April 11, 2011
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It’s April
When you turn 5 life is so uncomplicated and happy.
You tell Mom on Tuesday that you want a star birthday cake. On Wednesday you order a bunny. On Friday you change your mind again and want a heart cake just like the one Mommy had for her birthday a few weeks ago. You even want it pink with red raspberry gummies. Yes. You insist that’s what you want. No stars or bunnies or flowers made with cupcakes. Just a beautiful pink heart because you never had one before.
Fine, sweetheart. Easy-peasy. Simple-dimple.
When you turn 5 and your cousin gives you 5 sparkly little gel pens and a kitten notebook your life is complete.
And when Mom & Dad are happy with you for remembering and being brave enough to say thank you after the birthday song in church on Sunday morning you are elated.
Natalia Brooke Martin.
Above is little (9 lb. 8 oz.!) newborn Natalia with Aunt Michele and Victoria. Dresses made by Aunt Michele.
You may have been born on a muddy April morning but you are a breath of sweetness and sunshine. Add a lot of bossiness. Many strong little opinions. Busyness. A love for all things pink. The budding of girly friendships. Notes and cards galore. Chewing gum. Bags and purses full of fun stashes. Determination and femininity. And that makes YoU.
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I promised you and myself that I wouldn’t complain about mud.
But after rescuing Liesl from a mudhole in which she lost her boot and then sat down
…. And cleaning church on Friday night
….. And Alec’s Saturday, which included 5 pairs of jeans
… And sweeping the entry way for the 4th time in one day
…. And wiping up more muddy tracks than you can imagine….
I have had it.
On Sunday I was ready to tie Alec to the piano for half the day and make him study catechism for the remainder of it.
I am ready to move somewhere like Wisconsin where the soil is so much sandier.
As I clean up mud I am trying to remember:
-crippled nuclear plants and aftershocks in Japan
-people who miscarried their babies recently
-my friend Kim who just opened an orphanage in Haiti
-friends whose little son is having scary seizures many times a day
-civil war in Libya
-the upcoming elections
But still I simmer quietly. I HATE mud.
The long range forecast is for two weeks of rain. This morning it’s white out there again. The new white of fresh snow. Remember me in your prayers.
Thank God for running water.
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The pastor whose deodorant I buy and whose shirts I wash weekly spoke on Kindness yesterday morning. Such a simple topic, with some good little illustrations of that beautiful virtue. And of course-the focus was on Jesus. Wasn’t he the kindest man we can think of? I am inspired to practice more random acts of senseless kindness. Kindness like I have received. Like gift certificates for massages and mysterious Sony cameras that arrive in the mail. I do wish givers like this would identify themselves so I could thank them properly. I am humbly grateful.
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I love the people who live close to me.
I love my brother and his colorful family who live nearby.
I love my sweet and wise sister-in-law, Barb.
I love my faithful church friends.
I love my nieces and nieces-in-law, with whom I have a new and growing relationship.
I love my brother and his wife who live an hour from here.
But a visit from my parents is very special. Because after mom leaves my sunroom looks like this again:
(This is a mug shot of my folks, for those of you still asking for a photo of Dad full in the face with The Beard. Yes, Lela, I’m thinking especially of you.)
And a two week visit from my big sister Julia who is 11 years older than me makes me excited.
We are preparing ourselves to tackle the organization of clutter in this house. Because somewhere after about baby #4 I lost the ability to make decisions and deal with the stuff of life.
I have been praying for ruthlessness in attacking the clutter and giving or throwing stuff away. I hope that is not trite of me.
And if very little clutter gets attacked and we have time to take walks and drink coffee I will still be happy.
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When I read Facebook or Xanga I seldom take time to read a lot of links or listen to songs. I am interested in the lives of my friends, not the people who bless them, wonderfully blessed as they may be.
There is just so much good stuff out there. How do you sift through it all and choose where to spend your precious time?
But last week I randomly listened to a song posted by my good friend Kathy who scrapbooks and sews instead of blogging. And I fell in love with it. Here…for your listening pleasure…if you have/take the time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGniRk_GcLs
(I am not even really a contemporary music fan at present. Right now I’m not a fan of much music at all. When no story tape is being played and the piano is silent I bask in the quiet.) But this song got a hold of me and it consumes my thoughts.
Leaving you here with the lyrics:
Laura Story – “Blessings” Lyrics
We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things
‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise
We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we’d have faith to believe
‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise
When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home,
It’s not our home
‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguiseAnd don’t forget to spread kindness today.
Comments (12)
i’m glad you reminded me to spread kindness today…b/c i’m in that foul kind of mood where everything and everyone gets snapped at!
love your five year old. i forgot you had one so close to Isabelle–who will be turning the big “5″ on May 1 and has been dreaming and changing her mind just like Natalia. i wish she would change her mind on her cake–a heart cake with gummies sounds simple-dimple to me, too! compared to the princess castle she lusts after!!
happy muddy days to you. yes. i believe sandy-soiled wisconsin is the place for you! altho the kids come in COVERED with mud here, too….
I will say a prayer for you and the M-U-D problem! I can sympathize; I’ve been struggling with an ugly attitude about winter never leaving and the rain and the mud and I have only 2 little ones running in and out yet…….Hope you have a a great day!
You cover so many topics, so many comments go thru my mind. Then I get to the comment box and nothing.. So today we will leave it with a happy Monday to you.
i haven’t been out galavanting in the mud, but my friend lives in a fairly new housing area and the yards haven’t had grass put on them yet…and when we went to her house for our small group meeting i smiled to see the dirt everyone on the porch and the mud caked boots all lined up. i guess i smiled cause i didn’t have to deal with all the clothes after the ‘journey’. i can understand how tiring as a mum it must be to have to clean up and do clothes changes constantly. it doesn’t help that the kids are eager fo rthis white stuff to be over soon. hoping and praying the ground clears up for you..and that perhaps a bit of wisconsin sand will find its way north to you!
i loved seeing the pictures of those whom you love, especially your mom and dad, as well as your sis who is coming to see you!!! so great! how far are you from your extended family? my brother is living out in Fort MacMurray working at radio station there, and we are in Ontario,…so we miss him dearly, but are thankful the Lord has provided work for him.
Your lil’ daughter is just beautiful…and sounds so much like my 4 1/2 year old, bossy, all-things-pink, sweet daughter.
I feel your pain for that horrid MUD! Prayers that you can hang in there…how much longer till you have Spring? Or is it Summer right away?
Kindness-something we could all practice more of-especially me.
Oh, and I’m SO excited for you that your sis is coming. Big sisters are great load lifters!
I can totally identify with Esther’s comment. Maybe sometime try posting about just one or two topics?
Then I’ll remember what I wanted to say.
Anyway…one thing that did especially strike me…the way you described the pastor who preached on kindness as the one who you buy deodorant for. Kinda sweet. And just the paragraph on kindness in general. Amen to that!
Happy “muddy” day to you. I do think God cares about your mud problem…because it matters to you.
What a pretty, sweet, birthday girl! I love the picture of her with her cake where the candle is really sparkling, and I like her outfit, too.
::The mud section made me snicker. I am sorry about the mud, though, that would be quite a trial. ::I liked seeing pictures of people in your life. Very fascinating to me. All the ladies in your church look so neat. Perfect. I think I’d be intimidated. ::I know that song grabbed me, too, and I’m not into contemporary Christian music, either. It reminds me of Praise You in This Storm that swept the blog world by storm a couple years ago.
Just reading the comments now–seconding what Esther said, but I was sweet tonight and scrolled back and forth, back and forth so I could remember. Please love me.
and when the last song is sung on veggie tales, and the piano is quiet, I too, savor the quietness. I LOVE it. I used to love to listen to the radio … now its just the dull roar in the background and often times i just turn it off, who needs one more noise maker!!!!
As for the mud … do you guys not have wind up there? I get SO tired of wind!
Luci, Good post ! We do have lots going for us when we stop and think about it. Yes the winter is long. We don’t have alot of bugs, no snakes, skunks or potatoe bug, and many other annoying little things like that. We live in a good country where work is plentyful and we haven’t faced a recession as some have. We do have sticky yuky mud, I agree that daily wiping the mat off. Every evening a load of muddy laundry, Baths maybe more than once a day do get really old.
And no one would be intimidated up here. For the lady who thought she might be. We are quite laid back and we just have fun ! I love that every one here can just be themselves. You don’t feel like you have to perform or have your i’s dotted and t crossed. Some times maybe we could a little more of that.
. Mostly me. I’m surprised and embarrassed at times what my children really do look like when we arrive at church or school. mismatch or simply no socks and things like that. 
Very nice lyrics to the song. Thanks for typing it out. I will have to listen to it one day.. and the “Praise you in This storm” sounds good too.
Your plants do look lovely ! And have fun as you continue to declutter and organize your house. To me it never looked very bad, But again I didn’t go snoop. Its always fun to come visit you !
@mytoesareblue - My parents and one sister live in southern Alberta. The rest of my family is scattered hither and yon. One sister in Missouri, one in Virginia, etc. Ontario and Fort M., Alberta ARE far apart. No wonder you miss your brother.
@lwstutz - This IS spring. We call it break-up and it’s yucky. And yeah, we kind of miss the pretty part of spring and go into summer, which is lovely, lovely. Some springs are more manageable and warmer much sooner. This one is drawn out and we had such huge snowfalls that it’s taking a long time for the snow to leave. It just depends on the year. We could have budding trees by the first part of May if it gets nice and warm, but more likely mid to end.
@appalolly - Yes. I know I need to do something different and not do these long rambly posts that are hard to comment on. This is the scoop: By the time I get I get the time (hee) to post I just try to throw everything in that I want to write about. Guess I need to do it a little more often or something…. but when?
I thought about writing “The pastor that I sleep with every night” but decided not to.
@twofus_1 - The extra sparkly candle is actually a sparkler, which is what my children love to have on their birthday cakes. No snickering at my mud is allowed. Because YOU have a nice clean street and gorgeous tree blossoms to photograph.
Now I am snickering at the thought of Bay Tree ladies being intimidating. Thanks for taking time to comment.
@The_Carpers - Yes, we have wind. Well, maybe not quite like MT, but still lots of it. It’s just the enormous amount of snow to go this year…and the slow, cool spring. Feels like the mud is lasting forever.
@lightfortheway - Thanks for the positive plugs for this lovely country of ours. We DO have it good, Laura. And it’s beautiful here. I can see you rising in defense.
I didn’t type the lyrics for ‘my’ song. I copied and pasted them from where I found them on google.
@quiet_hearts - I wasn’t laughing at your mud…I was laughing at your witty way of writing about your dislike for it.
And another defense–my streets aren’t clean. They are littered with Cheet-o bags and shattered beer bottles. But you still have it worse…because those don’t get dragged into my house.
Oh, about the long post thing? You could write on one subject and post it. Then do another post on the next subject. It would still be a lot easier to comment even if they are all one after the other in the same hour. Also, I think, think you’re supposed to be able to set your posts so you can have them auto-post in the future. I’ve not been able to get it to work for me, but you could look into that if you don’t want them to all come out on the same day.
I like the pictures of the 5 year old birthday.
My daughter had said she wants a heart cake. So I bought the pan. About a week or so before the birthday she decides she does NOT want a heart cake. So we did a round one. 