I have been a tad bit slothful when it comes to sharing my reflective moments throughout Lent.  Since giving up...... giving up....... hmmm, what did we give up again?  Oh yes, television!  Good grief, I almost forgot.  As usual, the first week is the real challenge.  In the weeks following it becomes an enormous blessing.  The television show that I was convinced I couldn't miss has completely vanished from my memory.  Maybe not vanished, but the season finale that I was so sad to miss now seems so insignificant now.

So what HAVE I been doing?  Well, first I read a really depressing book.  In case that is your thing, it was called "Life as We Knew It."  It is part of a trilogy, and yes I will read the other two.  It was just depressing enough to be fantastic.

But in addition to that I picked up a book that I had read in early motherhood.  Yes, I know---in the grand scheme of things I am STILL in early motherhood.  So, more accurately, I read it in earlier motherhood.  Like the diapers and nursing stage.  I dusted it off and decided to re-read it.  What a fantastic little nugget it is.

"The Heart of Motherhood" is so jam packed with encouragement and prayerful reflection for moms that I could re-read it weekly and learn something new.  The pages are discolored and well worn because I rely  heavily on the prayers within throughout my daily life as a mom.

It is high on the recommend list.

So that's it.  I haven't been doing anything but read.  Ha.  These have actually been some of the busiest weeks of my life, and I can't even see where television would have fit into the schedule anyway! 
God's richest blessings on your final days of Lent!  May your journey be challenging, beautiful and blessed!

feeling my age...be that 'old age'

"In youth the days are short and the years are long; in old age the years are short and the days are long."  -Nikita Ivanovich Panin

I'll give that a moment to settle in your brain.  Go ahead, read it a few more times if you wish.





Upon first reading, my initial thought was, "Wow.... I had NO idea I was in 'old age' already!"

Seriously, I'm not yet 40 and the second half of that statement applies to me.  So, I'm not sure what that means.  And I'm not sure that I want to address it.

If you understand the quote at all, you definitely fall after the semicolon.  Because, well, youth do not understand things like that. 

I found this quote to be eerily true.  And a bit, wipe-my-eyes, saddish.

I think about my young children, who each and every.single.day let us know strongly that they are not ready for the day to be over.  Bedtime comes much too soon and they have so much more they wish to do.  Their day just isn't long enough.  All the while my husband and I are making eye contact above their heads thinking, "Seriously, bedtime can't come soon enough---I'm exhausted!"

Then I fast-forward.....to what I am assuming is considered my 'old age', and I am digging out Easter baskets and decorations to be prepared for the upcoming celebration---all the while having moments of deja`vu, feeling as though I JUST.PUT.THEM.AWAY.

Contrastingly, when I mention to my kids that we will do something this upcoming summer, I may as well say to them that we will be landing on the moon in our pod-mobile in the year 2045, because anything past two sleeps is just to stinkin' long to wait.

The only age category that seems to be totally immune and free from this paradox are those living away as college students.  Think about it.  Every day is perfect (tongue in cheek).  Now, I'm not saying we all want to return to the days of college.  I, for one, wouldn't trade places with the Pope---not that I could, being a woman and all.  I am exactly where I want to be.  But college does lend itself to endless days, endless years, a beautiful vastness of only meeting the needs of ourselves.  At least for MOST.  I don't remember thinking the days or years seemed to long or short.  Just right.  And honestly, I wasn't thinking about the day at all.  I was thinking more about the night life, or the cute boy next to me in Freshman Comp.

Anyway, be you young or old, I wanted to share this quote.  In hopes that we all try to live in the moment we are in because no matter what it may feel like...time moves on steadily for all of us, even those of us in our 'old age'.

speaking my language

During a fast from television, I hear things that are not typical conversation starters spoken in my home.

"Mom, can I read to my sister?"

"Mom, will you play ping-pong with me?"

"I organized the bathroom drawers for you, Mom."

"Mom, where are the coloring books?"

"Mom, do you need help folding the laundry?"

"Please let me finish this chapter before bed!"

"Hey, lets play hide-n-seek!"

And my most favorite:

"Anyone wanna play monopoly?"