July 4th Real Life Edition

As I looked at our pictures from the 4th of July, I realized that it looked like we had a pretty idealic day. Don't get me wrong. We had a good day! I love spending time with my kids and husband, and watching Matt with the kids in nature is pretty awesome (I like the outdoors but Matt is just in his element as a parent when we're in the woods.) Having said that, I thought it would be nice to show the real life beyond the snap shots. So, here is my 4th of July recap - real life edition. 

 We had such a great 4th of July with the kids! (Truth. We really did)

After picking up the house we hopped in the car and sung songs and chatted as we drove through the light rain and beautiful countryside to arrive in the mountains 2 hours later. (Truth: two kids who shall remain nameless fought in the backseat the WHOLE drive, pushing us to the limits of our sanity. All 2 hours. All 6 kids ran around like crazy people in the store during our pit stop.)

We stopped at this great trail head and ate lunch and then hiked the trail. They had super fun activities and the kids had a blast! (Truth: two people got stung by bees, Kate whined the ENTIRE 3/4 mile hike, typical whininess among the others came and went because, did I mention it was super hot and humid?)

After a lazy afternoon, we had a scrumptious dinner with the missionaries and then drove around, watching fireflies and fireworks. We made it home in time to light sparklers, eat ice cream and settle in for a cozy night's rest. (Truth: our AC went out on Sunday, so the low temperature in our house was 80. It was 82 by the time we went to sleep. This is not Utah hot. This is southern-someone-please-kill-me-now hot. We sat around all afternoon trying to stay cool since it was hot and humid outside. We didn't have time to go to the festivities downtown. To escape the heat after dinner, we drove around in our air conditioned car and then bought some fans at Target. We used at least 50 matches to light 18 sparklers and had to set a rule that you don't poke your siblings in the head with lit sparklers. Two kids were searching for neighborhood fireworks while two remained oblivious and two cried in terror every time they heard the distant "boom!" After that party, we went back inside and put the kids to bed. No one fell asleep before 10:30 because it was soooooo hot.) Happy 4th!! (Truth.)

My Quest For the Village

Last summer, I had a horrible experience.  I was emotionally and physically running on empty.  I was distracted by all the things I had going on.  And I made a big mistake.  It was completely inadvertent, but it was made.  Where a helpful hand could have solved the problem, I met severe judgment.  Did I deserve it? Probably, partially, but if I had been given the benefit of the doubt, things would have turned out a lot differently.

I was thinking about this experience and the poisonous vitriol coming from the mouth of my accuser.  I wished that we lived in a time when people extended a hand to someone in need.  A time when people were given the benefit of the doubt and we were more concerned about taking care of others than pointing out their mistakes and heaping persecution on them.  I was wishing for that village - you know, the one that is needed to raise a child.

So I went looking for it and, self-righteously making it myself. And not so self-righteously I realized that if I wanted a village like that, I really did need to take action. Was I acting the part of a villager?  The unfortunate answer was, not as often as I should.  That had to change.  Just like that Ghandi quote: "Be the change you want to see in the world," I started my feable efforts to look outside myself and help those around me.  What I saw was both humbling and inspiriing.  Patrons at grocery stores took carts back for overloaded mothers and elderly shoppers.  Appliances were donated to a needy family, even though the givers had plenty of their own needs.  Hours of service were given cheerfully and eagerly to neighbors. I saw first hand, service being given to the deaf and the disabled.  I saw shoulders extended to the grieving, meals brought to the sick, help given to the weary, and compassion extended to the downtrodden.   I saw love.   And plenty of care was given to my own family.  We are surrounded by people who love and care about us.

That's when I realized the village was there all along.  I was walking through it every day and not taking full stock of it.  Our community is full of those looking to help those around them. There are, of course, some who aren't exactly kind.  Some will continually choose to not be part of the village.  They will choose to judge and withhold love and kindness.  They will choose to be in the general vicinity of the village but not a part of it.  They don't have the responsibility or the blessings.  They choose to be vagrants.  Because, in this village, we can choose to be actively engaged in the society or detractors from it.  So, what about me?  Am I choosing today to be a villager or a vagrant?

I want the answer to that question to always be "yes!"  I'm not very good at it, but I am trying!

I am trying to be patient.  I'm trying to respond with kindness to those with whom I come in contact.  I'm trying to do those little things day by day. 

I have also been thinking about getting involved in a bigger way.  I have been thinking this for months, and finally I had enough nudges and took action.  One resource that is such a help to this newbie villager is justserve.org  It is fantastic!  It has dozens of service opportunities for all ages here in our own community.  It is run by amazing people and connects all of us who are trying to be villagers to try to grow our community and make sure everyone is cared for.  I was able to go this last Tuesday, with all six kids, to pack backpacks for Project Backpack.  I was so humbled by all the people who give so much more than my meager hour and a half to help those in need.  These are the people I want to surround myself with. Maybe they will rub off on me!

I was seeking the village and I found it all around me.  I have been living among villagers without really noticing them.  The world is a good place full of good people.  We just have to be looking for them.  And being them.

Helloooo, Spring!

I haven't posted pictures in awhile. We have been busy bees, working on the Middle Ages, math, earth science, learning to read, and all the other random things we have been learning. With Joe possibly re-entering traditional school next year, we have been trying to make sure all of the curriculum has been covered. We have had a narrower, deeper focus than the public schools. We would have ended up in the same place by the end, but halfway through, there are holes that need to be filled in. After months of going a slightly more traditional route for school, we are breaking out a bit. We gardened with the amazing and talented Dawn on Monday, to the zoo today, and many other exciting and nature focused activities in the days to come. (It helps that our current unit is biology. It's easier to make excuses to spend time outside for the middle schooler.) it has been interesting and tricky to figure out how to meld the different philosophies and ages in our homeschool. I've come to realize that a lot of the theories out there are fantastic for elementary-aged children, but have to be altered dramatically (at best) for secondary education. Well, without further ado, here are a sprinkling of pictures for you. 

(Joe's reaction to finding out the rain forest enclosure was closed for construction.)

("I call this game fun in a box." -Cat)

Excuse the shirtless wonder over there, and the messy pile of books. I thought it was so sweet that Ben was reading to Kate. He is so excited to be learning to read. 

Our Haiku

We wrote a haiku as a group today. 

Rain pours, loud and wet,

Pittering and pattering,

Lightening's kind partner.

Cabin Fever

It has been snowing/sleeting/freezing raining off and on all day. I love it! But the kids in the house all day - not so much. My sweet Ben has resorted to holding us hostage with annoying noises until someone plays a game with him. This is after playing Settlers of Catan with him for more than two hours, 5+ games of rummicub, reading a few books, showing him to the craft area (many times) watching 2 movies, having him gets his chores done, and encouraging him to play with siblings. We are in complete freak out mode. It's a very good thing that it is almost bedtime! On the upside with sweet Ben, he read half the words in an easy reader all by himself - including a few words he's never encountered in print before. Huzzah!

In other news, I sprained my ankle last night at a friends birthday party - we went to a trampoline park. I have been on the couch all day with my foot up. Fortunately, Matt was home all day to take care of me and look after things. 

Those two challenges aside, it has been a cozy, comfortable kind of day. 

Fresh and New

In elementary school (probably fourth grade since that was the grade of the epic recess sports) every time it snowed, we would go out during our first recess and stomp down the snow in a circle with intersecting lines going across the center. It created a wagon wheel that made a fantastic tag course. It would stay until the snow melted, which was sometimes weeks. Occasionally, however, we would be beat out there by random feet that trampled the snow here and there and everywhere, making it impossible to make the wagon wheel.

As I was thinking about the new year, that image came to mind. The new year is a fresh field of snow with no footprints in it. That field will get tracks in it. There is no way around it. I just get to decide if those tracks are haphazard or if they provide a framework to accomplish something purposeful. It's all in the planning. I feel like too many of my years have been of the haphazard variety. That is partially due to the realities of life with children, but also because I have just let life carry me far too often.  I want this year to be different. I want this year to have a wagon wheel. That wagon wheel is the plan I'm making. The map I'm drawing. The places I'm going and the places I don't ever want to go again. That wagon wheel will leave room for the hope and joy that come from a purpose-filled life.

I hope this year I can be productive but balanced. I hope I can be more present in my own life.  I hope I can be a force and not something that is acted upon. I hope I can have the strength to do what is required of me in my various capacities and the wisdom to ask for help when I need it. I hope when I come to the end of this year I will look back with peace of mind and love in my heart.

Their Stockings Were Hung...

We finally have matching stockings!  I am not crafty.  I know my way around the craft store and sewing machinge, but those projects kind of stress me out.  So, I am quite proud of myself.  And, that's all I have to say about that.