Seasons

Oh how i love that the Lord gives us seasons...it has felt so much like fall and spring lately i forgot that it is winter...so now that snow flakes are dancing outside my window i actually am excited for some winter, at least for a day......i mean it is Kansas, you never know what to expect here....it's a funny thing, i don't do well with change at all so i am surprised that i like the seasons but i feel like there is something about completion, an end to something and a beginning or start to another season......you can truly apply that to every stage of our life, from friendships, to work, to our children, to dieting, to our health, or to just being in a bad streak....there is a beginning and an ending and a little change shaken in here and there....but how they go so quickly as we age...maybe it's having children, maybe it's the technology that drives us faster to connect to everything, it shows no mercy, it knows no time, it doesn't care about the simplicity and joy of just being in the moment...it must connect to the next moment in a hurry so we don't miss anything!!! after our trip to mississippi to visit family i evaluated life, time, seasons, family, and what you miss by trying NOT to miss anything, by hurrying to the next appointment, event, or activity......i cut some things out of my life, and my kid's lives....i decided to TEACH my kids how to be bored, how to stare at the clock and wonder what they should do next...how to entertain themselves, how to play with blocks, sticks and dirt...how to sit outside and stare at the stars and wait patiently for a star to fall, how to love time and put it back on their side......it was wonderful to un-plug and play with nature.....as i sit here in my comfy warm coach feeling the cold air sneak passed  the windows and brush against my skin, i think back to seasons and wonder why it seems time stops when those snowflakes fall? i just want to bottle that! maybe that's why we are obsessed with snow globes, it's like 'time contained'....they are beautiful and last forever....those beautiful snowflakes are such a great reminder that it still is winter, spring is coming...a warmth lay ahead, new life, new growth, new problems, new challenges to overcome....gosh what would we do without it? it's a comfort that seasons come and go, they end and then begin....i could never tire of seasons, they are gentle reminders of a greater plan that the Lord has for each of us and our need for change whether good or bad.

organization organization organization

i dream about it, i walk around doing it without knowing it, i sleepwalk and do it, i assign people to do it, it is the utmost high for me...i actually find a thrill in it, instant gratification....its called organization...before i was thrust into this crazy, busy chaos of a life i had everything in it's place...even the canned labels in my pantry were faced forward, beans with beans, and peaches with peaches, tomatoes with tomatoes...and i usually only had to do it once a blue moon....now it is a daily requirement...i don't even have a choice for goodness sake....with 7 life forms in my cracker jack house i have shoes, hundreds of shoes to find homes for: water boots, church shoes, sandals, flip flops, tennis shoes, cowboy boots, crocs, light up shoes, sparkly shoes, and high tops, boy shoes, girl shoes, pink shoes and blue shoes....though i have become quite content with my cracker jack house, i am not sure i could live with greater living space....i find it a constant daily challenge that rewards me often so i actually thrive in these heinous conditions....i have became one with my dwelling...i open a closet and take it on and know i will conquer it...i have to constantly evaluate the situation, find out if i need it, if it belongs there and make a quick rational decision about it's fate...i have to find places for clothing, fall clothes, spring clothes, summer clothes, swimming suits and towels, winter coats, hats, gloves, scarves, in 

ALL shapes and sizes, then rotate them in their small space until the next season arrives then they are boxed up and put away....oh yeah, then i must find room for storage...did i tell you we live in a two bedroom 1950's house? oh yeah, it's amazing how we human beings have become sooo materialistic over the past 60 years....have you seen the closets(well not really closets, their like cubbys) in these houses? and they were designed for a man and woman to share...maybe that's why marriages broke up by the 70's....closet space could not be shared, there were no two car garages and large two vanity bathrooms......i have clothes bulging out of my closet, i have yet to figure out to organize and store things in my 'cubby'....'my mississippi boy' and i have to work out of the same one sink bathroom with 5 children....so far so good.....i do have to say YOU CAN live in a tiny space, they adapt to it quite well in chicago, nyc, and china....we as 'freedom fighters' have somewhere in time have developed this mentality that bigger is better, bigger means we are worth more, we are valued more, and we have more than others....not so my friends...you have more to lose, more to take care of, more to compete with, more to pay for, and more to organize and make you crazy...we don't need more things to keep us away from the Lord Jesus that's for sure, and that is what happens....so now i must leave you to organize, to re-arrange, to move things around, to create some more space to put more things we don't need....so the blessing out of that is we have soo much in our lives to be grateful for, to have so much can be a blessing if we learn to put it in its place, not to hoard it or worship it, but willing to give it up at a moments notice to follow the Lord Jesus wherever He may take us....i love my small space, i was forced into this love relationship, i had no choice, i won't ever leave it, i love it, it keeps me humble, driven, focused and busy always learning how to compartmentalize my inward self as well as my space around me...they say your home/space, your basement, and closets are a reflection of what is going on within....boy, i better get busy.

what took me so long?

So i have been wanting to start a blog for a few years....so i am taking some me time, turned on Pandora internet radio and i am going to figure this out...in spite of the screams in the background, 'mom!!! he took all the skittles, give ME THEM BACK!!'...i am going to ignore it and keep a typing....leave the laundry, the dishes, the dirty floors, and the kids on pause and open the doors to let you in....yes you are going to see all my dirty laundry, dirty dishes and dirty kids but that is what makes life so rewarding....i gave up scrapbooking when i had my second child Sage, all my perfectly detailed pictures embellished with buttons, ribbons, lovely stickers, and die-cut hand made papers are just literally a 'memory' sitting in a memory tub somewhere...so nice but i can't share it with all of you like i can with a blog....you can flip through the pages of my life cry, laugh, and roll your eyeballs.....my friday nights with paper, pictures, stickers, beautiful textured papers laying all over my kitchen table are over....i decided to give that gift to myself when all my chickens fly the nest, then i won't be so lonely and bored....that will be my time.... now i have 5 little ones tearing apart my projects, i have NO me time anymore so the one way i can save it is in a blog...i can write it, photograph it, and embellish it with REAL life even if it isn't pretty....then you can come over whenever you want and experience it with me....i hope you can be encouraged in this journey of motherhood, a gift from our Lord Jesus Christ....and sit down with some cookies & milk and enjoy the hammonds...blessings to you my friends...