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to wish you a lovely thursday
i'll be sleeping for a few hours, then we're heading to the lake
it's supposed to be close to 100 degrees F today, and very humid
we're going to do our best to stay cool and have fun
what's your favorite way to stay cool?
I loathe the expression "What makes him tick." It is the American mind, looking for simple and singular solution, that uses the foolish expression. A person not only ticks, he also chimes and strikes the hour, falls and breaks and has to be put together again, and sometimes stops like an electric clock in a thunderstorm.
~James Thurber
oh, yes.
sometimes i tick.
somtimes i stop.
somtimes i gong.
somtimes i play a little melody.
sometimes i even cuck-coo.
you know.
when all around is too serious
or too quiet
or ever so very silly,
sometimes the only proper response is to pop out like a little yellow bird and
cuck-coo, cuck-coo.
and all along, i must still find the rhythm and tick.
it doesn't work to deviate from the regular tick for too long, does it.
i am finding ways and times around the constant ticking, though.
more time to chime.
more time to stop.
i tick when i have to,
but oh, i love to be more complex than that.
the falling and breaking i could do without . . .
but, to be put together again by one or ones who love me,
that is a gift, too,
to be set to rights so my ticker can tick
and my chime can sound
and even the silly little cuck-coo in me
can remember how to pop out its cheerful little head.
tick
tock
chime
tick
tock
cuck-coo
tick
tock
tick
tock
rest
I did some more sewing for my quilting bee. Another kind of quilt block I never would have tried . . . the whole inspiration quilt is a bit overwhelming to me. But, once again, I had a lot of fun trying something different. (You can see my other bee blocks here, here and here.)
I really like making these blocks, and have been thinking that fewer of these, interspersed with plain blocking or wide sashing would make a quilt I could really like . . .
Oh, the endless inspiration for sewing! Sometimes I wish that I didn't have to do anything else . . .
Maybe later today I'll sew. I'm hoping. :)
And here's hoping that you get to do something you really enjoy today, too!
i have a new favorite place to be
it starts and ends in the truck,
ben driving,
me in the passanger seat
happy as a little pea
maddie and isaac sitting side by side in the back seat,
sleeping on top of each other if they got too tired
it involves day packs, or bigger packs, or both
that's where our lunches and raincoats and sunscreen and cameras and maybe our tents
and water - lots of water - can be found
there might be a creek
or a bluff
or a swing
or a beach
or a place to set up our tents
there are for sure four Pattens all together
the way we like it best
and i have lots of stories for you all . . . i'm going to work at telling them . . .
happy Thursday to you, my friends.
love ~e
It's been quiet on the blog. Partly because I have been mulling over some of the kind comments from you, my friends, and partly because I have been spending as much time as I can with my kids and my husband. My work schedule has calmed down a bit and the weather has been perfectly summery.
The other day, I found this quote:
"You have to decide what your highest priorities are
and have the courage...pleasantly, smilingly, non-apologetically...to say no to other things.
And the way you do that is by a bigger YES burning inside." {Stephen Covey}
So, I have been thinking. Thinking a lot about what to say no to. Not necessarily because anything that I'm trying to do right now is bad, but because there are some things that are better and deserve a big YES. What are the things that make the YES burn in me? Those are the things that need to happen. And the no should be easier to practice because the YES is so important.
I have been thinking about what makes YES burn inside of me. My relationship with the Lord is an ever growing, ever burning YES. Ben is my most important earthly YES. Madelaine and Isaac are two precious YESes entrusted to my care. Time spent as a family is a resounding YES in our lives (this encompases the decision to homeschool our kiddos).
Work is not a YES for me, but I do have to have my job right now. We don't have a choice. But I don't have to work more than the hours I was hired to work. I called the scheduling supervisor at work and explained to her that I really can't ever work six in a row again. That kicked my butt. And it kicked my kids' butts (even though they got to do things they really liked each of the mornings after I worked). She told me that if the schedule overlap ever worked out that way again, to call her right away, so she could change it. I'm saying no to too much work. And I know that I need to get enough sleep. Even if it means other things don't get done or get put on hold. Nothing goes well when I am too tired. I know better.
I'm saying YES to the good things - the things that help me and my family grow to be people who can say each night, "I did my best today. Tomorrow I can strive to do even better, but today I did the very best I could."
Isn't it always good to have checks in our lives? Circumstances or something we read or listen to that bring us up short and beg us to look at our priorities, to think about what's really important, to pare away the extras that just eat our time and energy. Then to take a deep breath and do something that resounds with a YES, that feeds our souls, our spirits, that connects us to the ones who are most important, that gives us the energy to continue with our everyday tasks and moments.
I want my life to be filled with moments of resounding YES, and for the other moments to be a means to the YES. I invite you to think about what makes your spirit resound with YES, and to make ways to live those moments more fully and more often.
With love and gratitude for you, my friends,
Elizabeth
P.S. Are you reading the Soulful Mothering guest posts over at Soulemama? They are beautiful!
Yesterday was quite the day. I got up in the morning with Ben, we had coffee together and read our Bibles and visited and enjoyed the early morning sunlight. I made my bed, got dressed, and greeted my kiddos as they came upstairs. I was prepared for an awesome day. We'd get our school work done and head outside for the afternoon.
Then the wind kicked up. I mean really kicked up (sustained 40 mph winds with gusts over 50 mph). And suddenly, there was no more sunlight; the sky was heavy with cold, grey clouds. And the kiddos attitudes went right along with the sunlight. Away. Far away. Under some awfully heavy grey clouds.
I decided that we weren't going to let the weather get us down. We'd run to the post office and mail our package to Russia, and when we returned we'd start over. You know, little pep-talk in the car, fresh outlooks on the day. The kids wouldn't fight when we got home, they'd listen to me, we'd get the school work done and still do something fun in the afternoon . . .
Usually they both really like their math, so we started with that. Two hours and a lot of page staring and me saying, "OK, what's the next problem on your page? Say it out loud . . . and write the answer," I went and made lunch. We ate lunch. Maybe writing will go better. So I set them up at the table with their writing papers. And I kept working on this
in the loft, right above them. I told them that they could go for a walk when they were done with their writing, so they should just get to it and get it done. I decided that I wasn't going to get on their case every two minutes. I was just going to focus on my quilt and let them take their sweet time. Except it wasn't sweet. And it was taking way. too. long. But no. Just keep it together, Elizabeth. Maybe a gentle reminder. Don't get worked up. It's not worth it. They aren't wasting my time. They're wasting their own. I'm accomplishing something. Then the doubts set in. It's been so many days since we've done school work, it's hard to get back into the swing. Last week really threw a wrench in things. If they went to school their days would all be the same whether I worked the night before or not. Maybe I should just let them stop and we'll work on it tomorrow. But NO. They need to know that sometimes there are things we just HAVE to do whether we want to or not. No matter how long it takes. So. They can keep at it.
They finally finish the writing papers. So I let them walk down to get the mail.
They brought flags to fly in the wind.
They make me smile. The really do.
Back inside, they worked for another hour to get those pesky maths done. Seriously. (I was only asking that Isaac do one page front and back and that Maddie do two.) I was right there. Short of doing it for them, I don't know what else to do!
They finally finished and then cleaned up the family room downstairs - they did this really well. Then I let them watch a movie.
After supper, we all sat at the table and Ben sipped coffee and observed while I coerced the kids into getting their grammar and phonics done. At the end, I was exhausted. Ben didn't know what to do, either.
Do you homeschool? Or have kids who have homework to do? How do you get them to, help them to, teach them to just sit down and get it done. Not stop and make faces and drum with their pencils and wiggle and squirm and bend the corners of the pages and touch their sibling's stuff, and sing and hum and wiggle and run to the bathroom and want a snack and and and . . .
I mean, I make sure that they are amply fed and that they have breaks to go to the bathroom and get drinks . . . They shouldn't be thirsty or hungry. We mix up their subjects and toss in some time where I read to them. I putter around close by so I can answer questions and stay in it with them. There is always the knowledge that we will go outside or to the library or play games together when the "work" is done . . . I encourage, I praise, I constructively correct. They are proud of their work when they get it done . . . and I am exhausted.
This happens more days than I care to remember. But then there are the days when they just get to it and everything gets done efficiently and we have a lot of fun. Those are the days that keep me going. I'd think they'd want to replicate those days . . .
Oh, help.
And then I find things like this:
{drawing by Isaac}
and I wouldn't trade having them home with me for the world.