by marla on August 29, 2010
No, this isn't Toby. But it sure looks like him!
There are some phases of life that are all about cleaning up messes. Oh, they are beautiful phases — make no mistake — but they are so messy. Babies create nothing but messes, which is hard to understand since they can’t even move around on their own power! Toddlers expand that mess-making to an artform. As the kids get older, their messes get, well, messier. Your house may stay cleaner, but oh there are so many other kinds of messes. All of them, however, are messes that are important to becoming the grown-up they were meant to be. And as parents, we scurry about trying to clean up the messes and teach the principles that we need to keep life running smoothly. We pick up the toys, we do the laundry, we wipe the bottoms, we listen to the late night chats.
There are other phases of life that are all about creating messes. Those are the times we watch our kids step out in a burst of courage to a project that may, or may not, be over their head. They are the times that we feel God stirring in our souls to create something new, and so we try.
Lately, my house has been full of mess-creating. It’s just one of those phases. We’ve added two hedgehogs to our animal repertoire. And a turtle, who has recently disappeared (that’s a long story…well, not so long but still…). On Wednesday my daughter Jillian is expecting the delivery of a micro teacup poodle. All these new residents came with their “STUFF. And we’re also hosting a wonderful graduation party on Saturday for Laurie, the superbly crafty girl who has been living with us while she finished up that degree. Laurie’s party is exploding all around us and onto nearly every available surface, although the OCD among us tend to coral the mess once in awhile so we can breathe. It’s all about making glorious messes.
Today, in church, I was thinking the same thing. As the body of Christ, part of our creative nature comes out in making and cleaning messes, doesn’t it? We try one thing for a season, then sense the Spirit prompting us to switch directions and make adjustments. We give each other the freedom to make a creative mess in our lives and stand in awe when — once in a blue moon — God creates something that leaves us breathless.
Sometimes, of course, we are breathless but more in that gasping for breath how am I going to survive kind of way. And that’s ok, too. We step out and start that Bible study for women we don’t even know only to find ourselves swinging in the breeze hoping someone comes. We let a friend down and realize we need to apologize before our relationship suffers. Perhaps we ( and I mean this in a general sense…certainly not me…) even lose our patience with the messes other people are creating faster than we can clean them up!
In the last few days I’ve come to really appreciate the whole cycle of making a mess and creating. I’m seeing God work out his image in us in ways I never would have been able to plan on my own. I see it in my friends; I see it in my own little family. It’s making me smile.
Life is so messy!
by marla on August 12, 2010
My brothers Jeff (left) and Garth (right)
I’ve spent some time today thinking about my brothers. I had two of them, 6 and 8 years older than I. They tortured me and I loved it. I tattled on them and they didn’t love it. They were great brothers. Both of them are gone now, and have been gone for many years. But somehow it doesn’t matter how long they’ve been gone, I miss them.
You see, last year my older brother Jeff would have been welcoming his first grandbaby, the beautiful Lucy Belle, into his family. And any day now my other brother Garth would be welcoming Laila into the family. Both of these baby girls are surrounded by family who adore them. But I can’t help but wonder if God let Jeff and Garth give Lucy and Laila a little kiss before he sends them down to us. Is that too big an assignment for the God of time and space? I don’t think so!
So I’m going to assume that little Lucy and soon-to-arrive Laila have had a little snuggle session with their Grampas. What a beautiful thought!
And then I’m going to snicker a bit that my brothers would be grandfathers. Wow. I mean, I’m still their little sister, after all.
by marla on July 25, 2010
When I was ten or so, my best friend lived a few streets over and her home felt to me like my home. We’d ride our bikes back and forth at the smallest whim. I remember one summer hopping on my bike because “Benny and the Jets” was on the radio, and it was our favorite song EVER. It was still on when I burst through her back door and shared the last bars of the song with her. Of course, those were the days when you couldn’t just hit play on your iPod and enjoy the song over again. You’d better live in the moment and rock out while Benny and the Jets was playing or you were out of luck.
I really liked my friend’s house, but I was always puzzled by one tradition: the majority of their downstairs living space was taken up by a wonderful room filled with beautiful white furniture, polished wood floors and a grand piano. I loved that room, even though I only remember being in it one time. It was off limits to kids and — from what I could see — adults. I’d say that there were plastic slip covers on the furniture, but I’m not absolutely sure of that. Regardless, there was no sitting to be done on those couches. No, we spent our time huddled in the cozy den, squished on the big couch that was filled with toys and dogs. There were once baby rabbits in the corner, and there was a record player where we could enjoy the strange music her parents purchased. I think I remember a Godspell record. In any case, the den was where it was at.
I’ve been thinking about that house today, because I have recently decided that I want to be “at home” in my entire life. I want to live in every corner of my house, finding nooks to write or read or paint or sleep. I want people in every corner of my home, talking, laughing, crying and living life. I’m tired of fences and rooms that are only for certain people. It’s time to remember how to live in our homes.
And it’s time to remember how to live in our lives, too. Someday is…right now. There are amazing riches of relationships just waiting for us. There are bursts of creativity, and health, and all those dreams we’ve put off for someday. Now. Because that’s how God made us to live: in the present.
These are the cupcakes that I made today, because today is worth celebrating. And I’m declining to post a picture of me doing Yoga later because of the celebrating I did today. But the rooms of my life aren’t roped off for special occasions. It’s time to sit on the floor and pull out the paints.
This is a quick announcement to let you all know you can mark your calendars for the beginning of summer tomorrow! We are headed north to the lake to open up the house, get the boat in the water, get the Waverunners running and take our first nap in the hammock! Doesn’t that just make you happy?
Twelve years ago. Unbelievable.
David and i walked into the Marriott World Center and found ourselves in a parallel universe. In this world there were families wandering around laughing, little ones dragging teddy bears, kids who seemed…happy. It was my first homeschool convention, my first stop at Florida Parent Educators Association, or FPEA. We were entranced.
Twelve years ago. Jillian was dragging her blankie around and learning that the world could be unkind to kids who had their own dreams for life. David and I were in the unsure stage of the homeschooling decision. Could we? Should we? How? We knew we wanted our two daughters to forge their own ways of looking at life, and we had a good idea that homeschooling was how we were going to accomplish that. But…really? Twelve years ago there were an awful lot of denim jumpers walking around that hotel. I am not a denim jumper kind of girl.
Then we stepped foot into the curriculum hall and every doubt fled away like worries on Christmas morning. I was energized by the amazing options. Squished and pushed on every side (the FPEA was already outgrowing its home in the Marriott and contemplating the Gaylord Palms…oh those were the days!), I felt like I’d stepped into my comfort zone. Let other moms be shell-shocked and overwhelmed, I was happy.
Twelve years later the journey ends this weekend. Three years ago we graduated Kylie. This year our baby Jillian walks down the aisle to Pomp and Circumstance. In all those years I have loved every moment in the curriculum hall until. quite frankly, last year. That’s when I realized I didn’t need any of it anymore. Even as early as last year I could see this day coming. Our curriculum buying was over. Sometimes the curriculum hall feels like a graveyard of failure (“Tried that, didn’t work. Tried that, tried that, tried that.”) Other times it feels like the magic ingredients that added up to our unique, amazing girls (“Little bit of that, some of this, we threw in a whole lot of that.”).
Twelve years.
It’s been an incredible ride. I’ve quit homeschooling every February (burnout…take a week off it will go away.). I’ve developed new ways to teach old information (mall school is still my favorite: architecture, nutrition and consumer science wrapped into a shopping experience that reset Momma’s happiness quotient!). I’ve been through 4-H and more music lessons than I can remember.
Jillian walks down the aisle on Sunday morning, but I’m also closing a chapter in my life. I’m proud of her. I’m proud of all of us. But tonight I felt a bittersweet longing to conquer the curriculum hall just one more time.
I have spent the better part of two weeks recuperating fromnthe major allergy attack from Chicago. It has actually been a great two weeks reading, praying and yes…playing with my iPad. My goal with the iPad is to lighten my travel load. I have already found that i leave all but one book at home, but can I leave my computer behind? To do that I need to be able to do two things: keep track of my digital/real world life and write.
Keeping track of real life just got a whole lot easier with an app called Corkulous. It is, indeed, a cork board. I have started cork boards for daily life as well as for various writing projects. Check out the screen shot below. I just love the random possibilities of the board! It sets my old Creative Memories scrap booking juices flowing.
Writing is still problematic, though the external keyboard should help with that. Somehow my “voice” changes on the iPad.
Oh well, just a random update from a formerly sidelined couch warrior! And yes…I think I may be able to survive this latest attack. If only my hearing would come back!
