Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Invisible Mother

My Mom sent this e-mail to me. Hopefully I am not violating any copyrights by adding it to my blog. I don't see any author to credit or contact... but I loved what this had to say. Perhaps it will resonate within you too.....

Invisible Mother

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response,

the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the

phone and ask to be taken to the store.

Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?

Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking,

or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the
corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible.

The invisible Mom.

Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this?

Can you tie this? Can you open this? Some days I'm not a pair of hands;

I'm not even a human being.

I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer,

'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the

eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude -

but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again.

She's going, she's going, she's gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return

of a friend from England .


Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going

on and on about the hotel she stayed in.

I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well.

It was hard not to compare and
to feel sorry for myself.

I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe .

I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her
inscription: 'To Charlotte , with admiration for the greatness of what

you are building when no one sees.

In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book.

And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths,

after which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the great

cathedrals - we have no record of their names.

These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished.

They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.

The passion of their building was fueled by their
faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral

while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam.

He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving

that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.

And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place.

It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, Charlotte.

I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does.

No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on,
no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile
over.

You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now
what it will become.

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction.

But it is not a disease that is erasing my life.

It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness.

It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride.

I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder.

As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see
finished, to work on something that their name will never be on.

The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend
he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'You're gonna love it there.

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals.

We cannot be seen if we're doing it right.

And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Figuring out this picture thing

The Shoes
Okay.. so we are uploading pictures from Photobucket and we are having some technical difficulty.
Having said that, Bekah wants me to assure you that Photobucket is VERY user friendly. You can really play with your pictures and pop your pictures onto other bodies etc.. (She has one of me and Patrick Dempsey!) We will try one more time to get a picture of the shoes.

The Girl

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">The Boots

So.... for Bekah's birthday we did her all-time favorite thing... Shoe Shopping!
She very happily came home with a trendy little pair of boots and a pair of "Penelope" shoes.
(If you were able to see Penelope, she wore these very stylish maryjane heels).
My girl is very happy. We had fun and Caleb, the only boy to go with us, was a trooper!

Monday, September 15, 2008

Struggling

I am struggling.

I had a long, whiny list of all the areas I am struggling with... but who wants to hear that?
I don't want to hear it and I am the one typing it.. So... enough, forget it.
Instead I choose to be thankful. I am making a conscious choice NOT to be whiny. I choose the be thankful for my wonderful friends. I choose to be thankful for my wonderful family. I choose to be thankful that I have a computer on which NOT to complain on. I choose to be thankful that I don't have to turn that last sentence in for a grade as the grammar is questionable!

So... perhaps tomorrow I can post something lovely... but for now, know that if you are reading this.. I am thankful for you! (and I will be even MORE thankful if you leave a comment!!) ha ha ha

Friday, September 12, 2008

Masks

Katie

Me
Noah
Bekah
We are continuing our study of famous artists and the methods they use.. but our first art project of the year was simply to make a mask. We had this roll of tinfoil that was out with the
grill, it was kept underneath in the cubbie, but due to moisture had developed a nice patina finish. It was no longer food safe (I don't think...) so we had this whole roll of metal to work with. I wish you could see the detail on Katie's mask in particular as she did some embossing on her foil (as did I).
We had a lot of fun and I thought the kids were pretty creative. What a luxury to have this "ruined" roll of foil to play with. We have made a couple of neat things. What fun!

Friday, September 05, 2008

Country Girl?

I am a country girl. At the very least, I am a small town girl. What I am not is a farm girl. True, when I was younger we had gardens and canned and froze lots of vegetables. This was definitely the case until I was 12 and we moved south to Louisiana. Even though we lived in Bossier City for several years, I have always thought of myself as a smalltown country girl. I was so pleased to move to Siloam Springs. I am thrilled that Brian has embraced small town life. He comes from (gasp) the city. (North Little Rock)

When we moved from northern Michigan to Louisiana when I was 12, I remember driving through Little Rock. We thought the skyline was enormous!

All of this is to tell you about what I have been doing the past couple of mornings with my son, Noah. We have been driving to the farm of a friend to feed their pigs while they are in Minnesota for a funeral.

The pigs are both girls, Mary and Chiquita. They are , I don't know, upwards of 60 pounds I would guess, probably about 70-80. They stand almost to Noah's waist.
If you are a farmer and do this kind of thing all the time... please forgive my naivety.
For those of you who don't... you can picture this maybe??
We go in the morning and mix the food in a 5 gallon bucket. Noah has to scale the pen and heft the bucket over so he can go and dump the feed in the bowls in the pig pen. These pigs are hungry and friendly. They nibble at his shorts and he has to literally shove them out of the way to try and get the food to the pen. They try to eat the food out of the bucket as he is trying to pour it. My job is to throw marshmallows at a distance away and try to keep the pigs busy so that Noah can get in the pen without being knocked over. This morning we brought apples off the ground from our tree (to distract the pigs) and Caleb to throw the marshmallows so I could help heft the bucket over. (Noah barely made it yesterday... and their pen is VERY muddy.) Well.. we were only somewhat successful in our distraction techniques, but happily the pigs are fed. (and sunscreened, they get burned and so get treated!)

It is a really neat experience to have with my boys. Noah takes his job VERY seriously and follows the directions given to the letter. (I always KNEW he could even if he doesn't always show that around here!)

So we have a few more mornings of helping out at the farm. Noah said he likes it. Who knows??? Maybe someday he will be a gentleman farmer. I am just enjoying the adventure with him.

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Memories

Why is it?? that I can remember the words to bazillions of songs (at least some words to bazillions of songs... I do a lot of humming too) and I can't remember what I am supposed to do next?
I truly TRULY forget things. I have a good memory for events and things that have taken place but if you ask me to do something, I will tell you yes, of course, and then completely forget. (Not maliciously or intentionally, but forgotten none-the-less) until later when it hits me like a ton of bricks.
I have to make lists to remember ANYTHING... but I do remember the words to songs.. specifically to the songs on my list here. I have had so much fun making a playlist. I keep thinking of songs to add. Brian was even helping out this weekend. I feel 16 again when I hear some of these. Being 16, that I CAN remember!
If you want to make your own playlist... go to playlist.com and just follow the instructions. It really is a lot of fun!
I want to keep blogging just so I can hear my songs... tee hee! Good night girls.

Monday, September 01, 2008

The Shack

This morning I read the book The Shack. This "novel" reads like a non-fictional account of a man who has an encounter with God. The main character has a difficult childhood, to say the least, and then suffers the tragic loss of one of his children. He is angry and depressed (understandably) and feels distanced from God. He then has the opportunity to spend a weekend visiting with the persons of the trinity. What he learns is enlightening and encouraging and very thought provoking for the reader.

The message that I got from the book is that we are called to Love and to Serve. This is not a new message to me. I have believed this for a long time. Knowing this and living this out everyday fully are two different things altogether, however.

This book challenges the reader to truly look at his/her relationship with God, their thoughts on organized religion and what it means to be a Christian. While I didn't necessarily draw all of the same conclusions as the author, I did find the book to "ring true" on many counts. I know I will spend the next several days mulling over several of the books ideas in my mind. I may even have to reread several passages for clarity.

Thanks Mom for suggesting this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Next up... Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.