Copier

Gina always posts such inspiring and enlightening things, so I just copied her:) Love this poem. Still trying to perfect the implementation but love this poem.

The House by the Side of the Road

There are hermit souls that live withdrawn
In the place of their self-content;
There are souls like stars, that dwell apart,
In a fellowless firmament;
There are pioneer souls that blaze their paths
Where highways never ran-
But let me live by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.

Let me live in a house by the side of the road,
Where the race of men go by-
The men who are good and the men who are bad,
As good and as bad as I.
I would not sit in the scorner's seat,
Or hurl the cynic's ban-
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.

I see from my house by the side of the road,
By the side of the highway of life,
The men who press with the ardor of hope,
The men who are faint with strife.
But I turn not away from their smiles nor their tears,
Both parts of an infinite plan-
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.

I know there are brook-gladdened meadows ahead
And mountains of wearisome height;
That the road passes on through the long afternoon
And stretches away to the night.
But still I rejoice when the travelers rejoice,
And weep with the strangers that moan,
Nor live in my house by the side of the road
Like a man who dwells alone.

Let me live in my house by the side of the road-
It's here the race of men go by.
They are good, they are bad, they are weak, they are strong,
Wise, foolish- so am I;
Then why should I sit in the scorner's seat,
Or hurl the cynic's ban?
Let me live in my house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.
-Sam Walter Foss

Prayer times and bed times

Tonight during hugs

"Okay, I'm really, really done of this, Mom."

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Tonight before prayers

"Jillian, do you want Mommy to say the prayer or would you like to say it?"

"I want you to say it and I want a short one," imagine little fingers demonstrating "short" here.

"and thank you for..."

"I SAID a SHORT one, Mommy!"

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Last night's prayer, given by Jillian

"...and help me to not be mean to Mommy, and help me to obey her..."

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During Dad's 30 hour shift this weekend

"But Mom, tomorrow can I see Daddy AND Susie? Because I really might want to see my Daddy."

Aw, Daddy's girl!

Winter Visit to Sand Castle Park

We love this neat park near the beach. We even went once when it was covered in ice and snow. We didn't last too long that day! It was very chilly with the wind by the water.

I so relate!

You know how some one will occassionally verbalize something in such a concise and perfect way? A friend did just that in her post so I asked permission to quote her...

Because make no mistake-- it IS but a season. And I am only a steward of this small being (and future beings) for the briefest window. And so while this may sometimes seem to drag day after day after day.... Before I know it, the days will have run out and I will no longer be tied to the home, the child, the task of daily caregiving. And what was once perhaps a bit tedious will suddenly be something poignantly wished for, even for a moment.

And so... as I move from room to room, seeing pieces of a train set here and there, picking up loose toys, cutting up a grilled cheese sandwich, wiping a nose for the eleventy-billionth time... I let myself LOVE it. I choose to see this as EXACTLY what I want to be doing, this very minute.

And I feel at peace, moving from room to room, the wee one at my heels every moment.

There will be time enough for excursions into the bustling, cosmopolitan, social world.

But not today. Today, I have cookies to take off of the cookie sheet. Some laundry to put away. And a few good stories, songs, and games to play with the little one who makes me feel complete joy a million times a day.

And this is MAGIC. To me.

(Check out Emily's post for the entire segment and a fantastic picture.)

Emily, you have such a gift with words! This is EXACTLY how I feel today. I didn't shower until 1:30 and had just been "bumming" around, slowly cleaning up after the kids, making beds, spreading cream cheese on bagels and then tearing them in to edible, bite-sized pieces, etc. At one point I thought "I haven't done much of significance today, I haven't even left the house. And then in the same breath I thought, "Oh, yes you did. You cared for your children and you were able to be more patient with them than you were yesterday. And that is enough. Baby steps." It was a quiet moment of reassurance and validation.

Hermana Freeman

So, do you ever stop idiolizing your missionary trainer?! I got to see Britney this week in a whirlwind trip to Harlem and then the Natural History Museum. We were chuckling about how she was made my trainer after being in the field for six weeks herself and how little Spanish either of us knew. She has since taught 4 years of bilingual science in the Bronx and has much improved her language skills, aside from marrying someone from Nicaragua. At the time, however, she sure had me fooled! She did a great job and is such a smarty pants that she seemed pretty proficient, especially for her time in the field. She also has a great sense of humor, so nice to be companions with someone you "get." I don't think I'll ever forget one of my first days in the field when we bought corn on the cob on sticks, which traditionally Mexicans eat covered with mayonaisse and chili, from a street vendor and she kept telling him "Mas, mas" when he was dumping chilly on mine:) I was dying in the "heat" of May, which it really was hot but not as hot as it would get!, eating that thing sitting on a cement wall. It was so funny. And it totally felt like we were in Mexico!

Speaking of her smarts, Britney has pretty much this entire museum memorized. I kept commenting on things and she would say "oh, yeah, Barnum Brown..." without looking at the sign. Part way through she told me she had gone there every Wednesday when she was getting her masters, but still! She would be awesome to have as a biology teacher! What was the name of that fish you were teaching us about?

Jillian's photography skills

Britney's quite the city girl now, living downtown and carting this little guy all around the metro, etc. So funny to me since she grew up in the sticks in Ol' Virginie.

This little guy is so adorable! And seemed way mellow compared to these crazies! Haha. What a difference a few months and learning to assert your independence makes!

Fast forward a few years

Jillian is growing up WAY too fast...

A few days ago:

Jillian: Mother, Peter still calls you Momma but not me. I'm not sure why but I like calling you Mother. Yes, I call you Mother now.
Mom: Boohoo


An then this morning:

Jillian: Mother, Peter has his baby, I have my baby and you have your baby.

Mom: I have two babies actually.

Jillian: No, you just have one.

Mom: You and Peter are my babies.

Jillian: No, just Peter is. I don't crawl and I can talk. I'm not a baby.

Well, THAT went by entirely too fast!

Trying my hand...

at photography. my usual suspects, i mean subjects, are getting sick of me so my friend let me take photos of her sweet baby girl. what a doll baby. we had a lot of fun. for all the time it took me, i didn't get too many great ones. man, those professionals are...professional. getting all those great shots in such limited time. anyway, good thing these guys were patient and baby girl was in such a drowsy, sweet and perfect mood. it was a lot of fun, especially since there were no expectations.

this was j's idea to get the shots from above, thru the branches, and i'm so glad she thought of it.
sweet little Christmas gift

at this point the light was fading fast so we had to use a little unnatural light:)

the adoring and beautiful older sister