Birthday Girl

I don’t post about my older children as often as I do the younger crowd.  I’m not sure why.  I guess part of it is because I’m a rookie at parenting teenagers, while the little ones don’t intimidate me.  Part of it is a desire to leave them free to establish their own identity in our community unhindered by anything that I might say about them on this blog.  I don’t want to embarrass them, or post something that could erode their trust in me.  Really, though, they’re great kids and I should say more about how much I love and appreciate them.


This beautiful girl, my oldest daughter, is now twelve years old.  She is fun to be around, generally cheerful, and manages a lot of activities with great calm.  Her two year old sister worships her, and for good cause.  She’s kind and helpful and patient with the little ones.  She does her own laundry.   She usually has something going on almost every day of the week, but she handles everything with grace and enjoys it all.  She’s quick, witty and intelligent.  She gets a lot of exercise, takes good care of herself, and grows prettier every day.  I enjoy being around her.  We love her so much.

On a whim, I turned her lunch into a gift.  (Please excuse the late-night lighting, but I really wanted to remember this idea.)


I individually wrapped every item that went in her lunch.  I picked up a couple of favorite things to surprise her when she opens it at school.


I realize it’s possible that she will be totally embarrassed by it, but I think that she will enjoy having a bunch of small gifts to unwrap during lunch hour.  I added a little note to remind her that I’m thinking of her.


Because I am.  She’s our beautiful birthday girl.

HH P.S.  It’s been a crazy couple of days, but I’ll be back later today with more pumpkin posts!  I’m trying to make up for lost time…

Stuck.



I want to live purposefully.  Simply.  Reverently.  Thoughtfully.  Happily.  Quietly.  Beautifully.


I need to do laundry.  Clean the kitchen.  Clean toilets.  Change another diaper.  Pick up 1,000 things off the floor.  Plan dinner.  Plan everything.  Get it all done, and do it again.  (And again, and again, and again….)

At this moment, the two worlds seem awfully far apart and impossible to reconcile.   I feel stuck.

Are the desires of my heart and the needs of my family mutually exclusive?  Please understand, being a wife and mother is the fulfillment of my life’s dream.  But there is this part of me that craves more ; correction: less.  My heart whispers that it must be possible, but my days testify that I am nowhere near the merging of the two.

I’m sure the answers are close by if I can peel back enough layers of stuff, commitments, wants and waste.  That process takes time.  Usually I feel up for the battle, but tonight I feel like I can’t see enough progress to stay motivated.

The answer?  Keep going.  Try to open my heart.  Look at the sky and not at the mud.  It’s no fun feeling stuck.

What do you do when you’re stuck?

Hopeful Homemaker

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