May 9, 2011 Lucky Stars

Shirley (in pink) and Jake at the counter.

It’s the day after Mother’s Day, and Shirley, Jake and I are off on an adventure to a quaint quilt shop in Old Town Tustin, The Flying Geese.  We are picking out fat quarters of 1930’s material that Shirley will fashion by hand into a star quilt. It will bring sunshine into our spare bedroom. Shirley makes special plans for us to shop together, so I can pick out all of my favorite materials. She is thoughtful and giving.  I’m so excited to pick out forty-seven different, vintage, bright-colored, patterned material pieces. 

Shirley's 1930's Star Quilt

Shirley takes quilting classes each week and she recently made two beautiful quilts, a 1930’s star quilt and another neutral colored quilt that now covers her master bed.  When she showed us her latest projects in April, I fell in love with the bright, cheerful colors contrasted against the brilliant white background of her star quilt.  Shirley is talented and her quilts are impeccably crafted.

Cheerful 1930's material

Cruising down the main street of Old Town Tustin sets the mood of a sweet ol’ fashioned, relaxed spirit.  I’ve forgotten about my iPad, laptop, smart phone, and feel my life suddenly simplified and down to Earth. I feel like I’m living in an episode of “Little House on the Prairie.”  I’ve never had a sewing lesson in my life, and Shirley has never had a class using computers.  But here we are sharing a fun, unhurried, outing that I’m sure to remember forever.

I’m certain that I’ve never stepped foot in a quilt shop before, but quilts are part of my life history.  As a little girl, going to Nanny’s house was always an “Are we there yet?” event.  Her cozy home filled with too many knick-knacks, gnomes, painted plates, hanging copper-bottomed pans, and country pine furniture, oozed with familiar sniffs of our traditional family recipes wafting between the few leftover spaces.  Evenings were spent cuddled up on the white faux-fur rug in front of popping embers escaping freshly cut wood burning in the brick fireplace where five generations of eyes often congregated.  Even though it was plenty warm, I lay there cuddled up with a familiar quilt listening to the hubbub of too many Roberts’ (an old family last name) rear-ends in the kitchen.  Nanny has quilts on every bed, quilts on the backs of each sofa, quilts in the coat closet, quilts in the linen closet, and quilts on a pine wood quilt rack. 

Shirley lays out the material on our couch

But there was one quilt, my quilt, backed with red polka dots splattered onto white flannel that Nanny brought out of the closet just for me.  Nanny has a way of making me feel special and loved. Disney princesses, pink plaid, sunshine yellow patterns, greens, and blue squares cover the front side of the child-themed quilt.  Now the batting is wriggling out the sides, and many of the squares are worn all the way through.  But when I get that longing to be comforted, I pull that old ratty quilt out of my hall closet and it takes me right back to the childhood feeling of being loved and cared for. And getting that feeling from snuggling up with my girlhood quilt is a lot fewer calories than eating my favorite comfort food –a box of Kraft Deluxe Macaroni & Cheese!

I wonder how the new 1930’s Lucky Star quilt will make heart impressions with my family.  I know that for me it will forever remind me of how thoughtful and generous my Mother-in-law is. Just like the individual swatches of material are sewn together to create a one-of-a-kind quilt, our lives have united to pattern our forever family.  As we sew together memories, life experiences, children, and marriages our hearts are warmed like children wrapped in a quilt. I’m in awe that this cacophony of patterned material will come together to form a piece of beauty, but it reminds me of how each one of us has blended together to become a beautiful family.

The new star quilt will be finished in about a year she tells me, and when it’s done it will cheer-up the spare bedroom where she sleeps when she spends time with our family.

And you better bet your lucky stars that on the nights I cuddle up with that quilt in front of our fireplace, I’ll be thinking, “Not only did I marry the hunk of my life, but I’m stitched together with a family who I cherish!”

A kindhearted woman gains respect…Proverbs 11:16

Romans 8

Sunday, January 24^th

Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes everything to work for the good of those who love God are called according to His purpose for them.

Choice= He chose me and I chose to live for Him

“Mommy, is God living in everybody?” Jake asks me as I sit on the floor rubbing his back as he lie in his big boy bed.  Then he said, “He’s living in me!”

I want to say that God lives in every person.  After learning more about Romans 8 today from our pastor and through my readings and reflection, I’m reminded that God chooses His people and they either choose to follow Him or deny Him. 

God, I believe, chose me and I welcomed the Holy Spirit to live in me.  Now, everyday, I’m hopeful that my sinful, human nature is being crowded out by the goodness of the Holy Spirit living in me.  This takes a constant renewal, but I know from my own life experiences that I am different now than when I lived thinking it’s good enough that I’m just a good person while continuing to live for myself, rather than seeking His purpose for my life.  I also know, in my heart, that He is working in my life and around me.  He is present.  His goodness penetrates my life with joy, and while I experience adversity and struggle too, I know He is mixing it all together to make something really good!

Grandma Bunny’s

January 18, 2011

Jake delights in his day spent with Grandma Bunny!  Woo Hoo!  Helping water plants, feeding rabbits, what else could be so entertaining?  My mom now cares for 20 something bunnies. It all started when, in order to save my marriage, she took Flopsy bunny home from our place.  Tony and I had been out at Newport Beach Back Bay in 2003 with a group we were preparing to travel with to a mission’s trip in India. This adorable, domestic bunny was out hopping around the wilderness area.  I couldn’t stand the thought of leaving him there to be eaten, so in the car he went and then to our garage.  Tony gave me a deadline to find a new home for it and my mom saved me.  Now she has a fondness for raising bunnies and has created elaborate bunny cages set-up on her one-acre backyard in Corona.  Today, she borrowed my little Energizer bunny – Jake!

Surf & Turf

January 17, 2011

She is an angel, Elsie S.  Jake’s special little friend who makes him giddy like no other one of his friends does.  They just have a hoot palling around together.  Tonight, we had a bbq at our place with our laid back friends, Kari & Steve.  We met this family at Voyager’s church about 3 years ago, when Kari and I were at a MOPS table together.  They are our laid back, surfer friends who Tony and I enjoy palling around with!

Newport Beach Peninsula

January 16, 2011

Only in Southern California can we experience 80-degree weather in the middle of January!  Yes!  It was a beautiful day and we took full enjoyment of it by riding our beach cruisers down the Newport boardwalk all the way from 15^th Street to The Wedge and back.  Days like this remind me of how fortunate we are to live in a place with great weather all year round.  What a great family day!

Cel-e-bration Time, Come on!

January 15, 2011

It’s a celebration, for Luis’ 40^th birthday.  We haven’t seen Luis since he helped us move into our home 6-months after we got married, so eight years ago, but time hasn’t changed how much we adore Luis, only now there’s more to adore – his beautiful wife, and two children.

We get to spend some time with other friends, too.  Roosevelt and Leah, The Sieberts, Joe Marton, and Robin Williams.  Luis was shocked and delighted to see his buddies!  Everyone sported team jerseys – mostly ones that were opponents to Luis’ favorite team – The Raiders!  The gag gifts were abundant with sports logos, representing a plethora of teams, except of course, The Raiders.  And his cake was a hilarious photo of Luis wearing a Jet’s uniform.  What a fun celebration with our “old” friends.

Friday Movie Night

By the end of the week, we are pooped!  I thought about replacing that which was the first to come to my mind, but I’ll leave it since at four it’s a favorite of our sons and really does describe how we feel.

I’m grateful to create our own family traditions.  This is a family tradition that we’ve created together.  Blow up the queen-sized air mattress; throw on the quilts, pillows, and up hops our 90-pound with dirt Golden Retriever, Rusty!  He loves to be right in the middle of us and he was, after all, our first-born.  He has since been demoted to second fiddle after the birth of our son.  We are set for a relaxing Friday night of…G rated movies – at least for now.  Simple and Special.

Crystal Cove

January 13, 2011

Crystal Cove Beach is gorgeous and I’m grateful to work just 3-minutes up the road from this breathtaking beach.  After a day of teaching 3^rd grade, this is the perfect spot to relax and exercise.  We own a parking-pass to California State Parks that I use to park in the lot here.  From the lot, I journey down to the sand, ditch the shoes, and walk barefoot down this awesome path of soft sand that leads into the beginning of Laguna Beach.  The trip back and forth is usually about an hour plus and this time of the year it’s usually dark by the time I get back to the car.  The sunset is beautiful and I’ve never walked here without spying some dolphin parallel swimming up the coastline.

       Today, I’m walking with my friend Stina, who is very pregnant and nesting to get ready for her baby girl due in February.  It’s so fun to share this exciting journey with her.  We prayed for years for her and her husband, Samuel, to be blessed with a baby.  And now she is on her way!  I can’t wait to meet that precious baby girl.  I’m thankful for God hearing and answering our prayers.

Crash!

January 12, 2011

Silly, silly, silly boys!  Playing with Criss Cross Crash Hot Wheel set, Jake’s 4^th birthday present from his Grandma Bunny.  Lucas and Jake are good friends and their silly conversations make us giggle!  I think these Hot Wheel toys have been around – well, forever!!  

Women Need Women

January 11, 2011

In September 2010, I started attending Women’s Bible Study at Voyager’s Church.  We meet every Tuesday morning in the old sanctuary, which is now the gym, complete with basketball hoops and painted circles on the wood floors.  This is a refreshing part of my week – adult conversation, a chance to refocus on Christ, eat yummy breakfast snacks, and enjoy a complete cup of coffee without any little boy interruptions – Ahhhhh!  It helps my week stay balanced.

There’s something about being a woman and needing other good women in your life.  We connect in prayer, in our book studies (John 1,2, 3 and Becoming a Woman of Simplicity).  Our little group of women is so cool – each one of them is cool!  We give each other support, advice, and prayer.  What a blessing it is for me to be in community with other women.

Travel Town

January 10, 2011

Off on an adventure to Griffith Park area – Travel Town – where there are many old trains to observe, and old train shed house, and a little electric train that chugs children and their parents around the perimeter of the grounds.  Entry into this park is free and the experience is …priceless watching our boys light up with excitement over these amazing vehicles of the past.

Liza and Lucas Angier journey out with us today.  What is it about trains & boys?  Jake know many of the trains parts, of course, I can only think of three right now – obviously I don’t have that train-boy gene – the tender, the coupler, the funnel.  These are everyday household words used in our home.  I love having this time with Jake and our friends to explore, learn and have fun.  Liza read about an oil fire that happened on December 7, 1898 that Jake was fascinated by.  He is still asking me questions about that fire.  I should have paid more attention.  It’s funny; I didn’t even think he was listening to her read that plaque in front of that old oil fire-truck.  Hmmm.  Just goes to remind me that learning is always happening even when it’s not explicitly being taught.  We’ll have to look up the details of that famous fire on the Internet.  We always enjoy hanging out with our Angier friends!

Little Henry Siebert and Mom, Tara, came over after our trains visit for an afternoon of play.  Henry is 2 ½ and has named his soon to be sister, Booger Flower.  Cute! Huh?  It is feminine.  I think these two boys got almost every toy in the house out.  They had a BLAST together!  And I like chatting it up with Tara.

Photo Christmas Cards

January 9, 2011

One of my very favorite gifts at Christmas is a photo Christmas card.  I LOVE getting these jewels in the mail.  I look at them over and over again.  When our friends and family come over they enjoy checking them out too.  This year, I taped our photo cards up on the chalkboard-covered cupboard in our kitchen.  I think I’ll leave them up a really long time.  This gems stay up long after the Christmas tree and all the holiday décor is boxed up and stored up in the attic.  Maybe, just maybe this year I’ll put them in an album like my friend Jodie does…

Who’s Winking at You?

Tonight I’m grateful for our family dinners.  I love sitting at a round table like ours where we all look towards each other.  Our dinners are usually around 6p.m., a bit early for most, but it works with our schedules.  Jake is a super eater and loves vegetables.  What a lucky mom am I?  Hopefully, I won’t be kicking myself for this one when number two comes around!  To bad I’m not sitting at this table now, so I could knock on wood!  Anyway, his favorite veggie is broccoli. 

Before our meal we pray to God, and Jake ends our prayer with an exuberant, “Amen, Jesus!”  During dinner, we talk about our favorite part of the day and our sad part of the day.  I learned these dinner discussion topics from some of my mom friends at church.  It works!  Especially with our little guy, who doesn’t respond much to a “What did you do today?” inquiry.  These highlight questions prompt all sorts of discussion between the three of us.  Usually, the sad part of Jake’s day is something about a time-out at his MY Fun Time preschool program.  Listening to a four-year old’s perspective is entertaining.  We often have a hard time holding back our giggles when we need a serious correct that behavior talk.  Tony holds his hand over his mouth and has to look away many times.  This is a fun stage to be a parent!  We’ve finally made it through the potty talk at the table stage – phew!

January

The saying is, “Spring Cleaning,” but so many of us do this purge, nesting, cleaning, organizing thing in January.  Donating toys, clothes, and household items we no longer use to the Goodwill - like a cleansing for the New Year. In fact, I have a friend that is doing a 28-day cleanse this month.  I’m sure it’s not called a “body cleanse” because that sounds more like a bath, but I’ve just heard it referred to as cleanse, so I’ll leave it at that – it has to do with eating certain foods while avoiding other foods.  So, the process of starting new is really two-fold, a process of eliminating, and a refocus on what is good. The New Year gives us a feeling of starting over; a fresh start, a clean slate, and a chance to get it right this year.

During the first week in January, we dropped off some of our “to eliminate” items at the Goodwill truck located in the parking lot of our local junior college.  It was in the middle of the day, in the middle of a rather large dirt lot, and suddenly this rare opportunity popped into my mind like a corn-kernel popping in hot oil.  In our family SUV, I started doing “doughnuts.”  The few people watching, a gardener, and the two guys tending the Goodwill Truck, may have described it more like a middle-aged Mom driving around in small circles, repeatedly.  Anyway, it got the three of us in the car all a little giddy.  And off we drove.

We had some challenging moments in our marriage in 2010 and it was tough.  We had quite a bit of stress every time Jake got a cold and developed asthma with each one, requiring him to take medicines and breathing treatments every 4-hours.  I’m thankful for these challenges, because we’ve worked through them and once again the Lord has shown our family a pattern of faithfulness.  He provides everything we need and has not given us more than we can handle.  Jake has not had asthma, except one time this winter!  Tony and I are in love and we are happy and are more gracious to each other.  I’m personally thankful for the good balance of working, being a mom, wife, and friend that I experienced in 2010.

This year, every morning, I want to turn in my “To-do list” to God.    In other words, I want to be open to God editing, rearranging, turning upside down, or completely ripping up my list.  I want to see the golden opportunities, embrace the moments, to be present in God’s desire for my time to love others.  Be ready to use my ordinary abilities for His good purposes.  I want God to be the scale of balancing my time in His one hand and my To-do list in His other.  Only He knows how to steady my life.  I want to be present in the moment, be aware of my surroundings and the opportunities available whether it is as simple as recognizing a good “doughnut” lot or a way to love another person.  My goal is to be grateful for everyday moments and document those moments here on our family blog.

Teamwork & Grace

January 7, 2011

We once heard a sermon where Pastor Rick Warren said, “We have done too well at letting people know what we’re against.  Let’s let people know what we are for.” 

We are for paying attention to what is important.  Working together as a team is a value we are practicing in our home.  Some days we do this more successfully than others, but it’s always our desire as a family for each of us to “pitch-in” where needed…at least in the long run – after the football games are over, after the video game is finished, and the phone call with a girlfriend has ended!

When one person needs support more than the others, due to an illness or busy schedule, our balance scales get tipped…These times can be trying and the family member who takes on that extra burden can feel, well, burdened.  While the one in need of support may feel their expectations are not being met.  Since our routines are often interrupted with life happenings, we rely on extending to each other the grace our Father has given to each of us.  We then can push ahead paying attention to what is important – teamwork & grace.

Connecting Time

January 6, 2011

What comes in a hundred little pieces, becomes one larger unit, and can keep a boy and his dad out of the kitchen long enough for Mom to make dinner?

Lego’s!  These marvelous sets that Santa brought Jake for Christmas become rolling vehicles like big rigs, race cars, bulldozers complete with wheels that turn, parts that become gas pumps, and even drivers wearing the coordinating helmet for the vehicle’s work.

I’m grateful for the time Tony and Jake spend connecting.  After a day of teaching, Tony enjoys connecting Legos and connecting relationally with our son.  Jake squeals, “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy,” as he ascends with great speed into his run, leap, smash, hug, and ends with a spit flying “plthhhh” – you know the sound that boys make as they stick their tongues between their lips and make that silly sound that sends them into giggles.  I believe it’s the boy version of giving Dad a kiss.

Leave No Planet Unturned

January 4, 2011

Today is Tuesday and I’m grateful for the choice our family has made to have me work part-time and have this time to spend with Jake. We are a family who values learning, exploring, reading and quality time together.

We are reading books about our solar system and spontaneously we make a model using toy balls and paper clips (the asteroid belt).  Each ball represents a planet: showing its order from the sun, size, and color.  Of course, it’s not exact, but the learning and fun is abundant.

When Tony and I were children, our books included Pluto as the ninth planet.  Reflecting on this makes us aware that new discoveries and refinement in knowledge are never ending.  It is important to question, wonder, explore and discover.  Jake, like most four year-olds, has a natural spirit of curiosity and excitement in discovering.  We hope to embrace his exuberance and continue to further develop his spirit of curiosity and revelation. 

We believe that children can use their gifts and knowledge to make positive impacts in our world and we are privileged to facilitate their discoveries as parents and as teachers.