All because of Origami: Adversity Breeds Hope

Isabel couldn't fold an origami crane last night and she got frustrated. Tears, big tears. Then she looked up a video on youtube and she couldn't hear what they were saying. More tears. And anger.

"Why don't you just do this for me?" She asked, choking on frustration.

"I don't want to take all the hard things from you, my job is to help you deal with the frustration as you figure out your own problems."

Last weekend, we were learning how to fish and the same type of issue. She is used to things coming easy for her, she's naturally coordinated-- in most things. It took her a long time to understand how to coordinate her hands to cast.

Folding an origami crane or casting out a fishing line are not true hardships like poverty, addiction or any of the world’s problems. But, making small steps in our own personal lives help us learn how to deal with larger issues.  Resolve to finish something you started is important. Knowing the depth of your intellect and the depth of your capabilities is important.

I want my kids to know that they are capable. That they can take care of themselves. And that they can finish a project, even if it is an origami crane.

"If one of my kids is struggling, it feels excruciating to let them go to school and figure it out for themselves. Hope is a function of struggle. People with the highest hopefulness have the knowledge that they can move through adversity. When we take adversity from our children, we diminish their capacity for hope." Brene Brown

Into the Woods

Sunday evening, we packed up our dinner and headed off to the woods. We were all craving a little out door time. We at our pork roast sandwiches and hardboiled eggs within sight of our favorite Royal Red Maple tree and marveled at her growth in the last years. 

After dinner, we took a short be steep trail up into the hills and where the woods were alive and glorious. Truman led us most of the way, he loves to 'be the leader.' When we were near the hill top, Truman exclaimed, "This is Terebithia." 

And I couldn't help remember when she actively lived in Terbithia for a while. We re-read the book this summer and it was still magical, melancholy and still had so much to teach us about friendship. 

We are soaking up the last few days of summer, school shopping starts this weekend for us. And then we all start back up in the school routine. I am so grateful for little blocks of time where we can journey into the woods-- running, laughing and playing. We come home happy, tired and thankful we have each other. 

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Starting Summer: All Perfect and Imperfect

It feels like summer has begun. We wrote our Summer List we've made strawberry lemonade. We visited the local Farmers' Market and we've taken our time with our weekends.

On Friday night, in a bit of a rush we packed a picnic, grabbed some folding chairs and a few towels and headed out to our family's favorite summer haunt. And it was beautiful.

The landscape was beautiful, with the sun setting on the water. It was warm, really warm so cooling down in the water felt perfect. And I brought along a basket of goodies to keep me occupied on the beach.

But, the trip was imperfect as some outings are. I'm not here to sugar coat life. Truman got out to far-- I jumped in and swam out to him in my sundress. Isabel's bathing suit got lost before we left. We found it under the couch when we got home. (Whaaa?). And we were all tired from a long, long week.

But in the car ride home, when we all took a deep breath, I think this outing on a Friday set us up for a good weekend. A release valve. A way to let off some steam and to settle into our weekend routine.

How was your weekend?

Little Artists

I'm looking back on this evening and I am so grateful.

Grateful for an a set of listening ears and a good cup of coffee. A few minutes of sharing my heart, a few minutes of being listened to and my night was magically changed. Thank you, dear listener.

Grateful for four fabulous little people, two we borrowed, who smiles, giggles and hand prints warm my heart.

Grateful for a whole community of people who help our day to day life run smoothly. Teachers, grandparents, amazing caregivers and friends. I am blessed everyday. I am blessed with this day.

Loving my husband who works so hard to keep our garden plans for this year on track. Remember this table? It was too moldy to bring inside so there are now wild flowers planted in the drawer. And it's for starting seeds now, but (but!) soon it will be all kinds of gorgeous.

Even though I pulled out my wool coat and scarf. I love that our walk around the neighborhood in the drizzling evening was just what we all needed. Even in that gloomy weather, we looked at the spring that is facing us!
 
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Giggling that I have chalk pastel dust on my glasses. I guess I shouldn't have left the setting on the table during this type of art project but, it's a good reminder of a sweet afternoon.

We had two very special visitors stop by for a bit.
In addition to reading stories, playing cars, dressing up and stopping for a snack break, we broke out the chalk pastels. And our new favorite obsession, grocery bags. Everyone had a great time.

Isabel channels Rothko in chalk.

We put on aprons, and the dust was still covering hands and shirt sleeves.


There is so much to be grateful for.

Exploring Winter

This winter has been different than any I've experienced in my life in Iowa. And I've been here for 10 years now (oh good lord, TEN YEARS). My first winter, I thought I'd never be warm again. I slept with an eletric blanket, I coundn't fathom eating ice cream in the winter. And I know I wore flannel pants under my jeans more than once.

But this year. We've been out in January and February in sweatshirts and fleeces on some of our walks. Hello?!? Winter, are you there???

Not to say that the Californian in me thinks this is AWESOME!

But the Iowan in me thinks it's just a bit strange. And I miss late night walks down alleys in my snow boots. Plus, really, this is the winter the year I finally get snow shoes?

Well last weekend we took off to our favorite trail to collect things for our nature table. And we came back with lots of pictures, specimens and thoughts about what makes winter. That will be in an up coming post.

But here are a few photos of us exploring this winter. Since it is so different from what we've dealt with before.

Always with caution, but an adventurer none the less!

Isabel collecting thoughts via drawings in her journal.

Truman loves to beg, 'let's run!' Of course!

Off the beaten path exploring the depth of snow with her walking stick.

Outside My Front Door

After I dropped off the kids this morning at school and kid-sitting I ran back home to grab my purse. And when I walked back through the front door out to my car. This was waiting for me.

A small reminder to look at the beauty around me. That with my head down, I would have missed. It reminds me that I need to look for the beauty around me.

Have you seen beauty this week? Did it sneak up on you?

Christmas Eve will Find Me

This is probably one of the quietest Christmas eve's we've ever had. It was the most relaxing day-- we ate breakfast and played with some wonderful friends, watched movies for quiet time and then we took a little walk in down the puddle jumper trail.

I can mark their height by these trees and by how far they are able to run and jump down the trail. This was a really good way to get our energy out before Christmas Eve service too.


This looks like the middle of October not the end of December. What a warm winter we've been having-- no white Christmas for us!

happycampers: Stovetop Lattes

Are you going camping for the holiday? I was just day dreaming about our three day trip coming up. Three glorious nights listening to the wind, the rain, birds and other campers. Tent sleeping and outdoor-fresh air-first-thing-in-the-morning-warm-latte drinking.

Whaaaat you ask? Lattes in the wilderness. If you travel with us,Yes!

To make our camp stove lattes-- all we need to bring extra is our Moka pot. We like to pack light, so I'm glad the Moka is small.

Do you have a Moka pot? We love, love it. It's stove top, compact and easy to use. I got ours on ebay a few years ago for $9 bucks. It brews espresso-strong coffee and we mix it with whisked milk with just a hit of sugar. Camping coffee at it's finest. (Brewing tips here).

And recetnly, we needed to invest in a camp stove. For the six years we've been married we've made do without one. I'm not sure how. We really only had one style in mind, when we went to get it --the green Coleman Stove just like my parents but when we got to the store, we found that they were all sold out. We tried the next best thing a Coleman Fold'n Go 2-Burner Stove.

And after a few uses, I think I can say we love it. It cleans super easy, cooks evenly. And the only thing I look for next time is a wind screen, but I'm sure we can rig something up.

So if you are in the wilderness having a hankering for a latte, stop by our campsite. We'll make you one for you on our new stove! My kids will even wash your dishes....

My Green Space: Blooming Branches

Hello friends, when I met Candi in college, I knew we'd get along.
Our deep love of tea, nature and um... homestar runner.
I asked her to join us here today-- for the first ever, My GreenSpace--
to share a bit about her life journey.
Thank you Candi for stopping by today!

I grew up and have lived in small towns in the Midwest US most of my life. The lives of people in this part of the country are intricately connected to the land. It took moving to the heart of Berlin, Germany, to realize just how connected I am to creation.

I didn't find a park or a mountain, a wide open prairie, or a vast ocean. Instead I noticed a tree in the wee beginning stages of forming buds, and closely observed the transition from barren branches to the unfurling of bright green leaves over the course of three months.

I love the changing of the seasons. The changes take place all around us, more often than not unbeknownst to us. These huge changes happen quite slowly, while our busy lives move so quickly that we do not notice the transitions until we're experiencing the extremes: sub-zero temperatures and snowfall of winter, dead leaves on the ground in autumn, sweltering humidity of summer, and blooming flowers of spring. I enjoyed taking a couple of minutes every few days just to wonder at the creativity of God, how bumps on branches turned into buds, and eventually unfurled as green leaves.

Candifer believes the greatest blessings of life are found in the simple things: the outdoors, a good book, true friends, a giant mug of tea, playing piano, painting, and the laughter of children. You will usually find her with mud between her toes, dirt under her fingernails, and a giant grin on her face. She currently resides in the great state of South Dakota!

Summer Uniform: Swimsuit and Boots

When you see tomorrow's post you'll see why I decided to remember this...


Please check out two opportunities for you to participate in here! Dinnertime, Again! and My GreenSpace! I'd love to hear from you!

Ahoy, Maties!
We've graduated from fairy princesses straight to Pirates. Our beloved Captain, Grandma P bought us a pirate ship.

Truman Loves his new backyard playset he recieved for his birthday... Isabel loves it even more. When the box came she said, "Look Mom! Grandma P got us a PARK!"

Well, the PARK slide now slides into the baby pool which transformed it from a regular plaything to a vessel in the open ocean. And with a little lingo coaxing from the super fun, Aimee, Isabel now exclaims, "Arrg... I'm pirate Biz-a-bel!"


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Isabel discovered how to work the sprayer on the hose, claiming to help Daddy water. I believe what she likes more is to water Daddy!



Here she is on our nature parade. We were going on a nature walk and on the way out the door she grabbed two metal pot lids for cymbals and marched all the way to Grandma Bonnies house.

Do you notice how often she wears those boots?

Two opportunities!

We were able to spend so much time outside and that has really cleared my mind— perhaps blown out the cobwebs that come with winter and living in the indoors. I’m wondering if other people feel that way too. I think green spaces and sunshine make me a better person. This weekend was filled with green spaces, weeding and planting. Perhaps a metaphor for my brain. To clear out the old and plant the new.

With that in mind, I’ve decided to make two new sections that you can participate in!



My GreenSpace— A collection of your photos and descriptions of your favorite place to go and unwind outside. You can submit photos and a paragraph about why you love this little spot of green (oceans, deserts and snow are accepted too) to theyellowdoorpaperie[at]gmail[dot]com. Don’t forget to include a link to you’re blog or company website (if you have one... If you don’t that’s ok too). I’ll add those weekly as I receive them.



Dinnertime, Again?— You can submit you’re favorite recipes with photos, and a story of the night you made it, why you like it and such. If you took a recipe from the internet, provide that link too. I’m thinking about dinner ideas, but I’ll take all kinds of recipes. If you want to share an experience about you’re meal planning, I’d love to hear about it! If you have a food blog, you can provide links to you’re favorite recipes on that site, I’ll list some of those too! Again, reach me at theyellowdoorpaperie[at]gmail[dot]com.

I hope you have a beautiful day and that you take some time to get outside in this great wide world!