Yarn Extension Experiment

I got the idea from Sarah in the Woods. It looked gorgeous on her little girl, and it looked fun, and I just sorta wanted to see if I could do it. She directed me to a "how to video" and we worked up the nerve to try it.
I parted Kiana's hair into four sections. After three hours, we had the back two sections completed (Briana enjoys working with me on hair projects) and we called it good enough until the next day. (Fortunately, she sat pretty still watching the movie Cars). I couldn't decide what color of yarn to use. Black makes her hair look really brown, but brown makes her hair look black. . .I decided to go with black even though it obviously isn't a perfect match, but I think the "highlight" of her natural hair made the braids look interesting.Once we got all the extensions braided in, her hair looked both longer and thicker. She commented "now I have hair on my shoulders--like Rapunzel!" which made us chuckle.
She loves it, I think she mostly enjoys having longer hair to flip around, but I was undecided. I think the hairstyle is a little old for her and will be more appropriate when she is six or eight. After spending all those hours putting them in, however, she was going to wear them for a few weeks!
There have been several positives to this experiment. For one thing, I don't have to detangle her hair because it's in braids (that's a big positive, both for her and for me!). For another, the extensions filled out her hair, which isn't naturally very thick. Best of all, the extension style provides lots of quick and easy versatility. You can hold the braids out of the face with headbands (cloth or cloth-wrapped to protect her hairline). . .
pull all the braids back into a quick ponytail. . .

a different colored headband. . .

or hang your long locks from an elevated "couch bed". OK, not really a style, but she was pretty impressed with that trick!
This was one of my favorite styles, with the front half pulled up into two piggy tails while the back hung in braids. Yes, by the way, she picked out her outfit, which perfectly expresses her personality.
All of her hair pulled up into two piggy tails was absolutely darling as well.
I do wonder if the piggy tails look a little too thick/heavy for her face here, but it was still cute.

Another style was just a simple ponytail made from the braids in the front half of her head while the back braids hang loose.
I think we'll definitely do these again when she's a little older. Not only will they look better, but maybe she won't put them in her mouth, drag her head around in playing which messes up the braids, and maybe her baby brother won't grab a handful and yank some of the yarn out!

One Thousand Gifts

I've shared several ponderings prompted by my recent reading of One Thousand Gifts:a Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp. I got a great deal out of this book which is, in a nutshell, about living a life of thanksgiving and joy regardless of your circumstances. I hope you'll keep reading this review. . .

"To learn how to be grateful and happy, whether hands full or hands empty. That is a secret worth spending a life on learning" (47).

It's tempting to skim over the topic of this book because we've all heard it, we all even know it deep down, and it might not sound interesting or like something we really need to read. But this book is not corny, and it's not just the "same old thing we all know but aren't that great at doing."

I checked a copy of the book out from the library because I had heard so many people talking about it, but I wasn't sure I would like it well enough to spend the money on it. At the end of my reading, here is what the book looked like.
So, my first purchase for my new Kindle was One Thousand Gifts and I highlighted all the passages in the Kindle that I had flagged as I removed these beautiful post it tabs to return the (hard copy? what is the correct terminology?!) to the library.

I think the best thing about this book is that it's so real. The author shares her experiences and growth process as she doesn't understand what is going on, as she questions God as to why bad things happen, and as she begins to see the Creator's presence in each small moment of her days. She begins the book telling of the accidental death of her young sister. I was crying on page two of the book. Admittedly, I cry pretty easily in reading books or watching movies, but page two was a first for me!

In addition to her transparency which makes this book worth reading, I was blessed by meditating on our perspective in life, our expectations from this life, and fully experiencing the moments of our life. But perhaps the message which had the most impact on me was that of the joy we receive as a result of thanksgiving.

"Eucharisteo, thanksgiving, envelopes the Greek word for grace, charis. But it also holds its derivative, the Greek word chara, meaning "joy." Joy. Ah. . .yes, I might be needing me some of that. That might be what the quest for more is all about--that which Augustine claimed "Without exception. . .all try their hardest to reach the same goal, that is, joy" (32).

"As long as thanks is possible, then joy is always possible. Joy is always possible. Whenever, meaning--now; wherever, meaning--here" (33).

I thought that word study connecting thanksgiving, grace, and joy was very insightful. I also think joy is something we all really want, but it's difficult to attain. To understand that joy comes from appreciating and expressing gratitude, whenever and wherever, is certainly a concept that is worth spending our lives to realize.

"Joy is the realest reality, the fullest life, and joy is always given, never grasped. God gives gifts and I give thanks and I unwrap the gift given: joy" (57).

Overall, I really appreciated One Thousand Gifts. It had a wonderful message and gave me lots to think about. Sometimes I got tired of her writing style, which is very poetic and flowery, some describe it as lyrical, and there were a few points where I lifted the figurative eyebrow at some of her theology, but I'm seriously considering purchasing a few copies to share with some people I know who are going through trials right now. If only we could all have a similar perspective toward life, I think we would experience more growth through the difficulties of this life instead of reacting with depression, fear, worry, and pity-parties. Whether you are currently experiencing a trial or all is rosy, I recommend reading One Thousand Gifts to provoke you toward a perspective of appreciation and joy in the Lord.

The Funnest Gift

It really was the perfect thank you gift for me.
I would never have purchased it for myself.

I didn't even know if I wanted one. I love to read, you see, and I really even simply love books. I appreciate the smell of a new book, the feel of the pages in my hand, the sensation and sound of turning pages.But I taught a public speaking class for some junior and senior home educated kids this year, and they got me a Kindle as a thank you gift. Then my hubby got me a cover for it with a built in light. And I love it. I think it's way cool and too much fun! I love that there are more than fifty books on it already and it's so small and compact. I am thrilled with the way I can highlight passages and even make note of my own musings and store it in the clippings section. I am having a crazy amount of fun creating collections and organizing my books.Oh, don't get me wrong, it won't replace real books for me. But my hubby is happy that I may not be asking him to build me another bookshelf quite as soon this way. . .I'm even finding I have to fight to get it back from him as he's reading South: the story of Shackleton's 1914-1917 Expedition (he had previously read Endurance) on my Kindle since I downloaded it for free, happy skip.

I'm having so much fun with my Kindle that I'm trying to find our book club books in a Kindle edition and I ordered a commentary just because it was cheap and had a Kindle version. I'm amazed at how much fun I'm having with this thoughtful gift that I simply would never have spent the money on for myself.

What a Mess!

It's amazing how much a person's life can feel like it's in a mess when in the midst of a major home repair job. Our basement has some serious issues. This Missouri clay and the wet conditions of the last few years have not been kind to our block basement. We recently finished refinancing our place to add money onto our loan to fix this problem before the entire house caves in! This week they are coming to fix the walls--and the kiddos and I are heading to visit my sister and brother and their families (hurray! I'm so looking forward to spending time with them!).

North wall in the canning room

North wall in the laundry room

East wall in the largest room (close-up shot)

East room in the largest room trying to show

how the wall is bowed inward but I just didn't quite capture it.

We didn't realize just how bad it was until we took the paneling off the walls and pulled up the carpet. Yikes! This has, however, been a great motivator to get rid of a bunch of junk we had just kept storing in the basement--diaper pail from when I used cloth diapers (giggle), Alan's radio with double cassette deck and record player from way back when (it still worked--we had a hard time getting rid of it. . .), extra bird cage, college textbooks. . .all kinds of stuff to load up and haul off.We had to completely remove the concrete pad outside of our back porch and make a three foot path through the back porch. Ugh, HUGE job! I'm so grateful Alan's friend came to help him and Destry with this monstrous job that took all day Saturday. That's one way to figure out who your true friends are, when they stick through even the big jobs!
They hauled off FIVE TRUCKLOADS of these chunks of concrete after busting them up with the 90-pound jackhammer Alan rented for the weekend.
So now our back porch looks like this:

where the door and concrete pad used to be

view from the north end

closer view from the north end showing how deep they had to go
to get the concrete flooring and support completely removed

Closeup view from where the door used to be--no more freezer, coat rack, sink, boots. . .and now imagine where all that stuff is at the moment! Phew! Glad I'm not home in the middle of it! :)

Time is Flying

I must really be getting older. As this school year is drawing to a close I'm realizing I have only three more years with Briana to study all the amazing things I want to share with her. In years past, three years would have seemed like plenty of time--a long time in fact. But when I reflect that Kiana is three years old. . .well, it seems she was born such a short time ago. And I just want to slow time down. I want to enjoy every moment, revel in each moment, savor each moment.

In my recent reading of One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp I heard the author expressing the same thought--but she has figured out how to slow down the passage of time.

"And this, this is the only way to slow time: When I fully enter time's swift current, enter into the current moment with the weight of all my attention, I slow the torrent with the weight of me all here. I can slow the torrent by being all here. I only live the full life when I live fully in the moment. And when I'm always looking for the next glimpse of glory, I slow and enter. And time slows. Weigh down this moment in time with attention full, and the whole of time's river slows, slows, slows" (68).

Live fully in the moment. Wherever you are, BE there. All of you, all of your attention, all of your focus.

So often I don't do this. Too often I'm rushing around, trying to accomplish what I must right now with my mind on what comes next, my concern on what needs crossed off the 'to do' list. Too often I give little voices less than half my attention as I appease them with a distracted "mmmmm, hmmmmm."

To slow down the passing of time, I hear that I need to experience each little nuance of life. I need to stop and look in those big eyes, fondly tuck chocolate-smeared smiles away in my heart, and let the awe over a sunset viewed from my deck completely fill my being.

"This is where God is. In the present. I AM--His very name. I want to take shoes off. I AM, so full of the weight of the present, that time's river slows to a still. . .and God Himself is timeless" (69).

We have a good friend who works as a physician in Ohio. He loves to visit us here on our Missouri farm where he says life is just more simple. The pace of life is slower, he tells us. It's just so peaceful.

That is likely true in many ways. I think living close to the land keeps one more in tune with the rhythms of life. There aren't as many artificial distractions. But a life of simplicity, peace, and slower pace might be as much a frame of mind as it is geography. Fully experiencing life's blessings--acknowledging and appreciating them-- might indeed be the key.

"How long does it take your soul to realize that your life is full? The slower the living, the greater the sense of fullness and satisfaction" (76).

Play Ball!!

Easton is playing baseball this year. I know, it's silly to start playing at "almost five", but he was so excited and we enjoy the season and. . .I'm a pushover!I especially appreciated a post I read at Outnumbered Mom about all the lessons her four boys learned through their years of playing baseball:

I charted the games on the calendar, we packed up our lunch and a blanket, and we took off for the field, resigning ourselves to getting nothing more than that done on that day.

It was crazy, it was busy, it was fun. And it taught them lots of good lessons.

• Sometimes you have to sit on the bench.
• Sometimes you have to sit in the bleachers and wait for your brother.
• You must wear sunscreen – especially on the tips of your ears and the back of your neck, two places those baseball caps just don’t cover.
• Sometimes you have to entertain yourself while you wait.
• It’s good to encourage a brother, especially when he strikes out.

He is absolutely adorable at practice, hanging on the coach's every word and responding as if in slow motion.

Oh! They hit the ball! Oh! There it goes! Hey! I should go get it! giggle

It's very distracting to wear a helmet while running bases. He can't seem to keep his hands off it! He's really whacking the ball though--playing in the yard with big brother seems to have prepared his hand-to-eye coordination.
Easton's smallest and cutest fan! Ok, the cap is too big and makes his hair poof out, but we thought he was adorable in it anyway.

Let the season begin--this family is ready!

A Better Perspective

Every time I read this passage, I wonder what it really means. It's one of those whose meaning is like the flicker of a shadow out of the corner of my eye and I can't quite get it.

"Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body," Jesus said. "When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!" (Matthew 6:22-23)

In my recent reading of Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts I was intrigued by her comments.

It's just that they eyes are bad--my perspective. If Satan can keep my eyes from the Word, my eyesight is too poor to read light--to fill with light. Bad eyes fill with darkness so heavy the soul aches because empty is never truly empty; empty is only a full, deepening darkness. So this is what it is to be Eve in the Garden, Satan's hiss tickling the ear, "Did God actually say. . .?" (Genesis 3:1)

That makes sense to me. The way we look at things affects our perception, our understanding. . .even our attitude. If we want to be crabby, let's face it, we will find something to complain about. If we are looking for a fault in someone, we will see it. If we are looking for an escape clause, it will be revealed.

Even as we approach the Word of God, if we come with our minds made up as to what it says, our interpretation already firmly in hand, we will miss God's Truth for the darkness in our eyes. When I think about this Scripture from this perspective, it brings to mind other passages:

II Thessalonians 2:10-12 they refused to love the truth and so be saved. ¹¹Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, ¹²in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

II Timothy 3:6-7 ⁶For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, ⁷always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.

I Corinthians 2:14 ¹⁴The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

As I think about this, I pray that God will create in me a new heart, a good eye, and remove any darkness that I think is light! May I love and believe the truth!

Another thought from this passage goes with the premise of Ann's entire book: do we see through a lens of thanksgiving? If we are looking at things with a heart of thanksgiving, if we have the true perspective of trusting God, how will we see the trials that face us in this life?

If I had the perspective of the whole, perhaps I'd see it? That which seems evil, is it a cloud to bring rain, to bring a greater good to the whole of the world? Who would ever know the greater graces of comfort and perseverance, mercy and forgiveness, patience and courage, if no shadows fell over a life? (90)

My eye as a lamp providing light for my entire body--my perspective, my lens through which I view all that is before me, the filter that affects my whole life, attitude, and spiritual growth. Hmmmm, the shadow is taking a stronger shape.

How do you understand Matthew 6:22-23?

Treasuring the Moments

The recent gorgeous weather has seen us spending lots of time outside enjoying the simplicity of life. Destry and Alan have been overhauling an old lawnmower to make it into a 'pulling tractor'. A friend of ours spiffed it all up with fancy lettering! Doesn't it look cool? They are super excited about it.
They named it "Here it comes" after a guy on Uncle Jon's boxing game--because father and son go around echoing that phrase just like the boxer says it. Father/son bonding takes all sorts of interesting forms. . .
Kiana and Easton have inherited the responsibility of gathering eggs. I'm just happy to have egg production back up, even as I have 5-6 dozen eggs in the refrigerator right now (it's always either too many or not enough!). They are so proud to show me their bounty--and are surprisingly good at getting them safely to the house and in the egg cartons.
We sold a good bunch of lambs Saturday and are grateful for the good market (in spite of the $1900 Alan couldn't help reflecting that he lost from dead lambs this year). Lamb money pays the property taxes for the farm each year, and Alan now has operating money in his farm account again.
The bottle lambs, Missy and Roscoe, went to the sale along with the other lambs. The kids love having bottle lambs who act more like dogs than lambs, following them around the yard.
The silly things simply wouldn't stay inside the fence away from their people. They stayed in the yard, however, and didn't run off down the road.
These are such sweet moments to treasure.

The Best Ten Dollars

Yes, it's the best ten bucks I've ever spent. It looks very strange. But it's simply amazing.

Bright pink, funky shape. . .it's the Tangle Teaser!

I read about it online and thought it looked crazy. People claimed it was fabulous for detangling curly hair. I was skeptical. But I saw it recommended again and again--by bloggers I trust. When I went to Kansas City last weekend, I just had to pop into Sally Beauty Supply and pick one up.My little guy DOES. NOT! like to get his hair combed. As a matter of fact, he doesn't like having his hair washed or even touched. When I comb it, he screams. I've tried all the tricks I know, all the product I know, and he still cried. But I combed his hair with the Tangle Teaser and he just sat and quietly looked at books.
I was amazed. But I was happy. I'm sold!!
Check out that precious, DETANGLED little afro! Now I'm paranoid I'll lose it and wishing I had bought two!!

Makeover

I'm so excited about the new look of the south wall in my dining room!

Below is the "before shot". When we moved in, I didn't know what color to paint the walls so I stuck with off-white. Then that wall and corner became the "catch-all" area. Add another bookshelf when the first gets too full, hang the timeline in that empty spot. . .
Here's a close up of the embarrassing corner where the little ones could play games on the old computer (because the old games don't work on the newer computer and I'm too cheap to buy new games when the old ones work fine!). This corner caught the "stuff" I would figure out a home for "someday". It was really bad! The disorganization was making me crazy and I really wanted a built in bookshelf like the one at the studio of my children's piano teacher.
A few weeks ago I decided to paint the dining room and Alan and Destry decided it was the weekend to build the bookshelf. Here is my belated update of the project.

I had lots of "help" painting the dining room a fun red. I pictured it brick red, and even though it isn't exactly the color I had in mind, I am tickled with it.
One section of the new bookcase to let me see how it's going to look----ooooh, so exciting!!
Alan and Destry assembled it in the garage in three separate pieces, then brought them in and built them into one piece and attached it to the wall. I painted it a really pale green, which sounded great in my head, then I got scared it wouldn't look so great. Fortunately, I am really happy with how it turned out.
They left me a big space for a desk for another work station for playing computer games or for the older kids to type essays and reports.
It was really fun to go through my books, remove an embarrassing number from their storage boxes, and put them all on their "proper" shelves!! I love, love, love it!!!!
Next I'm hoping my hubby will build a shelf to go below the bay window and hold preschool materials on the east side of the room. . . :)