All posts in Bits Of My Personality

New Years 2011

by admin on January 1, 2011 in Bits Of My Personality, Feeling It (Thankful), Four Little Eggs In My Nest, My Year of Right Sacrifice-TIME with No comments
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Our new years eve was eventful in a parental style. Stayed in and watched a movie with the kids, made them home made hot chocolate, enjoyed some alone time with their dad till midnight and then got up early to take our Baby Boy in to the doctor because of asthma issues. Yup, eventful parental style.

Time to think has been a little scarce but I think I feel a year of learning to be thankful coming on. THANKFUL, is my word, if you will… Why? well I deserve this word, I have entitled myself to loads of angry times in life these last few years… when things got tough I got grumpy… and I have learned there is no strength found in an angry spirit… simply a soul stuck in a self dug hole… I desire that strength that comes with a thankful heart and I ready my heart to learn…

To kick it all off I have already started a habit of writing about things and people I am deeply moved in thanks for. We shall see how it goes from there.

My year of sacrifice was painful. I learned true sacrifice rubs up against all the human heart desires. It goes against our nature to sacrifice and yet as soon as we do there is a freedom and a weight lifted. If I was already a thankful sort I would say I have been very thankful for the self discipline I have learned and for the opportunities to sacrifice… but if I was a thankful person already this coming year wouldn’t be a year of thankfulness would it!? As with every year passed I feel like in spite of it being a long year and a very eventful year I have so much more to learn about my new year word gone by… I feel strangely fragile about the whole idea of sacrifice still…

This was indeed a year of big things; my dad’s cancer and my two sisters finding us are tops of that dramatic list. Praying for growth in the fruits of the Spirit in 2011 and wishing you all a blessed new year!
TTFN

Arm Warmers…That Little Accessory

by admin on December 28, 2010 in Bits Of My Personality, Little Things with No comments

This has almost becoming a yearly tradition… (check out related link RIGHT HERE) Two years ago I put leggings top of my list of little accessory to hunt down… Got em… Last year I set my sights on the adorably old fashioned caplet… Up until about a week ago I had nada and had almost just shrugged it off. So much more exciting when the item falls in your lap… last minute yet (just before the year was up)… and because of someone else being thoughtful! My s.i.l. surprised me with a gift! A hand made white caplet!
As I wear it around the house and enjoy how quaint it is and unlike all the others I have looked at over the year I wonder about… well… arm warmers… yup! There is such a thing, and they are terribly cute!

Not all arm warmers are created equal! I like the ones with thumbs… knitted or crochet ones are always sweet but if they have buttons and lace I can’t help but be drawn in no matter the material… Hmmmm… arm warmers…TTFN

Sentimental At X-mas (who would have thought it?)

by admin on December 26, 2010 in Bits Of My Personality, Feeling It (Thankful), Holiday Messages, My Year of Right Sacrifice-TIME, People In My Heart with No comments
(Taken Christmas day, a very warm WHITE Christmas!
I am wearing my mothers red dress coat, bought for her by
her father in law years ago.)

Who has flip flop feelings at Christmas? I sure do! Most of the memories I am making are down right lovely (the up side of the flip floppy heart) and yet there are always memories to reminisce and sigh about, others people to think about who are struggling or don’t have it so good.

There are also choices to be made and although I chose to stay here this Christmas I was also tugged when asked by a loved one from my husbands side if my folks where coming in for the holiday. With loved ones going there way and other issues in life they where not, nor was this unusual or normally an issue for me. The issue was the choice I had to make. If you let the hype get to you, about how Christmas is supposed to be, you will also miss the real deal… what it is actually about and so I swallowed that flip flop when it came and had a good look around me.I was surrounded by precious loved ones. I was more then blessed by generous people who care. Friends and family from my side did in fact find their way into our reality this holiday(as well as all the in-laws who are so good to me and so willing to be part of my world) and so I am not going with out. I am just another woman who has a heart that can easily flip flop on the most lovely of days.

The skype with my one older sister and her daughter was joyful, the phone call to my oldest sister was rewardingly warm, the weekend visit before Christmas with my younger brothers family was fun and important, the list goes on and on and includes a few surprise visits and gifts from dear friends and neighbors…Ideally we would all like to go home for Christmas, have ALL the family together at once but really if it has to be that way this time of year and we don’t worry about it for the rest of the year that is the great lose. May I make time for my family and friends all year round and may it be so sentimental for me despite the month or season.

I am so thankful for the sentimental stuff of life that makes us think about how we really value loved ones…I am thankful for any time, whether in person, on the phone or skype, with my family and friends where we get beyond chit chat and really put it out there that we care for one another! Praise the Lord for a whole nother year to love and be loved by PEOPLE.TTFN

Confidant Thankful (three)

by admin on December 20, 2010 in Bits Of My Personality, Feeling It (Thankful), My Romance with No comments

We aren’t perfect at it but I am so very very thankful, particularly tonight even, that my husband and I are one anothers confidants. We talk LOTS and listen more to one another. The communication is so very high on our list that we fight for it.

If I didn’t have him to confide in, bounce ideas off of, or to just seek encouragement from I don’t know where I would be today. For your open heart, that is willing to hear it all and think about it all and work on it all with me I am very thankful! Thankful to you and to our Lord Jesus Christ for seeing fit to put us together forever.

TTFN

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Thankful (two)

by admin on December 16, 2010 in Bits Of My Personality, Feeling It (Thankful), The Pet with 2 Comments

Baby it’s cold outside!
This dog and I have true grit though, still going out on our regular jogs each day and our weekly prairie hike each Saturday.

My mom was taking note of how active I have been lately and she reminding me of how sick I was when Baby Boy was, well, a baby and how little strength I had only last year. I have come a long way baby! So thankful that this year I can be out in this weather, hiking and sledding and skating and cross country skiing and hopefully snowshoeing this year too. I have become very enthusiastic about outdoor time. I really think it is largely because of how hard the last few years have been with my poor health and how very happy I am to not feel like that anymore. Thank you Lord for strength. A Mama needs a serious good dose of it that is for sure!

P.S. A little under a year ago I put up a post that was full of hope for such a time in life. Kids are getting older, I am getting physically stronger. This year has brought what I hoped for back then, to read that related article CLICK HERE.

TTFN

It Was Hard To Say In Christmases Past

by admin on December 9, 2010 in Bits Of My Personality, Holiday Messages, My Year of Right Sacrifice-TIME, The Pet with No comments
(He couldn’t seem to stand me taking pictures alone. Riddick kept rushing in as the camera clicked. This meant he kept showing up as a blur… so finally I took a moment and picked him up and made him hold still nicely for one. I like that he likes me:) Since we are both looking pretty good I thought I should share!)
Just a thought, sometimes in Christmases past things would get so busy I ended up barely using the old greeting ‘Merry Christmas’ all season. That meant it wasn’t comfortable for me when others would wish me merry Christmas… I remember having trouble giving a hearty response in kind. A perfect example of how my focus was WAY OFF! Not that stress itself isn’t a good enough clue, but moms are good at explaining stress away as a necessity… so now that we are so much better at not letting Christmas get that stressful over here I start pretty early with sharing this greeting.

This is why you will find it so much on my blog this month; I am practicing!

And with that thought, well more then a thought… story, I wish you a

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

TTFN

Beneath the Cedars

by admin on November 30, 2010 in Better Check Out Links, Bits Of My Personality, My Year of Right Sacrifice-TIME with No comments

Last Friday I wrote two posts after a very reflective evening out in the snow. The one I posted is LINKED RIGHT HERE and I decided to hold off posting this one. Since I am sick and not up to writing I’m posting it today.

I went looking for the apple tree behind the towering cedars. Whether put there intentionally or by accident, we have two apple trees (that are very happy and healthy) crammed in between our row of towering cedars and the fence. The trees looked so inviting, pasted with snow. As I pushed through the cedars I spotted a sitting branch. The ‘v’ shaped branch on my apple tree will be a perfect perch… but I thought better of it that night, considering my age and all. I also thought cumbered by my puffy winter clothing I might not be agile enough to make it up.

On a whim I peeked down under the cedars and found a tunnel. Images of ‘the old road’ (part of my parents farm yard) flashed in my mind, trees all along both sides so weighted down by the heavy snow that they had bowed, creating perfect tunnels all the way down the road on either side. It was a child’s paradise and we must have crawled about the bent limbs for hours that day. No one was about so I crawled on my hands and knees to the tunnel I had spotted behind the cedars.

I sat alone with everything concealed, other then my feet perhaps. Can you imagine the snow covered cedars, their greenery not quite reaching the ground thus my winter boots sticking out from below? Despite my boots, I felt the grand pleasure that comes with finding a ‘SECRET PLACE’… Don’t we all desire out own secret place, or at the bare minimum an oasis we can retreat to on our own? Though I walk in him always I felt like this was a physical place where I could get away from the din of family life and meet with Jesus there. Here’s hoping for more time to climb beneath the cedars!

TTFN

‘The Couch Hustle’ a Mommy Dance

by admin on November 29, 2010 in Bits Of My Personality, Four Little Eggs In My Nest with 2 Comments
(The sweet view from my sick bed/couch.)

Just got out of bed an hour ago, around 11:30. Correction, got off the couch an hour ago. I am sick. Feeling awful. All I wanted to do was sleep today.

Up at six in spite of my cold. Got the dog walked, big kids to the school bus and the husband off to work; then raced back to the couch, turning all the lights off in the house on the way so I could crash. An hour later the little ones started to emerge from their beds and so the ‘couch hustle’ began.

The ‘couch hustle’ is a mommy dance I am very familiar with. It is a sick day dance that goes something like this… I jump up (groggily) and hand each little one a banana and a piece of honey toast I had made ahead and put under a bowl to keep warm then I hit the couch again. When Baby boy gets stuck on his chair I jump up again, solve it and return to the couch. When Little Woman can’t reach the crayons and is screaming about it I jump up again, solve it and once again return to the couch. This song and dance went on all morning.

I know it sounds like a hectic way to nap but if you are a mommy you take what you can get. I really feel so much better for it already. Getting in mini naps all morning is a small victory, even if I am never truly asleep… if you are a mom you probably know what that means… Now DON’T ask what my house looks like, I am on a sick day!

TTFN

Beneath the Cedars

by admin on November 27, 2010 in Bits Of My Personality, My Year of Right Sacrifice-TIME with No comments

I went looking for the apple tree behind the towering cedars. Whether put there intentionally or by accident, we have two apple trees (that are very happy and healthy) crammed in between our row of towering cedars and the fence. The trees looked so inviting, pasted with snow. As I pushed through the cedars I spotted a sitting branch. The ‘v’ shaped branch on my apple tree will be a perfect perch… but I thought better of it that night, considering my age and all. I also thought cumbered by my puffy winter clothing I might not be agile enough to make it up.

On a whim I peeked down under the cedars and found a tunnel. Images of ‘the old road’ (part of my parents farm yard) flashed in my mind, trees all along both sides so weighted down by the heavy snow that they had bowed, creating perfect tunnels all the way down the road on either side. It was a child’s paradise and we must have crawled about the bent limbs for hours that day. No one was about so I crawled on my hands and knees to the tunnel I had spotted behind the cedars.

I sat alone with everything concealed, other then my feet perhaps. Can you imagine the snow covered cedars, their greenery not quite reaching the ground thus my winter boots sticking out from below? Despite my boots, I felt the grand pleasure that comes with finding a ‘SECRET PLACE’… Don’t we all desire out own secret place, or at the bare minimum an oasis we can retreat to on our own? Though I walk in him always I felt like this was a physical place where I could get away from the din of family life and meet with Jesus there. Here’s hoping for more time to climb beneath the cedars!

TTFN

Delicious Winter

by admin on November 26, 2010 in Bits Of My Personality with No comments

Winter easily haunts me with my past.

Sentimental feelings can be soothing, lovely and warm; and also fill your chest with that heavy lump, becoming painful like the sting of tears welling up only to be fought down.

I sat in a familiar way last night, deep in a snow bank. I stared in a familiar way at the winter sky. I felt a familiar feeling, a feeling of wanting to stay there in the still cold winter night, alone , and yet beginning to get cold already… knowing I would be forced to go in as chill sets in… Past winters flooded back as I partook of this childhood habit. I always enjoyed embracing the hug of winter, that friendly and also eerie stifling silence and stillness of the snow and cold. Being out in a winter night makes your thoughts pound in your head.

It was easy for me to see why someone could get caught up in wanting to go back. I was in a moment very familiar to my youthful self and I wanted to feel more of a connection with that girl I was, to the point of perhaps desiring a replay of my youth. But, I am not a child anymore, I know I can’t go back. It is natural to wish for a return to simpler times but I also know the truth is it wouldn’t be healthy for us to go back. Growing is not easy but it is what is best for us.

May I remain childlike at heart and grow.

So I hope to sit in another snowbank soon, stare at the sky and remember that little northern girl. The girl who found it delicious to sit alone in the snow and listen to the stillness of winter

TTFN

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