Waiting patiently for Spring...

It has certainly been a beautiful winter,

 But, I think I'm starting to feel that it's time for the snow to melt.  Bring on the warmer weather! 

 I say this with another storm predicted for tomorrow.

 I guess I'll have to be patient and hold out for spring just a bit longer.

Never cut a tree down in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come.

Robert H. Schuller

Expectations...

Do you ever have one of those weeks when the same theme keeps repeating itself in various situations and you can't help but examine it a little more closely?  There have been several times this week during different conversations, events, and experiences when the same word came to mind....EXPECTATIONS.  

One definition of expectation, found on www.websters.com, defines it as "the degree of probability that something will occur". 

When we travel to a doctor's appointment during rush hour, we expect it to take longer.

When we work hard in our graduate class, we expect to get an A.

When we teach our kids right from wrong on a daily basis, we expect they will do the right thing.

When we live with someone for 18 years, we expect he/she will know exactly how to react when we are upset. 

We need expectations to be successful in life.  Positive expectations can guide us to do the right thing, to perform to our greatest capacity, and to have a good outlook on our future.  However, can the high expectations we have for ourselves and others also cripple us?  Can they cause us to be bitter and upset when things don't necessarily go the way we expected? Do they prevent us from being grateful for all that we do have?  

Speaking for myself, I'd say my high expectations do indeed sometimes hinder me from letting go and living in the moment. When things don't go as I once visualized, it stops me from seeing the beauty in the unexpected, unplanned moments. Instead I get stuck, feeling sad and disappointed that what I expected was not how it actually played out. (I do try not to get "stuck" for too long though.) 

It seems important to find the balance between what we expect and the reality of the situation.  I think it's normal and really a part of human nature to have certain expectations, but it's also necessary to embrace the unexpected.  It's important to "look around" in those moments and see all that does exist, rather than what is not there.  It is in those moments that we experience so many of the important things. We are forced to grow and evolve, and beautiful things happen.  I'm not so sure the caterpillar ever expects to turn into a butterfly...

It seems simple, but I often wonder why I struggle so much with being able to live in the moment and go with the flow.  This week it repeatedly came to me, and now I'm trying to listen.  

 Although I'll always have certain expectations, I'm going to put the extra effort in to be more content when things don't go quite as I expected.


"The best things in life are unexpected-because there were no expectations."
-Eli Khamarov

Castle Play...

Every time E would go to Michael's with me, he would go to the unfinished wood aisle and look at this castle, so I knew he would like it as a gift for his birthday.  I used the 40% off coupon and bought it.  

I used scrapbook papers and mod podge to cover the floors.

And painted the rest of it (I don't have a picture of the outside yet).

The best part:  it folds up and doesn't take up a lot of room.  Seeing my kids creatively play with these kinds of toys makes my heart happy.  Little Miss has requested a purple and pink one for her birthday.

"Play is the beginning of Knowledge."

Getting there...

Blah, blah, blah...another post about the Big C.  Well, not really the Big C, but rather my journey towards healing after its invasion.  I apologize to all of you who may be sick of listening to me talk about it. I too look forward to the day when it doesn't have such a presence in my life, but right now, it's still often at the forefront of my thinking, especially when anniversary dates approach.

Friday officially marked 2 years of being cancer free! I'm a changed person since then and I am certainly more keenly aware of the blessings I have in my life and the opportunities to "live" in the everyday moments.  Last Monday I also had a visit with my oncology surgeon and all was well.  Each visit to a "breast" doctor brings with it a good share of anxiety, but it feels pretty great walking out of there with a good report.

I know someday my life altering visit from the Big C will be a small blip on my life's timeline, but right now it's still a pretty big blip and only with time and continued healing will it start to get smaller.  In fact, I believe it already has.  Thank you to all of you who continue to walk along side me, encouraging me at every step (even on the days when you are probably tired of hearing about it).  That, my friends, is why every day gets a little bit easier.

Here is a 30 second flipagram video of my journey.  Unfortunately, the pictures are in reverse order, but you get the idea.  

Happy Monday.

"Never forget where you came from. Getting 

there doesn't happen overnight.."

Meant to be...

Ten years ago our little man came into our lives and we haven't been the same since. Happy double digits to our affectionate, spirited, beautiful baby boy who made me a Momma. We love you bunches!

Typically I get very reminiscent each year on the birthdays of my children, and this year is no different.  

When we received the telephone call ten years ago to tell us "it's a boy", I knew in that moment that he was ours.  He was born on my late grandfather's birthday...it was meant to be.  The baby we had waited so long for had finally arrived.

Previous birthday posts here and here and here and here.

Insta-Friday

I've noticed that I have kind of been in a picture taking slump lately. I think the freezing weather that we have been having leaves me uninspired to pick up my camera.

Here are a few of the recent shots from my iPhone.

 1. My parents cleaned out their closet, and I acquired this.  Little Miss already hung it in her room. 2. Valentine's pompom garland...easy peasy to make. 3. Patriot's Day at school

4. Blue-eyed beauty 5. More Valentine's Garland (watercolor on heart-shaped doilies) 6. Helping with dinner.

7. Little Miss can blow bubbles! 8. Family Portrait 9. Rapunzel wanted to get in the picture. 

1. Craft time with her Gran-memere. 2. Final product

3. Glittery Heart Craft 4. Playdoh Food

  

This year I have been teaching CCD to a group of 8th graders.  We have been talking a lot about the gifts they have been given and how they should use their unique qualities to help others.  For me, this experience of teaching them, has caused me to reflect and examine my own self more closely.  What are my gifts?  What am I doing to serve others with my gifts?  We are all so different and unique, we all have gifts, and we all have others who could benefit from us sharing our special qualities.  

It reminds me of a poem my friend and co-worker introduced me to as she said good-bye to her fifth grade class at the end of each school year. 

Do you know what you are?  You
are a marvel.  You are unique.  In
all the years that have passed,
there has never been another
child like you.  Your legs,
your arms, your clever fingers,
the way you move.

You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo,
a Beethoven.  You have the
capacity for anything.
Yes, you are a marvel.  

-Pablo Casals

Last week I decided that I would try to do a weekly craft activity with my grandmother.  This was our first project.

Whether you are a religious person or not, you still have gifts and you can still share them.  Look inside yourself, find your gifts and go out into the world and spread the wealth.  The world will be a better place because you did. Happy Friday!

"Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more."

Tony Robbins

One moment at a time...

It's Wednesday morning, it just snowed about 12 inches, the kids have a day off from school and I am sitting with my memere while she watches bobsledding on the television.  It's hard not to be reminiscent when I visit my grandmother.  The grandmother I knew for my entire childhood and a good portion of my adulthood is not the same person that sits before me now.  It's easy to become sad and long for the days that have passed, the days when I could find her knitting a new hat, making crepes for her family or tending to her plants.  That grandmother no longer exists, as it is very difficult for her to even perform daily tasks without a great deal of assistance.  Dwelling on these thoughts can often bring her loved ones to tears, and it certainly doesn't change the situation that exists in front of us now.  

Several weeks ago, I wrote briefly about the beauty that can be found in hard things.  Although we don't choose the difficult roads in life, we are able to make the decision about which way to go when we come to the detours.  We can try to find the beauty in every situation, even when it may be a struggle to see it. 

My grandmother is different from the sharp, resourceful woman she once was, but she is still beautiful. She lights up when a loved one walks into the room, even if she struggles to retrieve their name from her memory.  She is so thankful each and every day for her family.  She giggles like a child when we tease her.  She appreciates the small things.  She is the essence of living in the moment, because really, she has nothing else.  

 We could all learn something from her.

“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.” 
― Henry David Thoreau