Saturday, December 21, 2013

Impressions on my Heart

I wish I was able to capture all of life's beautiful moments on my camera.  For starters, it would help if I remembered to take my camera with me more often...or if I would remember to pull it out more often when I do remember to bring it along.  But I suppose the main reason why this doesn't happen is so many of life's most precious moments aren't able to be captured with a camera.

This past week was filled with a long road trip to see very dear friends.  All the moments of watching our children play together and all the laughter and tears shared among us are memories to be held in our hearts.  There were late nights of sharing our joys and sorrows.  There was good food and good wine (translation: available, liquid).

It was filled with evenings of driving two very excited children around town to see Christmas lights.  Listening to the excitement in their voices, exclaiming "Kissmas Ights!" and "No, you look on your side, I look on my side!" and "Mama, can we listen to Drummer Boy again?!", brought a joy to my heart that only children can provide.

It was filled with Advent activities that never materialized, but instead became afternoons of hot chocolate with copious amounts of marshmallows.

It was filled with mornings which fade into afternoons, spent catching up on crafts with new friends.

It was filled with an evening of walking through the live Nativity scene twice, at the pace of an observant four year old boy.  Watching him soak in each scene of the Christmas story, and holding each one in his heart.

It was spent celebrating the winter solstice with family and neighbors, in a full but joyous kitchen.

Sure, there are a few pictures here and there of pieces of these moments, but mostly there is the impression they have all left on my heart.  And right now my heart is oh so full.

Friday, December 20, 2013

{ these moments }

{these moments}
 
A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
 
If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.
 
**Some weeks are quiet and simple, others are filled to the seams with excitement, friendship, and love.  This past week was one of those weeks.  So instead of one moment to share, I have several, and in my heart there are many, many more that my camera was unable to capture.**
 







 

Friday, December 13, 2013

{ this moment }

{this moment}
 
A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
 
If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.
 
 
 
Inspired by Soule Mama.

Friday, December 6, 2013

{ this moment }

{this moment}
 
A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
 
If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.
 


Inspired by Soule Mama.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Cravings

You know that feeling when you want something so bad that you just crave it?  I mean crave it from the deepest part of your soul.

Sometimes this is how I feel about wanting land and a small farm for a self-sustaining lifestyle.  I just want to sit on the front porch of my old farmhouse and look out at my children running in the yard, along with a gaggle of hens, with a few lazy bloodhounds laying underfoot.  Near the house there's an ever-growing garden - filled with vegetables that we will freeze, and can, and eat throughout the year.  A little farther out is an area with fruit trees and bushes, growing larger with each passing season.  There's a random collection of other livestock - not too much, but taking it one animal at a time, adding what we are comfortable with.  At Christmas time, we will hike through our property, looking for the "perfect" tree, and cut one of our own to bring in and decorate - knowing all the while that it's not perfect, but our land supplied it and we love it just the same.

I dream of this life.  We talk about when we will have this life.

But as much as we want it, right now we are here, in 700 square feet of basement apartment.  We are blessed enough to have a small gardening area and all the benefits of life in town.

And as much as we dream about this life, we are thankful to be learning so much about finding the blessings in what we do have right here, right now. We are in the midst of finding the contentment in less than our dream life, but in the journey to get there. 

Life isn't always about getting to the destination.  It's about slowing down enough to listen to the lessons we are being taught in the journey.  And in the meantime, we get to savor the moments like these.





 
 
 
Ah.  Yes.  Life isn't always what we imagine, but it is still a mighty fine life we live.

 

 

 

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Winter is Creaping In

Winter has started to make an occasional appearance.  Our family hasn't experienced much winter weather (or a true winter for that matter) for the past several years, so we are excited.  I love different aspects of each season, but winter used to be my least favorite.  Now, I crave the chance to draw inward that this season creates.  We spend so much of the warmer months outdoors, the chance to cozy up inside is a welcome change.

The rhythm of our days changes with the season.  In the summer, we're up and at 'em quickly.  We're finding that the chilly mornings cause us to linger in bed longer...usually all piled together in our big bed, squeezing in every chance we can get to snuggle with our sweet babies while they still want to cuddle with us.  Some mornings it hits me that these years are limited and I am so happy that we have the time and chance to soak them in while they are still upon us.

And when we can no longer deny our rumbling bellies, it's into the kitchen we go.  Cold mountain mornings call for a hot breakfast, prepared by little helping hands.


Oh yes, I do love these cold mountain mornings and the memories they create.

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Advent Preparations

Can you believe this week is Thanksgiving week?!  And this year Thanksgiving falls late, so Advent starts in one week.  One week.  When I realized this on Friday, I also realized I needed to get to work on planning our Advent activities!

Advent is a big deal around here.  This will be our third year using our Advent bags.  Two years ago I made 25 small fabric bags (I don't know why, but I included one for Christmas morning also).  I intended to add felt numbers to them, but the thought of cutting out that many numbers isn't all that appealing to me, not to mention all the other crafts going on around the holidays...so needless to say it's not happening again this year.  We pin each bag on a piece of rope and each morning we take an activity out of a bag.  The first year the activities were very simple since the kids were only one and two, but last year we did a lot more crafting activities.  I didn't want our countdown to just be a small piece of candy or include 24 small junky toys.  I wanted the activities to inspire giving, creativity, and the spirit of the holidays. 

 
This year Mannchen and Töchterchen are more capable artistically and in other ways and we're in a new location, so I've kept a few favorites, but also made quite a few changes.  We will not visit Santa this year.  I have no problem with the kids believing in Santa - I love the element of magic and wonder he adds to the holidays.  What I don't like is he becomes a symbol of wanting/wishing/begging for more material gifts.  I think too much focus on Santa and the gifts he's going to bring detracts from more important aspects of the season - the birth of Christ, giving to those in need, and spreading our joy.  Besides, our kids think Santa only brings one gift to each child and I'm trying to keep out influences that ask "What do you want for Christmas?", after which they respond with one item, and then the adult follows up with, "That's it?  What else?".  Sorry folks, money doesn't grow on trees and that's not what Christmas is all about.

Another thing we've changed this year is we will only put our homemade ornaments on the Christmas tree.  Since we are in a small apartment, I thought it would make the set-up/clean-up easier if almost all our decorations and ornaments are ones that we will make as the season progresses.  When we celebrate Epiphany, we won't have much to pack away (my least favorite part). 

Without further delay, here is the list for this year:

1 - Decorate for Christmas! (i.e. Put up the tree and lights)

2 - Make Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments.  This is an activity we've done since year one.  We keep it a little bit more simple than Martha - just cut out various Christmas shapes and leave them plain.  My sweet friend Elizabeth introduced this craft to us and it is delightful.  While the ornaments bake in the oven, the entire house (or compact apartment) is filled with a wonderful Cinnamon aroma.

3 -  Spread Christmas cheer with a random act of kindness.  I still haven't decided what we will do, but it will probably involve sharing baked goods or purchasing an Angel Tree gift.

4 - Make Gingerbread cookies.  We will use some to make our Gingerbread mobiles and we will decorate some for St. Nicholas.

5 - Make snowflake ornaments.  I wouldn't say this was an all time favorite, but it was simple and I happen to have all the supplies leftover from last year.

6 - St. Nicholas Day!  It also happens to be the Christmas parade.  We will go to the parade, then come home to read St. Nicholas stories, drink hot chocolate, and leave St. Nicholas and his horse cookies.  The kids also put out their shoes and a letter for St. Nicholas.  During the night, he comes and leaves a small gift for each of them and a reminder to spread love and share their giving spirit all season long.

7 - Make Gingerbread Houses.  Last year my MIL gave us two kits.  The kits were very convenient, but we may strike out on our own this year and make them from scratch.  I highly recommend having the house pre-made and just letting the little ones decorate it.  The prep work was fun to do with the hubby.

8 - Make outdoor ice ornaments like these or these.

9 - String together a button garland or felted wool ball garland (if I can find our already made wool balls).

10 - Make salt dough ornaments.  We make the ornaments in the morning and paint them in the afternoon.

11 - Make natural garlands using cranberries, apples, and oranges.

12 - Birdseed birdfeeders using apples and pinecones.

13 - Beeswax dipped pinecones

14 - Another random act of kindness day

15 - Beeswax star bunting

16 - Handprint nativity craft...because you need at least one handprint craft each year to look back on years from now and remember how sweet and little their hands once were.

17 - Make Grandparent gifts - no peeking Oma, Mimi, Baba or Papa!!!!  This is a bit ambitious for one day, so maybe I should say we are going to start making this gift!  Luckily tomorrow is a low key day, so it can carry over from one day to the next.

18 - Make hot chocolate "to-go" and drive around looking at Christmas lights

19 - Make holiday soaps.  We have a wide variety of essential oils, but the peppermint and rosemary is a favorite during the holidays.

20 - Visit a live Nativity

21 - Celebrate the winter solstice!  I haven't completely settled on what our traditions surrounding the solstice will be but I think it may include ice lanterns (make them in the morning, use them in the evening), take a hike (to soak in the winter weather), and a warm hearty soup/stew for dinner.

22 - Make a snowman pizza and watch a Christmas movie. 

23 - Make Gingerbread pancakes and wrap family gifts...or if we had skip any other days, make up for it today

24 - Bake Christmas cookies and open an early gift (Christmas PJs, a book, and maybe Christmas mugs if I can find child size ones at the thrift store by then).

25 - CHRISTMAS!!! and family time!

Sometimes life gets the best of us and I have to go easy on myself for a day here and there.  Last year I realized planning ahead helped a ton, but there are still unexpected difficult days.  On those days I'm thankful my kids can't read and I can swap out the planned activity for something easier (like hot chocolate with LOTS of marshmallows! or go to the library and find as many Christmas books as possible or make Christmas pancakes for dinner).  But all in all, this is quickly becoming my favorite part of the holiday season and I love the memories we are making!
 
How do you celebrate Advent and the holiday season?  I'd love to hear about your family's traditions.  Do you celebrate St. Nicholas Day or the Winter solstice?  If so, how do you set those days apart from the rest of the seasonal excitement?

Friday, November 22, 2013

{ this moment }

{this moment}
 
A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
 
If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.
 
 
 
 
 Inspired by Soule Mama.


Sunday, November 17, 2013

Sharing Our Light

 
"The sunlight fast is dwindling,
My little lamp needs kindling.
It's beam shine far in the darkest night,
Dear lantern, guard me with your light."
 
 
This past week we celebrated Martinmas.  The actual day of Martinmas is November 11th, but we waited until Friday to celebrate.  I wanted two full weeks for the tale of St. Martin and this sweet story to sink into Mannchen and Töchterchen's heart and being.

Martinmas is one of the celebrations honored in Waldorf schools and celebrates St. Martin of Tours.  St. Martin was honored for his peacefulness and generosity - two extremely important qualities to embrace entering into the holiday season.  This was our first year celebrating and for the past two weeks I spent some time each day talking to the kids about what generosity is and how to show kindness towards others.  I told them the story about how St. Martin cut his cloak in half, to share with a cold beggar and we talked about what we have that we can share with others in need or who have less than us.  We discussed how his love and kindness brought warmth to others and how we can both find and provide warmth in the coming cold months.

We spent a little time each day this week working on making our own paper lanterns - to take our light out into the cold darkness of the world.  I found several tutorials on Pinterest and so many more ideas for the years to come.  We used thick watercolor paper to make our lanterns.  On Monday we painting them, Tuesday we oiled them, Wednesday we cut and glued them, Thursday we added handles, and Friday we had our lantern walk before dinner (in their PJs).  On Friday morning we also made Pumpkin muffins to share with our neighbors and family.  (The neighbors ended up not being home when we went and I never anticipated that the kids would be so disappointed!  They were so sweet and ready to share their love and light.)  We also learned the song "This Little Light of Mine".
 






All ready to walk with our lanterns!


"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine. let it shine!"
 
Happy Martinmas to everyone.  We wish you a holiday season filled with light, love, and warmth.
 
Do you celebrate Martinmas?  What are your favorite traditions?

Friday, November 15, 2013

{ this moment }

{this moment}
 
A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
 
If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.
 

 
 Inspired by Soule Mama.
 

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Handmade Christmas

It's going to be a very handmade Christmas around here for sure.  Partially because it can save money, but mostly because it just brings us joy.  Of course, over the past few days it suddenly occurred to me that it is November, and after November is December...which means it's time to get to work!

I can't share with you all that I have planned for this year, but here are a few glimpses of how I will spend my evenings over the next month and a half.


 
 
 
Do you make your own gifts for friends and family?  What are you working on this year? 

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Therapeutic Mornings

When I started baking bread, I relied on my stand mixer for every bit of kneading I possibly could.  But over the past two years, I've fallen in love with the process of baking bread and have come to find a therapeutic quality to kneading bread.  It used to be the most dreaded step in the whole process for me, in fact I didn't bake bread for years because of the kneading (it just took so long).  But now, on weeks when I need a little "therapy", I set my alarm extra early on Wednesdays and rise before the rest of the house to sneak in a little time alone in the kitchen. 
 
This morning was one of those mornings that happens so infrequently, but replenishes my soul in a way that is beyond my understanding.  Just me, a cup of coffee, and a fresh batch of dough.  
 
Taking it from this ragged mess....
 
to this smooth ball of nourishment for my family.

Monday was Martinmas and while we will be celebrating with our lantern walk a bit later in the week, we wish you all a blessed Martinmas and hope you are able to carry the warmth and giving spirit of St. Martin with you throughout this holiday season. 


Friday, November 8, 2013

{ this moment }

{this moment}
 
A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
 
If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.
 


 Inspired by Soule Mama.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Pumpkin Season

The folks around here LOVE pumpkins. 
 
First I was the lone pumpkin lover in the house.  Then we had kids and they joined in my affection for the most beautiful and tasty aspect of fall.  This year I think we even managed to convert hubby over to our side!
 
For the past three weeks we have been crafting, carving, and eating pumpkins as much as humanly possible.  I highly recommend these recipes for pumpkin dinner rolls, pumpkin muffins (just cut the sugar back to 1/2 cup), and pumpkin scones
 
I am very sad to report that we were unable to visit a pumpkin patch this year.  The patches here are only open on weekends and this year our October weekends were taken up with sick days, company, and travel.  At least we have a few volunteer mini-pumpkins grow in our garden before we moved - which we harvested before leaving.  In a way we did grow and pick pumpkins, we just did it back in July.  And the four that are still good are in a bowl on our nature table to remind us!
 

So many beautiful fall gifts from nature - acorns (which we glued onto a foam tree to make an "acorn tree"), massive maple leaves, walnuts, pumpkins, and a few other treasures the kids have picked up on our walks.
 
Our verse for the past few weeks came out of a Highlights magazine the kids get.  They loved it, but I didn't write it out on our chalkboard this time because it's a little too long to fit on the small board we use.
 
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate,
The first one said, "Oh my, it's getting late!".
The second one said, "There's a chill in the air".
The third one said, "I don't care."
The fourth one said, "Let's run and run and run!".
The fifth one said, "I'm ready for some fun!".
Ohh, ohh, went the wind, out went the lights,
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.
 
 
I wish I had much better pictures to share with you of some of the crafts we did, but my camera really, truly is on its last leg now.  Sometimes the buttons won't work, other times I can't get the flash to work....so I did what I could to get a few basic shots of the kids artwork.  We were so excited about each craft, which makes it even more fun to share!
 
I picked this wood cutouts up at Michael's on clearance last year.  The kids used watercolors to paint them orange.  Mannchen also insisted on a green stem for his.

Another day we went on a nature walk and collected some small feathers, leaves, and assorted sticks.  I added some lentils and small shell pasta to the mix and let the kids make a jack-o-lantern with their findings.  Mannchen's is on the left - the eyes are a small shell pasta, the leaf is the nose, and the feather is the mouth...then he elaborately decorated the cheeks to "make it pretty for mama".  That little boy sure is a sweetheart.  Töchterchen had a grand time just gluing whatever, wherever.  She was so proud and carried it all over the house for a few days. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of it right away and many of her decorations fell off when she was toting it around.  Let's just say she is "a little" upset about how it looks now.

 
Another day we did wet-on-wet watercolor painting - first they painted the paper red, then we added the yellow to create orange.  Both kids loved seeing how the colors combine to make another color.  After everything was dry, I cut out pumpkin shapes and we drew jack-o-lantern faces on them.  Töchterchen really enjoyed coloring the faces.  With two of the larger pumpkin shapes, I punched holes around the outside so the kids could use them as a sewing card.  Mannchen wasn't as interested this time, but Töchterchen was very focused.  She let me help her, so she could practice doing a straight stitch, instead of looping it around the sides and going all over the place.  She really enjoys anything that involves sewing - I can't wait to teach her more as she gets older!
 

Since the first watercolor, color blending activity went so well, I decided to try a more complex painting activity with the kids.  I found this pumpkin painting story online.  As I told the story to the kids, there were times for them to paint with certain colors.  It was really neat to combine the painting, color blending, and story telling together for the first time.  I was nervous about how it would go, especially with Töchterchen (she's still a few days shy of turning three, so she is young).  But they gave me their full attention and it turned out great!  It's the orange pumpkin, surrounded by blue sky, and a green vine around the pumpkin or on the ground (the green didn't show up well in the pictures, damn you camera!).  I do recommend only giving them one color of paint at a time and only letting them have access to it when it's time for them to paint.  If I had left all the colors open in front of them the entire time, I'm sure it would have been a free for all with much less focus. 

The kids also made jack-o-lantern faces at MOPS one week!
  
Two precious, happy kids with our fall/pumpkin books.  The Very Best Pumpkin and Pumpkins are ones we got at our library last year and enjoyed enough that I bought copies for our house.

The kids and hubby also went to our new library and found some new Halloween books.  The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything is a new favorite.  I think we will have to add it to our collection.  It's about a little old lady who meets all the different parts of a scarecrow (boots, pants, shirt, gloves, hat, pumpkin head) while walking in the woods at night.  Each part makes a different noise - so the story involves a lot of repetition involving those noises.  Töchterchen loved helping tell that part of the story.
 
We spent a few mornings cutting out other Halloween shapes - bats, ghosts, and more pumpkins - which the kids enjoyed taping up all over the apartment.  Mannchen is getting really good with scissors.  I traced these bats for him and he cut them out!  I'm constantly amazed at what a four year old is capable of!  It's definitely a constant lesson in how capable he is now and learning how to let go so he can grow and flourish - a whole other topic I hope to blog about soon, but I'm still in the process of gathering my thoughts and attempting to make them sound coherent to others. 
 
What have you been up to lately?  How did you prepare for Halloween and the fall season?  I'd love to hear about your favorite pumpkin activities!

Linking up this week with Crafty Moms Share.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

: : Lessons : :

Our first two months in our new home proved to be more of an adjustment than I anticipated.  The parts that I expected to be difficult - downsizing, packing/unpacking, etc - ended up being the easiest.  I should have anticipated how deeply it would affect the kids.  I knew firsthand what it was like to move as a young child and I know how sensitive to change Mannchen is.  Regardless, I expected us to carry on as if nothing had happened once we were unpacked. 

Obviously we did not. 

Working outside the home was (still is) a major adjustment for the kids and myself.  It requires far more organization than ever before.  There is still the same number of tasks to accomplish around the home, but fewer hours at home each day to accomplish them.  I have had to work out how to get the grocery shopping and various errands completed without sacrificing the kids' free play time.  In the end, it has meant further simplification of our daily lives.  We had to adjust, re-adjust, and once-again-adjust the kids' napping and sleeping times.  In the end, naptime was dropped and bedtime is 7pm.  The kids are slowly emerging from an extremely needy phase - and during that same time hubby and I were experiencing the highest levels of stress thus far in our marriage. 

As soon as we start to make improvements in one regard, the shit hits the fan in another.  Right now every aspect of daily life with the little ones is exhausting and trying.  I have realized we don't hold the same consistent rhythm we used to, which I have committed to getting back to this week.  But at the same time, there's so much more than that.  There is at least one or two (if not more) scream-fests per day from Töchterchen.  They last for 10-15 minutes on average and really suck the life out of everyone around.  Mannchen has developed a potty mouth and quite the attitude now that he's four.  Between the two of them, I am really being "stretched" to work on my patience and ability to keep cool in the face of "adversity"...basically, I just want to quit, cry, and have a drink on a fairly consistent basis.  But, thankfully, I love my children and all their imperfections more than I ever imagined possible.  They are awesome kids, this is just the most difficult "phase" we have ever experienced and I feel more clueless than ever.  I have faith that it too shall pass.  (Please God, please, let it pass....)

While that aspect of our life is chaotic, most of the rest of it is settling down, slowly becoming normal again, and we are taking delight in the many lessons we are learning in this phase of life.  For the most part, this is a period of waiting - waiting for hubby to decide if he wants a master's degree or to go for his PhD, waiting for school to be over, waiting to see where we will go next, waiting to settle down for good, and so forth.  The silver lining, is so much is learned in the wait.  This is when we are stretched and molded.  This is when we develop strength of character and patience.  This is when we learn to find peace with the here and now, and start to live in the present. 

It seemed that we began to learn the lessons found in the wait a year ago when our plans to move first started to form.  However, now that we are in the midst of this transformation, I get the feeling that the lessons we learned last year were only the tip of the iceberg.  Looking back on it, it was easy to be content in an well built, well maintained 1400 sq ft single family home with a large backyard, on a steady, secure income and with ample time at home to enjoy my children. 

Yet, it wasn't more than two years ago that I felt anxious for more space, more income, and some days I couldn't wait for my kids to be older and off to school.  I did a lot of personal work to change my mindset and heart - to look at the positives of all I had, rather than all I didn't have.  Prior to our move, the preceding 12-18 months were some of the happiest and most content months of my life.  Now that we are here, I can see why it was so important that I find that I reach that level of peace with what I had then, considering how much less we have now by material levels...yet so much more of the things we find really matter in life.

So, what are these lessons life is teaching us?  In no particular order:

: : We don't need to be completely independent.  For the past five years, we have been hours from family, living an independent life, and sadly, taking pride in that.  Now we live five miles down the road from my parents, completely dependent on them for childcare while I work in the afternoons.  It was a tough pill to swallow at first.  I don't like to ask for help.  But through the process of relying on them, I have seen the relationship between my kids and my parents deepen.  We are learning what family really means - loving and supporting one another in times of need.

: : Living in a community is far more enjoyable than living segregated lives.  We hang out in the evenings with our neighbors.  All the dogs in the building play fetch together.  We share a gardening space and the food produced.  There has been talk of shared chickens - I may have been the only serious one, but I'm 200% serious.  Our upstairs neighbor is teaching us multitudes about insects and spiders - the kids find her absolutely fascinating, as do we.  Before we moved, we only spoke with two of our neighbors on a few occasions throughout the year.  It's a little sad to live close to people, but not know them at all.

: : A large home, lots of money, and more stuff is overrated.  We now live in a 700 sq ft apartment, on an income that is a fraction of the whopping teacher's salary we used to have, and we make no unessential purchases.  We feel freedom and relief in all of these things.  I enjoy the smaller space - it's quicker to clean and I love the people I live with, so I don't mind being close to them.

: : It is foolish to have pride, period.  The pride I felt from owning our own home, the pride I felt because my children had never given me attitude, the pride I had because we didn't have to rely on family for help, the pride I had because I felt like I really could do it all...it was all foolish.  All of those things have come to a screeching halt and as much as I hate it, I honestly believe it's because I needed to learn a difficult lesson.  I needed to be humbled. 

Lately, I'm not full of fun, inspired posts of things we've done at our house, just a random post here at there to fill you in on how things are going.  Right now we're still stuck on figuring life out a little more and hopefully it won't be much longer until we're back in the rhythm of it all.




Friday, October 18, 2013

{ this moment }

{this moment}
 
A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
 
If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.
 
 
Inspired by Soule Mama.