Friday, June 5, 2009

Seventeen Years Ago Today...



I was in the hospital birthing my second child. They say that you forget the pain. And they're right. I just remember being so happy to have a daughter. And I still am.

Now that she is almost a grown up we have great conversations, fun times shopping and lots of laughs. I can't image not having her in my life. She is smart, pretty and full of character. I wonder what her future holds. She has so many opportunities open to her. I want her to be willing to take risks and not doubt herself. She needs to be open all sorts of options, even if they are outside of her comfort zone.

It's amazing to me that this pretty cool human being came from my gene pool and was
influenced by my ideals, values and lifestyle. Of course, I know that there have been other influences - among them are godly people from our church, caring teachers and loving family members. I realize too that God has chosen to bless our lives with a fairly easy-going temperament in a mostly rule-following personality. This does make our job quite a bit easier. Thank you God!

So for today...I'm thankful for my seventeen year old daughter.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Simple Pleasures

A nice cup of hot tea, Harney and Son's Paris to be exact. In my favorite teacup, the one my son gave me for Christmas last year. A couple of Mother's macaroons. This is bliss. Especially after sweating through hand washing the dinner dishes. And preparing Enchilada Casserole and Spanish Rice for dinner. I've been in the kitchen for about 3 hours. Before that I had make a quick run to the store for a couple of ingredients.

I'm pooped, but I'm not complaining. Actually I'm pretty darn content at the moment. And the funny thing is that there really isn't any special reason for this contentment. It's just a little pause in life's busyness. There's just enough time for a quick read of an article in a quilting magazine. It's a quiet moment - well relatively quiet given the ballgame being watched by my hubby in the other room - with a cool breeze gently blowing the curtains. I can see the green summer leaves on the trees swaying gently when I peek out the window.

Maybe it's the joy that comes from serving my family a good, home cooked meal. Or maybe it's the clean counter tops that I wiped at least a dozen times today, but have managed to stay uncluttered for 15 minutes this time. Or maybe it's the peace that comes when I remember that I am God's child and he will take care of me. Sweet!