Reflecting...

Stuff of Life Miriam is learning to read, and it’s so exciting to see her “getting it!” She’s been able to recognize upper and lower case letters for months now, and has been writing them fairly independently since at least February. This next stage is giving her an excitement about reading on her own. I remember some of my early books, and one specifically, called “Play with Us” by ladybird books, was at our local library. I took it out and Miriam is totally catching on to looking at the words and pictures to figure out what it says. I know, I know… the text is super simple and really not that interesting plot-wise, and some educators would insist that the quality is poor because it is written for the purpose of word recognition, not for story line, but I remember reading Dick and Jane books (yeah, it was still “Dick” back in the early 80’s believe it or not, but I don’t think that name will be popping up again any time soon!) and it didn’t matter that the text said “Run, Jane, run! Run! Run! Run!” What mattered was that I was able to read 6 words independently, never mind that five of them were identical! Next up, some other classics like “Hop on Pop” and “Hand, Hand, Finger, Thumb!” Spiritual Insight of the Day I’ve been praying for my children’s faith experiences since before they were born. That might tell you how important I think it is that they take seriously their own spiritual beliefs. So it should be no surprise that I still look at them and their character and desire them to be the best they can be. So lately, Miriam has been, shall we say, challenging. She is by no means “difficult” or “out of control.” There’s just a few, um, imperfections that are driving me up the wall! (I don’t expect my kids to be perfect, but there’s always ways to grow, right?) And I’ve finally realized something. In order for her to improve, I’ve got to improve myself. Why? Because she is a mini-me. She does what I do, speaks like I speak, behaves like I behave… I see and hear myself in her every single day! Granted, there are some things she says and does that are all her (like “You’re a pook-a-pook!” followed by fits of giggles). But really, the stuff that makes me reminisce fondly about my pre-mother days is the stuff that I need to work on in myself. So rather than get irritated at my girl, I’m trying to deal positively with her challenging behaviours, then reflect on how I can improve the way I behave so that she has a better example from me. And my prayer in this is that I would be a light to lead her and that my light to her would be the light of Christ reflected to her when I look to him for guidance. Scrap Idea of the Day Check out Youtube for some interesting demonstrations of scrapbooking techniques. Try keywords like: scrapbook, Close to My Heart, Ali Edwards, Becky Higgins etc… Once you find one, you can link to others, or look for other posts by the same host.

Chickpea Wisdom

Stuff of Life I stepped on a chickpea on my kitchen floor today… not a big deal, right? At first I was bit annoyed because I know I’ll have to clean up the mess plus I’ve got chickpea on the bottom of my sock (well part of it anyway… there’re so many holes down there I probably mostly got it on my actual foot). But then I realized… “Hey! I just stepped on a chickpea… in order to step on a chickpea, it follows logically that I must actually feed my family chickpeas (which I do).” And I felt good about the chickpea on the floor because I want to be the kind of mum who feeds her family healthy stuff like chickpeas. Thanks, little chickpea… you just boosted my mum-fidence (That’s confidence in myself as a mother) Let’s just hope I don’t step on any Kraft Dinner in the near future… Spiritual Insight of the Day Miriam got a bible memory game featuring bible characters (cartoonized and anglicized beyond any realistic image, but I digress…) and today as she was playing with it, when she found a match she’d ask me to identify the character followed by “why?” (Meaning “tell me the story”) Miriam: (holding up a card) Who is this? Me: That’s Martha (Thank goodness for the label because the picture is essentially a frowning woman with a table and plate in the background) Miriam: Why? Me: She’s Mary’s sister. Martha’s upset. Mary isn’t helping with the dishes. She’s sitting at Jesus’ feet, listening to him tell stories. But Martha says ‘hey! Come here and help me clean up this mess! Help me with the dishes!” Miriam: Oh Me: But do you know who made the better choice? (Miriam shakes her head) It was Mary. It’s better to sit at Jesus feet and listen to him than to do the dishes. And that’s when the light went on. My own “A-ha” moment. Not that I’m excusing myself from housework altogether, but at the same time, it helps to have a little big-picture perspective once in a while. Scrap Idea of the Day/Still Learning Surf the Net! That’s the idea for today. To help you, I’ve spent the last few days checking out a number of sites and following bunny trails to find what I think are some of the most useful and/or interesting sites out there. This list may change, so check back once in a while for new additions. The list on the left of the screen should be a good start at using the internet to inspire and assist your scrapbooking. Over and Out!

Just the facts, ma'am

Stuff of Life A brief post today... Cindy and I got together for a few hours of scrapbooking. Totally uninspired with my own project, but we created an absolutely rockin' layout for her, so I feel like the evening was a success creativity-wise! Managed to get in a swim this afternoon. I'm adding exercise now to the whole cut down on calories thing in order to lose those pregnancy pounds. And believe it or not, I actually felt energized! I came home and didn't feel like crashing at 5:30 as I usually do. I must remember this feeling when I am unmotivated to go! It's 10:30 p.m. and I've been trying to get to bed earlier, but the evening was worth it. Goodnight!

It's All for Him

Stuff of Life To be honest I felt a bit blue today… until this evening that is. As I told another mum in Miriam’s music class, I feel like my life is so repetitive. Today I went downstairs to find clothes for the kids and I was like “Didn’t I just fold this laundry LAST week? What gives?” My life feels like it revolves around meals (breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner… plus the milk buffet Carmen enjoys all day) and housework. Blech! But my three kids reeled me in again – Carmen had a huge smile fest this evening, cooing and wide mouthed grins which just make me smile too! Finnegan ran out to the veranda to wave goodbye when Miriam and I went to music lessons, and when he ran back in he had that adorable little diaper bum wiggle and I thought “one day, I won’t see that anymore… I should enjoy it while it’s here!” Miriam was super sweet at music lessons, being silly acting like a banana (learning about Beethoven’s 5th symphony if you can believe it) and another mum commented “is she ever beautiful” which of course makes my heart swell with pride! Anyways, I still face an enormous pile of laundry tomorrow, groceries and more, but I’ll be trying to appreciate the little things, knowing this crazy busy time in my life won’t last… and I’ll miss it when it’s gone. Scrap Idea of the Day Graphic design is a huge influence on my scrapbooking. I found this website: http://www.thedieline.com/blog/ that led me to some cute card samples that I MUST try soon! Above are some of my faves. Spiritual Insight of the Day Again, not my own insight, but a summary of day 7 in The Purpose Driven Life. “It’s all for Him.” That’s right – everything. This caught my attention because I sometimes feel like maybe scrapbooking is a waste of time – spiritually that is. But I get such joy out of creating, telling stories, playing with beautiful colours and images. Can that be bad? But the point is, I’m enjoying things that God created… beauty, colour, texture, language, rhythm, order… so, yeah, I shouldn’t spend my entire income (via Jim’s paycheque ;) on scrap stuff, but I should enjoy the process and product because even in this I can glorify God. Still Learning TOTALLY PSYCHED! Hear that? That’s the sound of my Playlist! Oooooh! Music! Seriously so excited to have found this awesome website and built my own list of tunes that so reflect me – my personality, and history. What fun! This is certainly not a baby step, as it takes a bit of time and maneuvering to get the list attached to the site, but SO WORTH IT! Thanks for Reading!

Games, the moon, time and more...

Stuff of life - What I've learned: do NOT pull two very later nighters in a row when you've got kids that are guaranteed up at 7 every morning, and sometimes earlier! Man, am I bagged! Board games with the Newmanns on Friday (Keythedral by the way, which is fun and we must play again so we don't forget the rules) and Rock Band/American Idol with Steve, Tara, Karen, Paul and Melissa last night. Very fun but also very pooped!

Scrap Idea of the day

I Saw a blog with this journalling idea "5 years ago... 5 months ago... 5 days ago... 5 hours ago... 5 minutes ago... In 5 minutes... In 5 hours..." And so forth. Kind of a neat time travel and plans/dreams perspective idea that I must try.

Also, heard a fun show on CBC radio with his guy asking questions like "would you rather spend 10 minutes on the moon or a year in Europe with a $2000 monthly bonus"? I thought it was a totally obviously question as did Jim and he was like "the moon, obviously" and I was like "What? Totally Europe!" Good discussion starter, these "would you rathers" and interesting scrap idea!

Spiritual insight of the day

Okay, this isn't mine, but I've been reading The Purpose Driven Life, and today's message (day 6) is "Life is a Temporary Assignment." Basically the jist of it is do what you can with what you've got but don't get attached to the stuff of this world because this time on earth is just a blink compared to eternity with God. Good message for me as Jim and I look at our lives and future and finances.

Still learning

Today's big accomplishment blog-wise: inserting a photo (Carmen sleeping on my chair) into the post. Okay, certainly not brain surgery, but another accomplishment to celebrate :)

Preening the Feathers...

Step one: Create a fun title bar. Okay, okay... I did imply yesterday that I am not exactly internet savy. So today's goal was little but big. I took a photo I like, edited it in Adobe Photoshop, and loaded it to my title bar. Lots of steps and details for something that seems quite minor, but I figure if I take baby steps I'll be a blog pro in no time! That's all for today... the kids are still in jammies and we've got a garden hole that needs digging out in preparation for perennial invasion in the next few weeks! Can't wait for a blank canvas out there and a fun trip to pick up the plants. Gotta remember to take a "before" photo today so I can compare my "after" pictures and see the progress! Take it easy!

Day One... discovering my wings.

And thus, I venture boldly? hesitantly? into the world of binary:

01010111011001010110110001100011011011110110110101100101

(That's "Welcome" for those of you who are not binary literate! Thank goodness for a 26 letter alphabet!)

Welcome to you, friend reader, who have chanced upon my humble blog.

My current goal for this blog is to develop a sharing space for my creative adventures, philosophical musings, spiritual journey, and day-to-day wonderings about the world around me.

For today, I invite you to look around my site: read my profile and "The Stuff of Life", and check out my three adorable children ;)

I'm looking forward to learning and growing through this on-line adventure!