Outdoor Hour Challenge #31 & #32 ~Trees~

We're back to blogging and back to Nature Study!  I hadn't mentioned it before, but Barb's "Outdoor Hour Challenges" were another contributing factor to my decision to start blogging again.  For some reason I can't motivate myself to do the things I know I should without some form of outside motivation...  

Well, I could tell we were out of the habit of "Nature Study" because when I mentioned that we were going to start doing nature study again this week I got lots lots of moans and groans from the boys.  I thought we had gotten past that by the end of last school year!  Oh well.  At least I have the hope that they will start looking forward to it again once we get back in the habit.

We decided to combine Challenge 31 & 32 so we wouldn't be behind to start out.  I am really looking forward to this challenge!  I love trees, but I really can identify only a few of them.

Here are some of the trees we saw on our walk down our street today...

This was G.'s favorite.  I believe it is a honey locust tree.  It is one of my favorites too.  I love the delicate leaves.

Here is G. resting in the shade of an apple tree.  This one doesn't have any apples on it, but the one right next to it does. 

I'm not sure why....

On to the Pine...  This tree is over the fence in our back yard.  I think this is an Austrian Pine.  It had two needles per bundle and they were about 3-6 inches long.  The needles were dark green.

I. found a young pincone on the tree that hadn't matured and opened yet.

We also found this pinecone at the base of the tree.  The kids were excited about their finds.  It felt so good to be out enjoying nature again.  We spent a lot of time outside this summer, but most of that was spent at the pool, or riding bikes and playing with the neighbors.  We ended up spending a lot of extra time out doors after we were done with our nature study, just playing and hanging out.  The weather was perfect!

The boys had fun doing crazy poses for me on the trampoline...

H. man,

G.,

and I-mac.  He is still holding his pinecone in his hand! =)

Little C. had fun mastering the slide.

again,

and again,

and again,

and again...

Then she and I-mac found some treats on our yellow-raspberry bush.

I-mac is such a good big brother.

Little C. had so many I was worried she might get sick...

They really are good though.  If you haven't tried the yellow variety, you really should get one.

Sorry this has turned into such a long post.  I guess I have harbored a lot of pent up blogging in the past three months, and I just needed to get it out...  (I also took 80 pictures today.  What fun!) All-in-all it was a wonderful day.  It's amazing what a little outdoor time can turn into!

Welcome to My New Blog!

After much deliberation, and procrastination, I finally decided to start blogging again.  On Saturday I wrote my first post in about three months.  I thought that everything with my computer and blogging software was fixed, but I soon discovered that it was not.  I still couldn't receive comments.  Argh!  I finally gave up and decided to switch my blog to a blogger account.  It has been a little more work, but hopefully it will be worth it.  I have spent too much time setting up my blog in the last two days, so I don't have any left for writing, but hopefully I will be posting soon.  I have a lot to catch up on!

Happy Birthday I. Mac

I. Mac's birthday was last week, and I was determined to be on top of things for him, but here I am posting late again. Oh well, better late than never right?

I. Mac had the birthday he has been waiting for for as long as he can remember. He turned eight! His birthday was such a wonderful day, and he still has his baptism to look forward to in a few weeks! We can’t wait.

I. Mac is such a special kid. He has such an amazing, tender heart. He has so much love for everyone and everything. He makes you happy just to be around him.



He is a great brother. He is a wonderful helper with Little C.,



and a good friend to H. Man and G. Diddy.

I. Mac has amazing spiritual insight and constantly surprises me with his depth of understanding. I learn so much from him and love to talk to him about his ideas about life, and the world around us. He is definitely prepared for baptism, and will make a great missionary some day.



I. Mac has a great imagination, and can make up a game out of anything. It is fun to see the way his mind works.



I. Mac just got a bike for his birthday and is pretty fast on it. It was fun to watch he and his dad and H. Man going for a ride in their team gear. In a few years the cycling world is going to have to keep an eye on this bunch.



I. Mac has so many talents and gifts and I am so glad he is a part of our family. I am so lucky to be the mom of such an incredible kid. I love you I. Mac! I hope you had a wonderful birthday!

 

Epiphany

So I was cleaning my kitchen today (which looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in a week even though I had cleaned it before I went to bed last night) when all of a sudden I was struck by a sudden and very enlightening thought.  To the average person it will probably be one of those, “duh” ideas, but for me it was an “aha” moment. 

 I love motherhood.  From the time my first child was born ten years ago until today, I have embraced my role as a mother and never once wished I could go back to work.  I honestly find my greatest fulfillment and joy through my role as a wife and mother.  There is one thing that has always been a weak spot in my life as a stay-at-home-mom though.  I am not a very good “homemaker”.  I have always struggled at being organized.  I have struggled even more with this since Little C. was born.  I have felt like my life has consisted of either cleaning up disasters or trying to keep Little C. from making a new one for the last 11 months.  The boys are great helpers and clean up daily, but they make as many messes as they clean up, so it kind of cancels itself out.  Even though I am not very good at keeping my house spotless, I tend to get stressed out when it is not.  Needless to say, I have been stressed far too often lately.

Back to my epiphany...  So, while I was cleaning this afternoon and feeling overwhelmed at the thought of trying to get everything straightened up before my 3:15 piano lessons, this thought suddenly struck me.  “This is your life.  You can either embrace it and be happy, or you can fight against it and be stressed all of the time.”  I realized that this was so true.  Rather than worrying and feeling frustrated that I have to clean so much and so often, I need to just accept that this is how things are going to be for a while in my life and just enjoy the journey.  It was a wonderfully empowering thought.  

I was reminded of a talk that I heard a couple of years ago, but I can’t recall who it was by.  The point of his talk was that we talk so much of enduring to the end, but as it says in Doctrine and Covenants 121:8, the point is not just to endure, but to endure well.  “And then, if thou ^aendure it well, God shall exalt thee on high...” I like this thought by Elder Neil A. Maxwell on the subject.  He said, “Without patient and meek endurance we will learn less, see less, feel less, and hear less. We who are egocentric and impatient shut down so much of our receiving capacity.”  If we fight against the things we are called to do, and complain about them along the way, we impede our progress.  If we can do the difficult things in life with a cheerful heart God will be so much more able to bless us.  This may seem like a trivial thing, but I believe that God tries us as much in the small day to day things of life as in the the big things.  If we can learn to “endure well”  through the daily trials, we will be better prepared when the bigger ones come.  

I hope that I can keep this perspective in mind as I go through my day.  I hope that when my children are grown their memories will be of a happy mom who enjoyed her time with them and made our home a haven of peace, rather than one who was stressed out all of the time, worrying about getting things done.

The Hiding Place

Our latest book club book was The Hiding Place.  It was also on my 888 list and is my favorite book I have read this year, probably one of my favorite books of all time.  This book was truly amazing.  It touched me so profoundly.  

I assume most people have probably heard of this book and what it’s about, so I will just include a very brief summary.  It is the true story of the ten Boom family who lived in Nazi occupied Holland during World War II.  Their experiences both before, during, and after the war, paint the picture of what it means to live a truly Christlike life.  The faith of this family was phenomenal and that faith radiates from every page of this book.

I learned so many lessons from reading this book.  Lessons about love, family, selflessness, charity, sacrifice, forgiveness, humility, faith, prayer, scripture study, devotion, the list could go on and on.  I guess ‘learned’ is the wrong word, because they were all things I already knew, but they registered on a much deeper level and took on new meaning because of this book.  

The amazing thing, and probably the reason the message was so poignant, was the fact that this story took place in arguably one of the darkest times and darkest places in the history of this world, and yet the story was so uplifting and inspiring.  Unlike many of the stories told from this time and place, I never felt despair.  Instead I was filled with peace, awe, and a desire to become a better person.  

I wanted to share one of my favorite quotes from the book, but it was so difficult to choose.  I finally decided on this one.  It happens toward the beginning of the book, but the message is reiterated again and again throughout the story.  Corrie has her first experience with death and is afraid she won’t have the strength to deal with the loss of those closest to her.  To comfort her, her father gives her this advise.  

    “Corrie,” he began gently, “when you and I go to Amsterdam- when do I give you your ticket?”

    I sniffed a few times, considering this.

    “Why just before we get on the train.”

    “Exactly.  And our wise Father in Heaven knows when we’re going to need things, too.  Don’t run out ahead of Him, Corrie.  When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need- just in time.”

That was one of my favorite messages from the book, God knows what we need better than we do, and He always gives it to us.  We just need to have the faith to see it.  Too often in my life I place limitations on God.  I think that I can only be happy if he answers my prayers by giving me the things I pray for.  I am convinced they are the things I need, and that if I just have enough faith the Lord will grant me those things.  It is hard to have complete faith and accept that perhaps I don’t really need what I think I do and trust in Him to provide in the way that is best.  Sometimes it is hard to have faith that He can do the things that He has promised, even when they seem so impossible.  Sometimes it is hard to remember that His love is so deep and so real that we never need to fear if we just trust in Him.  This, and many others, are the messages I hope I can remember from this book.  In fact, I rented the book from the library, but plan to purchase it so that I can read it again whenever I need a refresher.