February Manifesto

Well tomorrow begins what I call "the longest month of the year"... everyone has cabin fever, the weather drones on in its chill, and sickness always seems to invade our bodies.

This February I vow to:

• get outside in nature with my children
  
• practice gratitude daily for all the good and gracious gifts
• drink a green smoothie every day

I hope having these simple goals will bring mental, spiritual and physical health to me and to my family. Instead of dread, I want to meet the challenge that-is-February with joy and good things.

How about you?


photo by {JooJoo}

Curious Ladies Aid Society

Yes I am joining Tonia's lovely letter-writing group.

Don't you just love receiving hand-written letters and seeing the person's handwriting and hearing their hearts spilled out in real sentences and not in texted fragments??

When I receive a letter (which is very rare), I like to get a favorite drink, sit on the porch or in my bedroom chair, and savor every word. Dark chocolate with sea salt may or may not be involved.

And I re-read that letter over and over and over again. It almost feels new every time. I even seem to read things that I didn't really notice the first time around. It's even fun to find that letter again 6 months later and read it again...

When I lived in Eastern Europe for 2 years we didn't have email. I wrote tons and tons of lengthy letters almost daily. It was such a joy for me and when I received a dear friend's response I would live on a high for days!

We underestimate the power of words and encouragement. Words have the power to build up, to lighten, to give hope, to offer comfort, to make laugh, to make the reader feel known and loved.

We all could a whole bunch more of feeling known and loved and encouraged and cared for, right?

So pick up your favorite writing utensil, grab some paper or a notecard, and offer your words to a friend. If any of you would like to begin a pen-pal relationship of sorts with me, do email me your address and I'll send you mine.

"...women's letters talk. They are monologues, dialogues, diatribes: They are voices fixed on paper. Like women talking over the back fence, the telephone, the breakfast plates, or the business lunch, women's letters rarely just exchange information. Instead they tell stories; they tell secrets; they shout and scold,...whisper and worry, console and advise, gossip and argue, compete and compare. And along the way, they - usually without meaning to - write history."

~from Women's Letters: America from the Revolutionary War to the Present

Happy Writing!

Slow Crafting

I have not had much energy for crafting this month. It has come in slow, small spurts. A little here, a little there. I have determined not to be discouraged if all I have is 10-15 minutes a day. All those minutes do add up and bit by bit, a project can be completed!

This felt heart wreath was fun project and came in under $10.

This Quilted List Taker was fun as well as functional! I had been wanting to have a pretty notebook that would lay flat on my counter as I count the daily gratitudes of grace-gifts in my life. This turned out to be cheery and perfect!

I still have a scarf on my knitting needles that I am hoping to complete soon...here a little, there a little. I am learning to take the seemingly small moments and create something. If I wait for the "perfect" timing, then I will be waiting a long time! I am just trying to jump in where I am and with the time I have in this busy season of young children. And it's working!

An Overnight

Sometimes I am chugging right along doing what I do... loving and serving my husband and children, teaching, running the home, serving where I can, snippets of creativity, and then, seemingly out of nowhere, I hit a wall of tired.

That happened about a week or so ago. Deep, achy tired swept through my mind and body. Many different reasons why...holiday-fatigue, early risings, a death of a high school friend, and flu-recovery. My head was hurting on and off for days...my body was heavy...my emotions running thin.

These are the gracious warning signs that I need to take care.

My husband and I discussed where I was and my need for extended sleep and some quiet to process. My life is lived in constant interruption and I start to feel the frazzle from that and the short-term memory always short-circuits.

So on Thursday, Mike tracked down a night for me at a nice local hotel for $54 on Hotwire. By Friday afternoon, my bags were packed and I was on my way! I prayed immediately that God would allow me to receive this time and His care and not feel guilty or selfish or irresponsible.

I arrived...and rested.

Then I listened to my old CD of Twila Paris's Sanctuary and knit.

Dinner and a leisurely browse at Barnes and Noble.

Back to the hotel to lotion up and pamper my long-neglected hands and feet.

And then crawled into a big, comfortable bed with clean sheets, lots of pillows, and a few cookbooks and sewing books.

Sleep! I turned out the light at 9:15pm (awakened twice to adjust the temperature) and slept until 9am.

Coffee and fruit downstairs along with an English muffin with butter and jelly.

Went to the room for a long, hot shower and got dressed slowly and without pressure.

Several hours of praying, reading One Thousand Gifts, journaling, searching the Word. Refilling and refueling and refreshing.

Called downstairs and got a late check-out time (a must!)

Packed up and left. Headed to an office supply store for new pens, fresh note cards, and writing pads. A browse through Michael's for a box to hold playdough supplies. A stroll through Pier 1. Late lunch at Panera.

I received an email invitation from my husband to come home at 5pm today for hamburgers and potatoes, and Cranberry Ginger Ale. Oh how he loves me well!

Women, take care. Listen to your body and your emotions and when they nudge and moan, give them attention. Taking time to nourish and strengthen our minds and bodies and emotions and spirit gives us more to give to others.

Acknowledge weakness, eschew martyrdom, and find what you need to be well.

photo by noodle and lou

What I Am Reading

It arrived a little while ago.

The big stack of cookbooks and biographies and sewing books will be set aside.

The magazines may get dusty.

If you haven't yet, do pick up one of your own.

I just know it's going to be good.

Loving him well

One of my biggest goals for 2011 came to me so simply and gently. Over the final months of 2010, it's as if the Lord nudged my heart with a sweet love and tenderness towards my husband. My heart has grown with desire to make it my aim to really love him well this year.

This man of mine has served me and our children tirelessly over the last 14 years...he gives and gives and keeps on giving. I want to be as tender with him as he is with me and am spending my time thinking of meaningful ways to love him within his love languages: quality time, words of affirmation, and touch.

We are getting up at 6am together each morning (started January 1st!) and we are loving that quiet time to talk, pray and get on the same page. It has been so wonderful because we are beginning our day unified and connected to each other instead of how I usually am with him when I am awakened by children: reactive and barky!

I am being intentional to tell him the ways I am seeing him grow...the character qualities that shine so brightly. I am looking for and noticing the things that he does well and appreciating him verbally for that. I can't believe how much it means to him!

And with touch, I am trying to be more available. I'll leave it at that :). I am also initiating scratching his back which I know he loves and giving him more hugs and kisses (this doesn't come naturally to me at all...touch is almost last on my love language list!)

I am also putting some ideals aside to really seek to bring him pleasure. I am cooking through the Pioneer Woman's cookbook and am enjoying fixing him "man meals" for a change instead of my meal preferences. I am trying to keep the pantry and house stocked with things I think he'll enjoy. I am watching TV shows that he wants to watch instead of demanding my way.

These are small things...nothing elaborate. Just little acts of intentional love and care. I want him to know that HE is my priority (above the children!) and offer him tenderness and unconditional love. I am so doggone selfish, and this is so.good.for.me! I am being so blessed by being a blessing to him and he claims that 2011 is going to be a really great year.

I can't wait!