it I fell asleep.  When I woke up, I had foam darts between every single finger and every toe and she was still there checking my heartbeat.  I felt better.

Not a big deal at all--the headache was hardly worth mentioning except that I was thankful for my compassionate husband and my nurse Coco.

Plates, stones, primer, and waves

In the summer, Steve wanted to take Coco on a "Daddy/daughter" date.  He really wanted to do something artsy with her.  They ended up at the pottery shop down the street because he knew she would enjoy making her own plate.

They had a blast!!!  Steve said he really did not want to hover while she was painting her plate--he wanted her to use whatever colors and designs her little heart wanted, so he painted a little fairy figure for her to distract himself while she made a grand mess of pink and purple all over her plate.

When she came home with her plate, we all started talking about going as a family.   We own four everyday plates, FOUR.  I only have four because I cannot decide what I want for plates.  I like how durable and light Corelle is but am not excited about the patterns.  My "guest " dinnerware is too heavy.

So this was perfect, we all went as a family.

I knew right away what design I wanted to paint.  I had explored the abandoned village while in Ireland, alone, wearing oversized wellies and getting stuck in bog pits.  It was one of the very very best adventures I had.  My senses were on hyper alert and I touched, smelled, studied every little thing.  There were huge dandelion plants, I have no idea what they were called but they were tall, up to my face, and everywhere, with little wisps of cottony fluff blowing from them! 

Steve painted the Cliffs of Moher on his plate.  Without talking about it beforehand, we both had decided on a scene from Ireland.

Coco got to paint a donkey while we were there since she already had a plate.

Jeff wanted his favorite character in Star Wars so Steve helped him with that.

This past weekend the sisters got together for our annual January Christmas party. 

I called the girls and told them to bring some ingredients for soup.  We all brought a little something from our own kitchens: herbs, carrots, celery, onions, broth, noodles, chicken...

Have you ever read the story of stone soup?  It is a very old old tale and many countries have different versions.

That is what I made!  I brought some stones that I had brought home. I found them on one of our adventures to the Adirondacks, they are perfectly round and were found in a large river bed.  I scrubbed and boiled them to make sure they were good and clean.  

The sisters did not know what I was making until we were all there, it so fun and they all had great reactions! 

I love the idea of all of us bringing something from our homes to create a cozy meal to share together.

 *Julie, Martha, and Janet

This is a gem of a book, a real gem.  It is titled Child Story Reader Primer and it is from the 1920s.

The pages are thick and soft as fleece.

Chloe and I turn the pages so slowly, and take turns smelling the book.  She says it smells like flowers, and it does, like roses in a way.

The illustrations are charming, and hint at more innocent and simpler times.

I have already gone online looking for more primers like this.  Do you all know about Abe Books ?

 That is where I find all my old out-of-print books.  For example they have some of these primers for under five dollars!

Chloe has been a blast to homeschool: she loves to learn and views it as playtime.  She is strong willed enough that she does not get easily discouraged and just keeps plugging away until she understands.

 She does all her other work first and then we bring out this special book, kind of like desert, because she loves it that much!

Oh this day was sooo bad!  I woke up feeling ugly, inside and outside.  I did not even want to look at the camera when Steve took the picture. What I really wanted to do was go back to bed and feel sorry for myself.  It was a long hard weekend where we had constant plumbing problems--as soon as we thought it was fixed, there would be a new leak or another problem.   Steve also told me that it looks like the department he works for is being eliminated  because of the economy, so he is already putting out his resume elsewhere. 

Steve said to me "Remember when we were at the ocean and holding hands when the waves would come and crash over us again and again?  That is what this feels like.  We are in this together and I am holding on real tight."

After a few days of keeping my chin up, my heart was just heavy.  I wanted to be angry at someone and at the same time not be around anyone.  I felt like I did not have the strength to be nice.  I wanted to do laundry (out of  clean socks)  and do my dishes (there were no clean forks left).  I wanted to take a shower and for the problems to be over!  I also really wanted a millionaire to call us up and say "Don't worry about anything I will send you all the money you need so that Steve can go to school and you both can adopt with no worries.  I will pay off your mortgage and your van loan, just sit back and relax."

No millionaire called us.

The plumbing was not fixed that day.

Instead it was this day that Chloe chose to run upstairs and spend half an hour looking for something that would match me perfectly. She found brown corduroy pants similar to mine and our special t-shirts and a pink cardigan.   When she came down she copied every single thing I did or said.  Every job I did, I had a shadow, even when I was on the phone with plumbers, there she was with her phone.

Isn't is it something how God wants us to always be WITH people--it is not His design to have us be islands.  He wants us rubbing shoulders with people.  It was the very best thing for me, to have my little shadow.  She did not know how I was feeling that day, but experiencing her relationship with me challenged me to brighten my attitude.

Our plumbing did get fixed this morning, so we can stop using plastic silverware and paper plates.  I am so SO thankful to have running water again!

"If we had no winter, the Spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome."   

 -Anne Bradstreet (colonial poet of the seventeenth century)

Chloe and I went alone on a walk that ended at a gift shop a few blocks away.  We sat by the window and drank herb tea and called each other our secret names which both begin with "Mrs."  The sentences always start with "So Mrs. ______, how was your day?" and then we both go into character, sipping our tea and talking like two ladies at a Red Hat gathering or something.   It was here, at this store,  that we found this hand carved stamp from India. Chloe LOVES butterflies, so it was a real find for us and we enjoyed making our shirts together.

Retrospective

I am trying to clean up my hard drive and stumbled upon these pictures. 

We took the kids, a few months ago, to our favorite restaurant.  On Tuesdays, they have special things for kids and sometimes even face painting.  So while Steve and I order the food, the kids get to choose whatever they want to have painted on them.

That means that the entire time they are eating, they are wearing what they chose.

Also any errands we are running after we eat, they will still be wearing the art work.

Not a big deal for Jeff who chose a discreet slug.  Jeff spends almost all of his free time reading, drawing and developing his own stories.  Lately he has been creating a very funny comic strip called "Slug Tales"--all about the life of a slug.  So he asked for a a painting of his slug.

Chloe chose predictably

Eti, also in his own way chose something predictably unpredictable...

Reading list

I am a little sad today. I had received an email from our agency saying that there was a little 2 year old orphan girl in Ethiopia who had her leg amputated from the knee down and was anyone interested in being her "Forever family"?  I emailed back immediately "YES a millions times yes, we will love her!"  We originally requested a baby under the age of one.  So if we went through the process for this little girl we would go through a  new homestudy and dossier (stack of paperwork) and of course we would then have five kids. 

 My feelings were so strong for this dear girl that I thought it meant it was going to happen.  I get emails often about children who are on a waiting list, but for some reason this email really grabbed me.  So anyway the agency had me on the list for her but a couple requested her before us and is going to adopt her.  I am so happy for the girl that she does have a family now and that she will no longer be in the orphanage, it is just the mental shift that is hard on my end because I loved her so much already.

I went through the books I read in 2009. I love browsing other peoples book lists and have no idea why I do not list my own more.  I have been recording what I read since 1996 and looking back over every year I can remember what has happening in my life just by what I read almost like it is a journal.  2008-2009 I was taking art classes from someone who has her masters in art.  She taught me sketching and how to painting with oil. We would stand in her kitchen both with huge easels and French opera playing in the background.   I will never be a real painter, but she mentored me in how to see.  Her trained eye did help shape mine and now as I look over last year's list I laugh seeing how many sketch type books I read. 

I also read many adoption books I  decided to post those in a different post because this one is ridiculously long already.

1)North and South by Elizabeth Glaskill

My friend Louise gave this book to me and it is in my top five favorites of classical novels now.  The movie is just as good!  The writing is most similar to Jane Austen. 

2)Fried Green Tomatoes by Fannie Flagg

This book is a light read.  It was my third time reading it.   She is a great author and makes me laugh.  I especially love the relationship of the middle aged wife and the older lady in the nursing home.

3)The Private Writings of Mother Teresa by Brian Kolediejchuk

Mother Teresa struggled her entire life with internal doubts of her own salvation, and she was tormented by invasive thoughts.  This book brought that to life.  It was also inspiring how she helped the sick, widows and orphans, how she rolled up her sleeves and did the jobs no one else wanted to do, like nursing the lepers. The nuns and also the sick had no idea she suffered like this, which really impressed me.

4)Little Pilgrims Progress by Helen L. Taylor

This is a VERY good version to read with kids.  It is deep enough that I cried over many parts and the kids were able to understand the message.  Steve and I want to read the real version together this year.

5) Too Much of a Good thing, Raising Children of Character in an Indulgent Age by Daniel Kidlon 

This is not a Christian book, but it is definitely one of my favorite parenting books.  I have read it many times and agree with him on so many points.  It is powerful and timely for what this generation is dealing with. 

6) The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden

7) Nature Notes by Edith Holden

The last time we went to Steve's grandmothers' house I found these books laying on her coffee table and I devoured them.  I think I read the first one all in one sitting.  I said to Steve "How have I gone my whole life without knowing these books existed?"  She is one of those authors that I know if she was alive today I would want to be friends with her.

These are her sketches above and below.  Edith Holden lived 1871 to 1920.  Many years after her death a distant relative found these journals in the attic and it was at that time they were published and became best sellers.  So this is  the closest I will ever come to finding an old forgotten journal.

I love this list of hers below.  If I had been raised in the country I am sure my Father would have enjoyed making a list like this with me, where we collect all the species of birds in our town.

8) One Vacant Chair by Joe Coomer

 Joe Coomer is good at writing small town stories where you get to know everyone in the village. I read one other novel of his and Steve liked it so much as I described it to him that I ended up reading it out loud to him every night before we fell asleep until it was finished.  I liked that first novel better the title is Apologizing to Dogs.

9) Daring to be Yourself by Alexandra Stoddard

 I realize this book sounds narcissistic. Stoddard is filled with wisdom and great quotes.  I own almost every single one of her books.  She writes about decorating and letter writing, mothering and living beautifully. She has great class and all her books are inspiring.

10) Back Roads of New England by Earl Thollander

I found this book soon after I came home from my New England wedding.  What I loved about this book, and what makes me want to search for his other books, is the thought that, here is a man who chooses a town, drives around slowly, when something catches his attention he parks the car, walks around, talks to people, finds out interesting facts and then finds a comfortable place to sit and sketch what interests him.  Most of the time he sketches what I would want to photograph--it is no different no matter what the medium is.  Most of us are just trying to keep our eyes open to the beauty in the commonplace.

Look at how he even included the dog chain on the pillar but no dog, just a suggestion of one.  No people but we know they were there because of the clothes on the line.

11) How to Be an Explorer of the World by Keri Smith

 Keri Smith is brave enough to be weird.  I put a sampling of the most normal things in the book in the collage below.  She inspires me to no end because of her courage and the way she promotes curiosity.  "Everything is Interesting" seems to be the thesis of her life...how could you not admire that?

12) Faithful Mother's Reward by anonymous

Jeff, my ten year old son, is a hard one to explain but this little book describes him perfectly. It was written by the mother of a ten year old son who had just passed away.  She wrote a series of letters to her sister who lived far away. The book describes her son and his short life.  It encouraged me in so many ways to disciple and love Jeff more. To be more tender and to love Jesus more. It was so sad to read (because he does die) but I am a different mother today because of this book. The mother was incredibly Godly and so devoted to her children, it just makes me want to fall on my knees and beg God to, please by His mercy, please give me a little of what this mother had. 

13) Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson

Janet my sister read this first and convinced me to read it.  It's fascinating and makes you want to help out as well. 

14) The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet by Reif Larsen 

Hands down the most eclectic novel I have ever read. I wish I owned it to take pictures of it so you would understand.  There are graphs and sketches in the margins. 

Steve picked it out for me, I love how well he knows me.

The book is a FAST read and just so fascinating.  My only complaint is that I did not feel like the author tied up all the loose ends and I am hoping that it is because he is coming out with a sequel.  A woman would NOT do that, we like to have every little thing wrapped up, explained, and solved.

15) For the Time Being by Annie Dillard

 Annie Dillard and John Muir are my Thoreau.  I read her to know that someone understands my love of nature. She could write an entire chapter on what she observes in one blade of grass, and somehow it is poetic and deep and intelligent.

16) Portrait of Obedience by J. Murray  Murdoch

Steve had to read this for one of his classes and loved it so much he asked me to read it so we could talk about it.  The entire book is a biography on Robert T. Ketcham. The most powerful part of the book is how this man of God dealt with gossip and another pastor trying hard to destroy his ministry.

17) Discovering God's Will by Sinclair Ferguson

 Also a very good book, skinny, easy to read, but deep at the same time.

18) The Maytrees by Annie Dillard

 My first novel by Dillard after reading most of her non fiction works.  This book was a study on forgiveness and had me thinking long after I finished the book.   It was beautiful. I think this would be a great book club book because there would be so much debate over it.

19) Taking Flight by Kelly Rae Roberts

 A book I have wanted for a while that Shanda bought me.  It is filled with thoughts on art, various quotes and also techniques.

20) Confessions by Augustine

 The book Steve and I both read last year. Everyone should read it at least once.  I underlined and wrote notes on every page.

21) The Time Travellers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

I did not see the movie yet, Steve downloaded this for me to listen to while I worked.

22) Gifts From the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindberg

 I cannot go to the beach without reading this!  I forgot to bring it to our last vacation and had to find a bookstore to buy another copy.  Sitting on the beach would not be complete with this book!  It is written as an essay but reads more like a poem.

23) Arranging Things by Leonard Koren

I raced through this book the first time I read it and then immediately read through it again more slowly.  I love the idea of arranging things and have been doing it since I was a little girl, so happy to have found a book that talks about this subject! I would love to be more educated in this area.

Even the pictures below get me so excited!

24) Endgame by May Sarton 

This journal was written by May when she 79 years old.  She helps me to understand myself in the sense that she loves solitude, nature, poetry, literature and good food. I do not agree with everything she writes about but there is no other author that captures so perfectly the introverted side of me, her writing is rich. 

25) The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

 If my sister Shelley tells me she knows of a good book for me I always read it because I trust all her suggestions.  This was so fascinating!  Shel's Mother-in-law grew up in Guernesy which made it even more fascinating for me!

26) Girls faults and Ideals by J. R. Miller

 Skinny little book but not a quick read.  The book is meant to be read to young girls, but was written many years ago.  I read a chapter out loud and then explained to Coco what it was saying.  I  found it to be very wise and helped to bring up quite a few topics for Chloe and I to talk about it. I am sure I will be reading this to her again when she is older.

27) When Wanderers Cease to Roam by Vivian Swift

  I have only found one other author who sketches out her walks, that is one of the many reasons I love this book.  The kids and I LOVE to make maps and sketches of our walks.

Vivian has been all over the world and has such interesting stories and facts about so many things, she is wildly eccentric which makes it a joy to read.

28) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

 Some of the books listed deserve their own posts because I do not have enough room to talk about them here.  Jane Eyre is one of them.  I read this book with my sisters this year.  It is hauntingly beautiful.  Up there with Glaskell and Austen for sure.

29) The Busy Mom's Guide to Simple Living by Jackie wellwood

 My sister Martha let me borrow this.  After reading this I wanted to use only kerosene lamps and make bread from grain I milled and other homesteading things.  I already have strong homesteading desires but this book taught me how to actually do some of the things.

30) My Life in France by Julia Child 

 Julia is strong and brave and led a full life. I fell in love with her personality and was reminded of my love for France.

31)Persuasion by Jane Austen

 I like Pride and Prejudice better, but still its Austen.

32) A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

 I read this because my Cousin Rachel mentioned she was reading it. 

We watch this movie every single Christmas Eve.  Eti is seven now which means he was old enough to stay up and watch it with Jeff.  I had never read the book and was so glad I did. After I read it the whole family read it.

33) Tales From Plum Grove by Jesse Stuart

 Nanny's family grew up in the back woods of Virginia and I am forever asking her to tell me stories.  I have such a curiosity for mountain people.  This book totally fed that desire for facts and stories.  Steve and I laughed so hard at some of the crazy stories .

34) My First Summer in the Sierra by John Muir

He has not written that many books and I make myself space them out because I will be so sad when I finish the last one.  Muir loves solitude, adventure, wildernes. There are not word to express my love for his writings!

35) Messy Thrilling Life by Sabrina Ward Harrison

I would grab my Sabrina books in a burning fire even though they cost less than 20 dollars because I love them that much.  You know how there is a song you listen to a million times and never ever get sick of?  That is how her books are for me.  she has my exact same language of art except hers is a million times better.

siblings

My sister Julie came over today and she brought a part of a cake she was working on. I am so so proud of her, She started her cake decorating business not too long ago and it is just growing so fast!

*She made these darling shoes out of fondant, they are going on top of a cake for a baby shower.

Julie brought her daughter Ally over to play with Chloe.  When Ally came, I opened the door and there she was holding out white hilarious artificial roses from the dollar store, (Julie may have whispered sorry when she handed them to me).  When Ally saw the flowers at the store she begged Juls "Please please mommy, can I buy them for Aunt JO?!"  I called Steve and told him and he said "Put them right in the middle of the table so we can all enjoy them!"

My sister Chris has a thousand different interests and is good at all of them, including making bows.  She sent these ones out for the girls.

The girls played and tattled and giggled and played...

As I was watching them play, I started to think about Chloe and Ethie and how I would love for them to be close.  At first I was worried because Chloe will be six when Ethie comes home. I often think I should have started the whole adoption process sooner, but Janet reminded me that her and I  have always been close and we are six years apart.  I would love to have Chloe and Ethie develop a friendship like what share with all my sisters.

Last night a couple was at our house and we got into a fun debate about siblings and how parents should deal with sibling friendships.  She was saying that when her mother tried to push her two brothers together and constantly have them be "buddies" it actually pushed them further apart, but with her husband he is very close to his brothers and his parents did not push the friendship at all.

My Mom and Dad did not push sibling friendships and we have all ended up close, but with my kids I have talked to them a number of times about how wonderful it is to have a sibling and how they will grow up to be "best friends." Sometimes when they are arguing, I will just say, "philadelphia, boys...philadelphia".  I play a very active role in encouraging a bond with each other.

*Chloe snuck up behind Ally while I was taking pictures and started to tickle her, I love the smiles in this shot!

I of course am thinking of ways to graft Ethie into our family and show her that she has the same exact right to have a relationship with us, so is it any different to work hard at inspiring the kids to be close friends with each other?

So here are my questions, I am really very curious so please do answer:

Do you have siblings,?

Were you close growing up?

Did your parents help influence that friendship?

Are you still close today?