7/9/08

Now I Understand What Mr. Rogers Was Getting At.

Stuff of Life A continuation of things I never thought I’d hear myself say: #317 – “We don’t put Jacks in our nose.” #128- “Good burp!” #595- “You should chew after your fingers are out of your mouth.” One of the things that brings me joy in watching my children is comparing them to one another. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hold one up and say “Oh, this one is so much smarter than those other two dummies” or anything like that. But it is so interesting to see how different three children can be despite the fact that they all live in the same house with the same parents and have inherited pretty similar genetics. Both nature and nurture are, I think, fairly similar. And yet, there is Miriam, who is so much more confident than Finnegan, my little Mama’s boy. And there is Finnegan, who is so much more go-with-the-flow than Miriam, who always wants to know what to expect. And there is Carmen, who sleeps so much better than either of the other two which may be the greatest blessing in my life currently. They are all so unique, but also similar in many ways, and I simply enjoy each of their little personalities! I am enjoying being a SAHM (Stay-at-home-mum) right now. It’s good to be there for all the silliness and creativity and questions and curiosity and wonder and exploration that life as a little person entails. Spiritual Insight of the Day I love my neighbours. I really do. Not just in the “well, God told me to love them, so I guess I should, even though so-and-so has an irritating yappy dog and what’s-his-face needs a new muffler, which I’m reminded of every morning at 6 a.m” way. Our neighbours are great. We have game playing neighbours who are fun to hang out with an laught with and comete against. We have helpful neighbours who show up to shovel when the dump truck drops a load of dirt in our yard and who hand-me-down their lawnmowers and other tools. We have young neighbours who wave with bright smiles at us and who fill the street with laughter and shrieks. We have neighbours who see eye-to-eye with us and neighbours who remind us that there is more than one way of seeing things. We have awesome neighbours. In the two years since we’ve been in this neighbourhood, we’ve actively introduced ourselves to the folks on our block, and the result is a sense of community and friendship and even security. Earlier this fall, Miriam tricycled down to “the tree”, which is one end of her boundary, and our neighbour Aileen, not seeing me sitting on our porch, came running out of her house. “Miriam, what are you doing out here?” she asked before I called and waved, and explained that the tree in front of her house is one end of Miriams tricycle boundary. I like that our neighbours know us and know our kids and even care about and protect our kids. So today, I am praying for my neighbours. I’m thanking God that he gave us such a great community with such interesting people. I’m praying that our friendships will deepen and that we will learn to be there for each other. I’m praying that they will be blessed by God in their work, in their families, in their homes and schools, and in all parts of their lives. God loves my neighbours as much as he loves me, and I pray that they will realize God’s intention to prosper them and care for them. And I’m praying that I will love my neighbour as much as I love myself. Scrapbook Idea of the Day. TURN OFF YOUR FLASH! That’s it. My big insight. Do it. It will make a world of difference in your photos. My camera turns on the flash whenever there is even the slightest bit of dim in the room. Totally unnecessary. I checked out the instruction manual, and now turn the flash off every time I turn on the camera, and only use it when I know it is quite dark, or if I want to “fill” when the foreground is darker than the background. Since turning it off a couple weeks ago, my photos are so much better in terms of light and colour and softness of image. Try it. You’ll like it.

7/3/08

When Pigs Influence Family Fun Time

Stuff of Life I’m melllllllting! We’ve spent this week trying to beat the heat. Visits to the legislature grounds and cool malls have definitely helped the situation! Summer is not my favourite season for one reason – hot dry weather. If summer was 25 degrees Celsius and partly cloudy all day, I would be one happy camper! And thank God for our new blinds which are keeping the sun from turning our house into an easy-bake oven!!! Canada Day was so fun! Miriam has been suggesting for about a week that we should have an “Olivia” picnic. Olivia, for those of you who don’t know, is a pig who, in the book “Olivia Forms a Band”, goes to see fireworks and has a picnic with sandwiches and corn on the cob and strawberries and watermelon. So, knowing that Canada Day celebrations include fireworks, I shopped for the appropriate picnic ingredients, and on Tuesday we packed the picnic basket, walked to a park and sat on the grass under an enormous tree and enjoyed an official “Olivia Picnic!” We went home and the kids went to bed then we woke them up at nine (actually it was so hot that when I went to wake Miriam up I found her lying on her back, singing and playing with her toes.) The fireworks at Fort Saskatchewan were smaller than “big city” fireworks, but they lasted a long time and were beautiful. I was a little worried that Miriam would be sensitive to the noise as she tends to be with anything loud, and hoped it didn’t cause a major freak out considering how tired she was. But she sat with Oma and Oma covered her ears and she enjoyed the show. Finny cuddled with Jim and I had Carmen who was sleeping until the first firework went off at which point I stuck my finger in her mouth and she happily sucked away for the next fifteen minutes! NOTE TO SELF: Take the extra time and effort to intentionally make memories. This is a day we will all remember and which I can reflect on with pride knowing that on Canada Day 2008 we had a great family time together. Most of the “Stuff of Life” is little stuff like bath times and stories and playing in the backyard, but once in a while some of it should be extra special. Spiritual Insight of the Day I was talking with Carmen yesterday. More accurately, I was speaking English and she was speaking gobbledygook. Nevertheless, we had a most engaging conversation. She was completely thrilled with my singsong words and she smiled and squirmed and gurgled with all her might. It got me to thinking two things: First, isn’t this what the best friendships are about? Two people who can literally talk about nothing, yet completely enjoy the time spent together? Second, this kind of parallels what our relationship with God is like. We look up at Him and often don’t necessarily understand what He’s saying to us, but we know it’s loving so it makes us happy and we try in our own little ways to imitate His words to us. If God loves us the way I love my infant girl, are we not seriously the most treasured people ever? And to think that, as much as I love Carmen, God loves her about a bazillion times more. Cool. Scrapbook Idea of the Day It’s not exactly scrappy, more like “cardy”, but take a jaunt over to kwerner design blog. She has “Make a Card Monday” which features some cool video and neat ideas that can be transferred to the world of scrapbooking too. Also, if you haven’t yet, visit some of the sites I’ve listed on my sidebar there. I regrouped them so my daily picks are separate. I think Cathy Zielske may be the funniest person I’ve known aside from my sister or a gathering of my MacDonell aunts. She is so real. I just love it!