Living Simply?

Freshly picked for me from Katelin

It's hard to live a simple life. It's hard to allow only the best things in. I know because I'm trying, and sometimes even succeeding. I think it will get easier.

You see I found this list of 72 ways to live a simple life. And all of those ideas kept multiplying in my brain. I started planning and listing (if only in my head) all of the things I needed to "get done" so that I could say, "My life is now simple. I live simply."

But it doesn't work that way. I've been doing all the normal things I do. I set a goal. Work towards it. Check it off. Move on. I'm always so focused on the future, on the next moment. The way it will feel when it is "done."

But I never get there. I'm always reaching for the next thing.

I've been doing this my whole life (at least since I can remember). My Young Women are doing it. They don't want to learn about the newest Young Women Value, virtue, because they have already done the Personal Progress thing. What about the process? The learning? Do we all only do the things that help us check it off as done?

The thing is, sometimes I just stop. I stop reaching and start breathing. Start watching. Start enjoying.

It happened yesterday. I was folding laundry. The window was open with light pouring in, and I was thinking about sacred things. It was a beautiful moment.

It happened again today. I sat on a blanket watching Katelin pick me a bouquet of dandelions while Seth tasted a few rocks. My kids remind me most. They find joy in the moment. That is what I want, what I am reaching for.

I Can Do Hard Things.

One hard thing Katelin has mastered.

While living in Chicago, Trevor and I talked often about the people at AIU (Trevor's former employer) who worked from home, but traveled OFTEN -- and by often, I mean pretty much all the time visiting universities and promoting AIU's study abroad program.

"That would be soooo hard," I said. "You would be great at that type of job, but we could never do it with all of the travel."

Three years later, here we are. The four of us share our two-bedroom, 1040 square foot apartment day and night when Trevor is working from home. Trevor leaves us for days at time. I stay home with the kids alone.... for days at a time. We're doing it.

The other day after dropping Trevor at the airport (a regular event at our home), I thought, This isn't even weird anymore. I'm used to it. And so we come full circle. It looked hard. It was hard. But it isn't quite so hard anymore.

We grow into our circumstances. We pick up the load that is ours and while it might feel heavy for a while, after carrying it we get stronger and the load feels easier. And in the end, it's nice to know that we CAN do hard things. We can face illness, tragedy, heartaches. We can discipline our kids, wake up all hours of the night, and love them even when we don't feel like it. We can move away from home, go to grad school, and exercise. We can get organized, bill our clients, quit our job, recover from an accident, eat healthy foods, lose extra pounds. We can quit our bad habits, love the unloveable, forgive, and find the best part of ourselves. Sometimes it is just good to know you can. Our Father in Heaven knows it, and He often lets us learn it for ourselves.

Always watching

Trevor putting some tools away in his "shed."

Katelin does some tool organization of her own.

Of course, then Seth had to get in on it too.

Our kids are always watching. Always imitating. I'm sure I've already messed my kids up in some way or another, but I think, for the most part, they're doing okay.

A Little Something

Check out our Etsy Shop. Trevor built a few of these headboards to sell. He's amazing at building beautiful furniture for me!

Three Billy Goats

Katelin playing The Three Billy Goats Gruff at the Park

"Katelin, can you be quiet while I am on the phone? I need to call Mary's mom."

"You mean Jesus' mom?"

****

After a lot of hammering and noises in the apartment upstairs Katelin said, "I hear the three billy goats... but there's no troll."

Morning Sounds

Loving those teeth!

We woke up to lots and lots of rain this morning. It was a nice addition to the sounds that come as we wake up each morning. This mornings sounds start with cries from Sethie. I pull him out of bed to feed him, hoping he'll nurse back to sleep, but he never does. Once he's done, he sits straight up and smiles at me in the darkness. I want to just pull the covers over my head and go back to sleep, but you really cannot ignore that smile.

His chirps fill the quiet of the rest of the morning. Trevor left early for work. Katelin is recovering from her first rough night of Project Bedtime, something I'll have to discuss at a later date. I'm on the computer listening to the rain, the Seth's chirping, and the quiet.

Katelin wakes up grumpy, but the rain cheers her. Her excitement for the rain, for preschool, for the projects of the day bring our quiet morning to an end. I hear pounding with the toy hammer and tool bench as the two kids play. Then Katelin disappears and I hear opening drawers and doors. She is proud to get herself dressed and ready for the day. Seth's happy chirps soon turn to whines. It's time to get off of the computer. This day will be full. There might be crying. There will definitely be a runny nosed baby, and a tired Mom at the end of the day, but somehow that will be okay. A good Monday to start a good week.

Revealing our unique potential

Katelin's education currently includes lots and lots of art projects. I'm looking to add to that.

I've been reading. Filling my mind up with new ideas. Turns out there was this amazing woman, Maria Montessori, born just 139 years ago in Italy, whose philosophies and developments in education are having quite an impact on little old me, born just 29 years ago in Idaho, of all places.

The woman was simply brilliant and understood something about education that we have yet to understand or at least to implement in our education system. There's this website which gives a short description of her philosophy -- "She believed that each child is born with a unique potential to be revealed, rather than as a "blank slate" waiting to be written upon."

Wow! What if we were each born with unique potential just waiting to be revealed?

Sound familiar? Well, I believe it is true, and I'm totally excited to be learning about her schools, her process of education, and all of the activities you can use to teach your children. The book I've been reading is called Teaching Montessori In the Home: The Preschool Years, just in case you were wondering.

Here's a last quote from this woman, Dr. Montesorri -

"Scientific observation has established that education is not what the teacher gives; education is a natural process spontaneously carried out by the human individual, and is acquired not by listening to words but by experiences upon the environment. The task of the teacher becomes that of preparing a series of motives of cultural activity, spread over a specially prepared environment, and then refraining from obtrusive interference. Human teachers can only help the great work that is being done, as servants help the master. Doing so, they will be witnesses to the unfolding of the human soul and to the rising of a New Man who will not be a victim of events, but will have the clarity of vision to direct and shape the future of human society."

Library Day

We picked this book up at library day today, after a recommendation from Ms. Celia who is much more interesting during baby story time than she is during preschool story time, in case you were wondering.

Anyway, after doing quite a bit of clapping and singing, picking out a few books, offering my perpetual donation (a.k.a. fine) to the library, and picking up my reserve items, we were back at home to read all about The Napping House.

I've been meaning to try to quit reading annoying books to Katelin, and this one, which definitely is NOT annoying, might help me in that task. It is a bit reminiscent of the story - This is the House that Jack Built, and it in no way makes me feel like burning it (which is an urge I usually have to fight after reading any adaption of a Disney Princess movie).

On a side note, I really wish I lived in a napping house, but I don't want to live in this napping house because a flea is involved here. I like napping, but I really, really, really hate fleas.

Back to the story - after reading The Napping House, and ALL of the other library book to the kids, we enjoyed a few minutes of quiet reading. By quiet, I don't mean quiet at all, as Katelin interrupted me about 17 times in that fifteen minutes and I only made it to page three or so of Teaching Montessori In the Home: The Preschool Years (which is, by the way, very interesting - a whole new discussion).

Then Seth went down for his nap (okay we do have a little napping at our house), and Katelin & I headed outside to absorb some much needed vitamin D. Several circles on the tricycle, a long chat with Tracy, a short game of hide-and-seek with Mia and Belle (our cute 8-year-old twin neighbors), some lounging on the blanket with Seth (after he woke up), and several more attempts to read MY book later -- we tromped back to the house.

Overall, a pretty good day.

I Love My Life!!

Life is pretty good.

These pictures, taken a few weeks ago when we biked to Trailhead park, really show how I am feeling about life and my family. I really love my life, my kids, my husband.

Nothing like sitting in a tunnel upside down, right?

One more kiss for good measure.

Trevor's lifelong quest: feed the kids just one more bite.

My constant sidekick.

The joy of the swing.

Flying high.

They're happy here, but wait until Seth gets his helmet. Yikes.

Dejunking

This is not really my junk drawer. I'm currently unable to download photos to my computer; gotta buy a new cord so I stole this shot from some lady - (here). I don't really have a junk drawer, because I only have a few drawers available in my house. Instead, I have a shoe organizer hanging inside of my closet which serves the same purpose as a junk drawer, only it looks worse and holds more junk.

You may be wondering why, after my declaration on spending my time and talents on the "Best" stuff, I have come back to my blog so frequently over the last week. I will tell you: I have determined that blogging, more specifically writing, is important to me.

I am still working on dejunking my life. I reiterate, it is much easier to dejunk your junk drawer than to pull out and look over all pieces of your life. I've been struggling to pull it all out - feeding the kids, grocery shopping, working on Young Women -- these things are all going back in the drawer. Aimlessly searching and reading the internet, talking on the phone when my kids need attention, volunteering for something that makes my life too crazy. This stuff can go to goodwill for someone else to pick up, or else maybe to the trash. Then there is the maybe pile - selling modbe, organizing my cupboards, going to storytime with Katelin. I just don't know how these fit into my life. First, I've got to take care of the important stuff. Stick to the basics. Then we'll see.

The best thing I've done with all of this is to rediscover and re-emphasize the items that were sort of buried before. Playing with my kids - on purpose. Talking to Trevor about something besides diapers and potty training. Writing. Exercise. Reflecting.

It isn't easy to make each day, each moment matter and seem important, and it is so easy to let junk seep into your life. But it seems, as I'm working at this day by day, it gets easier and I'm finding the things that really matter to me giving me purpose and happiness.