This morning I happened to go to the basement for a random reason.  What greeted me was a large puddle of water on the middle of the floor.  The location could only mean a plumbing problem two stories above, instantly making me wonder what kind of damage we might have.   A quick check of the main floor revealed nothing, so we started poking around in the basement ceiling.

It revealed a mistake made by subcontractors when building the home.   While installing the ducting on the air return for the furnace, several nails went right into our hot water pipe.  They’ve been there for five years, leaking tiny amounts of water into the ducting and wood, and for some reason today the holes got bigger than the nails and we had a problem.  What a bummer that a thoughtless mistake wasn’t caught long ago!

The good news:

I went to the basement before 8 a.m., before I got in the shower and made it worse.  On a normal day I’m not down there until dinnertime when I need an ingredient from the storage room for our meal.  My husband was working from home today, saving us the cost and hassle of calling a plumber.  We turned off the water, drained the pipes into buckets, cut the pipe and went to buy a new piece.  We opened up the ducting to dry it out, put a little bleach water on the wood that appears to be rotting, and now we just wait and see if it has to be replaced.  The actual cost so far is around $20.

The bad news:

If the wood doesn’t dry out properly it will cost a lot more than that.  Having the water off meant no laundry, no shower, time spent working in the basement instead of doing other things.

Really it’s not a big deal, not a big deal at all.  But sometimes it’s tempting to feel like everything is going wrong, especially when you start stacking recent setbacks on top of one another.  Not necessarily life changing things, but little things that weigh on you, interrupt your ability to accomplish necessary things, and significantly add to your stress.  I was tempted to feel totally overwhelmed by this today, not just because of what happened but because of what didn’t happen as a result of it.  Life has a way of getting us when we have the least amount of time for it.  I’m noticing that I’ve had to give myself a lot of pep talks lately, and today they increased.

Still, as I’m trying to live joyfully this year, I do feel like I’m getting better at taking things in stride.  At least I am on the surface.  The stomach ache I’ve had for several weeks might indicate that I’m not as successful as I think.  Nevertheless, it’s progress.  I’m working at it.

So today we had an unwelcome surprise.  But it happened on the right day, we found it at the right time, and so far it’s cost as little as it could possibly cost.  Let’s hope it stays that way.

And I’m thankful for running water that isn’t running into my basement.

Then he came home and went to a friend’s house.  They took turns filming each other doing tricks on the trampoline.  After landing a front flip on a snowy mountain, a trampoline sounds rather benign, doesn’t it?

Well, it isn’t.   He was practicing a cork7 when he landed on his ankle, which was almost instantly swollen, bright red, and hot to the touch.

Yesterday’s x-rays confirmed what we had already guessed.  He has a broken ankle.  Broken through the growth plate, to be exact.  Funny how life can take such sudden turns.  It’s merely a speed bump in the long run, but feels more like a course change right now.

He’s being such a good sport about it, laughing and smiling and we’re laughing along with him when he says things like “I guess I just became the most boring person I know.  Let’s see…. we could play thumb wars!  Or tic-tac-toe.”  I remember his spring break two years ago when his week took a similar turn.  His last broken bone (wrist) was in December of 2010.  He made it 15.5 months without a break.  It was so nice of him to save this until we had health insurance again!

So we’re laughing as he adjusts to his new boot and crutches, but inside part of me is crying for all he’s lost, even if it’s just in the short run.  He’s done snowboarding.  His lacrosse season just ended, although it really just began.  The rest of his school year will probably be spent on crutches.   We hope this will heal well so he won’t have problems with it for the rest of his life.  That’s really all that matters.

New item on next week’s to-do list:  visit orthopedic surgeon.

Should be fun!  {Poor guy.}

Hopeful Homemaker

It was cloudy and sprinkling on our way down, and turned into a downpour for much of the game.  We were all soaked through, the little ones ended up watching most of the game in the car, and it could have been a miserable night.  It wasn’t.  We laughed as we played in the car, laughed at our dripping wet clothing, laughed as I drove the little ones around in search of a bathroom, and laughed at BYU’s 27-2 win over Utah State.  We watched some amazing shots on goal!

It was a great night, and we made a great memory.  We came home to revel in hot chocolate and dry pajamas.  After 70-80 degree weather for the past week it was funny that the downpour happened during the only planned outdoor outing of the week.  The weather has since cooled, the boys have gone snowboarding on fresh powder and I’m glad the children spent Monday through Wednesday running outdoors as much as possible.  It’s been a great spring break!

I love this picture, taken Sunday afternoon, of my husband napping in the living room.  It makes me smile for many reasons.  I love that he loves his naps, and almost always gets one on Sundays, no matter what else is going on.  I love the sight of him all bundled up in his black hoodie under one of my favorite quilts.  I love the memory of him sleeping with his arm over his face to block the sunlight filtering through the all-white room and also to mute the sound of our 14 year old son playing the piano a few feet away.  And yes, he was playing because he wanted to wake up his Dad and play a game of ping pong.

Of the ten of us, all except for that funny 14 year old boy has had a day or two like this on the couch.  We’ve had a fast-moving flu bug going through the family and yesterday was my turn.  I always feel bad for my children when they’re sick, but this one seemed to be quick and fairly light because several of the children threw up once, slept a little, and were fine.  Not so for me!  There’s nothing like suffering it yourself to increase your compassion for your children who have already been through it.  And there’s nothing like being completely sick to make you incredibly grateful for the competent help of a 13 year-old daughter who ran the house and took care of the children all day.

Gratefully, I’m mostly back to the land of the living today, and we only have one child home from school.  I’m really hoping that it’s about run it’s course and that we’ll be back in the swing of things by the end of the week… just in time for spring break!  My goal for the week (before so many of us got sick) was to get the house clean and organized so that spring break could feature less work and more play.  I feel more buried than ever but I’ll do my best to catch up!

I feel a little anxious about Easter.  There was so much I planned to do that I haven’t touched because we’ve been playing sick again.  More than anything I want my children to feel the spirit of Easter and have their hearts rejoice in Christ.  Creating those moments takes time and planning and my week has certainly been short on both thus far.  We have been doing one thing every night which has brought a wonderful spirit into our home at the close of each day.  We’ve been watching some of these videos before bedtime.  They’re a great way to review highlights of the Savior’s life and teachings in anticipation of watching the videos of his suffering, crucifixion and resurrection.  I highly recommend them!

So I’m off to pick up the trail of two-year-old clutter all over the house, figure out how to catch four students up on their homework before the break, and pull our house and lives back together… now that it’s Wednesday afternoon!  What do you do when you’re crazy behind?

HH

When I walked into the Conference Center on Saturday and saw this sight, my heart clenched with gratitude and wonder as tears pricked my eyes.   My daughter is a part of this! How is it that we are so blessed?

She’s on the front row (above) in the middle, wearing an orange cardigan.  We all loved watching them sing, watching them respond so warmly to the choir director who has totally won their hearts in the past five weeks.  The smiles on their faces, the light in their eyes, the power of their voices brought tears to my eyes over and over again.  It was a joy to be there with our family.  The last hour was a recording session for one song, and for the rest of the day I heard my four year old daughter singing to herself, “Arise!  Arise!” and it made me smile.

This whole experience has been marvelous to watch, and even more remarkable to ponder as various people have shared experiences and thoughts with the choir over the past month.  I am amazed at how much is being invested in these young women, how every detail of this production has been so carefully planned with an international audience in mind.  It has certainly opened my own understanding concerning the scope of vision and the consistent labor that brings it to life.  I think vision came to life on Saturday, and it was marvelous.  I have learned so much from this experience.

I also feel incredibly grateful to my parents, who flew into town just for this event.  I am grateful for the message of love they conveyed to my daughter.  I hope she gets how much she means to them.

I guess one of the golden threads throughout this experience has been the consistent message of the worth of  a soul.  The potential we each have to impact others for good is without measure.

She is one lucky girl!  We are proud of her and love her so much.

My husband gave me tulips for Valentines Day.  I love tulips, love them so much.

There is something about the way tulips bend and reach that speaks to my heart.  They lean on each other, they reach out and around to bend toward the light.  Sometimes they bow in the middle yet the flower so often lifts its head.  I love how gracefully they do this.  They are graceful yet strong.  They communicate movement, change and pose all at the same time.  I love it.

I don’t feel like I’ve been very graceful lately.  I’ve been overwhelmed by some of the challenges of motherhood, worried sick about some of my children, tired, anxious.  I want to follow the example of my tulips.  It’s ok to bend and to lean, but it’s best to still lift your head to the light.  So what if I have some things I’m not happy about?  That’s all the more reason to seek happiness, to lift my head, to calm my heart and find peace in doing my best, in doing what is most important.  All the more reason to put a smile on my face and a bounce in my step, to find delight in little things.

As I’ve watched these flowers for the past week, I’ve been reminded of my favorite Shaker hymn, “Simple Gifts.”

Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free

‘Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gain’d,

To bow and to bend we shan’t be asham’d,

To turn, turn will be our delight,

Till by turning, turning we come ’round right.

I guess one of life’s great lessons is coming down happily where we ought to be, even though it isn’t where we thought we’d be, bowing and bending with grace and not shame, trusting that we’ll come ’round right in the valley of love and delight in the end.  And trusting God even when the turning feels more like spinning.

Jennifer

“It is by studying little things, that we attain the great art of having as little misery, and as much happiness as possible.” -Samuel Johnson

I feel like I’ve been studying a lot of big things lately, big things that leave me exhausted and trembling.  It’s time to take a step back and study some little things.

It’s Valentine’s Day tomorrow.

I have a lovely list of things I wanted to accomplish before this holiday hit.  Some really fun ideas, some really thoughtful ones too.  But as happens all too often, life got in the way.  I remind myself that this really isn’t as big a holiday as the stores would have us think.  I didn’t want to do it to impress anybody,  only to bring to life ideas I have flitting around in my head, and to express my love for my family in fun ways.

As I sat with my hot chocolate and heart shaped marshmallows, I said good-bye to the big plans I’d made, and decided that tomorrow will be a day of little things.  Little things done with love.

Jennifer

These little toes, combined with ruffled leggings, are tugging at my heart:

This message is so simple, so applicable and so motivating that I can’t quit thinking about it.  We’re talking a lot about it at the dinner table this week.

Speaking of the dinner table, I made this soup last week and it was amazing.  Full of flavor + healthy and it was good for me to cook with ingredients I’m unfamiliar with.  I doubled the recipe and everyone ate it really well.  We only had 1/2 cup left.

I’ve never made a layered red velvet cake.  I’d like to try this one.  Maybe for Valentines Day?  Speaking of Valentines Day, why is it that I have a couple dozen things I’m itching to try/make for the holiday?

It’s been a while since I’ve done much embroidery, but this alphabet sampler has me sorely tempted.  I’m thinking I would stitch it on a dark gray or navy blue fabric.

My sister and I are taking this online sewing class together in February.  I’m really excited to learn how to sew curves and I plan to make this quilt once I’ve mastered them.  Isn’t it pretty?!

Back in December I promised myself that if I finished my Christmas cards I could join pinterest.  Well, they’ve been having problems for weeks now and their “create an account” page always takes me to an error.  I really hope they fix it soon.  In the meantime, I love all of these pins.  So much of my favorite colors in here:  aqua, white, red/pink and lots of vintage.

I’ve never worn perfume because it gives me a headache, but my husband gave me this for Christmas and I love it!  Flowery and fruity but not too perfumey.  I wear it every day and it doesn’t bother me at all!

It’s turning out that this week is much busier than I’d prefer, lots of appointments and such.  I find myself disliking it, not because the busyness is unpleasant, but because I don’t like the disruption from the schedule I’m trying to live.  I feel like I have so little time for things, it’s hard to give up that time!

I hope you’re having a great week!

Jennifer

Forty five minutes later the timer went off and I checked the cake.  Looking good almost everywhere… except for one spot that had fallen.  The hole looked deep and I wondered if it would turn out.  Reminding myself that the recipe called for another ten minutes of baking, I closed the oven.

Ten minutes later the sunken spot tested fine and I removed the cake from the oven to cool.  And for some reason my eyes kept moving back to it.

That sunken spot had created such beautiful texture on the cake, making me want to study it.  Had it been perfectly smooth (as I planned and expected) there wouldn’t have been much to look at.  I would have let it cool, inverted it and missed an opportunity to  notice more.

This momentary pause in my day to study a flawed cake with rapt attention and fascination got me thinking.  Isn’t life like that too?  We think we know how things should go and confidently mix together the ingredients and pop them in the day with high expectations.  But sometimes the day (insert just about anything in place of  “day”) doesn’t turn out how we hoped.  Part of it falls, sinks, looks mushy.  We eye it warily and hope it will turn out, which it usually does, but not how we pictured.  What was meant to be is now flawed and too often we wonder at its worth, or our worth.

But it was the flaws that created my moment of beauty, not a perfect cake.  It was the sunken area that made me want to look at it longer.  And you know what, the same is true of people.  The things we wonder at are the sunken areas that turn out, the areas that somehow come together in spite of adversity.  There is beauty there, not the perfect kind but the kind that we earn as we go through life.  The kind of beauty that follows faith, hard work, squaring your shoulders to do the best you can.  It’s a beauty that also follows the valleys in our lives, the days of uncertainty, fear, worry and tear-stained faces.  But because it’s one-of-a-kind, completely custom beauty, we marvel at it.  {Funny how we appreciate this kind of beauty in others but rarely welcome it in ourselves…}

Another thought hit me as I was wondering at all of this.  I know people whose lives hold no visible evidence of any flaws whatsoever.  Although some cakes have no flaws, we can be assured that all people do.  We all have disappointments, fears, heartaches.  It’s just that most of us manage to invert our cakes pretty well and come off looking normal.

And as for my worry about the cake, I needn’t have wondered.   It looked beautiful and delicious {which it was, every single crumb of it} and my family had no idea it wasn’t “perfect”.  So when we’re worried that our holes reveal too much we can remember that most of the time the flaws end up on the bottom and the best that is in us rises to the top.  And it all turns out just fine.

{I suppose I should insert here that this is probably just a pep talk to myself, but I’m sharing it in case it might cheer you up, too.  Sometimes I feel like I have some deep, ugly holes…}

All this thinking reminded me of a quote I liked in one of my current reads:

“We mortals, men and women, devour many a disappointment between breakfast and dinner-time;  keep back the tears and look a little pale about the lips, and in answer to inquiries say, ‘Oh, nothing!’  Pride helps us; and pride is not a bad thing when it only urges us to hide our own hurts – not to hurt others.”
-George Eliot, Middlemarch,  published 1871

My husband took the oldest two snowboarding for several hours, providing our son with the opportunity to try out the new board he got this week after our snowboard designing friend warrantied his old one to inspect it’s flaw and gave him a brand new $500 board for nothing.  We are NOT one of those families with lots of connections but in this case I guess we got lucky.

While they were up there, I took the time to sit outside in the sunshine and watch some of the others play a game of football in the backyard.  Notice the shorts, t-shirt and bare feet?  Winter has yet to hit where we are, and much as I hate the snow I’ve started praying for it so we’ll have water in the summer.  It’s not looking good and I have big dreams for my gardens and flowers this year.

My youngest has been incredibly sweet, funny, silly, etc. today.  It’s been delightful to be around her.  For a little while she lay on my couch in a silly position and I took a picture.  She carried the camera around, laughing uncontrollably, for 15 minutes as she looked at this picture of herself.   I realized how much she’s grown, as she can now identify a picture of herself as “me”.  Sigh.  Like her outfit?  She came up with it herself.  She does this about 27 times each day, and is now in the habit of drawing from any drawer she can open, which means she comes downstairs in all kinds of sizes.

One of my daughters was bored and couldn’t find a friend to play with so we drew a bird on some muslin and she spent the afternoon learning to embroider.  To my surprise she was quite good at it and didn’t quit until it was finished.  Not once did she get her thread knotted or anything else of that nature.  I need to do this for her much more!

We chuckled as we sat there because our little one wanted to kiss an owie on her sister’s foot.  Big sister warned her not to (remember the barefoot football game) because her feet were so dirty so while she stitched she got her feet lovingly cleaned.

And I thought to myself that I’ve GOT to find a way to slow down and enjoy this kind of day unfolding much, much more often than I do.

I got out a stack of fabric that I haven’t touched in 9 months and enjoyed spending some time at the sewing machine for the first time in weeks.

This was my after-Christmas splurge.  These rolls of wrapping paper (from Target) make me smile.  I guess I’m loving bold geometric prints more all the time.  I’m going to find something really fun to do with this!

The children are taking turns playing the Wii and gawking at the television while the others have their turn.

Right now I sit with my five year old son leaning on my shoulder.  Our little one is, at last, in bed fast asleep and the four year old is asleep on the other couch.  Our oldest is away at a New Year’s party which leaves #2 through #5 hanging out together in the room.  I enjoy listening to their conversation as they share opinions, giggle and all pile on the same chair together.  It’s moments like this that I hope they remember when they’re older.

We’re celebrating New Year’s Eve simply.  A simple, casual dinner of mostly appetizers.  Earlier this evening my husband and I enjoyed one of our favorite drinks, a cherry cream soda from a nearby shop.  I need to remember and appreciate these simple things.

For the past two years I’ve carried an adorable Cath Kidston notebook in my purse.  It’s completely full so I ordered a new one, along with a small agenda for 2012.  I’ve been working hard on my goals for the new year and I’m almost ready.

I’ll be back soon with a wrap-up for my Year of Habits, but for now I’m going to enjoy simply being here with my wonderful family.  And I’ve learned some good lessons from this year so 2012 will be much better.    I’ve got a lot of work to do.

Happy New Year!
Jennifer