Spring snow

Pausing for Tea on a Snowy Morning
(with sincere apology to Robert Frost)

Whose flakes these are I think I know.
His heart is with His children, so
I know He sees me pausing here
To watch His world fill up with snow.

My little children think it queer
To stop and sit at window clear
To gaze in peace and sip my mug
This fifth spring morning of the year.

They give my bathrobe sleeve a tug
And ask for lap and kiss and hug.
The silent morning wakes from sleep
With joyous shrieks and boots pulled snug.

The snow is fluffy, wet, and deep,
But I have school and home to keep,
And hours to go before I sleep,
And hours to go before I sleep.

Dear diary...

When I was younger, I kept a diary. I wrote stuff in it. Depending on what age I was, I wrote things that were true and things that were not true. It's silly to think back on all that. In a way, I thought I was creating this persona for future readers of my diary. Weird to me now that I was dishonest in my own diaries. Was I that unhappy with my life? I wasn't all that introspective until later... I don't know. So diaries, or now electronic diaries in the form of blogs, are fascinating to me. It's an intimate form of communication open to the whole world. Why?

My personal reason for writing, and for trying to keep up with this blog, is to keep our families in the loop even though we live on different continents. And to share, directly and indirectly, what my family tries to live daily: our Catholic Faith. And to record the moments in our childrens' lives that are flying by so fast that I can't keep up. Truly, I forget even the things that I most want to remember sometimes. When I started this blog, I had five children. Now I have six children, a daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren. How does it all happen so fast?

Even though clearly the blog is not nearly as active as it used to be, and honestly, not as active as I would like it to be, those still my primary goals. Many days, I think of blog posts I'd like to write, but actually having the time to sit down and write, well.... I'm here now because one of the children finished school and I have a little hole in my day now in which to muse.

Sometimes I wonder about the way other people seem to be bugged by postings on blogs. I guess I don't expect people to share their bad days or messy rooms online. I know that I prefer to write about the happy things: the things that make my day; the holidays when I really love how the decorating or the meal turned out or who was able to make it home to be at the table. The other ones, the ones that feel rushed, or frantic, or unsettled somehow, I don't like to write about so much, and I find that often, I don't. Partly because they don't feel like things I want to remember sometimes. And at least partly because if the holiday was rushed, life is rushed at that moment, and I'm not likely to be sitting down at the computer to write something about it. Am I creating an honest picture of life in our family? I hope I am. Is it a bad thing not to care to dwell on or record many messy days? I don't think so. I do try to post honestly. But the blog is not a complete picture.

And I don't expect anyone else's blog to be a complete picture either. So I don't completely get it when people are intimidated or discouraged by what looks like the perfect life of another writer. I have heard people who say they dislike one blog or another because it is "too perfect". Hmm. I guess I recognize that the posts that are present are usually, if the blogger is a good-intentioned person, and I don't think I read (m?)any blogs where that is not the case, they are usually meant to be of help to the reader in some way. To present positive ideas, to share joy and wonder about the world, to impart little bits of wisdom that have been gained along the way. So they are good, happy, funny posts about real life. And sometimes they are thoughtful posts about the challenges of life that the writer is grappling with, or is processing, or has had an epiphany about. Those things help others. They express real life.

With pretty photos on the side.

Who doesn't need more beauty in this world?

So. far. behind.

I don't even know where to begin to catch up. We went to see so many awesome things this summer and fall. Should I go back and post about them? Does anyone care when the events are so far in the past? Is the purpose of the blog to update family and friends about current events or to keep a diary of our time in Japan or both? What to do? What to do?

I know I want to be writing more again. I am trying to get my life in order. Everything has been so scattered for almost a year. I guess I would like to blame that on the 3/11 earthquake. It is partially that. And other things. Like Facebook. What a distraction with almost no substance!

I fell completely off the wagon on exercise and healthful diet and home baking over the past few months and am barely keeping to my daily prayer plan. And God is tapping me on the shoulder saying, "Hey, remember me?"  And I do. So He comes first. Then the laundry. lol! the life of a mom. :)

Speaking of laundry (or more specifically, the laundry room), I have found the "Happy Home: The Reasonable Clean House!" posts on Like Mother, Like Daughter very helpful. Who knew there was an actual, do-able method of deep cleaning a room? John and I tried it in the laundry room over Christmas break. Nothing like starting with the smallest room in the house. ;-) BUT...what a breath of fresh air that room is now. Laundry seems much less like drudgery in a clean room. Katie laughingly suggests doing schoolwork in there, since it is so clean. As if we could all fit--lol! But truthfully, she is my best encourager when it comes to cleaning and organizing the house. Thanks be to God for daughters. :-D

I would still ALWAYS rather read a book than clean my house, but I definitely see the advantages of deep cleaning. The feeling of clean is so peaceful! And I suspect we will work better as we bring things into order, even if we can only manage to clean one space at a time.

Notice where I am, though. At the computer writing about cleaning instead of doing it. I still have a long way to go in this area. The Christian life is all about new beginnings, though. Every season, every day. For me sometimes every hour.

So let's get going.

Oh, Katie... remember that little matter of the upstairs linen closet? (We're starting small, remember.) :-)
 

Roman Newspaper

Joe's Ancient Roman newspaper assignment.  Click on it to read...

Ever have a really great idea of something to write while you're doing something else and then when you sit down to write the idea is totally gone?

Me, too...