Intentional Weekend: Healing

I had planned to go to Pennsylvania this weekend. Three of the boys have soccer games there. We were going to make a family trip of it. But something tugged at me. At the last minute, Mike and I decided I'd stay home with the girls.

We talked as he packed. "I feel like the world has kicked me around in the last month," I remarked to him. "It has," he said, his eyes meeting mine, "and that makes me so sad."

It wasn't just me though; it was my girls. In a very short period of time, those tender-hearted girls have seen more illness and death and disappointment and loss than a strong, healthy adult could bear. The world was kicking them around, too.

I resolved to take this weekend and teach them, show them, how a woman of faith responds to grief, how to heal with grace. I would walk through this with them. Together, we'd heal.

It helps to have a place, a place where we go when our hearts are singing with joy, a place where we go to share with friends, a place where we go when the world knocks us around and we need to heal. Our place is a woodland place. It changes with the seasons. It gets battered by the world sometimes and creaks and is brown and gray. It changes with time, usually slowly, but sometimes drastically. Still, it is familiar, and beautiful, and we are well accustomed to seeing God present there. 

Some families have a beach, a place to gather there to celebrate glorious moments, to share with friends, to make a trip and turn a bad day around. We have a creek (or is it a river?), big old trees, and springtime's most generous flower show. We have rocks to skip across the water and skies so blue they beg to be painted.

This was a place to sit on a blanket and just wait until she talked. Just listen as it all came bubbling out. When it hurts so much and the world feels like it's crushing, come away, girlfriends, to a place where you can clear your head and open your heart, a place where He beats down on you like warm sunshine and you feel grace poured into your soul.

We talked about death, about loss, about hard knocks, about that amazing tree, clearly perched precipitously, commanding our attention in its infirmity. Would it be here next time? Or would it be the newest "bridge tree," stretched across the river, changing currents, inviting children to scamper across its back? 

Nothing stays the same.

 Babies grow into "little big girls." And little girls face big girl hurts.

 Big girls?  Well, sometimes in the life a girl on the brink of womanhood the universe offers an entire curriculum on loss all at once. And it hurts so much that every woman close enough to know can scarcely breathe in the watching.

Take a deep, breath , my girls, after you've had your big cry. Look around. See? He's here. He has a plan for your life. A good plan. And this --all of this-- is part of the plan. Be watchful with Him. Be watchful for Him. Even now, He sends tender mercies, sweet moments of joy. Moments, that wouldn't have been possible without the pain.

We took our fill of fresh air and sunshine. We stayed long and came home late. We feasted on good food and then we discovered a belated birthday present in the mail. 

Fabric!

So, we did something else that girls do when their hearts hurt and the universe has kicked them around. 

We created something beautiful for someone we love.

{{Psst, to my Girlies: I had the best day with you today.}}

Intentional Weekend: Nature Center

A visit to the Nature Center is always time well spent.

 

Checking out the snakes and chatting with the naturalist to see if he thinks the snake at Bull Run last spring was a Cottonmouth. (He doesn't, phew.)

 
 
 

Watching turtles and waving at fish.

 

Trusting that the glass is sound and secure.

 

Examining the garden and marveling at new growth.

 

And maybe the most fun of all: singing and dancing on the outdoor stage. We're looking forward to going back and being spectators when the Arts in the Parks take stage. See you there?

Creative Inspiration: Paint Creekside

Morning dawned bright and beautiful. When the question was posed, they couldn't decide: drag the easel outside and paint in the sunshine or go to the woods and play in the creek?

It hit us all at once.

Duh.

Paint Creekside! 

So we did.

{quick big brother assembly}

{The best watercolor water  for nature pictures is collected in the creek}

{sittin' 'n' thinkin'}

{she dresses herself.}

{sharing sunnies from karoline's easter basket. sarah annie looks worried that she's going to be cut off.}

{serious stuff}

{Nick's masterpiece}

The Perfect Spring Break

We took a deep breath of sweet fresh air (much of of it misty and rainy, but all good anyway). Every day, for nearly two weeks, we hung out by the creek, in the woods, on the rocks. We played and played and played. Down there, old friends joined us to keep a spring tradition going: godchildren and godmothers, big kids who were toddlers together, middle kids who once were babies in slings, toddlers walking these banks all on their own, and ~oh-be-still-my-heart~ new babies out for the very first time in spring sunshine. We also had the great, glorious privilege of introduing new friends to our place of joy. All in all, it was pretty much perfect, there in the spring and the flowers and the mud.

This slideshow is probably too long for anyone but Mike to watch to the end, but it does capture our days and Mary Beth and I hope it brings a spring smile to your day.

The perfect song is Virginia Bluebell by Miranda Lambert.

Dandelion Reprise

{From the archives. Reviving and revising a post from last year, with a mix of pictures from this year and last, before they all become "wishing flowers."}

The day began with an announcement from Karoline:

"Mama," said she, her fist full of dandelions for me to put into a tiny pitcher, "we have so many beautiful yellow flowers and the neighbors have none. I'm going to pick them all and scatter them in everyone's yard just like Miss Rumphius. Then, there will be beautiful yellow flowers everywhere."

 

We dug up a Dandelion Syrup Recipe and suggested that Karoline and her sisters and her friends gather the flowers for syrup making purposes.

 

They spent a glorious couple of hours making their fingers a lovely shade of yellow.

They stirred some "dandelion soup."

They measured until there was enough.

They brought it in to boil and steeped.

We read Miss Rumphius and Dandelions  and The Dandelion Seed and Stars in the Grass at bedtime.

The next day, we added sugar and cooked and cooked.

Dandelion Syrup.

Brings sweet tea to a whole new place:-).

When I tucked Katie into bed that night she commented, "Some people call dandelions weeds. Don't they see the flowers? Everyone should have a girl to show her the flowers when all they see are the weeds."

Everyone should.

The Recipe

250 Dandelion tops (yes, really; count them). Please be sure your dandelions haven't been treated with herbicide or pesticide

the juice of 1 lemon

4 cups of water

2 pounds of sugar

In a large pot on the stove, stir the dandelion tops with the 4 cups water, bring to a boil and then cover and simmer 1 hour. Cool and allow the dandelion tea to continue to steep in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, strain the tops, reserving all the tea. Mix the tea with two cups of sugar and the lemon juice. Simmer, stirring occasionally, on the stovetop, until the water evaporates and you have syrup. A froth will form on the top of the syrup. Turn off the heat and allow the syrup to cool completely. it will thicken as it cools. Pour into a jar. It's a got an earthy flavor that is nice stirred into tea.