The best Thanksgiving.

How was your Thanksgiving? I hope it was full. Of family. Blessings. Food. Black Friday shopping. Whatever makes you happy.

I think our Thanksgiving Day was the quietest, most relaxing on record for me. I felt like I really had things together, which is no small miracle. I have to admit I was feeling a little down because so much of Thanksgiving is centered around The Big Meal and so much of The Big Meal usually consists of foods I can't (or shouldn't) eat because of my allergies.

And I really hate that something like that gets me all depressed. So I took the bull by the horns and decided what I would really miss - pumpkin pie - and found a dairy-free recipe online, and whipped it up the night before. It was fabulous. I ate dairy-free pumpkin pie the following two mornings for breakfast.

There are a few things that I give the "Is this worth it?" test. I ask myself, "is this cake/pie/bread/whatever worth the stomachache/headache/sore throat/itchy skin it might cause me later if I eat it right now?" That's the difference between having a lethal allergy and one that only makes you feel like you're dying (or want to). Sometimes it's worth it. Most of the time is isn't. But enough about that. Because really? The BEST part of Thanksgiving was spending time with my family.

On Thanksgiving Day we went next door to my in-laws' for dinner. It was just seven of us: me and Steve, Sam and Rachel, mom and dad and grandma. Perfect. We ate, then while the guys went hunting Rach and I crashed in the living room and watched TV and took a nap.

It was snowing that perfect, pretty snow, too. So we took a couple pics outside.

I'm so happy to have Steve home for the holidays.

 And this girl ... God help me.

 

Rachey (stifling a laugh) and her Great-Grandma Jane.

Then Saturday we headed north to my Uncle Steve's house in Elk Rapids. We've been having this Thanksgiving get-together with my dad's side of the family for ... holy smokes, more than a decade now.

By my count we had 25 people. Perfect. I think as I get older I appreciate these family gatherings more and more.

Rachel colors with cousin Izzy.

My first time meeting my cousin Annie's (and her husband, Greg's) baby boy, Edison.

Squeeee! So fun having a baby around.

Food! Buffet style.

I snapped this picture right before we left. It was one of those moments when you just kind of stand back and take it all in. We are so blessed to have extended family we all love and get along with.

We're back to the grind this week - the kids back to school, me back to ... whatever it is I do depending on the day, and Steve taking care of things that need fixing or doing while he has the time, being that he's laid off and all. Hunting season is over (for firearms anyway) so there is a bunch of stuff hanging around that needs to be packed up and put away.

It's nice to have Steve here. I'm hoping we can sneak in a date night sometime soon, but I really enjoy just having him here. We have a lot of catching up to do. Such is The Pipe Life: miss them like crazy while they're gone, cram in the family time whenever and wherever you can.

So close to perfect ...

My hands smell of rosemary and thyme. They are what's left in my garden - along with the Chives That Will Not Die and a lone green onion sprout - after what feels like the longest winter ever.

Sometimes I think God must allow us to feel a little pain so we remember just how blessed we are once the sun shines again. Oh, and am I ever thankful the sun is shining now. I am thankful for these recent days of warmer temperatures, and the beautiful thunderstorm I awoke to yesterday morning. Day after day I think today couldn't possibly be better than yesterday. And then it is.

I go through periods of discontent. There are times when I think I might not be on the right path. I wonder if this crazy life we live is really the right life for us. But then I take a long look in the mirror and I see the pink cheeks and shoulders from a day spent in the sun and I know: this is the right path, we are in the right place, I am and I have enough.

We've had an amazing few days. Lots of sunshine and family time. The kids and I spent much of last weekend outdoors, raking and shoveling and prepping for summer. My plants and shrubs are starting to poke up through the ground and show some color. It all makes me so happy.

One evening the kids asked me to go back to the creek with them - a short ride on the golf cart on family property - and it's a wonder we ever came back. It's so beautiful out there. The birds were singing ... frogs croaking ... kids playing and exploring. We all got our feet wet. I took a few pictures, which I will share when I download them from my phone.

Even my allergies have been minimal, which surprises me with all the time I have spent outside and sleeping at night with my bedroom window open. Not to mention two shedding dogs. Mercy. I spent about a half hour outside brushing Gunnar this morning and got a good bushel of fur (I swear!) before he had enough. It cost me a chicken breast to keep him distracted, but no sneezing! And then he thanked me by laying in a mud puddle. *sigh* It's a good thing I'm pretty much ignoring the interior of the house right now because two dogs and a swampy back yard make spring cleaning a lesson in futility. If I can't stand to look at it anymore I just go outside. Which is where I'm headed now.

All this activity is good for the soul. As I walk around and survey the progress of our little homestead I am grateful for the opportunity to be present, not just in the grand scheme, but daily, for the small moments. I can appreciate the small changes, the growth, the color, even if I only see it in passing as I chase down Gunnar The Giant Puppy to retrieve my gardening glove.

Life is good.

Dude. That was awesome.

I got a massage today. For one whole hour I left my phone in the truck, I left my cares behind, and I let Ms. Julia and her amazing hands do their magic.

OK, that sounds kinda' weird. And honestly, even though I had a massage one other time - five or six years ago when Steve got me a gift certificate for Christmas - I was a little intimidated by the whole idea and only sought out a masseuse again because the pain in my neck and lower back were so intense some nights I could hardly sleep. And girlfriend does not do well without her sleep. Also, repeated trips to the chiropractor (whom I adore) were not providing any lasting relief and the last time I saw him he told me - again - that massage would do me a world of good.

So, like any procrastinating busy mama would do, I thought about it for a couple days. And then I hit the Yellow Pages, checked some web sites and made a couple phone calls. I settled on the lady who has been doing this for 20 years. I figured she has seen it all, so she wouldn't bat an eye at anything I was gonna' lay out on that table, no matter how self-conscious I was.

Because really. Two pregnancies, several handfuls of extra pounds hanging on, and a bit of stress-induced wrinkling and flaking does not a bikini body make. And here I would be revealing it to someone I didn't even know.

I wish I could say that my self-consciousness melted away when I walked in that door. I wish I didn't have so many issues with feeling like I somehow don't deserve the luxury of having someone else take care of me - even if I am paying them to do it! But those issues have been a part of me for a long time and they weren't going to go away over a one-hour massage. I will say, though, that Julia made me feel as comfortable as I could about the whole thing. And I really, really did enjoy that massage.

What I was not prepared for was feeling so lousy by the time I got home. It was like someone had opened the floodgates and any junk - emotional, physical, psychological - I had been holding onto for God knows how long came rushing out my pores. My neck and shoulders felt so much better, and my lower back felt like I had had a good workout - sore, but in a good way. But when I got home I was exhausted. All I wanted to do was sleep. So I did.

When I woke from a long nap I felt refreshed. My body was (is) still a little tender, but I feel like I have hit the reset button. I feel ... good. Glad I did something for myself.

Ready to do a little more of it in the future.

My Happy Place.

*Poof!*

And another two weeks have gone by since I last posted. Not because I have nothing to say; I've written a dozen blog posts in my head while going about the business of life. Just haven't had the energy to sit down and write at the end of the day.

I still don't, really. So I'll share some pictures tonight and tell y'all a little more about what we've been up to some other day.

~ ~ ~ 

No matter how busy we are or how much we have going on or how cluttered and chaotic the house gets, I have a place to go and sit and enjoy some peace and quiet. 

My garden has been a place of pure joy for me this summer. I put a lot of work into setting it up - literally, building the frames and shoveling a whole lot of dirt before it was ready for planting. It is a kind of extension of our patio, so I can sit at the patio table and enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning while I watch the plants move with a gentle breeze and shine in the morning dew, or listen to the sound of my wind chimes and the buzzing of hummingbirds nearby.

Yes, I stare at my plants. It's amazing how calming and peaceful a ritual it can be.

 

And they are beautiful, these plants ...

 The sweet banana peppers are abundant.

 Beets are tucked in between the taller green beans and the peas. I love the dark red veins in the leaves.

 Cucumber vines climb a trellis.

 Lettuce! Some of which I enjoyed on my cheeseburger tonight.

Blossoms on the sugar snap pea plants.

I'm training the summer squash plants to go vertical.

And still waiting to see how the eggplant ... uh, plant ... turns out.

Overall they are beautiful and healthy, but I can't claim it's because I talk to them.

I do converse a lot with God out there, though, and that probably has a lot to do with how peaceful it is for me. It's also pretty nice to be able to walk out my front door and pluck a few ripe cherry tomatoes off the plant for my salad or a handful of green beans to go along with dinner.

But sometimes all I really want to do is sit quietly and take it all in.

It's my happy place.

Time for a little dusting.

Holy smokes. Y'all? We got some MUCH needed rain last night. And now the layer of dust on everything in my house is doubly obvious to me.

You know, more obvious in the sense that I can't look at it today and say, "oh well, no sense in clearing that away because it will just be dusty again in five minutes."

So here I am, to-do list in hand, kids off to school, myself all properly caffeinated and in comfy clothes and hair whispies pulled back in one of those best-inventions-ever (if it would actually stay on my head) stretchy bands ... I got Pandora streaming through my TV and windows cracked open - because people? It was 82 degrees in my bedroom when I went to bed last night. I am not kidding! And I couldn't really keep the windows open because it was raining as I fell asleep.

It's all good though, because we're having air-conditioning installed in the house this week. Praise Jesus! We have always been fortunate to have a window AC unit that cooled the house nicely in the summer, but I hated how it blocked a window in the front of the house all summer long. And that I had to call on someone to help me put it in. And take it out. And last year I actually had some duct tape around the edges to seal it around the window on the inside. Now, I do love me some duct tape, but that was pretty ghetto.

So in a few days I'm gonna feel like a princess. I might not leave the house for a while.

But today? Cinderella. Time for me to get started.

Ten things for Thanksgiving.

In no particular order ...

1. My family. If I mentioned them all by name I would go way beyond 10. Not only am I blessed with an amazing husband and two wonderful children, I have my parents, siblings, in-laws, aunts, uncles and cousins. I will enjoy spending time with many of them this weekend.

2. Our home. It's warm. Spacious. Comfortable. Us. It's always a work in progress, but that's OK. We have plenty of room for the kids to run and play outdoors. Just this morning Steve and I watched three deer hanging out just steps from the back door. I love being here.

3. Health. It might not always be perfect, but I and the people I love are generally healthy and able to get around. I am thankful I can get out of bed every day and not have to think too much about whether I will be able to make it out the door.

4. Faith. I believe in the power of prayer. I believe God places people in our lives and makes provisions for us long before we know we're going to need them.

5. Laughter. Few things in this world make me feel as good as hearing my children laugh, or laughing with Steve, or all of us laughing together. And we did as we watched a movie together last night - Smokey and The Bandit, of all things - and it was awesome.

6. Animals. Yes, they drive me crazy more often than not. But there is nothing sweeter than seeing one of the cats curled up in a patch of sunshine or watching the dog twitch and whine from dreamland. And the wild ones, too ... I love to watch the birds gather at the feeder in the back yard, spot a bald eagle overhead, see the deer grazing in the field.

7. Technology. When Steve is working out of town, technology allows us to keep in touch more than we would be able to without cell phones and laptop computers. Beyond that, technology provides some relatively cheap entertainment via computer and television.

8. The basics: food, water, heat, electricity. Warm showers, a light to read by. Dinner on our table every night. The kind of stuff we so easily take for granted.

9. Friends. Steve and I are fortunate to have many people we consider true friends. A good handful of them would be at our sides in a heartbeat if we needed them, and will celebrate alongside us during times of triumph.

10. Talents. God blessed each member of our family with talents, and I am happy to see those talents developing in our children ... and being polished in me and Steve.

My wish is that everyone reading this has someone they love (or at least someone you like ... ha!) to spend the holidays with. Look around ... there is plenty in our lives for which to give thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy.

Feeling festive?

Is it too soon to be thinking about Christmas decorations?

Steve would say YES.

When I was in stores and saw Halloween candy on clearance on one side of me and Christmas stuff going up on the other side, I would have said YES.

But now that Thanksgiving is just around the corner I'm starting to get that itch to pull out the boxes.

I don't go crazy with Christmas decor, but I do like our home to look and feel festive. I have friends who decorate a tree for every room of their home - and those trees are absolutely gorgeous - but you will not see my house in the pages of Better Homes and Gardens anytime soon. Or ever.

Alas, we have our own brand of decorating style. It's cheap. It involves many hand-me-down and homemade ornaments and, at least the last two years, a tree plucked from the nearby forest. The first year we did this - too broke to go buy a tree - a friend tagged the monstrosity Steve brought home "aggressively festive." It took up half our living room.

Funny how they always look so much smaller ... until you get them in the house.

But she was beautiful, wasn't she? Every lopsided branch of 'er.

As it turned out, we all loved that tree. I discovered my children didn't give one wit about whether they had a perfect tree. They had only two requests: that we actually decorate a tree before Christmas Day (admittedly sometimes a struggle), and that the tree be real. In fact, they are so adamant about having a real tree that when I brought home a small, pre-lit tree I found for $5 at a thrift store recently, the first thing they both asked was, "Is this going to be our only tree?!?" I assured them it would not be.

The joy of an artificial tree, though, is that I can set it up and fluff it and decorate it at my leisure. I don't know yet where this new one will go, but I'm pretty sure I will be getting it out soon to satisfy that itch to start decorating. I would like to try my hand at a themed tree. What theme? I have no idea.

Wait. Is "aggressively festive" a theme?

Just needed to share this one.

2 Peter 1:4 

In this way he has given us the very great and precious gifts he promised, so that by means of these gifts you may escape from the destructive lust that is in the world, and may come to share the divine nature.

Last night as I climbed into bed exhausted from a day spent outdoors gardening, I felt the pull to grab a book I keep on my bedside table, My Utmost for His Highest.

This is a book of daily spiritual readings compiled from shorthand notes of Bible teacher Oswald Chambers' lectures. I don't read it every day. Well, I do for periods of a week or two at a time, but it gets to be a little overwhelming for me. It calls for a whole lot of self-examination and, admittedly, there are some days when I just don't want to dig that deep.

But then there are nights like last night when I feel like I'm not quite through with what I'm supposed to do for the day, so I pick it up.

After what I wrote in my last post about abundance, while still - and always - having that nugget, however small, of "what if" and worry in the back of my mind, I found Chambers' words last night quite apropos.

The reading for May 16 says, in part:

"We think it is a sign of true humility to say at the end of the day, 'Well, I just barely got by today, but it was a severe struggle.' And yet all of Almighty God is ours in the Lord Jesus! And He will reach to the last grain of sand and the remotest star to bless us if we will only obey Him. Does it really matter that our circumstances are difficult? Why shouldn't they be! If we give way to self-pity and indulge in the luxury of misery, we remove God's riches from our lives and hinder others from entering into His provision. No sin is worse than the sin of self-pity, because it removes God from the throne of our lives, replacing Him with our own self-interests. It causes us to open our mouths only to complain and we simply become spiritual sponges - always absorbing, never giving, and never being satisfied. And there is nothing lovely or generous about our lives.

Before God becomes satisfied with us, He will take everything of our so-called wealth, until we learn that He is our Source; as the psalmist said, 'All my springs are in You' (Psalm 87:7). If the majesty, grace, and power of God are not being exhibited in us, God holds us responsible. 'God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you ... may have an abundance ...' (2 Corinthians 9:8) - then learn to lavish the grace of God on others, generously giving of yourself. Be marked and identified with God's nature, and His blessing will flow through you all the time."

I am challenged by those words in a couple of ways. First, I recognize that I have a duty to see every aspect of life as a gift, every circumstance as something delivered with a purpose. Second, I am reminded that all the "wealth" in my life comes from one source: to God be the glory.

It was a lot for my exhausted brain to chew on last night, and it still is today. But what a wonderfully-timed reminder.

Abundance.

I am far from a minimalist. I like surrounding myself with things (and people!) I love. One of my favorite things to do is find great deals on items - new or used, large or small - that will add charm and/or comfort to our home, even if those things need a little sprucing up before I'll use them.

That's why it always surprises me that I feel so fulfilled when I unload things from our home that aren't useful or that we don't love anymore. You wouldn't think an inanimate object could cause or create negative energy, but the more I think about it the more I think there is something to the Chinese concept of feng shui. If the position of furniture matters, surely having a piece of furniture we don't even use or particularly care for in the bedroom would make a difference in the flow of energy, right?

We let go of a few pieces of furniture like that this weekend - items that didn't "fit" in our home anymore. The result, at least for me, is an amazing feeling of abundance. Abundance of space. Abundance of potential. And as I reflect on that I am reminded of the abundance in other areas of our lives.

Do you ever have those days - or even just moments - when you think, "wow, things are really coming together for us?" That's how I've been feeling lately.

Sure, I've been crazy busy and nothing is ever really perfect. I have a to-do list a mile long for the inside of the house, the grass needs to be mowed outside, and I don't get to see my sweetheart this weekend. Nothing about us being away from each other is cool, but on a positive note the abundance of work for Steve is a good thing.

The challenge for me is to continue to appreciate it all and forget about any notion that all good things must come to an end. I prefer to look at these times as seasons in our lives; we've been through seasons of struggle and trial to abundance and beauty ... Steve and I joke that it's always feast or famine, one extreme or the other, but rarely just "OK" and an even keel. It sure keeps life interesting.

Have a blessed Sunday. And don't forget to reflect on the abundance in your life.


Photo credit

I applied for a job.

But that was three weeks ago and since I haven't heard anything I'm assuming I am not being considered for it.

And that's OK.

In fact, I'm kinda' glad. Because if nobody offers me a job I don't have to make the decision of whether I should accept it.

It seemed like good timing. A friend passed along the job posting when Steve was between jobs and I was doing my best not to freak out about the future. "Why not apply?" I thought. I really enjoy being a stay-at-home mom, but if it comes down to needing to support our family, of course I would look for a job. And if all turned out fine with Steve's work status (which it did) and I was offered a job, too, I might still consider it. Who couldn't use a little extra income these days?

Then I started to think about having to buy a whole new professional wardrobe again. And figuring out what to do with the kids after school. And commuting to work. And the inevitability of office politics. And how we'd have to leave the dog inside all day because she's a wuss in the snow. And the list went on.

There were positive points, too. For one, I would be forced to get out of my pajamas every day. (*ahem*) The particular job in question offered great benefits. And spending a few years working in an office again would end that gap I call "No Man's Land" in my work history - the big void that began when I quit my job in the spring of 2008 and will continue indefinitely.

That first week or so when I didn't get a phone call I was a little disappointed. I got over it quickly, though. I've been so busy with life and being a mom and wife and friend that I can't even imagine how I could do both - work full time and do all the other stuff. In fact, I'm not so far removed from that season of my life that I don't remember what it was like, and I can honestly say I couldn't do it all. All those years of trying just made me very very cranky. I'm not ready to put that kind of pressure on myself again.

Nope. I like things just the way they are. Is it an easy life? Nah. No one ever promised me it would be. But it is a good life. And for now I know I'm right where I need to be.

We made it.

Tonight the kids will be staying up as late as they want to.

And tomorrow morning we will be sleeping in.

The craziness that has been our lives lately - lots of commitments, lots of driving here and there, late nights, early mornings - has finally ended, and it couldn't have ended on a better note. Today we attended our annual church picnic at the home of some friends and fellow church members who live on Hamlin Lake (a beautiful, popular inland lake, for my non-local readers). We had a pig roast, lots of great covered dishes and desserts, a wonderful outdoor service, and even a round of Kum-By-Ah. A group of us from Vacation Bible School sang a couple of songs from our "High Seas Expedition" week (during which I was too busy or too exhausted to take pictures - phooey), and the kids even got in a few minutes of fishing in the bayou before we left.

Other than Steve having to leave to go back to work in West Virginia after a wonderful visit - all 35 hours of it - it was a near perfect day.

This evening I sat down to take a break from cleaning house and started flipping through channels on the TV. I landed on Dateline. It was a special about how the recession has touched the lives of folks who were already poor, particularly in an area of southern Ohio.

I must have been overtired, because before long I was in tears.

I cried because I can't believe there are people going hungry in the United States of America. I cried because I understand the fear that comes with desperately seeking a job when there are none available, and wondering how long the food in the pantry and freezer will last. And then I cried happy tears because my family's life is so full and so blessed, and it was that way even in the midst of some pretty stormy times.

So while I am sad every time Steve has to leave again to go back to his job, and while I get a little sideways when I'm tired of parenting two children by myself (essentially), I praise God because we are blessed. We are fed and clothed and we have our home and each other. Our circumstances do not make life easy and perhaps are not ideal for a family, but we make it work. And while I feel overwhelmed at times when we have so much to do and so many places to go and people to see, I need to remember that it's much better than the alternative: having no one, or not being able to go and do and see.

This week will be a week of rest. The kids and I will be catching up on a few things around the house, but mostly we will be relaxing and enjoying each other (Ha! I can hope, right?) and I will be taking some time to reflect on the abundance of our lives.

Here's to enjoying the rest of the summer ... at a slower pace.

Cheers!

What is this phenomenon?

You know that one that causes you to want to hang out in the cleanest room in the house? The room you just spent all day rearranging and organizing and making all smelly-goody?

It's that invisible force that draws you to a freshly-cleaned room because it feels all cozy and happy, even though you don't usually spend much time there.

It makes you sit in a chair placed at a certain angle in that room so you're seeing things in a different light.

It's the refreshing energy of dusting off the leaves of a house plant and moving it from a place where it was just hanging out to a place where it will thrive.

It is the enjoyment of a space that feels new.

Am I the only person who does this? Somebody tell me I'm not the only person who does this.

I spent most of the day arranging furniture and creating a little computer/office-y/music listening nook for myself, and now I'd like to roll out my sleeping bag and sleep right here by my desk.

I just appreciate a space free of clutter and full of good energy.

It's the Clean Room Phenomenon.

It doesn't happen often around here, but it's really cool when it does.

What makes you feel rich?

What real, tangible thing makes you feel like you've made it? Like you're living the high life?

For me, a couple of things come to mind: being able to go to the grocery store and get everything on my list - and maybe even a few extras - knowing that I have plenty of cash in my wallet to cover it. That, and paying bills as soon as they come in the mail.

There are other things that remind me we have a good life, sure. But nothing else makes me feel the way I feel when I can mark off every item on my shopping list without having to worry about what it all costs. Oh, I'm always aware of how much I'm spending and I always shop frugally, but to me there is a huge difference between having to count every penny as I drop items into my cart and not having to.

What makes you feel rich? What makes you feel like life is good?

Have you ever thought about it? There is no right or wrong answer. It's just a thought-provoking discussion I've had with friends. I was reminded of that discussion this week as I pushed a cartload of groceries out of the store to my truck and it felt ... just ... good.

What makes you feel secure? What thing or action outside of family and friends and relationships and love - because hopefully we all have those - makes you rest easy knowing that everything is OK, at least for today?