Posts from — March 2010

Into week two’s mile markers:

The railing is almost done, along with the window box, courtesy of the Hubster’s handiwork. That Mystery Purple really brightens up the place, no? Since this picture we have added prayer flags and solar colored lights to the top of the front porch, a purple porch swing, and a birdbath right next to the tree in the foreground. Ethan loves the swing we made for him and we do too: it keeps him entertained while we garden

Here’s the house a few days ago – I had to include so you could check out the baby with her mouth planted all over the window on the inside of the house!

The front yard has been our main focus all week. Mainly because the weather was awesome and the backyard is really daunting, lol. We’ve also been discussing Gnomes at length. Yes, gnomes. I know, how Waldorf of us. We found a little book on Gnomes at the flea market and its way cool. Did you know that gnomes are 7 times stronger than humans? Or that they always have twins? Anyhow, in honor of our new found appreciation of gnomes, meet our new garden gnome, whom I have named “Hodgewicket”:

To break things up a bit, here Verity and I steal a “cheese”:

Moving on… I exploded hard boiled eggs this week. If you’ve been on facebook, you know that my kitchen and I are off to a rough start. Here is egg yolk on the ceiling:

Ethan’s paint smeared hands hold a redworm as we put together our first vermiculite compost bin:

(Forgive the mess – we are still in the process of unpacking!)

AND NOW, FOR THE MOMENT YOU HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR…

I present to you a video of my husband and son dancing to “Hey Ya!” by Outkast (I believe they call this the brink of insanity, folks!) (Sorry you don’t hear anything – my camera has no sound card. But I think it adds to the irony, don’t you?)
[kml_flashembed publishmethod="static" fversion="8.0.0" movie="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid137.photobucket.com/albums/q208/mamaneedjava/March10/P3110227.flv" width="400" height="300" targetclass="flashmovie"]

[/kml_flashembed]

“Where is the book in which the teacher can read about what teaching is? The children themselves are this book. We should not learn to teach out of any book other than the one lying open before us and consisting of the children themselves. In order to read in this book, however, we need the widest possible interest in each individual child, and nothing must divert us from this.”
- Rudolf Stiener, Human Values in Education

“Every parent’s question: ‘What are the firm boundaries this situation calls for, and how will my child find freedom within these boundaries?’ …
“It is through our inner attitude that we show our love. It’s not what we do, it’s who we are in the doing of the things, that speaks to our child.”
- Sharifa Oppenheimer, Heaven on Earth; A Handbook for Parents of Young Children

Chewing on this.

It’s no secret that one of my biggest struggles is getting ahead of myself. I worry about the future, I worry and that spurs me to ACT NOW. One of the sayings I keep remember lately is the opposite of the common saying “Don’t just sit there, DO something.” Rather, for people like me, we need to learn to “Don’t just DO something – SIT THERE!”
There are so many variables and things I could be concerned about – that all of us could find to be concerned about. But it doesn’t add one day to our lives, does it? What a hard lesson to learn.
Lately I’ve felt extraordinarily tired and restless at the same time, but today I made a decision to take care of myself for a few hours and that has allowed me to emerge back into my life with a little more energy and perspective. I am so grateful for this and I feel almost elated as the day progresses with a new sense of present moment contentment.
Chris has almost finished our “Mystery Purple” porch railings and swing, along with a long window box on the other side of the front of the house (you guess it, “Mystery Purple” as well). The daffodils have emerged with their fierce yellow, declaring what the Sun has been trying to tell us for weeks: Seasons Change!
We hung a bird feeder yesterday just a few feet from our window bench and have enjoyed bird watching with our guide book open. So far nothing too crazy – a Chicadee, Robin, and bright red Cardinal are our most frequent guests. While driving in the country yesterday, however, Chris and I watched a Purple Martin fly across us and it was so magical. I had never seen that shiny purple bird before – almost like a flash of silk gliding through the air in front of us. Beautiful.
Tonight marks one week in our new home and things are going really well. The house smells like food. It’s warm. It’s home.
We spend a lot of time in the front yard, on blankets with cards and boardgames and buckets of sand and seashells. We’ll have two types of tree swings out there by the week’s end. These are the neat things that happen when you stay off the computer and TV during the day!
We’ve hung our clothes lines in the back and will start putting together the raised beds this weekend. We’ll be getting 4 chicks this weekend as well, and I can’t wait to get an Americauna or two so that our backyard eggs basket is sprinkled with those sweet easter blue eggs.
The church we’ve been attending is having an urban “grow your own food” meeting on Saturday, so I’m going to take that first step in reaching out and participating. I’ve also found some great resources lately – some free aged horse manure for my veg beds, raw milk on the “down low” for only $3 a gallon, a Weston A. Price local chapter, and frozen organic, pastured chickens from the monastery for just 3.75/lb. I hear I can get even lower than that if I buy 7 at a time, but I’ll need to wait on my freezer chest for that kind of commitment
Anyway… this day was a blessing to me. When I step back and go easier on myself, I realize just how well we are doing and how we have more than we need FOR TODAY. Delicious meals, wonderful music, inspiring books, colorful flowers, fun and games, birds, serenity, a gracious God and of course, family and friends. What more could I possibly need?
My cup is overflowing.

Wow – it has been so crazy this week as we move into our new place. I don’t even know where to start. How about one word: Exhausted!

We spent a total of two nights at the new place so far. Everything is out of storage and loaded up in the nooks and crannies of our home. Home. Wow – that’s weird to say. I can’t say that I feel “home” yet but I’m holding out hope that such a feeling will come in time.

This is my favorite part of the house, and the only one even somewhat settled into. When I need to crawl away to a space that isn’t loaded with boxes, I go here.

While the inside is being unpacked and organized and beautified, the outside is also a major undertaking. Chris is putting together a porch railing to keep the space up there kid-friendly. I found an old wooden porch swing at a flea market for $20 – which we will paint, along with the new railing, a color literally called “Mystery Purple”. Nice way to introduce us crazy Portlanders to the nice little neighborhood, heh? We also excavated (seriously!) an old rock path/walk way leading the porch that we are laying with small pebbles and lining with solar path lights. We’re putting in 2 raised beds (of cedar logs that Chris actually took down!) in the front yard featured peppers, herbs and tomatoes, and planting butterfly/hummingbird flowers through out the flower beds where some crocus(es? crocii? lol) and daffodils are popping up. There will also be a tire swing from the front yard tree.

The chain linked fenced backyard will feature many rows of clothes lines, a sandbox, a chicken coop and 100 sq ft run, and a long rock wall of an old city ally way on the property will be turned into a large raised bed for corn, peas, beans, squash, pumpkins, melons…

Long term goals include cleaning up a storage shed for use as storage for our bulk foods and a chest freezer, and possibly keeping bees to grow our own honey. Fruit trees some day…

Looks like we have our March work cut out for us! Pray that we’ll maintain some stamina, sanity, and fun.

We’re doing what we can to make this place a stepping stone – a place we can remain comfortable in while we get our “ducks in a row” and one day find our more permanent Home. There are so many choices to weigh and await Divine Leading on, but in the meantime we are hunkered down in Fayetteville, AR in our cozy little For-Now-Home.

I’ll leave you with some random pictures:
[kml_flashembed publishmethod="static" fversion="8.0.0" movie="http://w137.photobucket.com/pbwidget.swf?pbwurl=http://w137.photobucket.com/albums/q208/mamaneedjava/March10/478df9fe.pbw" width="400" height="300" targetclass="flashmovie"]

[/kml_flashembed]