A Good Boy

I woke before the morning, I was
     happy all the day,
I never said an ugly word, but smiled
     and stuck to play.

And now at last the sun is going down
     behind the wood,
And I am very happy for I know that
     I've been good.

My bed is waiting cool and fresh with
     linen smooth and fair,
And I must go to sleepsin-by, and not
     forget my prayer.

I know that, till tomorrow I shall see
     the sun arise,
No ugly dream shall fright my mind, no
     ugly sight my eyes.

But slumber hold me tightly till I waken
     in the dawn,
And hear the thrushes singing in the
    lilacs round the lawn.

~Robert Louis Stevenson

The Seasons of the Soul

Why am I cast down and despondently sad
When I long to be happy and joyous and glad?
Why is my heart heavy with unbearable weight
As I try to escape this soul-saddened state?
I ask myself often what makes life this way -
Why is the song silenced in my heart today?
And then with God's help it all becomes clear-
The soul has it seasons just the same as the year.
I too must pass through life's autumn of dying,
A desolate period of heart-hurt and crying,
Followed by winter, in whose frostbitten hand
My heart is as frozen as the snow-covered land.
We too must pass through the seasons God sends,
Content in the knowledge that everything ends.

~Helen Steiner Rice

Dear Lord And Father Of Mankind

Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
Forgive our fev'rish ways!
Reclothe us in our rightful mind;
In purer lives Thy service find,
In deeper reverence, praise.

In simple trust like theirs who heard,
Beside the Syrian Sea,
The gracious calling of the Lord,
Let us, like them, without a word,
Rise up and follow Thee.

O Sabbath rest by Galilee!
O calm of hills above,
Where Jesus knelt to share with thee
The silence of eternity,
Interpreted by love.

Drop Thy still dews of quietness
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace.

Breathe thru the heats of our desire
Thy coolness and Thy balm;
Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
Speak thru the earthquake, wind, and fire,
O still small voice of calm.

~John Greenleaf Whittier

September

The goldenrod is yellow;
The corn is turning brown;
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit bending down.

The gentian's bluest fringes
Are curling in the sun;
In dusty pods the milkweed
Its hidden silk has spun.

The sedge's flaunt their harvest
In every meadow nook,
And asters by the brookside
Make asters in the brook.

From dew lanes at morning
The grapes sweet odors rose;
At noon the roads all flutter
With yellow butterflies-

By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer's best of weather
And autumn's best of cheer.

~Helen Hunt Jackson

My Girly's Day!

One year with my little girl!

My freedom girl, my sweetheart of a baby!

My newborn girl, who came into the world so fast last September (a three hour labor).

How desperately I wanted her in my arms that night.

How I cried for her to be out, and suddenly she was, and as she slept I lay awake in wonder.

Now she is a vivacious, busy, smiling one year old.

She loves yarn and all things soft.

She has red hair that her daddy is so proud of (because it is from his grandma) and soft gray eyes.

Having a firstborn son made me a woman and a mother. He makes me proud and strong.

Having a daughter causes me to marvel about what it means to be female. She makes me gentle.

Saoirse Dawn ~ freedom in early light

She has a free spirit, a playful attitude, and general goodwill to bestow on all she meets.

Please God, may she grow up with Your love flowing through her.

May she be soft and gentle, strong and healthy, generous and joyous.

She has added to our family in many ways.

Everyday I am grateful for the time that I have with her, knowing it will be short and determining that it shall be good. For she is a good and perfect gift, created by Love, conceived in love, birthed in pain and joy.

Happy 1st Birthday, my girly-princess-Saoirse-Dawn-sweetheart!

Falling Leaves

Milk and Cookies

 

 

A Sister's Hero

Ethan has not seen Spiderman; probably won't for several years. But Spiderman is everywhere these days, advertising himself on snacks, sneakers, and children's clothing. Ethan has dubbed him, "GUY!!"

in the deepest, rumbliest voice he can muster.

So when I found some PJs featuring "GUY!" I bought them and have enjoyed watching his innocent fasciation with the colorful character. Who knows what traverses his tiny imagination about this strange superhero. I hope my little boy enjoy heroes and is always a hero to his little sister!

(He is good at destroying any bugs in the house.)

Faults

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire,
But if it had to perish twice
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

~Robert Frost

A Little Library

Being Us

I like the us we are becoming
for all the world to see
not you, not I, just we.

The we of car trip conversations
always holding hands,
making splendid plans.

We've laid a claim upon whipped cream
As our dessert of choice,
and kids agree full voice.

We have love songs in abundance
in the kitchen we dance
with candle romance.

There is a hymn that we call ours
and songs we sing
for children sleeping.

We pray for sweet dreams and godly growth
o'er each sleeping head
before we go to bed.

Our pet names for one another
follow special form
and some the norm.

Raising children and following dreams
sharing each sorrow
and anxious tomorrow.

Us is defined by our being together
Two hearts to one knit
Two souls made to fit.

The world around cannot see one
without inquiry to the other.
That is being Us.

~Caitlin Mallery

Happy 3rd Anniversary, my dearest husband!

What You Are and Will Be

I love you for what you are, but I
  love you
yet more for what you are going to
  be.
I love you not so much for your
  realities
as for your ideals.
I pray for your desires that they may
  be great,
rather than for your satisfactions,
which may be so hazardously little.
You are going forward toward
  something great.
I am on the way with you,
and therefore I love you.

~Carl Sandburg

The Blessing of Light

May the blessing of Light be on you,
Light without and light within.
May the blessed sunlight shine on you
and warm your heart till it glows like a great peat fire,
so that the stranger may come and warm himself at it,
and also a friend.

~Irish blessing

The Shortest and Sweetest of Songs

Come

Home.

 

~George MacDonald



Our Adventures; Part 3

I think I will finally wrap up our vacation pictures with some of the highlights from Oregon.
The day after the wedding we visited the historic gold rush town of Columbia, CA.
That was a fun day for me, but a long, hot one for the wee ones.

Grandpa makes pumping easier.

Panning for gold in the camp town that was set up that weekend.

A true Montanan, lovin' the old guns.

And now we move on to visiting my grandparents on the Oregon Coast. I went out a day ahead of my parents and sisters, and it was nice to for my grandparents to spend some time with their great-grandkids before the crowd arrived.

Riding Panda, he took to it quite naturally and 'helped' muck stalls.

Saoirse adored the horse as well.

First time seeing the ocean.

Tide pool magic

Now Ethan is on Patriot.

Headed to the beach

Checking different types of sand and waves.

Let's see how far I can throw this stick.

Can I eat it Grandpa?

There were a lot of pictures of me chasing him.

This is weird.

Bang a ball

Ooo, gooey.

Tired and cold

 

And to wrap it up, some car pictures, since a road trip means lots of time in the car.

This place has converted me into a coffee drinker. Loved stopping there for mochas!

 

He found a stick at every single stop we made.

Juice and whipped cream from Dutch Bros.

Crying

Playing

 

 

And finally, the adventure came to an end.

I firmly hope that I will never have to attempt such a long trip without Roman again.

It was fun, exhausting, overwhelming, and amazing.

So glad to be home for a while.

 

Hosea 6:3

Whenever I see a verse I am not readily familiar with my first inclination is to read further. I hope you choose to read the verses surrounding this one from Hosea.

To Remember...

 

I think every generation will have a date firmly engraved into its memory.

A date that marks a dramatic shift in the functioning of society.

Over the 20th century and in the United States we mark dates such as:

October 29, 1929

December 7, 1941

June 6, 1944

August 6 and 9, 1945

November 22, 1963

November 9, 1989

 

I am sure my parents and grandparents could name the events which make these dates so significant.

They could also share a great deal of how their own lives were or were not affected by those events.

For this generation (the Millennial Generation) this date marks how our world today has been shaped.

September 11, 2001

9-11

 

This date moved 12 year old me with my family from California to Montana.

This date inspired my 17 year old future husband to pursue a career as a firefighter.

This date has changed the face of the modern world in large and small ways.

This date will be one I want my children to hear about.

They will know about the workings of God on this date and they will praise Him for how He has shown himself faithful.

 

This date

Remember.

 

A Mother's Prayer

Autumn is settling in...

The other day I just went to Flathead Lake with the wee ones just because it sounded nice. We had a picnic, threw rocks in the water and wandered the woods by the shore. Such a refreshing little outing it was!

Odd Books