Multitude Monday 1/10/11

a book club going strong, with  fascinating books and interesting, intelligent women to discuss those books, with.

bright sunshine, shiny new running shoes and a long quiet road to run down.

a friend who demonstrates generosity and courage, inviting me to help as she shaves her head bald-all to raise $$ for the Leukemia/Lymphoma Society.

the Oregon Ducks are playing for the championship!

Caleb’s 2 year struggle to find a rhyming word for “orange” and all because a poetry book once told him it was impossible…!

vanilla candles.

green grass in the dead of winter. I love where we live!

the combination of good friendship and Thai food–both have nourishment to grow strong, with enough heat and spice to keep things interesting!

my latest junk furniture re-do and Sam commented this morning “you make cool stuff, Mom. All our furniture is pretty unique!”

black and white photos.

the wonderful “problem” of needing to go shop for a smaller size in jeans.

the sound of cat paws clicking ever-so-quietly across the kitchen floor.

the great relief and hopeful joy I feel, after every single chapter in “The Me I Want To Be” by John Ortberg

re-arranging books and schedules and finding new, better ways and places to “do school”

Sam and Caleb are moaning and complaining intensely about having to start school again, but then their conversation starts to sound like this “Except history. I LOVE history! Me too. Oh, and Co-op, that’s fun. Yeah! I love Co-op, so Writing and Science aren’t bad…and BSF is okay…and we get to do Martial Arts for PE…I guess I just hate math. Yeah, I really hate math, too.” (and I bite my lip but cannot keep from saying-SO YOU DON’T HATE SCHOOL, YOU HATE ONE SUBJECT! but I DO refrain from adding “and I hate Math, too!”)

the Pottery Barn catalog.

Multitude Monday 1/3/11

What I am thankful to God for, today-the first Monday of 2011. After a year (or two?) of weekly gratitude posts, it is getting harder to think of new items I haven’t listed. That is one of the reasons I think this is such a healthy habit….the stretching of mind and heart to NOTICE. God’s mercies are new every morning. My eyes just need to be open to those mercies! But it’s been 5 minutes. and so far, all I can think of is…hot coffee…I’ll keep trying…!

A new, fresh year full of promise.

No Homeschool Co-op this week, so I have a little more time to ease back into school with the kids.

Josiah, who was doing school this WEEKEND, anyway.

spicy hummus and baby carrots

My dear friends oldest son (such a sweet boy!) staying with us for an entire week!

Christmas decorations taken down, and how i love re-arranging the furniture/decor in the house. Our home feels so simple and fresh, without the bright lights and colors of the holiday decorations.

my generous father-in-law, who (without my knowing it!) quickly and quietly repaired a junky old dresser I bought, 24 hours after I asked him to “just look at it for me?”

I ran 7 miles on Friday and could still walk (upright, even!) on Saturday.

clementines. little orange balls of yummy happiness.

the way the cat curls up in front of the heat dish.

a new coffee mug (see? i didn’t say coffee!)

when the opening notes of a favorite worship song starts up, and both my husband and oldest son look over at me in church and just grin, because they know i am probably going to start crying as i sing along. because they know me.

a tall stack of books on the nightstand.

white frost on the ground and happy birds, grateful for the suet cakes we offer.

1 Samuel 17, and the way God gives courage to charge against my own Goliath.

the way Caleb hugs so fiercely.

pulling a tub of dark green, grated zucchini out of the freezer to make a breakfast cake for the boys, and having that bit of July to enjoy on a frozen January.