Checking in

It's been over two weeks since I've posted.  So what have I been up to?  [besides soap operas and bon-bons, naturally]

Well, perhaps best of all, I started running, again.  

By running, of course, I mean very slow jogging.  But, I've been jogging very slow for 20 minutes at a stretch, for two full weeks, and still getting through the rest of the day.  And I'm only sleeping a mere 8-9 hours.  It gives me that feeling of euphoria you get when you've had the flu for two weeks and you finally get better.

So, only 5 months later, my body and our bank account are both within sight of full recovery.  I have full sensation in my fingers.  I'm sleeping with my arm under my pillow again, although my left shoulder is still a little stiff.  My cheeks are still a little sore to the touch; my jaw is a little weak (it gets shaky if I spend several hours talking); and my salivary glands still sting (embarrassingly weird to say that out loud, but my family has gotten used to me flinching at the start of every meal).

We're six weeks into school and it's going great.

Ada between subjects; Caleb brushing up on bats.

Today we took a field trip to a dairy farm.

We got to pet baby calves and see the milking process up close.  The free samples of chocolate milk at the end were a big hit.

Other than that, I've been working on a writing project to be revealed later this week.


Health is such a wonderful thing!

Insignificant greatness and staggering good

This blog is a place for me to celebrate and dwell upon beauty.

It's also a place to reframe the difficult things:  to remind myself of God's promises and His goodness in my life; to adjust my perspective.

Can you spot the kid that's not mine?

The addition of a friend last Friday doubled the size of our pre-K class!

A homemaker ought to cultivate order and beauty in the home, for the sake of a smooth-running home and enjoyment of good things.

That's Jeddy on a skateboard clinging to the side of the motorized tractor as Ada floors it straight toward the garage and Lizzy rides in the bed.  Jeddy is wearing a helmet because, safety first.

As with all valid pursuits, the unholy trinity of the world, the fallen flesh, and the devil conspire to corrupt and twist homemaking until we are enslaved by the pursuit of worthless goals.


Enter the wars of Pinterest one-upmanship and deep insecurity.


The corruption is complete when the homemaker is demoralized and miserable, enslaved by fear of inadequacy, and defeated by piles of dirty dishes and a mountain of laundry.  Joy has been entirely stolen.

When the infant church was scattered by the outbreak of persecution from Jerusalem, the deacon Philip went to Samaria.

Now there was a man named Simon, who formerly was practicing magic in the city and astonishing the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great; and they all, from smallest to greatest, were giving attention to him...because he had for a long time astonished them with his magic arts.  But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.  Even Simon himself believed; and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip, and...he was constantly amazed.

-Acts 8:9-13

We've moved on from worms to millipedes.  These clever subjects found the rotting fruit immediately.

The story of Simon helps us understand the war for the homemaker's heart.  Like Simon, we all want "to be someone great."  We want the people to be "astonished" at what we can accomplish.


My laundry is always done.  My dishes never even get dirty.  My children's faces are clean and you could eat off my floor.  Furthermore, I've taught my 5-year-old Latin, Greek, physics, and tai chi.  I'm featured every other month in Southern Living, Better Homes and Gardens, and Shape magazines.  And I grow my own quinoa.  


Astonishing!  You're amazing!  How do you do it?!


That's what our faithless hearts long to hear.


Tell me I'm great and I amaze you, and I will know that I'm good enough.

Captured a rare moment of Caleb neatly lining up his crayons rather than throwing things.

Thankfully, the people of Samaria experienced an astonishment transfer.  In the end Simon himself was "constantly amazed," not by the greatness of Philip...but by the goodness of his news.


Simon...claiming to be someone great...they...were...astonished.


They believed...the good news about...Jesus Christ...he was...amazed.

When I long to be someone great, the level of order in my house, the demonstrable brilliance of my children, and the quality of my dinners define my success.  I'm proud.


But if the place is a mess, the kids are intractable, and I forgot to thaw the meat, then I'm not at all great, and my faithless heart drowns in guilt and defeat.


Thank God there's something more amazing than my mad skillz at domesticity.  It's the goodness of Jesus to me, a sinner.


I, who yell at my kids when they tarnish my greatness.


I, who think I can impress God with my competence.


I, who would rather pay just a little bit of my own way than accept that Jesus must, and did, pay it all.


I, who would blaspheme God if Instagram would worship me.

Date night in:  highly recommended.  A bed sheet (in need of ironing) standing in for a white tablecloth, microwave dinners artfully transferred to real plates, candles and a bottle of wine--atmosphere for a fraction of restaurant prices!

We...were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.  But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).

-Ephesians 2:3-5

Such good news for sinners.  Amazing!  Astonishing!  The very God I've offended is the One who saves me.  Such goodness makes all human greatness irrelevant.


When I believe this, I can delight in a beautiful home as a reflection of my good God.  And in the mess, I can rest in knowing His goodness to me doesn't change.


I am freed from pursuing pathetically inferior greatness, because my heart is lit up with astonishment at the true wonder.

Week 2

I'm finding this week that if I sleep 8 hours at night, I collapse in exhaustion midday, but if I sleep 9 to 10 hours, I make it through the day feeling good.  

So:  sorry, world, but Mindy and her invaluable contributions will be unavailable for longer than the socially-accepted nightly norm.  

I feel much better since I stopped fighting for what I "should" be able to do and accepted reality.

Though we had to raid Grandma's flower garden to find any worms, since our flower bed apparently doesn't sustain life, we did come home with two good ones in the end.  We used them for [gentle] experiments all week, despite Jeddy's worm advocacy.  You're going to hurt them!  The poor worms!  They need to rest!

Below, we're waiting to see if the worm prefers the cool side of the pan (which is resting on an ice pack) or the warm side (resting on a heating pad).  (You're freezing him!  What if he burns?!)

Jeddy's fears did, unfortunately, come true when I found our best worm deceased over the weekend.  Perhaps Experiment #4 did him in.  Perhaps it was the baking soda we mixed in to some of his soil.  Perhaps it was the sand we gave him.  Perhaps our dirt wasn't sufficiently nutritious.


Or maybe he was just plumb wore out, as Jeddy had warned.  Score one for PETA.

We took a field trip to the zoo.

Large venomous snake.

The kids enjoyed feeding the animals in the petting zoo.  I thought it was all right--the goats weren't terribly slobbery.  But I got bitten by that emu thing in the background (a "rhea").

Lizzy was ok with the miniature goats, but she didn't like the big animals.  Below, she's nervously backing away from the middle-size black and white goat, and is just about to notice the huge llama leaning over her shoulder.  I did not manage to capture on camera the screaming and flying bucket and raining food pellets that happened a split second after this shot.

Caleb fed the goats one pellet at a time.

Back in the classroom, Lizzy can't get enough of pre-K.  Here she works out a math problem with counting bears (also a couple of cubes to pad the numbers).

My favorite thing on library day:

Also I had a birthday.  And I have a dear, thoughtful friend who surprised me with a card and an adorable cake.


...featuring an engorged tick on top.  Who is happy because he just filled up on my blood and gave me Lyme disease.

Be it known that ticks actually have 8 legs, not 6.  They are arachnids.  The greatness of this cake lies in its timely humor and deliciousness, not its biological correctness.

As she said, "Now you can bite him!"  And I did, and it was so good.