A wave of my wand and a sprinkling of pixie dust....

A few days into our vacation, and I have only now had a moment to sit down. We have run hard here! The kids needed an early night, so to bed they all go and now Mom and Dad are spending a little time just relaxing...before we get going again tomorrow morning!!! I love vacation, I hate when they are over and I struggle to slow down long enough to appreciate them while I am on them. Soooooo....took a day or so to break my OCD strides, but after a fancy margarita this afternoon I just said to heck with it, let's just go with the flow here and see what we can see. Incidentally, we have seen a lot! From characters, to parades, to rides, to the castle we have had a wonderful first few days and I am already sad that the ending will come sooner than I would like!

I mean honestly, how can you not smile and be happy when you are watching Mickey and Goofy dancing around Cinderella's Castle?! And if that doesn't do it for ya, the princesses are right behind them to join in. I admit it, I love Disney World. I love my children's faces when they see something there that sparks their sense of wonder and amazement.

II love that they love to see these characters brought to life. I love the giggle of my son when he spotted Piglet on the Winnie-the-Pooh ride. I love that my fourteen month old, who hasn't been the most easiest to get along with person, dropped all the whining to say a joyful "HI!" to Snow White when she came to see us at lunch. I love that I packed my daughter shorts and t-shirts and she has primarily worn princess dresses. I want to wear a princess dress.

Let the countdown begin...

I fluctuate back and forth between gratitude for the reliable consistency of days at home with my family, and the eyeball clawing need to get out and do something different. As a family, we do not often have the time or funds to go on vacation....but let me tell you that after two years of pinching pennies and scraping together every dollar I could find the countdown to vacation is finally on. You know that feeling you used to get as a child on Christmas Eve? I haven't had that feeling in a LONG time, but I am getting it now as I start to prepare things around here for a highly anticipated getaway. The best part of this whole upcoming muchly needed break? My kids don't even know yet. I, me, overtalkative, oversharing, loud, obnoxious me has somehow managed to completely conceal from them our plans for vacation. I am so giddy and excited about the big reveal, which will take place moments before we load up in the car and head towards our destination!

Our family has waded through a lot in these last two years, extreme highs and devastating lows. Memories abound carrying with them joy and sorrow. We have made mistakes, we have drifted apart from each other and we have flung our arms around each other in adoration and gratitude. Most days we do the same God given things, the blessed comfort of routine that is so important to a little child. We don't have a lot of extra cash around here, and that's okay. And I am absolutely positive there are those who will scornfully say we shouldn't be spending what we have in this fashion on some silly vacation. To that I say, sometimes you don't know the whole story and probably shouldn't make judgements about situations to which you are only an outside observer.

Where are we going? It's a secret...for now. But, even though I am not posting a whole lot of pictures on this blog these days, I might feel inclined to post one once we reach our destination. Just a few days of keeping things under wraps around here and then my sweet family and I will be off to play and enjoy each other's company!

Rediscovering

As a full-time housewife and homeschooling mother, sometimes my days become a blur and at the end of them I wonder where they went. Most days, I become so wrapped up in the "to-do" list that I forget the simple act of responding to my 13 month old chanting "mama, mama, mama" or really watching my child when they say, "Hey, Mom, look what I can do!" or preparing a meal for the simple love of putting together nourishment that tastes good. When my days one after another start to take on this pattern, I find I really have to sit myself down and give myself a good talking to. This generally involves returning to a few books that have offered me the opportunity to reclaim the beauty and dignity of a simple day at home with my children. Years ago, shortly after my first child was born, my much wiser sister gave me a simple gift of a short book entitled The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy and Women's Work by Kathleen Norris. It is one that I have found myself returning to after each of my children, because it is so rich in its explanantion of the daily never ending tasks having eternal benefits. Through this book, I have been reminded over and over again that the things I see as nuisance are things to be done with love and gratitude. I cannot express what a wonderful experience it is to rediscover this book every few years! The other book I am coming back to at this particular time is by Molly Sabourin entitled Close to Home: One Orthodox Mother's Quest for Patience, Peace and Perseverance. Through her story of conversion, marriage and parenthood I have found that I am not the only one who feels a little tired some days! These two books have sat on my shelf for years, and yet I so often forget they are there and am pleasantly surprised to rediscovering how much encouragement I find each time I read them.

For me, the struggle is to be present for my family at this moment, because I am always thinking about what needs to be done next or how I am going to get each and every little thing finished before the clock hits bedtime. My children are so young, and it is so easy to believe that I will change diapers for the rest of my earthly life. Today, I want to take stock of just today and find the precious moments that will never be repeated and be a part of them. There are smiles on little faces that I want to have branded on my heart(especially when they are teenagers and I need to remember sweet smiling faces!!) and little hands and tiny toes to wonder at, abounding questions that never seem to end but I know that one day they will figure out I don't really know all the answers. I truly do not want to be one of those mother's who doesn't know how her children got to be so grown up all of a sudden. So, with these words said, I will extricate myself from this computer and go join the munchkins in a fleeting moment of life.

Ever changing

I have made some changes around here...namely starting fresh. Life has been rather trying these last few years and I have learned some things about myself along the way. No need to expound too much upon those things, as they were things I am sure God wanted to get across to me, not anyone reading this! I can sum up in a few hopefully brief sentences. For starters, I am a pessimist, I can see the negative or possible negative in almost any situation. This is a trait which has worsened the older I have gotten, and to be fair it has been nurtured by some particularly devastating moments. But I have allowed that pessimism to affect life too deeply and have forgotten to see the beauty of everyday life. And so, I start anew here on these pages. My desire is to make this a place of gratefulness, a place for me to express my joy and thankfulness for the everyday. To remind myself of all that is good in life and hopefully to share a little joy with anyone who stumbles upon this place.