Crown of glory, huh?

I've recently celebrated another birthday, one that has officially landed me smack dab in the middle of my 30's. Along with more candles to blow out, each year brings with it more signs I am definitely no longer in my 20's such as the decrease in circulatory flow, unfamiliar creaking of bones upon moving, the worsening aches and pains caused by pregnancy and the extra stores of fat as if my body were preparing for my and my baby's survival in the midst of a seven-year famine. But most unsettling of all, I've discovered another sign - strands of hair devoid of all color. Amongst the abundance of silky, red strands (all-natural, of course - NOT), I've started noticing these hairs that curiously bring to mind the song from Sesame Street "One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong." At first, I convinced myself it was highlighted hair - lighter than the rest and simply blonde. After all, not only do I color my hair red, I also highlight it. So sure, that must be it. But many moons later, these "highlighted" hairs are rising up and proving their snowy existence by showing up against my ever darkening natural hair color (which I just don't get - why would my hair color get naturally darker as I age while some just get white?). I have now joined an exclusive club of people who look in the mirror and spy hairs just waiting to be plucked. The practice of dying my hair which was always a luxury will at some point become a necessity. That's just sad to me.

If the amount of salt in my pepper is proportional to the number of children and their accompanying mess contained within my small house, then I should bless my lucky stars I can still count on one hand how many gray hairs I've found. But I've always heard wisdom comes with graying hair. So how come I don't feel wise enough yet?

Snow Days & Sick Days

So sickness runs rampant through our house again. Jayce caught it first, and we thought maybe we'd scrape by with little aftereffects, but alas Reagan and the baby were next in line. Reagan seemed to catch it the worst (runny nose, bad croupy cough, little sleep, overall misery), and it was no picnic for Landon either (doesn't help that he's also teething). Then yesterday it hit Mike, and now I've got it today. Lauryn has been the only one spared so far - of course, it helps that she holes up in her room as if quarantined all day every day like a typical teenager (Lauryn? Nope - haven't seen her in oh...two days? Does she still live here??). While under the weather (and speaking of weather), I've decided to update this blog and post a small video of the boys playing out in the snow. Enjoy, Grandparents!

Hats

I LOVE hats. It's like wearing art on your head. I thinks it's the most fascinating accessory one can wear, and one can never have enough hats. So many shapes and sizes, styles and trends...so, how does one choose? This is a great page about hats. Considering I have so many, I know not all of them look good on me. Some are strange, but that's what make them unique. I hope that one day I'll have a room completely filled with hats and the way that I'm going, I just might get there. Fifty-two hats, ladies and gentlemen! And still growing! Three are actually reproductions, but the rest are original. If I had to guess, most of them are from the 40's, 50's, and 60's. There are a few in particular that I have no idea how to wear. Anyway, I want to share a few of my favorites here, because if I showed all of them, this blog post would be ten miles long.


This hat has a very cool menswear and flapper-style cloche look to it, plus it's fits very nicely.


This one has a very sixties vibe, which is why I love it, and an asymmetrical crown.

This is so far my all-time favorite hat. This yellow top hat looked quite plain without something extra; I added balloon ribbon from my sixteenth birthday and a giant red bow to finish it off. Great memories are tied to this hat: the last time I went trick-or-treating and wearing it at NTS and getting TONS of compliments..yes, I think everyone should have a memorable hat.

A Day In The Life vs. The Mean Reds

So, I woke up this morning. Went downstairs. Mom opened the dishwasher, took one look and said, "the dishwasher didn't run last night?" I started banging my head on the fridge. It's my job before bed to load the dishwasher of soap, set it to run, and make sure the counters are wiped down. Therefore, today...lucky me...gets to wash every dish that wasn't washed including the ones in the sink. So my goals for today are: pretty much washing every dish in the house (although it could be worse, I guess), doing an extravagant amount of literature homework, and finishing the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's. I realized today in exactly 3 months, 6 days, 10 hours, and 1 minute I will officially be 17. FLIPPIN' SCARY!! I feel like I have the "mean reds"...

Holly Golightly: You know those days when you get the mean reds?
Paul Varjak: The mean reds, you mean like the blues?
Holly Golightly: No. The blues are because you're getting fat and maybe it's been raining too long, you're just sad that's all. The mean reds are horrible. Suddenly you're afraid and you don't know what you're afraid of. Do you ever get that feeling?
Paul Varjak: Sure.
Holly Golightly: Well, when I get it the only thing that does any good is to jump in a cab and go to Tiffany's. Calms me down right away. The quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there. If I could find a real-life place that'd make me feel like Tiffany's, then - then I'd buy some furniture and give the cat a name!

I wish I had a Tiffany's. The closest thing to that is my room, even then sometimes you can't find peace there. Anyway, I must do to some dishes. And to tell you the truth I really don't know why I posted this other than the fact that our last post was in November. :) But I enjoy blogging all the same.

Resolutions

As I come out of another year living through yet another one of my child's first years, I look back and recognize another year of just trying to keep up, just trying to survive, just barely scraping by. With Landon being my fourth child, I've come to allow myself a little leeway in "the year after" characterized by no motivation, a messy house, disorganization, projects gone by the wayside, lack of any menu planning, and other nice "comforts" all for the hopes of trading it in for the basic essentials of sleeping, eating, nurturing (others that is) and the most important, sanity. But now that my baby's no longer an infant (can you believe it?), and a new year starts tomorrow, I am filled with new resolutions.

A friend and I have been trading emails recently on the subject of intentionality. We've mostly focused on discipline, but in parenting, and I would add all of life, intentionality is key. It's hard to be intentional in many things, never mind everything. It requires a steadfast awareness of your life and all that you're putting your hands to and all that your mind thinks. On a day-to-day or even minute-to-minute basis, it's near impossible to have that kind of focus all the time. I fear though that we (and most especially me in this past year) have lost all focus and have given up intentionality in our lives.

in-ten-tion, -noun:
1. an act or instance of determining mentally upon some action or result
2. the end or object intended; purpose
3. intentions,
a. purpose or attitude toward the effect of one's actions or conduct
b. purpose or attitude with respect to marriage

Dictionary.com (from which the above definition is taken from) has eight different definitions for the word intention including meaning or significance and an interesting last one: the person or thing meant to benefit from a prayer or religious offering. All that to say, living with intentionality means living with purpose. No more living reactively, but actively living. Living with intention means consciously knowing your thoughts and understanding your actions. It's seeing where your energy is directed and how your money is spent. Living intentionally has the potential to eliminate bad habits, wasted time, lazy parenting and poor stewardship. It's about living a disciplined life.

The disciplined life is certainly something everybody should strive for, but when you're knee-deep in laundry, toys and dirty diapers and your to-do list is longer than Santa's Naughty or Nice list, it's hard to see where discipline comes in except for the occasional time-out or other behavioral management tactics. But discipline comes after deciding to be intentional and is the action of being intentional. We all know the saying, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." It takes more than intentions to live a life with purpose; discipline is what follows intentions.

So how will discipline help me in this new year? Back to my resolution... Becoming more intentional in my living. This will require a new diet for my soul. Though I look at myself in the mirror and see the need for a physical diet, I want to go deeper and change my daily nourishment in more significant ways. First, my media consumption needs to be stemmed. For me, this means less internet - it is my foremost addiction and time-waster. I am a voracious researcher, and the internet is my personal library, and thanks to email and facebook, it is also a big part of my social network. This is not altogether a bad thing, but if I don't have discipline over this area of my life, more important things fall by the wayside all in the name of research or faux socialization. Second, my quiet time will become more consistent; my nightly choice of reading will begin with the Bible as opposed to my sci-fi or historical novels. Plugging into the omnipotent, omniscient Power (no, I'm not talking about the world wide web) is the best and only thing I can do in becoming more intentional. "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith..."* Third, becoming intentional in my life includes my duties as a homemaker, parent, teacher and wife. More consistent meal planning, home organization and in-depth homeschooling are goals of mine in the coming year. This includes much more focused time with the children, concentrating on bonding opportunities. I also look forward to more date nights out with my hubby!

Now I know I will not remain intentional through every precious second of this coming year. I will have my lazy days, my sick days, my tired days, and my "I-just-don't-want-to" days - there will be plenty of those! I will fail as a mother, wife and friend in the new year. I will not be the kind of Christian I want to be, and God will not always be proud of me. But a resolution is just that: a decision meant to spur us to action; to transform in little or big ways so our lives become changed, hopefully for the better.





*Hebrews 12:2a