Quiet Things: Filled with Light

I have really enjoyed daylight savings. I got up early and took time to knit and read. This song came floating in on my Pandora station. It sounds like waking up to me, like rebirth. And falling back, the gift of an extra hour feels like rebirth too. Like, resetting the clock.

It was brisk, clear and sunny today by 7:15. Oh joy for autumn light, shining through the window as I filled thermoses with warm soup and I cut up oranges for lunch. I said a little prayer of gratitude as the kids ate breakfast and waited for the bus. That fall sunlight never ceases to amaze me.

And now, the house is really quiet. Our black lab's deep breathing is the only sound I'm hearing. And I am really grateful for this time in life, time to take a step back and enjoy the things that Christ has for us: love and family, good food, beautiful friends, amazing coffee... we are filled with light.

Weekending

This weekend was the most wonderful mix of relaxing and hard work. Good conversations and great coffee. And of course, Halloween candy!

We started the weekend off super pumped for Trick or Treating. The kids jumped off the bus ready to get into their costumes. We drove over to pick up milk for the shop, they had to be in full regalia. They wanted to trick or treat by themselves but only made it a few houses away from us, but they loved the idea of being on their own. We ended the night with take out and the Great Pumpkin with our favorite friends.

On Saturday Eric woke up super early and worked at the shop and I took my regular afternoon shift.  

It gave me plenty of time to hang out with the kids and reinstate our ritual Sketchbook Saturday Morning. The kids reveled in their jammies: painting, playing, reading and hanging around. It was thrilling-- it had been a long time since we'd taken an at home day. We finished the day off together, snuggled up on the couch watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. 

Today, we woke up early and enjoyed our extra hour. We went off to church and spent the afternoon having great conversations with the Room for All community at the shop. What a joy to be exploring inclusive community and becoming a safe place for ALL.

I hope you had a lovely weekend as well! Did you do anything fun?

November Gratitude

November 1: For parents who come visit. And who are content in the excitement of sewing costumes, Halloween Parties and Trick or Treating. And who are content in the quiet: drinking coffee around our table, reading magazines, helping with homework, walking in the leaves and snuggling while watching movies. We are blessed.

November 2: For a few moments to sit on the porch in an old quilt. For the little pajama clad man who came and sat with me. "Share your warmth, Mama." By all means, Mr.

And for amazing friends, who encourage dress up, family togetherness and laughter!

November 3: For our glorious church and potlucks. Yellow leaves and fall sunsets.

November 4: For God's grace, practiced forgiveness, vulnerability, hard work, long roads and strong friendships.

November 5: For warm clothes, soft places to land, arm chairs, phone calls, letter writing. Things that make this world seem not so harsh.

Weekending: Quiet Spaces

Last night, on a little drive into the country, Truman said, "We need to have our family meeting. Let's have it now!" We have a quick family meeting on Sunday nights, usually around the table after supper. And the kids are quick to remind me if I forget because they love recounting their week together. Having it in the car, sounded just as good as at the table so we went over our basic outline.

We have a quick conversation that starts with the same questions/items:
1. What were the good things that happened this week?
2. What were some challenges this week?
3. What is something we could work on together this week?
4. Calendar time-- we talk through everything coming up on our calendar and try to make a game plan for the week ahead.

As we answered the questions we realized there were so many good things. Not too many challenges. But I paused when Truman answered number three this week.

T: "We could work on quiet."

Me: How? I asked.

T: "Um, you know when we are all together but the house is quiet."

Oh. I love that idea.

So tonight, when we had to read some books for the school's, Fall into Reading Challenge... we took a stack of books and all cuddled in 'the big bed.' It was flurry of quilts, flannel sheets, stuffed animals and different level reading books. But we settled into quiet. And it felt just right. And we stayed there for almost an hour. I read a book too.

They had other ideas for quiet too... Isabel said, "Mom, maybe on Tuesday we can read books, listen to music, drink hot cocoa and light a smelly candle. I love smelly candles." Did this lady plop down from heaven or what?!

I am actively looking, for a few quiet spaces this week. What are ways you infuse your life with a bit of 'pause?'

Finding Fall: Evening

If you live in the Midwest, you know each season has it's own distinct color scheme.

The sky can tell you the story of the passage of time and if you pay careful attention, can alert you to the rhythm of the seasons.  And so can the fields.

In the spring the grass grows in a matter of days, in the end of the summer the fields turn gold and red. And the light, it paints swaths of color.

So go out in the evening, find the color that is around you.

What is waiting to be seen? Chase the light before it disappears for the season.

It will change you.

Finding Fall: Homework Time

We escaped the kitchen table, our normal homework spot for the fresh still-green grass, a few blankets and some sweet autumn air.

Isabel practiced her 1st reading for Mass on Friday. She's so excited to be able to be apart of the service.

Truman had to read and digest his Social Studies lesson for homework tonight. Social Studies is Dad's territory. Eric loved reading and reviewing for tests with Isabel, so we're continuing the tradition this year too.

We are so blessed with some quiet nights and evenings outside.


*If you care to, join me for two weeks of Finding Fall.  

Finding Fall: Changing

Do you feel the change in the air? Did you reach for your sweater this morning? I sure did. After weeks of record heat, we are inviting this change in the temperature.

This temperature change helped us settle our souls a bit.

Fall does that, for me, helps me move inward. I think about creating warm soup, baking fresh bread, raking up leaves and wearing flannel.

The air starts to feel a bit electric, maybe it's the grey skies that help the greens and gold pop into existence.

Or maybe, it's how we seek the warmth of home so we start readying it for winter. Like the gardens that are winding down that give off the spicy smell of cloves and nutmeg as they decompose, returning back to the earth.

Whatever it is about this early fall season... I'm smitten.

*If you care to, join me for two weeks of Finding Fall. 

Finding Fall: Sky Color

We recently got a book from the library called, Sky Color.

In this simple story, a little girl is given no blue paint for her classes mural project-- and she must paint the SKY! She ponders the question what color is the sky? And through observation and quietness of heart she finds a beautiful answer.

And I've thought of it daily since we read it.

As I've watched the Midwestern sky-- purple and midnight in the early morning, grey and frosty decorated with dancing yellow leaves on our walk to the bus, pink, orange and majestic on our quick morning drive into the office.

And like in the picture above, this energetic, electric and soft blue. In quiet tension with the orange, golden, yellow leaves.

We could also write a little book called leaf color, I suspect.

What Sky Color have you seen today?

Finding Fall: In a Litte House

My lovies in a big chair at the Frontier Village.

A few weeks ago we headed out on a big road trip to North Dakota for our friends wedding. An 8 hour trip in a car with two little people might seem daunting, but for me it was an eight glorious hours of conversation, book reading, joke telling and snack eating. And it was a beautiful weekend, the leaves were changing color. It was chilly and I wore a wool sweater most of the weekend. Could the weekend have been more perfect?

Um, Yes, it could.

Especially if your like me and you take every moment possible moment to indoctrinate your children on the books you loved growing up. Ha! I pumped up and hyped up Little House in the Big Woods and it did not disappoint the backseat peanut gallery. So many things to learn!

We read it for almost the whole trip.

And since I had planned on reading this book, we took a detour through De Smet, South Dakota to the Ingalls' Homestead-- hoping to get a good look at the house they lived in during the book By the Shores of Silver Lake.

The 'little house' and the later built homestead.

We took sometime to explore the visitors center and drive around to see all the buildings, taking a tour was just not in our budget this time. But both kids picked up corn cob dolls- just like Laura.

Frontier Village Log Cabin

On our way home we started reading Farmer Boy and we stopped by a Frontier Village which we could explore all we wanted. We were excited to see that it was in a similar time to the Little House books.

We even wrote a family report about our experiences-- hey the car trip was getting a bit long! Most of it was dictated by them.

I am so glad we took these little side trips, it made for such an adventure. And the midwest has such a rich history of exploration and settlement, I want the kids to experience that too.

And how could we not stop to see the World's Largest Buffalo?

Would you like to see our report? I've added it below! (:



We found fall on our adventure. Where are you finding beauty this autumn?

"This weekend we went to visit Laura Ingalls' homestead [in De Smet, South Dakota]. There was a covered wagon, there was a school house, a country church and now a gift shop. The houses and buildings were set on a prairie. on the homestead they had a barn for animals.

In the car we read a book called "Little House in the Big Woods." Pa, Ma, Mary, Laura and baby Carrie life in a log cabin. They make a lot of their own food like stewed pumpkins, bread and butter. Pa hunted animals for meat, they smoked the meat. They made their own cheese.

For fun the girls played under the trees in nice weather. Laura had a corn cob for a doll she named it Susan. For Christmas she got a rag doll and named it Charlotte.

On Sunday, we went to a little frontier town. It had two goats named Ted and Fred. And we saw a HUGE buffalo. In the town it had a log cabin with a wood stove just like Laura's! There was an old quilt on the bed.

On the way to North Dakota we saw lots of different kinds of farms. We saw lots of crops: corn, beans, sunflowers and potatoes.

On the way home we started reading Farmer Boy. The little boy Almonzo attended a one room school just like at Laura's homestead and like at the frontier village."

Finding Fall: Light that Binds Us

I am the light in the late summer and early autumn afternoons that bathes the fields in gold.
I am the light that blisters your skin in the summer,
I am the light that sparkles on the snow in the winter.
I am the light you ache for in the winter,
revere in the springtime,
escape from in the summer, honor in the fall.

Seeking autumn's beauty: 

Finding Fall: Apples and More Apples

I always feel like fall is finally upon us when we pick the apples off of our tree. Then we make apple pies, apple sauce, apple juice, apple cake, apple crisp and anything else we can think of. We lost half of our tree due to a thunderstorm with high winds early in the summer and I didn't know how we would fair this fall with apples. But we picked one laundry basket full of apples so far!

I've been processing basket in little bits. First with apple sauce (recipe below!), then with apple pie filling. I am always intoxicated by the smell of apples and cinnamon. Is there anything that smells more like fall? Other than crisp mornings and slowly decaying leaves?

For the next few weeks, I'll share with you the answer to that question. As I seek to find fall and live fully present and embrace this season.

Easy Crockpot Apple Sauce

10 peeled, de-seeded, quartered apples
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar (I use a bit less, but the kids like it with this much sugar)
3/4 cup of water
1 tsp. lemon juice

Add the apples to the crockpot with cinnamon, water, lemon juice and sugar to the crockpot. Cook on high for 3 hours or until when stirred the apples fall apart. Stir until desired consistency. Let cook for 15-30 minutes more to thicken up.
Freeze or process as desired.

Finding Fall, Chasing Wonder

A few years ago my father-in-law bought us the movie, Bridge to Terabithia. I remembered being in fourth grade, reading that book. And I loved it. But honestly, I haven't thought much of it since.

Isabel found the DVD and wanted to watch it. So I let her. And she's been living in the magical land of Terabithia ever since, she writes stories about it, she fills her sketchbook with pictures about it and she dresses up as the Queen of Terabithia. And lately, she's even take her brother on her adventures.

On Sunday, we took a drive to enjoy the fall colors and we ended up at a little pond a few minutes from our house. The leaves were breath taking.

When she exited the car and got down towards the water, I heard her breathlessly exclaim full of wonder, "Truman, I think we're actually in Terabithia."

Ushering in Fall

It doesn't really feel like fall yet, but you know it's coming. Next week both kids will pack up their backpacks and head off to preschool. The fields are turning from green to a golden brown. And we are re-adjusting schedules-- finding a new fall rhythm. And this week has proven to be busy-- but fulfilling. We've taken a picnic to the 'beach' in Paullina, met our preschool teachers at an in-home visit and before dad left for work last night we all cleaned the playroom together.

And as we head into the new school year, I remind myself there are four things I know-- that make our house run smoothly. And I shared those four things with Rhythm of the Home in an article I called Finding Balance, Keeping Rhythm.

Take some time today to enjoy this collaborative work of Rhythm of the Home. It is a real treat!