Life in Nebraska ....

If I could explain life in a few short words. If I could make sense of the ins and outs of all the emotions and  life things that happen. If I could give my kids all the opportunities. If I could keep everyone I love from getting broken. Then!  Then I would be God. And then I wouldn't know the deep choking  aching joy that life brings. I wouldn't know the deep crevices and ravines that hold  all the secrets way deep where the life changing things happen. I wouldn't get the gift of the amazing golden fall days. I wouldn't get to catch that two minutes of the sunset on the plains. Because then I would be the creator of those things. And would know the outcome. And I would have the responsibility to hold  the whole world in my hand. And my hands aren't big enough. And I love to know the deep ache of joy. The secrets in the crannies....the surprises that God hides deep in an experience. I love experiencing the redemptio...

                                                                A hot cup of coffee A clean kitchen A bouquet of flowers you picked for yourself When someone tells you thank you A winter fire place Spicy Cinnamon Tea Books Sorting through old memories in an old church building Watching a sunset Enduring through a tough discipline to the finish Walking through a neglected and silent wood A cold plunge into a swimming hole Laughing till your tummy hurts Chocolate Chatting with an aunt outside of church after a beautiful Sunday Finding the boundaries in your life and using them Crying The knowing  that pain is setting deep roots down down into your soul Building bridges Forgiving Smiling Thinking positive  

        So I ended last post about what does God have to say about busyness.     And now for practical thoughts on how to be calm in our souls even IF we're busy.  And maybe some practical tips.     One lady who lived in a condo just down the street from the church her family/ parents/ grandparents had always gone to stated that she wonders if she might feel calmer is she went to a place of God where she could regain her perspective about her place in the world.  But she said, "There's just no time."   Obvious observation here is that we don't have time to not go to a place of worship and regain perspective.      People that know there is a power greater than themselves, scientifically are better off emotionally and spiritually.  An office worker feels a burden to do it all and get it all right and if it's not it all falls back on him.  A farmer knows there is a higher power than him and his machines...

    We all know what busyness is and how we feel when we hear the word.  I would bet a person who is lonely and had an appetite for busyness their entire life feels fondly for the word.  Where as a person who is overwhelmed and exhausted knows keenly what the word means to her and her feelings probably aren't fond.     So I've been looking at the subject of busyness for quite awhile.  In fact I found in my research that there are many many many books and blogposts and bible stories and personal experiences to read up on. Evidently busyness is an epidemic.     So how do we get back to feeling a fondness for busyness?  Or maybe lets ask when did Busyness become an epidemic and why did it become an epidemic?       Americans are afflicted with this epidemic worse than other countries.  Supposedly the Danes know how to do schedules without the busyness complex.  They take time for tea.  Children aren't given t...

Summer.  It's a beautiful summer too.  It has stayed cool and wet and projects are getting done.   My laundry room/entry/mudroom is getting a makeover.  I dumped it out the week I was teaching at VBS and it was so bad that I needed to paint it.   I ripped the cabinet down from above the washer and put shelves up that I can mostly reach.   Now I need to finish painting doors and shelves and trim.  It's a major trick to keep it all looking like I actually did anything in there though because  I have big boys and because I haven't taught them to clean as they walk.   I'm thinking it'll get easier when I get a garage.                   My Summer coffee place.   I dug a rotted plank out of the shed and made a shelf above the piano.  And updated pictures of my favorite kids.  And I revamped this computer desk closet in Marc...

Everyone should do a recap of their life now and then I suppose.  Instagram has pretty much taken over my social media updates about Life.  But here is where I come back for a timeline of my life from the time my oldest was six.  So now he's 16 about.  That means I've been blogging for ten years. We made this little haymow into a cute little place to hang out for the kids.  Jeanie is sulking because Mathias didn't let her on his hammock with him.  Poor thing.  She loves him so much and he needs here to keep him nice.  He's always been a bulldozer.  She keeps him on the soft and kinder path.  We had a full double rainbow right over our house on Mother's Day weekend.  10 years ago on Mother's day weekend we lost our 8 wk baby.  Some Mother's Days hit hard and some are more precious.  This one was good. We went to Tennessee and Georgia and South Caroline at the end of April.  It was beautiful in every ...

Thursday afternoon the boys drove into the lane and got out and found the tire was fast deflating.  So after supper I looked out and found all four kids getting that tire off.  This is the small kind of thing I'm glad I have pictures of.  Because they won't all go work on a tire together probably ever again.  Next time I blink Z will be graduated and Keagan will be driving.  Ball game Friday night.  We went to a sale barn on Saturday and sold some hay.  I wish I could have gotten a picture of the two Arab ladies sitting beside the chickens for sale and waiting for their dark skinned muscled bald men.  She adores  him.   Matt was telling them all something terribly important.  Hand motions and all....but when I asked what it was none of them knew.  Pick me Pick me!  After the Sale barn we picked up a giant load of cedar mulch and came home and mulched.  And later t...