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.