Today my joy is found in something so simple, it borders on mundane. But, to me, it’s a small, easy joy that reminds me of my childhood.
A retractable clothesline strung festively across my deck.
I love that I’m satisfied with simple things, little things. That I can find a way to enjoy laundry, on some old-fashioned, charming level.
And this?
Well, it just makes me think of the ocean, and summer, and that some very good days are coming.
Tom Petty had it right. Waiting is difficult. I am not a good “waiter.” Yet, I’m a terrific procrastinator.
On April 7th, the Joy Dare had me looking for “three gifts waited for.”
Hah! How much time do you have?
I’ve waited for many things, including time to update my blog. Which is why I haven’t posted in awhile. Things be crazy!
Between baby care, grad class homework, housekeeping, tax prep, helping a friend start a new business, several family gatherings, 87 piles of laundry, filing some important (and overdue, oops) Family Leave paperwork, and activities related to generally being a human, I’ve had pretty much no time to properly update this blog with regard to the Joy Dare. So, instead of playing catch up (because I’m finding that I’m starting to repeat myself), I’ll just let you know that I’m not ignoring the Joy Dare, or this blog, but rather prioritizing things… yeah… that’s it: prioritizing.
Plus, I was starting to stress over whether or not I was finding gifts, or the right gifts, or enough gifts for the Joy Dare. And I don’t think that’s what the Joy Dare is all about.
My goal is to get back to the Joy Dare in proper sometime this week… so stay tuned.
In the meantime, I’m doing this today, along with a seriously large graduate class project (due tonight, naturally)…
It’s a thing you have to do once in awhile when you use cloth diapers. It’s not hard, but it’s time consuming. And really necessary if you actually want your diapers to continue to work (read: hold in stuff).
See you soon…
Three things nailed together: today’s Joy Dare.
What?
I had to think about this. I didn’t think these gifts would come easily, so I purposely focused on what I could see as gifts “nailed together.”
The painfully obvious: something wood. These are the floors in my house, and I love them. They are a gift because they remind me of all the hard work we’ve put into this old house. We may not have a lot of fancy things, but the things we have, have meaning.
A journal entry I found while cleaning up my bookshelves today. It was about nailing our fears, weaknesses, and problems to the cross. The gift here is the reminder that journaling (this blog) is a good thing, Christ is my solid place, and bookshelves should be visited more often.
Chris and Dave rocking our local pub tonight. We haven’t seen Dave in a long time and it was great! He is pure talent, exponential. It is a blessing to know Dave. We weren’t even sure this gig would happen, but it did. As the old saying goes, “they nailed it.”
Three things nailed together… Not too bad for someone who isn’t a carpenter.
The Joy Dare for yesterday asked me to recognize gifts at 11 am, 2 pm, and 6 pm. Unlike Thursday’s gifts, these were easy – which is a gift in itself!
At 11 am, a quiet house.
At 2 pm, this:
At 6 pm, dinner with friends.
It was a good day.
Admittedly, today’s Joy Dare was difficult for me. A busy, hurried day had me running around the house and around the county, toting a semi-fussy baby along. It’s not always easy to photograph words, either – at least not always in a way that works for this blog’s purposes.
So, my Three Gifts in His Word, as best as I could arrange…
Because it was a challenging day, and there was so much to do – and still so many things remain unfinished – I need to remember:
With this in mind, I can rest assured that no matter what today – or any day - brings:
And because KLOVE is having their Spring pledge drive and I must remember that it is better to give than to receive, and it is in that giving that we ultimately receive:
Today is day three of my Joy Dare and today’s finds truly are surprising. As I had expected, I was caught off guard with today’s gifts and wasn’t able to capture a picture for each one. So, two of my three joyous gifts are “supplemental” pictures.
Without any further ado, I give you my Three Gifts Surprisingly Found:
I am surprised at how happy cloth diapering my child makes me. It sounds ridiculous, I know – but there is something very satisfying about not buying disposable diapers and getting excited about which color diaper to choose next… Saving money, helping the environment, not exposing her little hiney to chemicals… it’s good and surprisingly joyous.
The biggest surprise of all? I don’t mind doing laundry as much as I used to – and for anyone who knows me – that’s a HUGE surprise.
On our way out tonight, my husband and I drove past a young woman listening to her iPod and dancing… on the sidewalk outside of her house. It was such a blessing to see this because I thought, “What if we all just started dancing more?”
The best surprise of the day?
My daughter’s first real, out loud, because-it’s-funny, laugh.
Today, unprepared as I was to capture my gifts on “film,” I let myself just open up to whatever gifts came – and how lovely they were. Joy can surprise you, if you let it.
April 2nd’s Joy Dare asks me to find Three Gifts White. It’s the second installment in my Joy Dare that I’m going to do this month (and hopefully beyond). If you want to get caught up and learn about what this Joy Dare thing is and why I’m doing it, go see this: The Days are Long, but the Years are Short.
A literal gift: a perfect heirloom blanket for Nora.
Coconut cake – simple, decadent. Wonderful.
My favorite tulip tree blooms now.
Three Gifts White has me thinking about clean, white bed sheets and spring cleaning. These gifts have me thinking about the hope in springtime – the promise of birth, growth, warmth, and breathing out the stale air of being inside for too long - inhaling the reborn air of an earth waking from it’s winter nap.
“… that habit of discontentment, it can only be driven out by hammering in iron that which is even sharper: the sleek pin of gratitude…” ~ One Thousand Gifts
Yesterday was the first day of April and I’m not fooling when I say: Holy cow, that was fast! I cannot believe my daughter is almost 3 months old. It literally feels like I was just holding her as a newborn yesterday. The time has passed much too quickly…
When I think about how fast the weeks pass, I am frightened that I’m going to miss something. I’m afraid that I’ll get lost in the diaper changes, the laundry, the day-in-day-out stuff that clouds the opportunities for me to live in the moment. I’m afraid that I will wake up one day and look into the eyes of my teenage daughter, leaving for college and wonder how I missed it all.
I was thinking about this yesterday, when I stumbled upon this:
Now, the truth is that I didn’t really stumble upon this but rather rediscovered it since I am currently reading Ann Voskamp’s blog on a regular basis. I’ve considered participating in her Joy Dares before, but it didn’t fully resonate with me until now. So, I’m doing it for April. And I’m pretty excited – my goal in participating in this is to seek blessings every day, to reflect on them, to live in the moments that matter every day – most especially those with my daughter.
On a side note, Ann Voskamp is a writer and blogger whose writing makes my heart simply ache… I long to be able to write like her, or at least find my own achey style – to use words so beautifully and powerfully that I literally have to remind myself to breathe when I read her stuff. She has written a book, One Thousand Gifts, and her joy dares come from that book.
So, my three joys/gifts from April 1st, 3 Gifts Round, are as follows:
‘Tis the season for sun tea!
The color of where the sky hems the ocean.
My bowl, always full. Always.
I’m not sure if I’ll be able to post my joys/gifts every day this month, but I will certainly try.
It’s also National Poetry Month and I know several people who are participating by writing a poem a day. I’ve attempted this before, but it’s tough. Though – I’ve been feeling the need to participate in some way – in some art – and I’m hoping this Joy Dare will not only fulfill my need to be more “in the moment,” but also this yen for art.
Whatever the case, I’m really going to enjoy this!
Recently I submitted a babywearing story of mine to the Where We Wear blog and today we are the featured story! Go check it out:
http://wherewewear.wordpress.com/2013/04/02/110/
Well, I did it. I should say, we did it, really. There were several small surprises along the way, but I had a lot of love and support and that’s the key… the details are below for those of you who’d like to know what it’s really like to have a baby at home.
Please note: there are photos included in this blog post that some readers may find to be too intimate/revealing. Mostly, they are G rated, but if you are at work, you may want to wait until you are home to read this story. Plus, it’s kinda long.
Also, the main purpose behind sharing my homebirth story is to document my experience and to share it with those who are interested. It is not my intention to offend or upset anyone by sharing my story.
To continue reading, please click here…
