#mondayquotes

Rice Nights

Sitting at a wedding last fall, I listened as friends described a mission conference their church had just finished hosting.  One of the nights a meal was going to be served, and there were many different ethnic foods displayed, but when it came time to eat, the only thing served was. . . rice. 

One bowl.

Our friends described the shock and underlying surprise of the attendees who didn't expect to be served rice;  and the impact that this rice meal had was great as the leaders went on to explain the reality of hunger and poverty that Americans just don't comprehend.

Can you imagine your daily meal being a bowl of rice?

This idea, of serving rice and thinking about how the other half lives, stayed with me and in January we implemented our very first rice night.

We served rice and water, that's all, googled some world hunger facts [that were frankly, staggering], and then each week we've followed our own little youtube video trail searching relief, World Vision, Compassion, children and poverty.

Did you know that every five seconds a child dies from hunger related causes?

It has been eye opening for our kids.  I love that they're seeing another side of compassion;  our family has focused on grief so much that sometimes its easy to forget that there are many more needs out there in the wild cruel world. 

On a teaching note, the geography absorbed is phenomenal, because the kids like to see where the stories are coming from.  Last week we were watching something about a little boy in Niger and Jacob piped up oh, yeah, that's right below Algeria.  I, of course, had no idea if that's true cuz my world geography is pathetic, so I snuck over to the globe to see if he was right. . . yeah, he was.  ;)

And it keeps reality in view.

We've been given so much.  Most of us have no idea what hunger truly is, what famine and poverty and water shortage really look like. 

This was a rice + lentils night. :)

Then we ran across this great organization when our friend Rachel married Jonathan, the operations director for Live58.  We were intrigued by the line Live 58. . . a challenge to believers to live Isaiah 58.  Daniel looked it up via YouVersion and read aloud from the NLT to me:

“Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast.
Shout aloud! Don’t be timid.
Tell my people Israel of their sins!
Yet they act so pious!
They come to the Temple every day
and seem delighted to learn all about me.
They act like a righteous nation
that would never abandon the laws of its God.
They ask me to take action on their behalf,
pretending they want to be near me.
‘We have fasted before you!’ they say.
‘Why aren’t you impressed?
We have been very hard on ourselves,
and you don’t even notice it!’

“I will tell you why!” I respond.
“It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves.
Even while you fast,
you keep oppressing your workers.
What good is fasting
when you keep on fighting and quarreling?
This kind of fasting
will never get you anywhere with me.
You humble yourselves
by going through the motions of penance,
bowing your heads
like reeds bending in the wind.
You dress in burlap
and cover yourselves with ashes.
Is this what you call fasting?
Do you really think this will please the Lord?

“No, this is the kind of fasting I want:
Free those who are wrongly imprisoned;
lighten the burden of those who work for you.
Let the oppressed go free,
and remove the chains that bind people.
Share your food with the hungry,
and give shelter to the homeless.
Give clothes to those who need them,
and do not hide from relatives who need your help.

“Then your salvation will come like the dawn,
and your wounds will quickly heal.
Your godliness will lead you forward,
and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.
Then when you call, the Lord will answer.
‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply.

“Remove the heavy yoke of oppression.
Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors!
Feed the hungry,
and help those in trouble.
Then your light will shine out from the darkness,
and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.
The Lord will guide you continually,
giving you water when you are dry
and restoring your strength.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like an ever-flowing spring.
Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities.
Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls
and a restorer of homes.

“Keep the Sabbath day holy.
Don’t pursue your own interests on that day,
but enjoy the Sabbath
and speak of it with delight as the Lord’s holy day.
Honor the Sabbath in everything you do on that day,
and don’t follow your own desires or talk idly.
Then the Lord will be your delight.
I will give you great honor
and satisfy you with the inheritance I promised to your ancestor Jacob.
I, the Lord, have spoken!”

 

 

We were both a bit stunned by the directness clarity of these words, humbled to realize that often our lights as believers are clouded because of our selfishness and the modern day equivalents of fasting to please ourselves can mysteriously look like

 

squabbling over sunday school room placements

 

righteous indignation over music preferences

 

endless critiques of public Christian leaders

 

proving that my philosophy of ministry/outreach is better than yours

 

how this must grieve the heart of God.

 

 

For us, these little rice nights have been a tiny step in a direction of opening our children's eyes to the real, physical needs of little ones around the world. 

 

I pray that God breaks my children's hearts for a world in need of Him, the living Water and Bread of Life.

 

 

when no one notices

This dish.

Beautiful china, tiny roses.  Wrapped in press n' seal, placed in our freezer with a meal, three years ago when the bottom dropped out of our world. 

I looked for a note, a marking, some clue to the whereabouts of the owner and the person who had taken time to prepare, braved the unknown to deliver their kindness. 

Nothing.

I asked around, kept my ears open, checked off all of the people I thought it might belong to, and after two years of no one claiming the dish, I started using it.

Every time I lay bread slices on it, muffins, strawberries, I think of the unnamed person who blessed us and never was thanked.

I think of the kindness that no one noticed, the offering that went to the seemingly ungrateful, the good deed that never got a thank you card.

I think of the frustration that I feel bubble when I offer good deeds to the thankless;  it's . . . well, thankless.

But a thankless task, an unnoticed offering, a kindness unrequited: it's a little hollow, maybe, but oh so important. Thankless does not equate unnecessary.



Today in the middle of teaching third grade and kindergarten and managing trying to love a toddler through a green playdoh snake mess,  I think: this job doesn't pay enough and I want the thank you, the pat on the back, the hey you did great today, the you matter and you're important. Never mind the sweet nothings, how about a paycheck to compensate the stress?  That could work too. 

I picked up my coffee mug to get some liquid encouragement and squinted down at 5 little green playdoh balls, floating in my Dunkin' Donuts blend.  Flavor of the day. I blink tears. 

No one notices. 

Or does someone notice?

Or does that even matter? 

why am I here?  why do I show the kindness?  what are my motives?


[so when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full] Matthew 6:2

But. . . I like trumpets. . . maybe trumpets would help. . . maybe we need to queue up some Henry Purcell for the weekdays.

Actually I'm all about trumpets.  But if I'm living for the trumpets, Jesus points out so clearly, then I'm living for the trumpets.  And that's the reward.  To be honored by others?  That's why I'm loving my kids?  That's why I show kindness?

Well, that's humbling to throw out there.

[So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit.] Galations 6:9

Maybe the right time doesn't mean that Eli will thank me for reading I am a Bunny 42 times this week.

Maybe the right time . . . to be thanked. . . is not going to be here.

Am I okay with that?

Am I okay with pouring my life out and never being noticed, the thank you note left unwritten?

Yes, I am, right now, with my feet kicked on the coffee table, my children in bed, my own playlist through the speakers, but the rubber doesn't meet the road while I'm writing in my calm 10pm living room. 

The rubber meets the road when people put playdoh in my coffee and my kindergartener's eyes glaze over and she shrugs:

I dunno, 1 + 2?  Um. . . 56?

I have perspective when I can back away.

But when I'm in the thick of it, life closes in and I struggle and I just want a lil thank you note, y'know?

And I'm full circle, back to the dish in my cupboard, back to the feeling of being overwhelmed by a stranger's kindness, back to the carried part of my life where I didn't take a single step alone.

Back to the dish that didn't seem to matter. 

But it did matter.



To you, the unnoticed:

You matter.

Thank you.

Thank you for being kind, for being faithful, for caring, for doing good when no one notices, for loving without the fanfare.

Thank you for loving when those you love don't love you back.

Thank you for demonstrating faithfulness.



More thoughts on being overwhelmed:

A Life Plan When You're Overwhelmed: Sanity Manifesto

homemade tortillas pt. 3

I promise this will be the last tortilla post for a while. 

We keep coming up with more varieties;  tonight we tried whole wheat tortillas with one of my favorite go-to meals for cah-rayyzzy nights- scrambled eggs, sauteed red skinned potatoes, zucchini, green onions & peppers with cheese & salsa.  Yum.


Basic Homemade Tortillas

2 cups flour
1/2 t. salt
3 T. oil
3/4 water

Stir, let rest for ten minutes, divide into eight parts, roll thin on lightly floured surface.  Cook on nonstick electric skillet set to 350 for about 45 seconds on each side.

tomato-basil

Put 4-5 grape tomatoes in the bottom of measuring cup and fill with water to the 3/4 cup line.  Blend until smooth and use the liquid in place of the water. Add about 1 t. italian seasoning.

spinach
Blend a handful of spinach with the 3/4 cup water. 

whole wheat
Use 1 and 1/4 cup of whole wheat and 3/4 cup white flour.

#mondayquotes

We do our best to live with one foot in heaven and one foot on earth,

 

partaking in the everyday things of life and looking to participate in the

 

things that last forever.

 

 

It is a beautiful way to live.

 

(Jennie Allen, Stuck, Chapter 5::Overwhelmed)

march in pictures

kindness umbrella (art project)

This was an art project we worked on today. 

 

Kind words shield people's hearts from life's storms.

 

The kids told me kind and unkind words and I wrote as fast as I could. 

 

 

{Unkind}

 

you're a crybaby

 

you always stink

 

you're not amazing

 

you don't drive well

 

you cry too much

 

don't touch me

 

you're very mean to my mom

 

you're not organized

 

you don't let me say a word

 

your doll is not cute

 

you never give me a backrub

 

your food tastes gross

 

i don't like what you're wearing

 

i don't like your snack

 

you're a horrible cook

 

you're dumb

 

hurry up

 

it's mine

 

you're freaking stupid

 

you're fat

 

your bed is so messy

 

i don't like the smell of your gum

 

{these rolled off quickly}

 

 

 

{kindness}

 

i'll make your bed

 

i love you

 

you're smart

 

your life has meaning

 

you're good

 

you look nice today

 

you're good

 

you're generous

 

you're so cool

 

you have excellent handwriting

 

you're good at lots of things

 

God cares about you. 

 

i'll have you come over to my house

 

come here

 

you're good at doing things

 

i like you

 

you're sweet

 

i care about you

 

i will try to protect you

 

i love you

 

i will love you forever.

 

 

 

I want to choose the kind words.



gosh is not a swear word: when truth is uncomfortable

Mom, did you hear [local radio station] isn't carrying Dave Ramsey's program anymore?

Yeah, I did.  Dad asked about it and I read the email reply; they said they received a lot of complaints about the program.  I don't know why, but they did.

*pause*

Well. . . I have a complaint about Dave. . . he uses God's name in vain a lot.

Um. . . he does?  (have never heard this phenomenon)  Can you tell me what he says?

Oh, yeah.  He says. . . G-E-E.  And G-O-S-H. spelling out the offending words

Well, saying gee and gosh - that's not swearing.  Or taking God's name in vain.  I guess we don't like you to say gee cuz it sounds like geez which can sound like Jesus and could get you in the habit of saying that. But gee and gosh aren't really swearing, they're just idle words.  Like, there's nothing wrong with gee all by itself.

Right, like A-B-C-D-E-F-G.

Well, sure.

Mostly Dave says it when somebody gets into debit really fast.

Yep, and that was all during breakfast. 

Isn't this the stuff of parenthood?  I know that too soon, he will tire of seeking my thoughts on every subject under the sun.  He will be happy to develop his own opinions independent of us and right now is a massive window of opportunity to shape his direction with truth.

I find it tempting to avoid truth when dialoguing with my kids;  at their ages, it seems simpler, easier, quicker to just dismiss undesirable behavior with blanket statements, like drinking is wrong or saying gosh is swearing. 

But that would be at least, misleading; at worst, dishonesty.

And children are so much smarter than we give them credit for.  It won't take them long to find holes in faulty logic, and the consequences for glibly mislabeling issues seem staggering. 

As a child of God, my final authority is continually the Word of God.  God speaks to every issue under the sun;  He has answers and He cares about my life, my little people, our home, our desire to raise our kids to honor Him.  Pointing my kids to Him is wiser than pointing them toward us and rules for well-behaved children.

I want a lot more out for my kids than good behavior.

In fact I am quite okay with struggling through bad behavior if we can get to the deeper needs of their hearts and raise kids who want to walk with God.  After all, He is the God of the man who falls seven times and picks himself back up. 

Daniel and I are fallible, broken, weak;  we will disappoint our children.

Friends we admire deeply are human, frail, not meant to be placed on pedestals for our kids to follow.

The church, children of a gracious Father, includes the honest, the hypocritical, the struggling and the strong; humans will disappoint, too, flawed by their very nature.

The only constant, the only unchanging that we can point our children to is God, accessible to us because of the Man, Christ Jesus.

Wading through the issues to find the truth is messy, uncomfortable, and it takes a long time. When the discussions are tangled I hope it's okay to say. . . I don't know, let's ask God to show us. 

I respect people who don't pretend to know all the whys and I hope my children will see through my weakness to the strength of a God Who cannot lie.

As a child, I thought smoking looked so cool, and it was the cool thing to do, with Marlboro Man on billboards and a beautiful blond Virginia Slims girl in every magazine.   I'm not going to lie, I pretended my little dum-dum sucker was a cigarette on more than one occasion.  Why?  Well, definitely not because my parents smoked, because they didn't.  It is impossible to totally shield a child from culture and the newest trends.  Children are intrinsic copy-cats; they need to be walked through these stages.  How wise my parents were to reason with us through these issues;  they didn't shrink from calling sin sin, but they didn't say it was sin if it wasn't.  Smoking isn't a sin, it just isn't wise.  It's poor for your health and destroys your lungs.  Amazingly, culture caught up with mom and dad, and interestingly, smoking is quite un-cool now. 

All that glitters is not gold, but it is foolish to deny the appearance of glitter. 

Denying the obvious

racing motorcycles on a two lane highway looks thrilling to a boy

the shortest shorts look prettier to a young girl craving approval and acceptance

school is grueling

work is boring sometimes

marriage is hard

Christians fail

bad things happen to good people

is setting my kids up to find that I lied.

I don't drink.  But I don't believe that the Bible forbids drinking and we don't teach our kids that.  They hear a pretty steady diet of the destructive consequences of alcohol from their paramedic dad and they know that God says not to be drunk.  Adding to the voice of biblical wisdom advising against drinking is the foolishness of being controlled by a substance that often causes harm to others. 

But saying drinking is unwise is a lot different than saying drinking is a sin. Adding to what God says might seem easy while my kids are 6 and 8 but it will quickly become alienating and harmful as they get older and find out what God really says.

I'd rather get to the root issues of wisdom, self control and not wasting one's life than camp on thou shalt not drink. 

Or thou shalt not say gosh.

Rather I want to point them to what God really says:

[Jesus said] you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak. {Matthew 12:36}

People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! {James 3:7-10}

Let your speech always be with grace {Colossians 4:6}

And in contrast, the instructions He gives:  They are not just idle words for you—they are your life. {Deuteronomy 32:47}

#mondayquotes

There is nothing more ugly than an orthodoxy without understanding or without compassion.

 

 

and this,

 

 

. . .Christianity is not romantic; it is realistic. Christianity is realistic because it says that if there is no truth, there is also no hope; and there can be no truth is there is no adequate base.  It is prepared to face the consequences of pbeing proved false and say with Paul: If you find the body of Christ, the discussion is finished, let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.  It leaves absolutely no room for a romantic answer.

 

The God Who is There, Francis Schaeffer

ten reasons i am leaving my children for two weeks: here we come south africa

Daniel and I leave in four weeks to go to South Africa with a team of eight people from our church, serving the least of these at the Restoring Hope Village.

Three million + orphans in SA.  That is a staggering number.  Our tiny offering of time and love to give is a drop in an endless sea of need, but we want to start there, giving our little bit. 

This has been a matter of prayer and in the works for some time and we are so excited to go and follow God's leading. 

The trip was overwhelmingly and promptly funded, confirming that money is rarely an issue if God calls you to do something.  We're so thankful for the people who gave so freely. {you know who you are}

Below are my notes from sharing with our church family the reasons we each chose to go. 



I love top ten lists; some of you know that Daniel even used a top ten list to ask me to marry him.  There are so many reasons I want to go to South Africa, but I decided to put them in my favorite top ten format. 

So here they are.

1.  Thankful for the hope of eternal life that my salvation brings; wanting to share hope, knowing that only Christ brings hope for the pain life brings.  I accepted Christ as a child and knew the talk, walked the walk, but our son's death changed everything I believed into something more real.  You can't just be here, then gone, and that's the end, with just this little shell left of you.  There has to be something more.  There has to be eternity;  because if not, where does your soul go,  the part of you that's you?  Everything I believed about God became startling and clear and real to me.  Eternity = hope.  I want to share that.

2.  I know what hopelessness feels like.  It's crushing, it's demotivating, it's dark, dark, dark.

3.  I know what it means to be given the gift of hope.  That gift- that so many of you have given to us. . . is priceless.

4.  I want to honor and follow my husband's leadership. It can be a little scary to be married to a man who walks with God.  You kinda never know what he's going to do.  Daniel told me over a year ago that he was going to go on a mission trip, and I was like. .  . oooookaaaay!  When Louis and Amber came, during their presentation, Daniel leaned over to me and said, this is it, I'm going there!  I was really happy for him but then I started thinking. . . what if God tells him something big while he's there, like adopt or move to Africa. . .   maybe I should go so that I could know what my future might look like!  But I also want to go just to share in this experience with him, rather than haave him explain it to me when we get home.

5.  I want to say yes to God.  I'm blessed by so many people in our church who say yes to God and lead by example, and I want to be that.  I just don't want to start saying no to Him:  I want to say yes.

6.  I want to listen to wise counsel.  When we first started talking about me going too, we sought counsel from people that we were sure would advise me to stay home with our children.  Our parents floored us by enthusiastically supporting the idea and tripping over themselves to watch the kids during our absence; no, don't go wasn't what we heard.  I then went to my beautiful Mrs. A. . .sure that she would tell me to stay home and take care of my children.  Instead she pointed out that they would be fine, following God was more important than following safety, marriage priority > children priority and she also made me aware of point # 7.

7.  I want to teach three little white kids that the world is bigger than smalltown, USA.  And they are so excited and supportive of us going.  They want to go.  I hope they will eventually.  We aren't fans of children running family direction, but we wouldn't go if they weren't okay with it.  They're okay.  They care about these little people without any mom or dad.

8.  Because there's no substitute for human touch and compassion; $$ can't hug.  Just that.

9.  Seeking a wider perspective of the work God is doing globally. We don't have the corner on ministry here.  I know that zooming out can bring clarity to our vision and I'm so excited to see what God is doing in another part of the world.

10.  Because the world will know we are Christians by our love for one another.  And I think that extends to loving the least of these.

And then there's the many who are called to be faithful at home;  Africa isn't in your future, but lots and lots of endless laundry and Sunday School teaching and feeding hungry neighbor kids and being there when people need you and sharing hope with your coworkers and employees and the list goes on and on. . .

You are important, you are needed, we are not all that and a bag of chips because we're going a little farther than across the street. 

My sister writes about staying home when others go.  Read it, she's awesome.  That's her quote below.

This is my life, Lord,
Help me not to wish it away,
Waste it away
Or, not taste the joy of the people around me.
Lord, help me to be a joyful giver of Me.

Homemade Tortillas, Pt. 2

I'm afraid I spoke too soon on the idea of homemade tortillas.

When will I learn not to judge????

*public apology for thinking homemade tortillas indicated too much time on your hands*

Today I made these spinach tortillas for lunch, start to finish- probably 15 minutes. 

*melt in your mouth deeee-lish*


I started with Taste of Home's master recipe, but I have changed it since, so I am listing the ingredients below:

Homemade Tortillas Basic Recipe

2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup water
3 tablespoons oil

Mix ingredients, knead a little, let rest, divide into 8 pieces, roll out into 8 or 9 inch circles. Place on hot electric skillet for about .  .  . oooh dear. . .  I didn't time it.  Just a little bit.  Like 45 seconds?  If your bubbles are turning brown, that's too long.  Flip.  30 - 45 more seconds  and you're done. 

I loooove Mission Tortillas and all the great flavors they have so I decided to attempt a spinach version today. 

I put the 3/4 cup water in the blender and threw in a huge handful of spinach.  When it was all vibrant green spinach water :)  I took it out and made sure it measured 3/4 c. liquid still and then proceeded with the rest of the recipe.

Eli ate his with cheddar cheese; the rest of us made tacos with beef, avacodoes, tomatoes, lettuce peppers & sour cream. 

Seriously good eating.

**Note that Stephanie pointed out:  tortillas can be stored in the freezer.  (Although ours aren't making it that far.)

march madness

In celebration of the beginning of  NCAA craziness, we made some caramel corn and painstakingly filled our brackets out,  with our decision-making relying heavily on people we liked in certain geographical areas.

[You know what they say, the sports nuts don't win these, the novices do.  Last year Cambria won our family bracket challenge.  I'm not sure what that says about us, but it is what it is.]

In the spirit of being random, we chose one game to watch, Mizzou & Colorado State, and it was a nailbiter since JD and I both had Missouri winning.  They lost. Oh well. 

Fun times with my boy. 

Homemade Tortillas

People that make their own tortillas are probably a bit weird and fanatical. . .

Unless the person is me,

and I don't like to think that I'm weird, only that I didn't have time to run to the store.

Weird or out-of-time, whichever you choose to believe,

these are actually pretty tasty and crazy easy to make.

I was inspired by Panchero's, where Deeann and I took the girls after an Easter dress shopping marathon.  The guys at Panchero's make those huge tortillas look so incredibly simple to make- just wad, smash, throw on skillet, flip, done!

I don't have a tortilla press, just a rolling pin, but it's super easy regardless.

I followed this recipe  from Taste of Home.  I didn't fry in oil, though, just cooked them two at a time on my large nonstick pancake skillet.

One recipe made enough for a 9 x 13 pan of enchiladas.

And speaking of enchiladas:

We did have a real win the other night with these!

I found these Spinach Black Bean Enchiladas on Pinterest. 

*Small break for some unsolicited Pinterest recipe advice*  (or, how to avoid ending up on a Pinterest fail blog)

Like many recipes online or in magazines, I have found that if you don't like the ingredients separately you aren't going to like them together in a recipe. 

Which is why I don't bother trying recipes with say, olives, or orange marmalade, or tuna, or eggplant. 

If it looks too hard to make, it probably is.

If it's way out of your budget range, just skip it.   Quinoa is $10 for a tiny bag that looks like it might feed Eli breakfast in my town.  We don't make stuff with quinoa.  It's just not worth it, as crazy exciting as the fad may be. That way, you won't end up like Daniel, who once threw away many, many millet-swiss cheese mock burgers. ( It's a long story.)

Anyway, back to the enchiladas.

I was really skeptical since the sauce was homemade, but these far exceeded my expectations. The kids loved it, Daniel hoarded the leftovers to take to work, and I thought they were super fresh tasting, which is my current highest food compliment.

Try 'em out. :)

salt & pencil sharpeners

Just in case your day included passionate discussions of music The Ants Go Marching Two by Two
(do you think verse two is about tying the shoe?  do you think mom?  do you remember? are you sure?)

navigating disappointing cancellations
the catch 22 about playing in a MFD vs. Special Olympics game while on duty means that. . . you might not show up to the game  *super let-down oldest son*

schoolwork
no, Cambria, you may not use your cash register calculator to help you with subtraction

bible studies
three cheers for some sanity

lunch
and I fed them Cheetos on the side today.  Can you believe it? how the mighty fall

Sequence, States & Capitals x 2
(and I lost both times)

laundry that got folded, then flooded by a bathtub tidal wave
why, why do I fold laundry? tell me again

in case you cleaned your dining room floor once. . . then twice. . .

. . . in case you gave a toddler two baths today

. . .in case you successfully removed three screws and rescued a mangled orange crayon from the pencil sharpener

. . .in case you narrowly missed getting pencil sharpener grease on your new-to-you-jeans- from the Buckle via Goodwill

. . .in case while the pencil sharpener debacle unfolded, the salt shaker got emptied on the chair. (and floor)

. . . then take a breath and enjoy these two great reads.

I loved each one. 

In Defense of the iPhone Mom


Brave Moms Raise Brave Kids

#mondayquotes

I tiptoed into the library today while the kids were at choir and finished this beautiful little book. . .

It's not often that I borrow a book, read it, and then want to buy it and read it again in another month.  This is one of those. 

While finishing Anne Lindbergh's book today, I was struck once again with how applicable her words are to my own overwhelmed life. . .  I dug in my bag for a pen and the only paper I could find, an envelope, and scribbled.

Here's what stood out to me:

The interrelatedness of the world links us constantly with more people than our hearts can hold. . .
 

. . .My life cannot implement in action the demands of all the people to whom my heart responds.

. . .Because we cannot deal with the complexity of the present we often override it and live in a simplified dream of the future.  Because we cannot solve our own problems right here at home, we talk about problems out there in the world. . .
 

. . .Can one make the future a substitute for the present?  And what guarantee have we that the future will be any better if we neglect the present?  Can one solve world problems when one is unable to solve one's own?
 

. . .Have we been successful, working at the periphery of the circle and not at the center?

Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Gift from the Sea, page 116, 117