Enjoying Beauty

As you know, over the course of the year, I am working through the Sally Clarkson book The Life Giving Home workbook.  It's amazing how it manages to be exactly what I need each and every month.  Life has been rather stressful and I've been getting bogged down in my own head.  I hate to sound trite but I am so lucky and it's so easy to forget that.  This book from Sally Clarkson does so much to help me to avoid getting bogged down and to see how lucky I am.

For March, the idea is to focus on the beauty around us, to create beauty where we can and to restore our souls and those of those around us.  It's so important but it can be so hard sometimes.  My goal for the month is to slow down a bit, to live in the little moments and to keep my focus on how blessed I am.

We ended up being given that chance early in the month.  We have wonderful neighbours across the street who have become very close with our children.  They have three children and no family locally.  They moved here from overseas (dad is originally from here but mom is Japanese and has no family in our country at all).  At first, mom stayed home but she has fairly recently been able to find a job (which is so hard for newcomers here).  They were leaving their kids home in the morning together before school (they had no other options) so we offered to take them in the morning before school.  It makes our mornings a bit crazier and yet, it's totally worth it.  My children love having them here and I know how expensive daycare can be.  I'm fortunate in that my own children's schools are early start while Dh and I are at late start schools so I can put the kids on the bus and then make it to work myself. 

Tuesday night, I got a rather frantic phone call from the dad to say that they both had to be out Wednesday night and had no childcare and were in a bind.  Of course, we said we would take them.  Dh was out at a union meeting and it was me with five kids but I couldn't say no.

It ended up being so much fun.  We are discovering that the girls LOVE our family food, especially anything English that I learned from Dh's family and so I offered to make "English Pancakes."  We very rarely have them here but when we do, the family adores them.  They are very simple - yorkshire pudding batter cooked up similar to crepes and then dotted with sugar and drizzled with lemon or orange juice.  I won't lie, I was exhausted and not really feeling it all but when they kids got to dig in and had SO much fun, it was all worth it!

I am not a food blogger or a food stylist and the pics are taken on my phone, which has been dropped in water a few times so the camera isn't great but still, I wanted to capture a joy.

"English Pancakes"

1 c all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1/2 c water
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
butter for frying
sugar
lemon juice

Combine the flour, milk, water, egg and salt and mix until no lumps remain.
Heat a fry pan and melt some butter.  Pour batter into a circle the size of a large pancake and then, swirl the pan to spread the batter out thinly, roughly the size of the pan.  Carefully use a spatula to loosen the edges and when, the pancake will hold together, flip.  Cook until golden but still soft on both sides.
To serve, put on a plate and sprinkle with sugar (roughly a tsp).  Drizzle with lemon juice or orange juice and roll up.  My kids also love them with maple syrup.

I often get bogged down in life and forget that having guests can actually restore me, especially when they are children who really don't care how tidy the house is or how nice the meal is!

Family Time

I have been keeping a gratitude journal for the last several years off and on and in the last year or so, I have become really good at ensuring that I record something every day (actually, three somethings).  I used to think that it was a bit of a "fluffy" idea, something with little substance that wouldn't really make a difference but I decided to try anyway.  It's become a way of life for me and honestly, I have come to appreciate how much change it has actually made in the way that I view my life.

I am especially finding that it makes a difference in the hard times.  In the greater scheme of things, my life is so good these days but I have had some real struggles this year with some very negative people at work.  I am NOT good at conflict and it tends to eat away at me (while the people involved who are creating the conflict always seem to sleep so well at night!)  I've been coming home feeling agitated by it all and having trouble sleeping and yet, the start to every prayer, and this is habit, not intention, is "Thank you for.."  Life is so good this way!

I wanted to share a few of the things for which I am grateful at the moment because life IS good!

I feel like we are really in a sweet spot with our children right now.  Pk is 10.5 and IJ is 7 and they are both so much fun and so connected to our family.  We have so much fun reading together, having monthly parent-child dates, watching t.v. together (we have some shows we all love) and lately, hiking together.  I walk the dogs almost every day after school and in the past, I went on my own.  The kids didn't want to come and if they did, it was dragging them around, unhappy.  Now, they LOVE that time and we are having such amazing adventures while making our dogs really happy and getting to enjoy the beauty of the area in which we live.  We've enjoyed sunsets, climbs and rock collecting and, most of all, having really important conversations.  I am so grateful that we aren't missing this time together!

I also feel very gifted because my kids are at a stage of life when they are exploring the world and discovering their passions and they are excited to have me be a part of that.  Pk has always loved riding horses (and that continues) and she has also become a passionate figure skater.  That was NOT something we saw coming as neither of us have done a great deal of skating (and dh, being English, did not grow up skating and has zero interest).  Pk, surprisingly, seems to have quite an aptitude and loves it and we are at the arena Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and  Saturday and somehow, I have become the secretary of the skating club.  I always vowed I wouldn't have my child overbooked but as I see her joy and the maturity that has come with her pursuing her passion, I cannot say no.  We are also really lucky that she is in a really, really nice cohort of girls and families and her coaches are really unique in placing as much emphasis on character as on skating skill.  I couldn't have asked for anything better and, as a bonus, I am getting so much knitting done at the rink!

This photo was taken at a competition and it meant so much to me and illustrates so well what they are learning.  They were at a synchro competition (which meant that there was a team of 10 competing) and it happened that it collided with an individual performance for one of the girls on the team (who happens to be one of the youngest and least confident skaters).   The girls all went to watch her and when she was finished skating, they exploded in cheers for her and seeing the smile of the skater's face made me truly appreciate the lessons that they are learning about friendship.

Little Man has also expanded my horizons as I am now "Red", the Scouter and the registrar for our town's Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Venturers and Rovers.  I NEVER saw myself in that role but surprisingly, it's been really fun and it has allowed me to connect with some wonderful people that I would not otherwise have met.  IJ and I have gone on several camping trips together and we have started collecting something from each trip to add to our collection of momentos of camping together and every time I look at the pile, I feel happy.  One day, he won't want me there but at this point, he does, and it brings me more joy than I would have ever imagined!

Knitting Pleasures

It's been a really difficult couple of weeks at work for me.  There are some very toxic people and it's been a real challenge to try to stay above it all and to, as my husband always says, "make sure that my side of the street it clean."  It's so hard to keep from being drawn into other people's drama but I have been really making the effort to be calm and compassionate (which has been difficult!)  I've been looking for ways to find the little pleasures in each day and one of my pleasures is knitting.

The past year or so was the year of the hat for me.  One of PK's skating coaches asked for a messy bun hat in "worksocks" colours which has become what the skaters refer to as the "Roots" hat.  I ended up making an entire set for her synchro team and I then go requests from people who don't skate :-)  Christmas was all about slippers (I'll do a post on that another time).  I had a colleague ask for a bun hat but she didn't want the worksocks colours, she wanted black.  The pattern that I had been using would just be too boring in black so, after some searching on Ravelry, I found a pattern that I really like.

Of course, I had to make one first to check tension and whether I actually like the finished product and yes, I LOVED it.  It's the Yellowstone Skate Ski Hat by Selena Miskin and available for purchase on Ravelry and I have been really happy with it.  I find winter so bleak and I love lighter colours when possible so, of course, I made it in my favourite cream colour.  Now, I have the black one is the works and I can't wait to finish it and pass it on to its recipient.  My only sadness is that the black really doesn't show off the lovely cables the way I would like.  At any rate, it's cabled enough to look very pretty (and impressive to those who don't know how easy cables are) and yet easy enough that there isn't so much counting that my eyes go crossed.  It's such fun to pass on a little surprise like this to someone.

PK is my model so the adult size is a bit big on her but it's perfect for me!

My Life Giving Home

Life has been rather grueling of late and I won't lie, my spirit hasn't been coping all that well.  I always struggle at this time of year - my body desperately needs sunshine and this year, we seem to be in this endless darkness that does me in before I am out of bed in the morning.  I'm trying to keep my head above water but I have to admit, when I am feeling this way, I am especially vulnerable to all of the little weaknesses, such as my chronic insecurity and anxiety.  It's something I hate about myself and I wish I could stand up against it more firmly.

Because of all of that, a day like today is especially precious.  I've been working through Sally Clarkson's The Life-Giving Home and the workbook and I am loving the fact that it forces me to sit down and be intentional, even when I only want to curl up and hide.  For January, my goals are to create special times with my family throughout the week to make sure the know they are loved and accepted, to spend 10 or 15 minutes of quiet time in the morning before the house gets up and to spend some time in prayer over some worries that I haven't been coping well with.  Sunday has become a wonderful time with my family and it changes everything.

Today, after church, the kids and I went for a hike in the forest with the dogs.  We finally had a warmer day and the sun was shining in between the trees.   Yesterday, PK and I saw three deer in a field as we were driving to skating and on our hike today, we saw a fox up ahead.  Foxes are IJ's favourite animal in the world and it felt like magic to have sunshine and animals appear for us!  Getting into the outdoors is a major help for me at this time of year and having the kids enjoying coming along (unlike when they were younger and complained the entire way) is such wonderful therapy for me.  I feel so lucky that we live in an area that gives us so many options for outdoor exploring and especially since IJ has become such a happy member of Beavers, we seem to be spending a lot more time outside.


One of the things that seems to really speak to PK at the moment is that she is loving to cook and bake.  I have always tried to avoid processed foods when I can for them (not because I look down on anyone else for using them, just because I enjoy cooking and for some reason, having my kids take food for lunch that is homemade makes me feel as if I have sent them a bit of a sign of my love).  We do a homemade treat each week and since the cookie jar was empty (I know, I'm silly, but I love having some cookies we have made in the jar), we thought making gingerbread cookies together would be fun.  I am learning (slowly) to leave my perfectionism behind and to give them a fair bit of freedom.  PK picked some favourite music of us to share, I rolled out the dough and they had a great time choosing the shapes for their cookies.  Years ago, I got a set of letter cookie cutters and they were so excited to make their names.  Little do they know, they each get and 'I', a heart and a 'U' tomorrow in their lunches.  I hope they actually notice.

One other pleasure that we have discovered together is listening to books.  We buy them from Audible and then listen together while we do things we enjoy.  Over the Christmas holidays, on a long drive, Audible suggested The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place by Maryrose Wood and it turned out to be one that the kids loved (having a woods and animals integral to the story definitely helped).  We had finished book 1 and so this evening, we started on book 2 while I coloured, PK knit and IJ worked on Lego.  It was a wonderful way to finish the weekend and I hope it will give us all some treasured time together to help carry us through the challenges of the week.

Peace

In this cold weather, it is a great time for some "hygge" and I am a bit one for comfort at home, when I can find it!  I have an addiction to foxes and my husband found me the most lovely fox mug for Christmas and we were gifted some Yorkshire Gold tea, which is exactly as I love a cup of tea - strong and full-bodied without being "stew-y".  I got several gift cards for Chapters (a Canadian rival to Amazon) and ordered myself the Inspire: Psalms colouring book that I have been wanting.  I have to find balance with my colouring books because, while I love them, they can be a reminder, at times, that I don't have the time that I would like to quiet activities like this.  I have a very bad habit of keeping lists for myself of things that I would like to do (and then, becoming frustrated and overwhelmed when my to-do's don't get checked off).  Last year, I bought myself a Coloring Psalms agenda and it was nice to do small pages but when I didn't keep up, it really frustrated me.  This way, I can work through the Psalms when I can and there is no timeline connected.  

The book is lovely and I really enjoyed my time with it last night.

Our Family Reading Culture

I haven't posted here in a long time and I suspect that I have lost any readers that I may have had but that's o.k.  I like to use this space for me, anyway, and it's a fun way to create a kind of an online journal of the things that make me happy.  It's been a very, very busy fall, given my inability to say 'no' which has led to new roles as the secretary of the skating club AND the registrar for Scouting in our town, along with all of my current involvement at church.  I can't lie, while it is NUTS, it's also been so much fun, since all of these activities allow me to be involved with my kids and the things that they are passionate about!

One thing that has made me happy for years (and my cluttered beside table attests to) is reading.  I love books, I love reading, I love getting books in the mail and from the library and, most of all, I love finding books that become part of our family.  I grew up the daughter of an Anglophile and traditional English books were a huge part of my childhood.  I have wanted to share that gift with my own children.

With a 7 year old boy and a 10 year old girl and time at a premium, it's challenging, sometimes, to ensure that we are reading as much as I would like.  We have tried to find books that both kids enjoy and that has actually been easier than I thought.  We went through a HUGE Dick King Smith phase (the Author of Babe: The Sheep Pig and the Sophie series as well as many other wonderful tales).  We dabbled in Roald Dahl but honestly, that wasn't such a success.  We have also spent a lot of time with the Famous Five by Enid Blyton (although there are a few that were just too scary for my son) and we have also been big fans of the Magic Faraway Tree series, also by Enid Blyton.

There was also the wonderful discovery of audiobooks as a family, after a particularly contentious drive up north when the bickering about DVDs in the car led to mom losing her cool and declaring that we would never watch a movie in the car again.  That left me scrambling for a way to keep the peace and minimize the whining on the three hour drive up to visit grandparents that led us to discover the wonderful world of Harry Potter.

Recently, I discovered the podcast Storyformed via Sally Clarkson (I will try to write a post about her book Different at another time, which was EXACTLY what I needed at a particularly challenging time).  I don't want to describe the podcast too much and get the details incorrect but allow me to say that this is a wonderful podcast about the impact of wonderful children's books and books that are so worth reading with your children.

More importantly to me, the Christmas podcast, Episode 20,  has been such a gift.  We do the "Pinterest" Christmas idea that I discovered a few years ago in which we wrap 24 Christmas books and read one each night (these are all previously read books but the kids still adore finding favourites from years ago).  I wanted to take the reading a bit deeper and a few of the suggestions from this episode have already become a part of our family Christmas culture and I am so grateful.  I love the way that books can build connection between the members of our family.

The book we have enjoyed the most, and that is perfect for the age of my kids, is The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson.  We bought it on Audible on sale, no less, and it was worth every minute that we have spent listening.  My son, in particular, laughed and laughed and laughed and the kids kept begging me to listen to a bit more before turning it off.  The Herdman family have become a joke in our family and my kids keep trying to come up with different scenarios that fit the idea of a Herdman adventure.  There were also wonderful lessons to be learned in the true meaning of Christmas (which sounds like such a cliche and yet is so true).  We have listened to the book three times through on drives this Christmas season and all four of us have enjoyed it.  I think I am going to have to buy a paper copy, just to have a place of honour on the shelf with our other Christmas favorites.

We also discovered a wonderful book by J.R.R. Tolkien, Letters from Father Christmas.  He wrote and mailed letters to his own children from Father Christmas over a 20 year period and this wonderful book is a compilation of his letters to his children outlining the adventures being had by Father Christmas.  My children and I are loving this so far!   The kids are enjoying the illustrations and accompany each letter.  I was worried that they would find it too dated but, in fact, I think that the historical nature of the letters is actually making them more exciting for the kids.

I hope to post more regularly about what we are reading and how those books are impacting our families and I hope that, should I find any audience here, that you would be willing to share books that you are finding are enjoyable for your family.

My Word

I haven't made resolutions, I'm doing my "one word" again this year and this year's word is a bit different. My life verse is Micah 6:8 ("And what does the Lord require of you? To do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God"). I've always viewed this as a command and earlier this fall, after an interesting discussion, I started to reflect on it more deeply. I realised that "walking humbly" could be both a command and a gift - walking "humbly" implies that I don't need to be trying to be great, I am allowed to be human and to make mistakes and to have failures and to not try so hard all of the time. My word, this year, is "humble" and I am going to work at being easier on myself and allowing myself some space to be weak and meek and to relieve myself of the weight of expectations of other people a bit. It won't always feel good but it's a lesson I need to learn if I am going to move forward. Does anyone else have a word?