January has always seemed like a good time of year to start something new.
Seven years ago, I read my first blog post, and I was really attracted to this idea of an online journal. It seemed like an attainable writing challenge for me. For a year, I thought and prayed about whether it would be in line with God's will and what its purpose would be. I had just had my sixth child; I was homeschooling, active in my church, and had a husband who traveled a lot. Would it be right for me to spend the time on what was possibly just a whim?
But I couldn't put the idea out of my mind, and it grew to be a strong desire. My husband approved, and I knew that if nothing else, it could be an online family scrapbook and a way for extended family and friends to keep up with us. But I hoped it might also be an encouragement to other Christian women (and maybe even a few men)--something I really did feel called to.
So I made a Poke the Box decision (before that book was written) to just start something, and see what happened. My first post was a late-night New Year's Eve movie review. In subsequent entries, I explained my blog theme, about contentment with the reality that spiritual growth happens slowly when one is busy with a family, and that it happens in the mundane and everyday. (See the sidebar labels "a hen's pace" and "sacred everyday.")
I might examine these threads again, six years later, when the nest feels so different! The pace of our life has increased so much in the last six years, with a move in our geographical location, the added responsibility for Papa Rooster of leading a church, and our chicks spreading their wings and spending more time out of the nest--which really stretches a Mama Hen.
It's January, and with the decision to put our two youngest in school this year, I finally feel like I have a little breathing room in my life. Perhaps I could do more with my blog now. Or is there something else God wants me to put my writing energies into? Just like six years ago, I doubt, and wonder whether that energy should go to my family or my church instead.
But I think God smiles at my chicken scratchings here, and it surely lifts my soul to write. Don't know about starting something new...but I think at least I shall continue!
To help celebrate my "blog-i-versary," every year I ask my readers to post a comment for me! It cheers me to know there are real, live people reading, not just numbers or random google hits racking up on a site meter.
Just chime in with a hello and where you're from, since that's fun for everyone to see. And if you have a question, suggestion or request for me, I promise I will write a post to address it!
(Is that rash? We shall see!)
Blessings, friends! Thank you all!
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Sunday, January 01, 2012
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Ramblings on Writing, Newcomers, and the Inconvenience of Soccer
Well, it's Saturday morning and I left the soccer games early so I could have a cup of coffee in the warmth of Panera and write a post about how wonderful it is that it's the last day of soccer! I would have stayed and watched except I'm hosting as many as 30 people for lunch tomorrow after church, and I still need to finish cleaning, order subs, make salad dressing, wash 10 pounds of grapes, clear off the school room table and make sure the kids vacuum, dust and clean the bathrooms.
It will be our last of three "Get to Know Light of Christ" luncheon meetings for nine newcomers who are exploring membership, and it's been so good to get to know these folks better! We continue to be amazed and so grateful to God for how He keeps sending us the most interesting and delightful people, with gifts, talents and interests that complement our existing core in the neatest ways.
On the way here, though, I decided I didn't want to write back-to-back posts about soccer. Plus I think Papa Rooster is taking more photos this morning.
Instead, I wondered why I didn't write a post this past week. I really wanted to. I had ideas. I even had time, I think. I'm just not sure how to fit writing back in to my life.
Back in the days when I posted almost daily, I used to write in the mornings, before I woke up the kids to start our homeschooling day, or late at night, when keeping up my blog was my final and most enjoyable obligation of the day.
Now, my alarm rings at 7, and I'm busy until the two youngest get on the bus at 8:25. Then the three oldest boys get up, and the day shifts into full speed as we figure out the day's schedule, I remind them of chores and responsibilities, and they enlist my help with errands and school. By then, I'm in the "git 'er done" groove and my energy naturally turns to cleaning, straightening up, laundry, emails, phone calls, proofreading essays, explaining geometry, managing mail and paper...every day I cross three items off the to-do list and add five. You know.
At night, Papa Rooster and I have a routine of the last year or so, of getting in bed by 9:30 or 10 and then watching a 45-minute show or two on his laptop. It's cozy and comfortable to end our day that way together, and I miss it when he's traveling. But I also miss my late-night reflection time that I used to get while he read himself to sleep and I typed away. However, far too often I would stay up too late and pay for it the next day, so I appreciate the regular bedtime that our routine ensures.
But when to write?
I've always relied on our theater class and rehearsal schedule to give me a certain number of hours a week, but now I'm teaching a class, which takes away that slot, and my kids are doing soccer instead. While theater rehearsals are 3-4 hours long, soccer practices are only 1-1.5 hours, and some nights they are staggered so that one starts and ends a half hour after the other, and the practice fields are on opposite sides of town.
Which brings me back to celebrating the last day of soccer, anyway! Woo-hoo!
I suppose I just need to make appointments with myself, put them on my calendar and tell my family I'm unavailable for that hour or so. What was it that that one famous author said? Google tells me it was Somerset Maugham, who said, "I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o'clock sharp."
Further questions arise, though. How to put inspiration on hold when my allotted time is up? And where to focus my writing energies? Should I build my blog? Query magazines for articles? Dare to write a book proposal? If I'm going to spend more time on writing, I guess I want to make it count.
So I think about writing, instead of writing. Guess I should just start writing.
Ahhh, thanks for listening. I think that helped.
But my allotted time is up. The grapes and the dust await!
It will be our last of three "Get to Know Light of Christ" luncheon meetings for nine newcomers who are exploring membership, and it's been so good to get to know these folks better! We continue to be amazed and so grateful to God for how He keeps sending us the most interesting and delightful people, with gifts, talents and interests that complement our existing core in the neatest ways.
On the way here, though, I decided I didn't want to write back-to-back posts about soccer. Plus I think Papa Rooster is taking more photos this morning.
Instead, I wondered why I didn't write a post this past week. I really wanted to. I had ideas. I even had time, I think. I'm just not sure how to fit writing back in to my life.
Back in the days when I posted almost daily, I used to write in the mornings, before I woke up the kids to start our homeschooling day, or late at night, when keeping up my blog was my final and most enjoyable obligation of the day.
Now, my alarm rings at 7, and I'm busy until the two youngest get on the bus at 8:25. Then the three oldest boys get up, and the day shifts into full speed as we figure out the day's schedule, I remind them of chores and responsibilities, and they enlist my help with errands and school. By then, I'm in the "git 'er done" groove and my energy naturally turns to cleaning, straightening up, laundry, emails, phone calls, proofreading essays, explaining geometry, managing mail and paper...every day I cross three items off the to-do list and add five. You know.
At night, Papa Rooster and I have a routine of the last year or so, of getting in bed by 9:30 or 10 and then watching a 45-minute show or two on his laptop. It's cozy and comfortable to end our day that way together, and I miss it when he's traveling. But I also miss my late-night reflection time that I used to get while he read himself to sleep and I typed away. However, far too often I would stay up too late and pay for it the next day, so I appreciate the regular bedtime that our routine ensures.
But when to write?
I've always relied on our theater class and rehearsal schedule to give me a certain number of hours a week, but now I'm teaching a class, which takes away that slot, and my kids are doing soccer instead. While theater rehearsals are 3-4 hours long, soccer practices are only 1-1.5 hours, and some nights they are staggered so that one starts and ends a half hour after the other, and the practice fields are on opposite sides of town.
Which brings me back to celebrating the last day of soccer, anyway! Woo-hoo!
I suppose I just need to make appointments with myself, put them on my calendar and tell my family I'm unavailable for that hour or so. What was it that that one famous author said? Google tells me it was Somerset Maugham, who said, "I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o'clock sharp."
Further questions arise, though. How to put inspiration on hold when my allotted time is up? And where to focus my writing energies? Should I build my blog? Query magazines for articles? Dare to write a book proposal? If I'm going to spend more time on writing, I guess I want to make it count.
So I think about writing, instead of writing. Guess I should just start writing.
Ahhh, thanks for listening. I think that helped.
But my allotted time is up. The grapes and the dust await!
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
Thank You!
Wow.
All you blessed souls who commented on my "Five Years" post--some of you for the first time--I can't thank you enough for your kind and encouraging words!
You have inspired me, all over again, and just when I need it most. I especially appreciated hearing what you all enjoy reading. Lately, it's been so easy to think, "Oh, who wants to read another book review, or another post about my kids, or parenting, or our church? Folks probably are getting bored. Other bloggers have more and better things to say."
And then I start thinking about what we're going to have for dinner. Or notice how all the kids have disappeared without doing their chores. Or check Facebook. And leave posting for another day.
So thank you. Your words have started my words flowing already--in my head, anyway--on a couple of topics that I've really been blocked on, as well as a dozen other things I could write about. Now, to find the time...but the inspiration is a gift to me!
Comments are still open on "Five Years," if you wish to add yours!
All you blessed souls who commented on my "Five Years" post--some of you for the first time--I can't thank you enough for your kind and encouraging words!
You have inspired me, all over again, and just when I need it most. I especially appreciated hearing what you all enjoy reading. Lately, it's been so easy to think, "Oh, who wants to read another book review, or another post about my kids, or parenting, or our church? Folks probably are getting bored. Other bloggers have more and better things to say."
And then I start thinking about what we're going to have for dinner. Or notice how all the kids have disappeared without doing their chores. Or check Facebook. And leave posting for another day.
So thank you. Your words have started my words flowing already--in my head, anyway--on a couple of topics that I've really been blocked on, as well as a dozen other things I could write about. Now, to find the time...but the inspiration is a gift to me!
Comments are still open on "Five Years," if you wish to add yours!
Monday, January 03, 2011
Five Years
Well, friends, family and readers...
old and new...
faithful or sporadic...
...At A Hen's Pace just turned FIVE years old!
Five years ago, New Year's Eve seemed like an auspicious time to start a blog. It's one of my few New Year's "resolutions" that ever really stuck.
In the last two years, I've had to slow down the hen's pace to just weekly or biweekly scratchings. And the hen doesn't get around much anymore (to other's blogs), to my own disadvantage and disappointment.
Still, better at a hen's pace than not at all, eh?
Many readers have stuck with me since the beginning...and new readers have come along...all encouraging me to keep going. Because as much as I enjoy writing for posterity--as a record of our family's activities and what God is doing in our lives--it's a lot more fun writing for an audience!
old and new...
faithful or sporadic...
...At A Hen's Pace just turned FIVE years old!
Five years ago, New Year's Eve seemed like an auspicious time to start a blog. It's one of my few New Year's "resolutions" that ever really stuck.
In the last two years, I've had to slow down the hen's pace to just weekly or biweekly scratchings. And the hen doesn't get around much anymore (to other's blogs), to my own disadvantage and disappointment.
Still, better at a hen's pace than not at all, eh?
Many readers have stuck with me since the beginning...and new readers have come along...all encouraging me to keep going. Because as much as I enjoy writing for posterity--as a record of our family's activities and what God is doing in our lives--it's a lot more fun writing for an audience!
SO--to help celebrate my fifth "blogiversary"--leave me a comment!
I've disabled the spam detection step, to make it as quick and easy as possible.
Just say where you're from, if nothing else, but it's also nice to hear what kind of posts you enjoy. I love suggestions!
Blessings, friends! Thank you all!!
Saturday, November 13, 2010
On Writing and Blogging and Home Education
I know it's been awhile since I've posted anything personal or devotional. The main reason for that is lack of time, of course. This year has been better than last year in terms of stress--I am not spread so thin, trying to do so many different things--but the things I am focused on this year have been just as time-consuming. I am spending many hours a day with my three home-taught kids, especially on the tedious tasks of teaching one to read, bringing a beginning reader up to speed, drilling math facts, helping my 6th grader with writing projects, and sitting at the piano with one or another, lending confidence or help as new songs are learned. I have done this before, of course, but there is more required work and more accountability this particular time around, with the virtual schools that two are enrolled in, and the desire to please our fabulous piano teacher and continue the wonderful progress that B11 and Chicklet are making.
So I am thanking God for the time and energy I have right now to do this, and the patience He is giving me...because I'm not sure I'm going to make it through the whole school year this gracefully! It feels like so many other things in my life are piling up while I invest this time, which I trust and pray will pay off with more independent abilities as the school year goes by. I really don't like this beginning-level stuff, and I can feel the impatience and frustration under the surface sometimes. And I know that my biggest need is time for me.
I used to use blogging as an outlet, a creative escape, and even a way to get in touch with things I didn't know I thought or felt until I started exploring them in writing. I used to find time to take one morning a week for a "sanity break," or stay up late to write a blog post or catch up on tasks.
But it just hasn't been happening for me lately. None of my kids are in a theater production this session, so I'm not taking the time while they are at rehearsals to write, as I used to. Instead, for the last six weeks, I've had lesson plans to write and examples to find for the writing class I've been teaching at our homeschool group's enrichment classes, and I've had a few Sunday School lessons to plan, too. Spiritually and emotionally, I have been preoccupied with cares that aren't really bloggable--meaning "able to be shared with the whole world." And I just had to quit reading other blogs nearly two years ago, so I'm lacking that inspiration.
Then a friend suggested we start meeting once a month to talk about our writing goals. Though a part of me laughed at the thought of having any, I knew it might be an opportunity to stir the pot, so to speak, and I certainly wanted to encourage her.
What it's done has got me thinking about me, especially the part of me that has gotten lost somewhere in the busyness of being a mom, a homeschool teacher, a wife, a pastor's wife, and a church leader. There are so many demands on my time coming from all these roles; it's ridiculous to think about time spent on anything else. But suddenly I am feeling urges to develop talents I was only beginning to discover, once upon a time. I had promised myself that I could always go on and study further the oboe, the saxophone, piano, singing, drawing, painting, speaking, teaching and writing--all things I enjoyed and was good at.
It seems impossible, right now, to find time or money to sign up for classes or lessons. I don't know if I could even choose one of these things that I really, really want to pick up again. Writing seems the obvious one to keep developing, right here on my blog. I know there is so much more I could do with it, if I really wanted to develop my identity and make a place for myself as a blogger, but that takes time, as much as it would to develop myself as a free-lance writer, novel author, screenwriter, playwriter or poet--all forms of writing I've considered trying.
But time I don't have...and time is also running out, in a sense. My life is halfway over. I'm trying to live it as faithfully as possible, and I will never regret the hours I have poured into my children. It was such a pat on the back to attend parent-teacher conferences at the Christian school, for Blondechick17 and B15. Teacher after teacher went out of their way to assure me that I had really wonderful kids. They had good things to say about their academics, but it seems the main thing they wanted to convey were positive comments about their character, peer relations and work ethic. Several times it came up that BC and B15 had been homeschooled up until last year, and each teacher registered surprise--they hadn't realized that--and then approval--"Well, you did a really good job!"
I hope that doesn't come across as bragging, but I need to record those words, for me. All the years of doing my best and worrying that it wasn't enough, it wasn't as thorough as it should have been or as comprehensive as they would have had in school, and knowing how much more I could have done if there had only been more time, or fewer younger siblings. And they are turning out all right academically and in more important ways. That's huge.
B15 encouraged me recently, too. He's become friends with another family who homeschooled until this year; they just put all their kids in the Christian school, and he just commented on what good friends the siblings were, and then remarked that other students are always surprised at what good friends he and Blondechick are. She has noted the same thing. And it gives me another reason to keep putting in the time with their three younger siblings.
It's all a balance between gifts, callings and time.
Time is short, and I am out of it now.
How do YOU balance the three?
So I am thanking God for the time and energy I have right now to do this, and the patience He is giving me...because I'm not sure I'm going to make it through the whole school year this gracefully! It feels like so many other things in my life are piling up while I invest this time, which I trust and pray will pay off with more independent abilities as the school year goes by. I really don't like this beginning-level stuff, and I can feel the impatience and frustration under the surface sometimes. And I know that my biggest need is time for me.
I used to use blogging as an outlet, a creative escape, and even a way to get in touch with things I didn't know I thought or felt until I started exploring them in writing. I used to find time to take one morning a week for a "sanity break," or stay up late to write a blog post or catch up on tasks.
But it just hasn't been happening for me lately. None of my kids are in a theater production this session, so I'm not taking the time while they are at rehearsals to write, as I used to. Instead, for the last six weeks, I've had lesson plans to write and examples to find for the writing class I've been teaching at our homeschool group's enrichment classes, and I've had a few Sunday School lessons to plan, too. Spiritually and emotionally, I have been preoccupied with cares that aren't really bloggable--meaning "able to be shared with the whole world." And I just had to quit reading other blogs nearly two years ago, so I'm lacking that inspiration.
Then a friend suggested we start meeting once a month to talk about our writing goals. Though a part of me laughed at the thought of having any, I knew it might be an opportunity to stir the pot, so to speak, and I certainly wanted to encourage her.
What it's done has got me thinking about me, especially the part of me that has gotten lost somewhere in the busyness of being a mom, a homeschool teacher, a wife, a pastor's wife, and a church leader. There are so many demands on my time coming from all these roles; it's ridiculous to think about time spent on anything else. But suddenly I am feeling urges to develop talents I was only beginning to discover, once upon a time. I had promised myself that I could always go on and study further the oboe, the saxophone, piano, singing, drawing, painting, speaking, teaching and writing--all things I enjoyed and was good at.
It seems impossible, right now, to find time or money to sign up for classes or lessons. I don't know if I could even choose one of these things that I really, really want to pick up again. Writing seems the obvious one to keep developing, right here on my blog. I know there is so much more I could do with it, if I really wanted to develop my identity and make a place for myself as a blogger, but that takes time, as much as it would to develop myself as a free-lance writer, novel author, screenwriter, playwriter or poet--all forms of writing I've considered trying.
But time I don't have...and time is also running out, in a sense. My life is halfway over. I'm trying to live it as faithfully as possible, and I will never regret the hours I have poured into my children. It was such a pat on the back to attend parent-teacher conferences at the Christian school, for Blondechick17 and B15. Teacher after teacher went out of their way to assure me that I had really wonderful kids. They had good things to say about their academics, but it seems the main thing they wanted to convey were positive comments about their character, peer relations and work ethic. Several times it came up that BC and B15 had been homeschooled up until last year, and each teacher registered surprise--they hadn't realized that--and then approval--"Well, you did a really good job!"
I hope that doesn't come across as bragging, but I need to record those words, for me. All the years of doing my best and worrying that it wasn't enough, it wasn't as thorough as it should have been or as comprehensive as they would have had in school, and knowing how much more I could have done if there had only been more time, or fewer younger siblings. And they are turning out all right academically and in more important ways. That's huge.
B15 encouraged me recently, too. He's become friends with another family who homeschooled until this year; they just put all their kids in the Christian school, and he just commented on what good friends the siblings were, and then remarked that other students are always surprised at what good friends he and Blondechick are. She has noted the same thing. And it gives me another reason to keep putting in the time with their three younger siblings.
It's all a balance between gifts, callings and time.
Time is short, and I am out of it now.
How do YOU balance the three?
Saturday, January 09, 2010
A Birthday & a Blogiversary
Yes, today is my 45th birthday, and New Year's Eve marked 4 years of blogging! I was a little too busy hosting a soup supper and talent show, though, to notice.
I know my readership has dropped this fall, since I was only posting once a week or so, but to celebrate these auspicious anniversaries, it would be fun to hear from whomever is still out there! Even if it's a week late. Even if you've never left a comment before. Just say where you're from if you don't know what else to write.
Meanwhile, I'll be working on my annotated list of "Movies Watched in 2009," while I sip coffee here at Panera, waiting for Bantams 10 and 14 to be done at Mulan callbacks. (The cast list goes up tomorrow!)
So go ahead--make my day!
I know my readership has dropped this fall, since I was only posting once a week or so, but to celebrate these auspicious anniversaries, it would be fun to hear from whomever is still out there! Even if it's a week late. Even if you've never left a comment before. Just say where you're from if you don't know what else to write.
Meanwhile, I'll be working on my annotated list of "Movies Watched in 2009," while I sip coffee here at Panera, waiting for Bantams 10 and 14 to be done at Mulan callbacks. (The cast list goes up tomorrow!)
So go ahead--make my day!
Monday, May 04, 2009
Celebration [UPDATED]
Hey, it looks like today we're gonna hit 100,000 visits on Ye Olde Sitemeter!!! [And...we did!]
If I were a real blogger, I'd have some crafty giveway from somebody's Etsy store all lined up.
But I've been in Oz all weekend.... And to be honest, one of my top pet peeves is having to mail anything other than a letter. (It's just too many steps to pull together a box, an address and a visit to the Post Office. I'm lazy like that.)
Instead, I will tell you how GRATEFUL I am for all my readers, faithful and unfaithful, daily or sporadic, known or unknown! YOU are the reason I keep this little blawg going--well, you and the kick I get out of keeping it up as a family album. Thank you for coming, for reading, for commenting. Your presence here is such an encouragement!
But I would love to know you all better, so my celebration of choice is to hear from YOU!
Let me know where you're from, and make a suggestion for future posts, if you have one--I've received some great ideas for content from my readers before, and I am ready for more. Or just tell me what kind of posts you'd like more of!
And tell me, if you were stuck on a desert island with a video player/screen and ONE movie--what could you watch over and over??
And let me know if you are the 100,000th visitor!!! [It was someone shy from Seattle!]
[Today, Tuesday, I am off to Oz again all day--so I won't be able to comment till later, but please, keep 'em coming!]
If I were a real blogger, I'd have some crafty giveway from somebody's Etsy store all lined up.
But I've been in Oz all weekend.... And to be honest, one of my top pet peeves is having to mail anything other than a letter. (It's just too many steps to pull together a box, an address and a visit to the Post Office. I'm lazy like that.)
Instead, I will tell you how GRATEFUL I am for all my readers, faithful and unfaithful, daily or sporadic, known or unknown! YOU are the reason I keep this little blawg going--well, you and the kick I get out of keeping it up as a family album. Thank you for coming, for reading, for commenting. Your presence here is such an encouragement!
But I would love to know you all better, so my celebration of choice is to hear from YOU!
Let me know where you're from, and make a suggestion for future posts, if you have one--I've received some great ideas for content from my readers before, and I am ready for more. Or just tell me what kind of posts you'd like more of!
And tell me, if you were stuck on a desert island with a video player/screen and ONE movie--what could you watch over and over??
And let me know if you are the 100,000th visitor!!! [It was someone shy from Seattle!]
[Today, Tuesday, I am off to Oz again all day--so I won't be able to comment till later, but please, keep 'em coming!]
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Ash Wednesday Report, and Some Blogging Odds and Ends
We had such a blessed Ash Wednesday service last night!
It was not our first one--that was last year--but it was my first one at Light of Christ. Last year, Father Rooster just drove north after work to lead the service; the kids and I were still living back in the old country, so we attended the Ash Wednesday service at Rez.
But as I glanced around the quiet room last night, I realized that it was the first LOC Ash Wednesday service for many of us there! Several families weren't with us yet last Lent--hard as it is to remember LOC before they were part of it--and we had a couple visitors.
I think all were truly blessed. It was a great start to our Lenten season.
Speaking of the Lenten season, Jessica at Homemaking Through the Church Year is hosting a Lenten Carnival on March 8! So if you've posted recently about anything related to Lent, consider sending her the link. I'll remind my readers about the carnival when it is posted--should be some good reading!
And speaking of celebrating the church year, let me introduce you to a new blogger! Amy, at Splendor in the Ordinary, was part of Light of Christ last year during Lent, in spirit if not in regular attendance. They were living in Kenosha at the time, trying to discern their next steps--which led them to Pennsylvania, an orthodox Episcopal church, and a position for her husband as a professor at Eastern College. We were sorry to see them go, and now I am so glad to stay in touch with them through Amy's new blog! She has such creative and inspiring ideas for how to celebrate Sabbath and the church year with small children, and her humble heart and quick mind inspire me, an adult, as well!
So I've just added Amy to my Bloglines, and I thought I'd point out that in my sidebar, under the link "Blogs I Visit," there is a folder titled "Anglicans," which has links to all the Anglican mommy-bloggers I am aware of, and a few others as well--in case anyone else is searching out their fellow Anglicans.
For example, Janice Skivington is an Anglican artist that I know. Her works are just beautiful, and it's so interesting to read her commentary on her own work. Sometimes it's on the process, sometimes on the result, sometimes on the emotions or the colors...it's all fascinating!
Finally, I've been meaning to mention that if you'd like to receive posts from At A Hen's Pace in your email in-box, there is a link in my sidebar, now, that will allow you to do just that!
It was not our first one--that was last year--but it was my first one at Light of Christ. Last year, Father Rooster just drove north after work to lead the service; the kids and I were still living back in the old country, so we attended the Ash Wednesday service at Rez.
But as I glanced around the quiet room last night, I realized that it was the first LOC Ash Wednesday service for many of us there! Several families weren't with us yet last Lent--hard as it is to remember LOC before they were part of it--and we had a couple visitors.
I think all were truly blessed. It was a great start to our Lenten season.
***
Speaking of the Lenten season, Jessica at Homemaking Through the Church Year is hosting a Lenten Carnival on March 8! So if you've posted recently about anything related to Lent, consider sending her the link. I'll remind my readers about the carnival when it is posted--should be some good reading!
***
And speaking of celebrating the church year, let me introduce you to a new blogger! Amy, at Splendor in the Ordinary, was part of Light of Christ last year during Lent, in spirit if not in regular attendance. They were living in Kenosha at the time, trying to discern their next steps--which led them to Pennsylvania, an orthodox Episcopal church, and a position for her husband as a professor at Eastern College. We were sorry to see them go, and now I am so glad to stay in touch with them through Amy's new blog! She has such creative and inspiring ideas for how to celebrate Sabbath and the church year with small children, and her humble heart and quick mind inspire me, an adult, as well!
***
So I've just added Amy to my Bloglines, and I thought I'd point out that in my sidebar, under the link "Blogs I Visit," there is a folder titled "Anglicans," which has links to all the Anglican mommy-bloggers I am aware of, and a few others as well--in case anyone else is searching out their fellow Anglicans.
For example, Janice Skivington is an Anglican artist that I know. Her works are just beautiful, and it's so interesting to read her commentary on her own work. Sometimes it's on the process, sometimes on the result, sometimes on the emotions or the colors...it's all fascinating!
***
Finally, I've been meaning to mention that if you'd like to receive posts from At A Hen's Pace in your email in-box, there is a link in my sidebar, now, that will allow you to do just that!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Happy New Year, Everybody...
...and a happy blogiversary to me!
Three years ago, on New Year's Eve, it seemed like the right timing to begin a new project:
This blog.
It's been one of the most rewarding ones I have ever taken on.
Here's to another year...
(Lord willin' and the creek don't rise)
..and may God be gracious to us all in it!
Three years ago, on New Year's Eve, it seemed like the right timing to begin a new project:
This blog.
It's been one of the most rewarding ones I have ever taken on.
Here's to another year...
(Lord willin' and the creek don't rise)
..and may God be gracious to us all in it!
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Cool Thoughts on Blogging
This post is one of the best word pictures I have ever read of why blogging and reading blogs is such a wonderful thing! To fully appreciate her words, you need to know that Linds has been laid up for months, thanks to an injured knee and the British health care system. (Her blog is a testimonial to why we shouldn't entertain a microseconds' thought of bringing socialized medicine to the US of A!)
But I digress. Here is a sample from Linds:
I have been thinking about just what I would have done without this blog in recent days/weeks/months. I may well have been in a padded cell by now. But, even though I have been stuck here, I have been transported all over the world into your lives, and my mental world has expanded as far as my fingers will take it. All I have to do, is click the mouse and I enter yet another world. So very many out there. There is no reason to bemoan the fact that I don't have any books to read when I have a world at my fingertips. Millions of worlds. Of words.
...I am sitting here wondering why our parents and grandparents don't do this more....
And you want to finish that thought, don't you? If you blog, enjoy reading blogs or have ever thought about blogging yourself, you must go and read the rest!
But I digress. Here is a sample from Linds:
I have been thinking about just what I would have done without this blog in recent days/weeks/months. I may well have been in a padded cell by now. But, even though I have been stuck here, I have been transported all over the world into your lives, and my mental world has expanded as far as my fingers will take it. All I have to do, is click the mouse and I enter yet another world. So very many out there. There is no reason to bemoan the fact that I don't have any books to read when I have a world at my fingertips. Millions of worlds. Of words.
...I am sitting here wondering why our parents and grandparents don't do this more....
And you want to finish that thought, don't you? If you blog, enjoy reading blogs or have ever thought about blogging yourself, you must go and read the rest!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Tag!
In one of the longest-running games of tag on record, I'm sure...
I was tagged back in late July, just before we left on vacation, by Rev. Colin at Share My Journey, who said very nice things about our family here. I consider him one of my more exotic readers, since he is a Presbyterian minister in Wales!
You're supposed to share 6 random things about yourself, then tag 6 other bloggers.
Okay, my random things...
1. I am in love with my hardwood floors. How did I ever live without them? No worries about protecting carpets, no traffic pattern grime, nothing. They look as beautiful as the day we moved in, and I haven't washed them once. (Okay, I have worked on a few black scuff marks while I was on the phone.)
2. I have to have a Dr. Pepper every afternoon, no earlier than 3:00 and no later than 6. (If after 6, it keeps me up at night; if before 3, it puts me right to sleep, rather than helping me up out of that afternoon siesta feeling the way it does after 3:00.) I also have to have my cup of coffee in the morning, and I have to have a half cup with lunch, or else I get headaches.
I used to have headaches all the time and thought I must be allergic to everything, until I figured out how to balance my food with a little caffeine. Sounds weird, I know, but it works for me.
3. Our plumber is jack-hammering away in our basement as I type, putting in the pipes and water lines we need for a shower, toilet and sink in our basement guest-suite-to-be. Our carpenter was here yesterday, deciding exactly where the walls and doors will be. I AM SO EXCITED!!!
4. I have so many boxes I can't unpack until the construction dust has settled--stuff to keep on shelves in the narrow, L-shaped storage room that will be created by the leftover space.
4. My two high schoolers have a day off from school today, and they're trying to sleep in, of course, with all that noise. This district is so weird--all their teacher inservice days are on Wednesday! A friend from IL and I were trying to find a day this fall that all of our kids might have off, and we don't have any until Thanksgiving.
5. I hate cucumber and melons. I could probably force myself to eat them, if they didn't make me burp...and taste and retaste them!
6. My boys started piano lessons this week, and now Chicklet is begging to learn too. I can't afford lessons for them all, so I'm thinking of starting her out myself. (I've taken many years of lessons, long ago....) The trouble is, between helping the boys pick out new songs and teaching her, I'm not sure if I have enough time and patience to go around!
I am a living, breathing stereotype-buster of the mistaken idea that homeschool moms must have infinite patience. It is not my strong suit. Listening to a new reader sooouuunnnnnd ooouuut woooorrrrrdss is up there on my list of least favorite things. I'm fine for the first five minutes, then my skin starts to crawl.
So there are my six things! And now, as I warned, I'm tagging the bloggers I honored yesterday!
Here are the rules:
Link to the person who 'tagged' you.
Post the rules on your blog: in other words, what you are reading now.
Write 6 random things about yourself.
Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them.
Let each person know they have been tagged, and leave a comment on their Blog.
Finally, let the 'Tagger' know when your entry is up.
I was tagged back in late July, just before we left on vacation, by Rev. Colin at Share My Journey, who said very nice things about our family here. I consider him one of my more exotic readers, since he is a Presbyterian minister in Wales!
You're supposed to share 6 random things about yourself, then tag 6 other bloggers.
Okay, my random things...
1. I am in love with my hardwood floors. How did I ever live without them? No worries about protecting carpets, no traffic pattern grime, nothing. They look as beautiful as the day we moved in, and I haven't washed them once. (Okay, I have worked on a few black scuff marks while I was on the phone.)
2. I have to have a Dr. Pepper every afternoon, no earlier than 3:00 and no later than 6. (If after 6, it keeps me up at night; if before 3, it puts me right to sleep, rather than helping me up out of that afternoon siesta feeling the way it does after 3:00.) I also have to have my cup of coffee in the morning, and I have to have a half cup with lunch, or else I get headaches.
I used to have headaches all the time and thought I must be allergic to everything, until I figured out how to balance my food with a little caffeine. Sounds weird, I know, but it works for me.
3. Our plumber is jack-hammering away in our basement as I type, putting in the pipes and water lines we need for a shower, toilet and sink in our basement guest-suite-to-be. Our carpenter was here yesterday, deciding exactly where the walls and doors will be. I AM SO EXCITED!!!
4. I have so many boxes I can't unpack until the construction dust has settled--stuff to keep on shelves in the narrow, L-shaped storage room that will be created by the leftover space.
4. My two high schoolers have a day off from school today, and they're trying to sleep in, of course, with all that noise. This district is so weird--all their teacher inservice days are on Wednesday! A friend from IL and I were trying to find a day this fall that all of our kids might have off, and we don't have any until Thanksgiving.
5. I hate cucumber and melons. I could probably force myself to eat them, if they didn't make me burp...and taste and retaste them!
6. My boys started piano lessons this week, and now Chicklet is begging to learn too. I can't afford lessons for them all, so I'm thinking of starting her out myself. (I've taken many years of lessons, long ago....) The trouble is, between helping the boys pick out new songs and teaching her, I'm not sure if I have enough time and patience to go around!
I am a living, breathing stereotype-buster of the mistaken idea that homeschool moms must have infinite patience. It is not my strong suit. Listening to a new reader sooouuunnnnnd ooouuut woooorrrrrdss is up there on my list of least favorite things. I'm fine for the first five minutes, then my skin starts to crawl.
So there are my six things! And now, as I warned, I'm tagging the bloggers I honored yesterday!
Here are the rules:
Link to the person who 'tagged' you.
Post the rules on your blog: in other words, what you are reading now.
Write 6 random things about yourself.
Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them.
Let each person know they have been tagged, and leave a comment on their Blog.
Finally, let the 'Tagger' know when your entry is up.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
I'm Brilliante
Jena at Yarns of the Heart has gifted me with an award!
I'm supposed to pass it on now to any number of bloggers, but for some reason I'm feeling paralyzed by this requirement. There are so many blogs out there, and I'm having trouble keeping up with any of them! (Oh, the guilt.) And how are we defining "brilliante"? (The literalist in me wants to know.) The directions just say pass it on.... (Not giving the rule-follower inside much to work with, are we?)
So I am giving myself permission to hand these out in a purely arbitrary fashion. Not in the "random" sense of the word, but "based on personal whim."
There. I feel better already.
And so the first one goes to my sister-in-law Summer at Crazy Days of Summer because I just love her, and she posts pictures and more about my delightful nieces, and for being her sweet/feisty/Southern/sunny self in every post!
Next goes to my real-life friend Amy, at Experience Imagination, to encourage her to post more often! She's a superb writer; she's also funny, insightful, honest and quirky--even in the midst of trial.
Linds at Rocking Chair Reflections deserves one, for being one of my most faithful, most encouraging commentors, as well as for her spunky commentary on life, current events, and the British healthcare system. ;)
I can't forget Kathie at A Sparrow's Home because she's also such a faithful, prayerful, encouraging commentor, and a fellow pastor's wife, and her blog is a place of peace and beauty. (She lives on one of the most beautiful spots on earth: Prince Edward Island.)
My next pick is another real-life friend, Kathy at Square Peg into a Round Hole, because I am impressed by her thoughtful commentary on excellent books and her passion for the church and how it worships. And she knits!
My final award goes to Sherry at Semicolon (one of the first blogs I ever read regularly), because anyone who can homeschool eight kids, read a million books a year, blog about every one of them, and still visit and occasionally comment here deserves an award from me!
I am now on a roll, thinking of other people and blogs I love, but I am drawing the line at six. Otherwise I'd be here all night....
Plus--conveniently--I need six names for a meme I owe someone, so I am conserving time and energy (my own at least--bwa ha ha) by tagging each of these honorees. (They should keep their eyes open for a post to come in the next few days. With privilege comes responsibility, as I am always telling my kids!)
Now, go forth, be brilliante and share the love.
P.S.
My readers are all brilliante too!!!
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Upcoming Blog Tour
James Spiegel is going on a blog tour this summer, and I get to help interview him!
Who is James Spiegel and what it is a blog tour?
Dr. Spiegel is an author and professor of philosophy at Taylor University, a Christian college in Upland, IN. (It's one that we'll certainly be encouraging our kids to consider!)
A blog tour reminds me of those "progressive dinners," where you have appetizers at one home, the salad course at the next, etc. (Was it only in the 70's when those were popular, or are they still alive and well?) It's an extended interview, over a week or two, with varied and sundry bloggers posing questions from all angles for the author, with one question and answer of the interview posted each day at a different blog.
I've never participated in one before, but I am thoroughly enjoying Dr. Spiegel's book, Gum, Geckos and God, so far. It's an engaging mix of theology, philosophy, parenting and entertainment.
And I am delighted to be in the company of these great bloggers on the tour!
Here is the schedule for this blog tour (for links to each blog, see the Zondervan website):
July 21 - Spunky Homeschool
July 22 - Beauty from the Heart
July 23 - At a Hen’s Pace
July 24 - A Holy Experience
July 25 - Family Voice
July 28 - Ted Wins
July 29 - In a Mirror Dimly
July 30 - Oversight of Souls
July 31 - Christians in Context
August 1 - The A-Team Blog
August 4 - Embarking
August 5 - Challies.com
Delighted, indeed!
I feel like such a mommy blogger among so many astute minds. :)
Who is James Spiegel and what it is a blog tour?
Dr. Spiegel is an author and professor of philosophy at Taylor University, a Christian college in Upland, IN. (It's one that we'll certainly be encouraging our kids to consider!)
A blog tour reminds me of those "progressive dinners," where you have appetizers at one home, the salad course at the next, etc. (Was it only in the 70's when those were popular, or are they still alive and well?) It's an extended interview, over a week or two, with varied and sundry bloggers posing questions from all angles for the author, with one question and answer of the interview posted each day at a different blog.
I've never participated in one before, but I am thoroughly enjoying Dr. Spiegel's book, Gum, Geckos and God, so far. It's an engaging mix of theology, philosophy, parenting and entertainment.
And I am delighted to be in the company of these great bloggers on the tour!
Here is the schedule for this blog tour (for links to each blog, see the Zondervan website):
July 21 - Spunky Homeschool
July 22 - Beauty from the Heart
July 23 - At a Hen’s Pace
July 24 - A Holy Experience
July 25 - Family Voice
July 28 - Ted Wins
July 29 - In a Mirror Dimly
July 30 - Oversight of Souls
July 31 - Christians in Context
August 1 - The A-Team Blog
August 4 - Embarking
August 5 - Challies.com
Delighted, indeed!
I feel like such a mommy blogger among so many astute minds. :)
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
On Commenting
If you've ever wondered whether you should leave a comment on a blog or not...how comments are viewed by bloggers and by other readers...whether it's okay to read and never comment...there's a great post at I Should Be Folding Laundry which will be enlightening!! (HT to Fried Okra)
I'd just emphasize what she said about it being fine NOT to comment too. Numbers are also affirming, and so is someone telling me in person or in an email that they read my blog! It is a HUGE compliment to me just knowing that people take time, regularly or irregularly, to read what I've written. So thanks to everyone who's ever let me know (in any way) that you're out there!
Along these lines, I've been feeling the need to apologize to some of my blogging friends that I haven't been able to visit and comment much at your blogs for the last month or so, since we found out we are moving! I hope y'all see this and understand. I KNOW so many of you do. I miss your wisdom, your inspiration, your hilarity, your stories. I'm trying to tune in when I'm able--and when I do, I compulsively read back through everything I've missed, not just the top post--so I don't miss it all. I just get it late!
A comment is more than just a comment, it's feedback, it's conversation, it's appreciation. You not only hold our "paycheck" in your hands, you also hold our longevity. A blogger who is appreciated is more likely to be a happy blogger and a happy blogger blogs for a long time and doesn't stop because they are under appreciated or frustrated.
I'd just emphasize what she said about it being fine NOT to comment too. Numbers are also affirming, and so is someone telling me in person or in an email that they read my blog! It is a HUGE compliment to me just knowing that people take time, regularly or irregularly, to read what I've written. So thanks to everyone who's ever let me know (in any way) that you're out there!
Along these lines, I've been feeling the need to apologize to some of my blogging friends that I haven't been able to visit and comment much at your blogs for the last month or so, since we found out we are moving! I hope y'all see this and understand. I KNOW so many of you do. I miss your wisdom, your inspiration, your hilarity, your stories. I'm trying to tune in when I'm able--and when I do, I compulsively read back through everything I've missed, not just the top post--so I don't miss it all. I just get it late!
Monday, January 28, 2008
50,000; Fifty Things
Hey! Last night we hit 50,000 visits on the site meter!
I am so grateful to everyone who visits this little corner regularly. Thank you so much for encouraging me, just by checking in here. It makes it a lot more fun, that y'all do that.
I never did the "100 Things About Me" meme when I wrote my 100th post, so maybe, in honor of 50,000 hits, I'll list 50 things about me.
I'll try to make some of them things you might be surprised to learn about me, thus answering Amy's question on my birthday Q & A too! (I haven't forgotten about finishing that, by the way--but I lost most of my answers when my laptop died last week, because I'd been working on them in Word, on the way to and from Wisconsin, and I haven't had the heart to rewrite them yet.)
She asked, "What is one thing that most people don't know about you, and would be surprised to find out?"
Well, here are 50 things, maybe...
1. My favorite color used to be blue, but now I'm not sure what it is. I like certain greens and lavenders a lot. And pink. And peach. And certain blues. My favorite combination of colors, since childhood, has been blue, brown, green and pink.
2. I love Dean's Chocolate Moose Tracks ice cream.
3. I used to eat a bowl of ice cream every night for dessert. Can't do that every night now.
4. But I am blessed with a high metabolism.
5. I am also very headache-prone, maybe as a result of the high metabolism. I can't eat sugar or white flour until after dinner or I get a headache--unless I've had enough coffee.
6. I never drank coffee for years until I discovered that it helped me not get headaches.
7. But I can't drink it after 1:00 or I can't sleep.
8. When I was in 6th grade, I won the City-Wide Spelling Bee and went to the State Spelling Bee. I was eliminated in the first round. I barely heard of studying for it.
9. In grade school, I read every horse book ever written and was known for being horse-crazy.
10. I had a pony from 4th to 12th grade. We sold him the day after I graduated. He was dapple gray with a white mane and tail, and he was so beautiful that when I took him to the fair, other owners wanted to breed their little pony mares to him--but alas, he was a gelding. His name was Prince.
10. In high school, my extra-curricular activities included choir, marching band, concert band, quiz team, and playing in the pit orchestra for musicals.
11. My senior year I finally got up the nerve to audition for the musical, and was in the Chorus for--don't laugh!!--a very white-bread production of The Wiz. I was stiff as a board.
12. I played piano from 3rd grade to 6th grade, when my piano teacher died suddenly. I took lessons again during 12th grade, but haven't played much since.
13. I played saxophone from 5th grade through my first semester in college.
14. My freshman year in high school, we had so many saxes that the director asked six of the freshman players to learn other instruments for concert band. He handed me the school's brand-new oboe, and a Teach Yourself Oboe book and tape. "I'd rather have no oboe than a bad oboe," he warned, "so we'll see how you do." Four years later, I was still playing oboe, so I assumed I was doing all right.
15. Many years later, I started having a recurring dream: I was always looking for my oboe before a concert and I could never find it. As I'd wake, I'd realize that of course I never owned one.
16. When I got a chance to buy one at a bargain price, I did. But it's hard to keep up my lip without a reason to play. Someday I'd like to be in a woodwind quintet again.
17. I started out majoring in literature at Wheaton College, planning to get a secondary teaching certificate.
18. But I switched to Elementary Education because I wanted more education courses, and I took too many of my advisor's lit courses and just didn't click with his highly emotional teaching style.
19. Later I regretted not majoring in Lit. Now, I'd probably love that passionate prof's classes.
20. If I went back for a master's, it would probably be in Lit.
21. But I have little interest in getting a master's.
22. And no, contrary to what you'd think, my education courses really don't help at all with homeschooling.
23. I never thought I'd homeschool.
24. My dad was a public school biology teacher for 33 years and he had a great witness in a tough high school. I thought I'd follow in his footsteps.
25. But I couldn't get a teaching job in the area where Papa Rooster got his first job, in the northern suburbs of Chicago.
26. So I worked as a substitute teacher for 6 months, till a friend encouraged me to apply for a managerial job at his company, Allstate Life Insurance Company.
27. I spent one year as a manager in their Accounting Department. Then I asked to be transferred and trained as a life insurance underwriter.
28. Now THAT was a fun job. I'd go back to that before I'd go back to teaching, I think, except for not getting summers off.....
29. As an underwriter, I read medical reports and learned about all kinds of diseases and conditions like high-blood pressure and how they affect average longevity. I also had to make sure that beneficiaries had an "insurable interest" in the covered life--in other words, that the person wasn't worth more dead than alive to the beneficiary. I had to figure out how much extra to charge motorcyclists, hang-gliders, heavy drinkers and folks with other dangerous recreational interests. And explain my decisions to unhappy insurance agents. There was never a dull moment!
30. After our oldest was born, I and another underwriter who was also a new mom pioneered a job-sharing arrangement (this was back in 1991). I worked Monday and Friday, and she worked Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday. It worked out great. They wrote us up in the company magazine.
31. After we both had our second babies, we split the week evenly and my new schedule was every other Wednesday, and every Thursday and Friday for about 18 months. (The three-day weeks were killers.) Then Allstate moved our office another 15 minutes north and I resigned; I already drove 45+ minutes to work, so my commute would have been over an hour.
32. It had been God's provision for us during that time, though; while Papa Rooster went to grad school in business (U of Chicago), we lived on my half-time salary and benefits. I had risen quickly to Senior Underwriter, and I once figured out that, working two days a week, I was making more than some of my fellow education majors who'd taken teaching jobs at low-paying parochical school teaching jobs!
33. I was so happy to stay home full-time. I thought I'd miss the stimulation of a job, but I didn't miss it at all after the first week. I found I was much MORE stimulated by things I now had time for, like mothering and home-making projects--I actually sewed a little those first couple years at home--and a Mom's Bible Study and friends and books.
34. I've never looked back or had any desire to work again.
35. Although I did work from home a little bit after that, to help make ends meet and pay off Papa R's grad school bills. I did some data-entry for this ministry, and for about six months before my third child was born, I was an assistant to the head of this ministry, Mario Bergner, who is still a dear friend.... (waving) Hi Mario!!
36. It was after our third child was born that our oldest started half-day early childhood classes at the local elementary school, because of an obvious speech delay. Shortly after that he was diagnosed with PDD-NOS, high-functioning--autism, in other words.
37. The teachers in his classroom are the ones who got me thinking about homeschooling. "He does pretty well one-on-one," they said, "but in a group, we lose him."
38. I started interviewing all three moms I knew who homeschooled. They all gave me books to read.
39. After his third year of the half-day program, he was going to go into the regular kindergarten as a 6-year-old, with an aide; but in the classroom, he seemed unenthusiastic and unmotivated compared to how we observed him at home with his siblings. It seemed like the best thing for him to try homeschooling.
40. I included my daughter in his kindergarten year and in his first grade year. But when she started pulling ahead of him in reading and got upset when I worked extra with him, I put her in public school in January of her first-grade year (his 2nd grade year) so I could concentrate on him.
41. I wasn't completely sold on homeschooling for all my kids until then. She had a good experience, but it was too hard for me to juggle the needs of my student at home with the expectations of the school. And I was bad at dealing with their paperwork and deadlines.
42. This year is my 11th year of homeschooling.
43. I love to read in bed but rarely get to, unless Papa Rooster is out of town.
44. He's always ready to turn the lights out before I am. He's an early bird and I'm a night owl.
45. I hate to cook.
46. I like it better when it's a familiar recipe and I have an audio book to listen to.
47. I've always loved to write and wrote a chapter book when I was in 4th grade.
48. But in college I hated to write papers. I wish I had majored in Lit and taken more creative writing courses.
49. After I got married, I started writing an annual Christmas letter to family and friends that everyone always told me they really looked forward to. I ought to do more writing, they said. (Thank you, everyone who encouraged me!)
50. So eventually, I started this blog.
I am so grateful to everyone who visits this little corner regularly. Thank you so much for encouraging me, just by checking in here. It makes it a lot more fun, that y'all do that.
I never did the "100 Things About Me" meme when I wrote my 100th post, so maybe, in honor of 50,000 hits, I'll list 50 things about me.
I'll try to make some of them things you might be surprised to learn about me, thus answering Amy's question on my birthday Q & A too! (I haven't forgotten about finishing that, by the way--but I lost most of my answers when my laptop died last week, because I'd been working on them in Word, on the way to and from Wisconsin, and I haven't had the heart to rewrite them yet.)
She asked, "What is one thing that most people don't know about you, and would be surprised to find out?"
Well, here are 50 things, maybe...
1. My favorite color used to be blue, but now I'm not sure what it is. I like certain greens and lavenders a lot. And pink. And peach. And certain blues. My favorite combination of colors, since childhood, has been blue, brown, green and pink.
2. I love Dean's Chocolate Moose Tracks ice cream.
3. I used to eat a bowl of ice cream every night for dessert. Can't do that every night now.
4. But I am blessed with a high metabolism.
5. I am also very headache-prone, maybe as a result of the high metabolism. I can't eat sugar or white flour until after dinner or I get a headache--unless I've had enough coffee.
6. I never drank coffee for years until I discovered that it helped me not get headaches.
7. But I can't drink it after 1:00 or I can't sleep.
8. When I was in 6th grade, I won the City-Wide Spelling Bee and went to the State Spelling Bee. I was eliminated in the first round. I barely heard of studying for it.
9. In grade school, I read every horse book ever written and was known for being horse-crazy.
10. I had a pony from 4th to 12th grade. We sold him the day after I graduated. He was dapple gray with a white mane and tail, and he was so beautiful that when I took him to the fair, other owners wanted to breed their little pony mares to him--but alas, he was a gelding. His name was Prince.
10. In high school, my extra-curricular activities included choir, marching band, concert band, quiz team, and playing in the pit orchestra for musicals.
11. My senior year I finally got up the nerve to audition for the musical, and was in the Chorus for--don't laugh!!--a very white-bread production of The Wiz. I was stiff as a board.
12. I played piano from 3rd grade to 6th grade, when my piano teacher died suddenly. I took lessons again during 12th grade, but haven't played much since.
13. I played saxophone from 5th grade through my first semester in college.
14. My freshman year in high school, we had so many saxes that the director asked six of the freshman players to learn other instruments for concert band. He handed me the school's brand-new oboe, and a Teach Yourself Oboe book and tape. "I'd rather have no oboe than a bad oboe," he warned, "so we'll see how you do." Four years later, I was still playing oboe, so I assumed I was doing all right.
15. Many years later, I started having a recurring dream: I was always looking for my oboe before a concert and I could never find it. As I'd wake, I'd realize that of course I never owned one.
16. When I got a chance to buy one at a bargain price, I did. But it's hard to keep up my lip without a reason to play. Someday I'd like to be in a woodwind quintet again.
17. I started out majoring in literature at Wheaton College, planning to get a secondary teaching certificate.
18. But I switched to Elementary Education because I wanted more education courses, and I took too many of my advisor's lit courses and just didn't click with his highly emotional teaching style.
19. Later I regretted not majoring in Lit. Now, I'd probably love that passionate prof's classes.
20. If I went back for a master's, it would probably be in Lit.
21. But I have little interest in getting a master's.
22. And no, contrary to what you'd think, my education courses really don't help at all with homeschooling.
23. I never thought I'd homeschool.
24. My dad was a public school biology teacher for 33 years and he had a great witness in a tough high school. I thought I'd follow in his footsteps.
25. But I couldn't get a teaching job in the area where Papa Rooster got his first job, in the northern suburbs of Chicago.
26. So I worked as a substitute teacher for 6 months, till a friend encouraged me to apply for a managerial job at his company, Allstate Life Insurance Company.
27. I spent one year as a manager in their Accounting Department. Then I asked to be transferred and trained as a life insurance underwriter.
28. Now THAT was a fun job. I'd go back to that before I'd go back to teaching, I think, except for not getting summers off.....
29. As an underwriter, I read medical reports and learned about all kinds of diseases and conditions like high-blood pressure and how they affect average longevity. I also had to make sure that beneficiaries had an "insurable interest" in the covered life--in other words, that the person wasn't worth more dead than alive to the beneficiary. I had to figure out how much extra to charge motorcyclists, hang-gliders, heavy drinkers and folks with other dangerous recreational interests. And explain my decisions to unhappy insurance agents. There was never a dull moment!
30. After our oldest was born, I and another underwriter who was also a new mom pioneered a job-sharing arrangement (this was back in 1991). I worked Monday and Friday, and she worked Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday. It worked out great. They wrote us up in the company magazine.
31. After we both had our second babies, we split the week evenly and my new schedule was every other Wednesday, and every Thursday and Friday for about 18 months. (The three-day weeks were killers.) Then Allstate moved our office another 15 minutes north and I resigned; I already drove 45+ minutes to work, so my commute would have been over an hour.
32. It had been God's provision for us during that time, though; while Papa Rooster went to grad school in business (U of Chicago), we lived on my half-time salary and benefits. I had risen quickly to Senior Underwriter, and I once figured out that, working two days a week, I was making more than some of my fellow education majors who'd taken teaching jobs at low-paying parochical school teaching jobs!
33. I was so happy to stay home full-time. I thought I'd miss the stimulation of a job, but I didn't miss it at all after the first week. I found I was much MORE stimulated by things I now had time for, like mothering and home-making projects--I actually sewed a little those first couple years at home--and a Mom's Bible Study and friends and books.
34. I've never looked back or had any desire to work again.
35. Although I did work from home a little bit after that, to help make ends meet and pay off Papa R's grad school bills. I did some data-entry for this ministry, and for about six months before my third child was born, I was an assistant to the head of this ministry, Mario Bergner, who is still a dear friend.... (waving) Hi Mario!!
36. It was after our third child was born that our oldest started half-day early childhood classes at the local elementary school, because of an obvious speech delay. Shortly after that he was diagnosed with PDD-NOS, high-functioning--autism, in other words.
37. The teachers in his classroom are the ones who got me thinking about homeschooling. "He does pretty well one-on-one," they said, "but in a group, we lose him."
38. I started interviewing all three moms I knew who homeschooled. They all gave me books to read.
39. After his third year of the half-day program, he was going to go into the regular kindergarten as a 6-year-old, with an aide; but in the classroom, he seemed unenthusiastic and unmotivated compared to how we observed him at home with his siblings. It seemed like the best thing for him to try homeschooling.
40. I included my daughter in his kindergarten year and in his first grade year. But when she started pulling ahead of him in reading and got upset when I worked extra with him, I put her in public school in January of her first-grade year (his 2nd grade year) so I could concentrate on him.
41. I wasn't completely sold on homeschooling for all my kids until then. She had a good experience, but it was too hard for me to juggle the needs of my student at home with the expectations of the school. And I was bad at dealing with their paperwork and deadlines.
42. This year is my 11th year of homeschooling.
43. I love to read in bed but rarely get to, unless Papa Rooster is out of town.
44. He's always ready to turn the lights out before I am. He's an early bird and I'm a night owl.
45. I hate to cook.
46. I like it better when it's a familiar recipe and I have an audio book to listen to.
47. I've always loved to write and wrote a chapter book when I was in 4th grade.
48. But in college I hated to write papers. I wish I had majored in Lit and taken more creative writing courses.
49. After I got married, I started writing an annual Christmas letter to family and friends that everyone always told me they really looked forward to. I ought to do more writing, they said. (Thank you, everyone who encouraged me!)
50. So eventually, I started this blog.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Happy Two Years to Me
Two years ago today, I felt the Lord's permission to begin this online journal.
"I'm so glad you're blogging," Papa Rooster said to me a few weeks ago.
"Really? Why?" I asked, curious to hear his answer.
"Well, it's a creative outlet for you. I see how much you enjoy it--and that makes me happy.
I like to read your blog while I'm at work. It helps me feel connected, even when I'm not at home.
And I'm glad you're writing down all the important things that are happening. It's great for our family to have a record of it all. The kids are going to love to look back at it someday."
"Don't you think maybe I spend too much time on it sometimes?" I asked. (I'm a night owl and he's not!)
"Sometimes," he wryly admitted. "But it's worth it."
So I guess I will continue, with that vote of confidence from the person whose opinion matters most to me! Thank you so much, dear, for your blessing, your support and for being my biggest fan.
I really do enjoy this daily little mini-vacation into the realm of words, ideas, images and conversation. Though blogging may seem like a monologue, I think of it more as a dialogue with readers--be they family, friends, other bloggers, or readers unidentified to me. I don't want to just talk aloud to myself! Besides sharing our family news, I try to imagine what topics would be interesting to others, that I'm reasonably qualified to write on, and I enjoy trying to explore them in an engaging way.
So I'd love it if, to celebrate my two-year blogging anniversary, you'd leave me a comment on this post--even if you're reading it later on this week. Leave me an idea, ask a question, tell me what kind of posts you especially enjoy, or just introduce yourself and tell me where you're from!
(If you've never commented before, it's easy. Click on the "Comments" link at the end of this post, scroll down and type your comment in the box labeled "Leave Your Comment" and sign it with your name, pseudonym, city, or whatever identifier you wish to leave. Then select Anonymous (right below the comment window) and type the letters you see in the window below that. Hit Preview, if you wish to see how your comment will look, and end by clicking on Publish. If you'd rather send me an email, that's fine too! My address is in the sidebar.)
So begins, tomorrow, another year of blogging. Another year of praying, reading, cooking, cleaning, homeschooling, parenting, children's theater, church-planting, and being (a mom, a wife, a daughter, a friend, a Christian)--and those are just the most probable activities I'll fill the year with. Nothing is a certainty, of course, and God alone knows what else 2008 will hold. A move, we hope? New relationships and responsibilities? I am just so glad to entrust it all to my Lord. He will carry it all until I need to.
***
"I'm so glad you're blogging," Papa Rooster said to me a few weeks ago.
"Really? Why?" I asked, curious to hear his answer.
"Well, it's a creative outlet for you. I see how much you enjoy it--and that makes me happy.
I like to read your blog while I'm at work. It helps me feel connected, even when I'm not at home.
And I'm glad you're writing down all the important things that are happening. It's great for our family to have a record of it all. The kids are going to love to look back at it someday."
"Don't you think maybe I spend too much time on it sometimes?" I asked. (I'm a night owl and he's not!)
"Sometimes," he wryly admitted. "But it's worth it."
***
So I guess I will continue, with that vote of confidence from the person whose opinion matters most to me! Thank you so much, dear, for your blessing, your support and for being my biggest fan.
I really do enjoy this daily little mini-vacation into the realm of words, ideas, images and conversation. Though blogging may seem like a monologue, I think of it more as a dialogue with readers--be they family, friends, other bloggers, or readers unidentified to me. I don't want to just talk aloud to myself! Besides sharing our family news, I try to imagine what topics would be interesting to others, that I'm reasonably qualified to write on, and I enjoy trying to explore them in an engaging way.
So I'd love it if, to celebrate my two-year blogging anniversary, you'd leave me a comment on this post--even if you're reading it later on this week. Leave me an idea, ask a question, tell me what kind of posts you especially enjoy, or just introduce yourself and tell me where you're from!
(If you've never commented before, it's easy. Click on the "Comments" link at the end of this post, scroll down and type your comment in the box labeled "Leave Your Comment" and sign it with your name, pseudonym, city, or whatever identifier you wish to leave. Then select Anonymous (right below the comment window) and type the letters you see in the window below that. Hit Preview, if you wish to see how your comment will look, and end by clicking on Publish. If you'd rather send me an email, that's fine too! My address is in the sidebar.)
So begins, tomorrow, another year of blogging. Another year of praying, reading, cooking, cleaning, homeschooling, parenting, children's theater, church-planting, and being (a mom, a wife, a daughter, a friend, a Christian)--and those are just the most probable activities I'll fill the year with. Nothing is a certainty, of course, and God alone knows what else 2008 will hold. A move, we hope? New relationships and responsibilities? I am just so glad to entrust it all to my Lord. He will carry it all until I need to.
A BLESSED 2008 TO YOU ALL!
(Now, don't forget to leave me a comment!)
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Welcome!
Welcome to the Carnival of Anglican Advent Traditions! It is our hope that Anglicans and non-Anglicans alike will be encouraged and inspired to celebrate Advent this year--a whole season of its own.
Advent begins--not always on Dec. 1, as most children's Advent calendars do--but four Sundays before Christmas, which would be this Sunday, December 2. Advent officially begins a new liturgical year on the church calendar.
Christmas is the second season in the liturgical year, and it begins on December 25 and continues for 12 days ("The Twelve Days of Christmas") until it ends with "Twelfth Night" on January 5. (On January 6 the next season, Epiphany, begins.)
Traditionally, no Christmas carols were played, sung or listened to during Advent, and no Christmas tree was put up until Christmas Eve--not before midnight in the strictly observant. (As a child, weren't you always surprised by the stories where the children woke up on Christmas morning and saw the tree for the first time? Now you know why!)
So what can we do during Advent to prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ? Our Carnival participants have lots of inspiring ideas for Anglicans and all others who wish to enter into the meaning of this season of preparation:
Kerry at A Ten O'Clock Scholar invites you into her home with five virtual rooms of information and ideas! (Don't miss the Family Calendar, with a neat schedule of what to do, when!)
Anne Kennedy at An Undercurrent of Hostility posts "a hodgepodge of our current Advent traditions and a little sermonizing thereon."
Amy at Experience Imagination tells about a couple of traditions she and her husband stumbled onto that are so good, they've continued them!
Elaine at Blog in My Eye and Laura at 10 Million Miles are starting small this year, and they both recommend Advent devotionals that sound worth checking out.
My post reflects a love of words and the Word, with an emphasis on the Daily Office readings for Advent.
From the other side of the Atlantic, Linds at Rocking Chair Reflections shares what sounds like a uniquely British Advent tradition called the Christingle service. (Is anyone else familiar with it? In her travels, she's only seen it in England.)
Finally, Father Steve Hoskins, a personal friend and rector of Christ Our Hope Anglican Church in Fort Collins, CO, a young AMIA church plant, contributes a meditation on the Anglican tradition of Confession as it relates to Advent.
NEWLY ADDED: From Qatar, Laura at My Quotidian Mysteries describes her journey from evangelicalism to liturgy, and her tradition of capturing the spirit of Advent in poetry each year. (Wheaties, she's a fellow alum.)
And now, check in the comments! I'm posting a few suggestions there from my friend Margie Fawcett. Her blog is currently devoted to updates on her husband John's battle with cancer, but she's speaking on Advent to our Mom's group this Thursday and has several great ideas she emailed to me.
And if you are an Anglican reader or blogger, please be sure and leave a comment with your family's Advent traditions. This Carnival is also about building community among Anglicans online--as it seems we are few and far between. (Non-Anglicans, please feel free to join us in the comments too!)
Thank you so much for joining us, and may you have a very blessed Advent season.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Don't forget about the first-ever Carnival of Anglican Advent Traditions! (Details here.) Post your submission(s) on your blog and email the URL of the post(s) to me by noon on Tuesday!
It's going to be so exciting to meet new Anglican--or any liturgically-minded--bloggers and readers. I can't wait to be inspired by everyone's ideas!
Now that Thanksgiving is over, I'm ready to think about Advent--how about you?
Friday, November 09, 2007
What's Up With This?
I've been getting a lot of hits lately (those are visits to this site) by people searching for Mama's Bank Account by Kathryn Forbes. I wrote a review of this delightful little book awhile back.
But tonight, my site meter shows that seven people from seven different states (NY, VA, MS, IL, AZ, TX and "North America") visited me as a result of Googling on this phrase--all between 8:49 and 9:46 in my time zone!
Why would so many people be thinking about the same book at the same time on a Friday night, and all get up to search the internet for a review of it?
Surprisingly, no other Googlers even visited me tonight, except someone searching for a "burping story." And interestingly enough, the two most recent search engine hits before the outbreak of Mama's Bank Account searchers, earlier this afternoon, were also searching on book titles.
Perhaps more people stay home and read on Friday nights than I thought?
Perhaps they all finished the same book, which mentions Mama's Bank Account in its bibliography at the end?
Perhaps an article just came out in some widespread publication, recommending this book? (It's an oldie.)
Does anybody know why there should be a sudden widespread interest in this book?
But tonight, my site meter shows that seven people from seven different states (NY, VA, MS, IL, AZ, TX and "North America") visited me as a result of Googling on this phrase--all between 8:49 and 9:46 in my time zone!
Why would so many people be thinking about the same book at the same time on a Friday night, and all get up to search the internet for a review of it?
Surprisingly, no other Googlers even visited me tonight, except someone searching for a "burping story." And interestingly enough, the two most recent search engine hits before the outbreak of Mama's Bank Account searchers, earlier this afternoon, were also searching on book titles.
Perhaps more people stay home and read on Friday nights than I thought?
Perhaps they all finished the same book, which mentions Mama's Bank Account in its bibliography at the end?
Perhaps an article just came out in some widespread publication, recommending this book? (It's an oldie.)
Does anybody know why there should be a sudden widespread interest in this book?
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Wait Up!!!!
I forget where I heard this little story, but I think of it often:
There once were Western missionaries who went to minister to a primitive culture. I forget what the specific objective was--it might have been finding a certain village or clearing the ground for an airstrip--but the missionaries and some of the natives had several days to travel through the jungle. The natives were in favor of a leisurely pace, but the Westerners wanted to get there in three days, not four, so they pushed relentlessly onward, until the natives sat down on a log and refused to go a step further. "We need to wait," they said, "for our souls to catch up to our bodies."
The past couple of weeks, I've been panting to keep up with my life. It seems I've just had an unusual number of time-consuming responsibilities and commitments that are above and beyond my usual ones.
And somewhere, in all the busy-ness of mind and body, my soul has lagged behind. I feel anxious, emotional, and stressed. I read the Scriptures and I pray, but it isn't "sinking in" so well, as my mind quickly turns from one pressure-filled task to the next.
I haven't had time to spend writing, either, which for me is a reflective activity which helps my mind and heart communicate. I am not always in touch with my emotions until I start writing, which is why journalling has always been a big part of my prayer life.
So that's why I'm writing this post instead of designing Charlotte's Web makeup, assigning makeup committee members and recruiting volunteers to do 26+ animal faces before each show, and drafting an email telling all the human characters what to do with their hair, eyeshadow, etc. Oh, and buying more makeup and calling friends who still haven't bought tickets. The first dress rehearsal is in 9 days!
This is the fun stuff though. I'm glad my plate is finally cleared enough to be able to give it my attention. I just wish I could have started on it earlier....
I really work better at a hen's pace.
There once were Western missionaries who went to minister to a primitive culture. I forget what the specific objective was--it might have been finding a certain village or clearing the ground for an airstrip--but the missionaries and some of the natives had several days to travel through the jungle. The natives were in favor of a leisurely pace, but the Westerners wanted to get there in three days, not four, so they pushed relentlessly onward, until the natives sat down on a log and refused to go a step further. "We need to wait," they said, "for our souls to catch up to our bodies."
The past couple of weeks, I've been panting to keep up with my life. It seems I've just had an unusual number of time-consuming responsibilities and commitments that are above and beyond my usual ones.
And somewhere, in all the busy-ness of mind and body, my soul has lagged behind. I feel anxious, emotional, and stressed. I read the Scriptures and I pray, but it isn't "sinking in" so well, as my mind quickly turns from one pressure-filled task to the next.
I haven't had time to spend writing, either, which for me is a reflective activity which helps my mind and heart communicate. I am not always in touch with my emotions until I start writing, which is why journalling has always been a big part of my prayer life.
So that's why I'm writing this post instead of designing Charlotte's Web makeup, assigning makeup committee members and recruiting volunteers to do 26+ animal faces before each show, and drafting an email telling all the human characters what to do with their hair, eyeshadow, etc. Oh, and buying more makeup and calling friends who still haven't bought tickets. The first dress rehearsal is in 9 days!
This is the fun stuff though. I'm glad my plate is finally cleared enough to be able to give it my attention. I just wish I could have started on it earlier....
I really work better at a hen's pace.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
