Mother's Day, Meanderings and Motivation

I'm afraid this might be a rambling post...

I know. I know.

That may strike fear in some of your hearts as I tend to put out some purdy long posts as it is.

Bwahaha!

But at least you are not a captive audience.
You can always click that little "X" up there and walk away.
Or if you have a few minutes,
you might pour yourself a nice cup of hot tea...
or hot cocoa,
maybe a glass of lemonade if it's a scorcher in your neck of the woods...
curl up in your favorite spot on the couch with your laptop,
or cozy up in your computer chair and sit a while.

Just a lot of this and that in my head.
A few things to say.
Nothing particularly important.
Just some ramblings about a lot of different things lately.
Random tidbits,
happy memories,
plans for the future,
Hopes for tomorrow,
contented thoughts about today...
wow...
I'm even rambling about rambling...
nice.
:)

Our beautiful start to this LORD's day, began with Worship of course.
Made all the sweeter to me, because my dear hubby hobbled his way
to services with us.
It was painful, but he is one tough cookie.
And he went back with us tonight too.
Thankfully, every day he is making progress.
We go back to the surgeon this Friday to get the bandages off and staples out...eek.
He is hopeful that we can stop giving him his nightly Lovinox shots in the stomach.
Blood. Clot. Prevention.
Yep.

He has given some serious thought as to how dying from a blood clot might not be so bad.

Probably not just ONE of the worst parts of this broken leg dilemma,
but THE worst...

Hubby is needle phobic.

I am not on his most favorite people lists for at least a few minutes of every day.
But we are getting by...

but onto Mother's Day!

My Mother's day actually started Saturday night, when Josh got home from work.
We were all busy wrestling a bed out of his old room
(that he is still in)
that we had moved out of his new room
(so I could paint)
when he got home from work...that is another story...
but really, you don't have that much time...(and hubby is a callin' me...)

After it was moved and the huffing and puffing had subsided, I sailed into the kitchen
to point out how lovely it was to look out the kitchen door at the beautiful,
newly sided exterior wall...
Then when I turned around, I saw this breathtaking bouquet of
multi-colored roses on the table.

The kiddos had a good laugh at my expense for missing this gi-normous bouquet,
in my haste to point out the work Robert and Dustin had accomplished, while Josh was at work (besides all the painting that Candice and I accomplished...I love productive days!)

Ahem.
O.k.
On to today.
(which by the time you read this will be yesterday.)

Purdy Pictures

This is the beautiful Mother's Day bouquet that my super duper children
plotted,
planned
and purchased.
***happy sigh****
I do love those chilluns of mine!
Not to mention purdy flowers!

I sure wish I was better at snapping family pictures.
Ashley and Nathan and our sweet grandblessings, Angelbaby and Sugarbear all came over today.
The whole brood back in the nest for a day.
Happiness. Pure. And. Simple.

I do love having all my chicks and grand chicks under my wings.

But, did I snap one single, solitary photo of that sweet crew?
Nope.
Nada.
As in Not One.
Tonight (hence the lighting not being sooo great) I thunk to snap some
pictures of these BE-UTE-I-FUL flowers...
but my kiddos...
sigh...


I am down right partial to family! I know with every cell of my being how blessed I am to have my dear hubby and sweet children. Every day they are more precious to me...
I'll get to some more thoughts about counting our blessings and focusing on today in a minute...
I warned you it would be rambly.

Anyway...
We decided, yesterday, that the perfect Mother's Day would include carry out pizza on paper plates and a nap some time in the day.

Mission Accomplished!

After stuffing our faces (and tummies) with stuffed crust pizza,
I cozied up with those little babies and read some stories upstairs in our study.
Then, I settled in our comfy, white, over pillowed bed with my sweet grand blessings.
Just in case you didn't know: A nap with your grand babies is PURE BLISS.

Did I mention the day included flowers?
Yep!

So it was a perfectly lovely day.
I couldn't have asked for better.
While we girls all napped in various cozy locations, the fellas played Kansasopoly.
(Well, thankfully, poor, broken legged hubby napped also. This was a long day for him.)
Then we visited some more, snacked a little more,
laughed a lot and listened to a little music.Tonight, after evening worship, hubby relaxed and propped up his leg a bit
while Candice and I got a nice walk in and the boys went for a short bike ride with Josh while he ran.

It was the perfect Springtime evening walk.

Every time Chasity, Shauna and I would run, we always talked about how God rewarded us with something beautiful in His nature for us to see, hear or enjoy.
Many a run we spotted vibrant, indigo buntings, always flitting right ahead of us as we ran.
Songbirds, deer, rainbows, heron, sunsets (alas...not to many sunrises in our running history), owls, bats, butterflies...always something beautiful.

Tonight was no different.
As Candice and I set off down our gravel road the cool of the evening almost sang a springtime lullaby to us both. Without sounding downright daft, nature is enthralling to me. I often feel wrapped in a cocoon of contentment and calming peace when I walk or run down our little country road.
As we walked we talked. We listened to each other and the lovely sounds around us, and we just soaked in the beautiful gift of this spring evening.

There was a sweet smell, like honeysuckle, already on the gentle breeze, with a tangy whiff of cedar every now and then. We talked about her upcoming graduation as we heard an owl calling from the tree tops and the peepers chirruped to us every step of the way.

I have three favorite sounds in nature.
Frogs singing.
Owls hooting.
and my most favorite of all...
the tender~sweet call of the whippoorwill.

As we huffed and puffed our way up the big hill, we caught sight of a bat...
then another,
and then one more.

Then we heard the first cicadas singing their summertime chorus with the frogs...but the best was yet to come.

As we made our way home,
the first sweet notes of a whippoorwill drifted to our ears.
Then we heard another, then another as their song followed us all the way home.

I can't put into words how moved I feel when I hear this simple creature singing.
It moves me deeply, unexpectedly every time I hear one call.
I don't care if you call me sappy.
It overwhelms me, but in a good way.

It is another reminder that I am
blessed above measure.

Thankful.

Grateful for another day with my husband,
with my children,
and grandchildren,
in our home here in the country.
Thankful to enjoy another Spring.
Another evening.

Focused on today and so thankful for it.

It is liberating to shake off tomorrow.

Box it up.

Put it aside.

Save it for tomorrow...when it will be today.

But today, just focus on today.

I've not mastered it yet.

But each day that I do,
as worry or wondering creeps in,
and I am able to stop it,
and leave tomorrow right where it belongs...
and bring my focus back to today,
it's like a heavy, heavy burden lifts off of my shoulders.

Liberating is the best word I can come up with.

It's so easy to borrow trouble worrying about things that may never come to pass,
or about things we can not change in the past,
or that are beyond our control in the future.

God wants something better for us.

His plan is one of peace.

No matter what is going on.
No matter how deep the pain and suffering.

He wants us to be Peaceful.

Content to live in today.

I love days that I get this.

I hope to get this more often.

Not just on easy days like today,
where I see all these blessings right in my face.
But on the cloudy days too.
The life is hard in your face days.

I'm working hard to live in today.

Working hard to see what a blessing today is.

I love this old saying/prayer:

Dear Father,
Please grant me
the serenity to accept the things I can not change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.

It seems so trite.

But it's the truth.

It's talking about living in today.

So, let's get to it...
well,
after a good nights sleep.

Dear hubby is calling, "Marie, you coming to bed?"

Nite friends.
Love,
~m.

p.s. the motivation is get out there and move!!! God will reward you with something beautiful every day if you just get up, get out, and get busy!
Love to you all.