Cold Front

So, apparently there is a cold front coming through tonight, and my body can already sense it.  The wind is blowing swiftly through the trees outside, and all I want to do is curl up under blankets and sleep.  This is why I need fall/winter.  I am a hibernator.  I really enjoy going on lock down and just staying home and nesting in my little house, making soup and cookies and lighting candles.  It’s my thang!  It all has to do with my need to just be antisocial for a season.  This is my season.  I love people and meeting friends — don’t get me wrong.  But, I also just love time to myself.  I laugh because I haven’t had time to myself in approximately three years, but now, time to myself consists of just being home and not running all over God’s green earth doing stuff to fill up my day.  When you have kids, that’s tempting to do.  But, I am so rewarded by the days that we are just home, not doing much of anything.  Those are the times memories are made and we are rejuvenated and energized for days to come when we are busy.

OK, so how did I get on that kick?  Today was a great day.  We went to the park this morning.  There was a light, cool breeze in the air and the kids really had a lot of fun.  We have our German playgroup meetup on Wednesdays, and we just love getting together with this group and getting to know the people in it more and more.  It also really helps my German to stay intact, and I think I’ve even improved since we’ve been meeting regularly.  Tate and his little girlfriend, Elizabeth, were so cute today, too.  They immediately started holding hands when they saw each other and were pretty much inseparable the whole time.  When Tate would swing, Elizabeth wanted to swing.  When Tate wanted down from the swing, so did she.  It was so adorable.  It’s nice to see them playing together so nicely and really forming a true friendship.  Children engage in parallel play (playing alongside each other without really interacting) for so long throughout their infant and toddler years, so the interaction with one another is a sure sign that they are really maturing.  You can see that now so clearly.  I’ll have to post a picture of them soon.  They are so sweet!

After the park, we forged on to Costco.  We hadn’t eaten lunch yet, so thankfully, they had their sample carts set up with all kinds of different foods to sample.  That helped us make it through the store in one piece.  Thank God!  We had so much fun.  Tate really enjoys trying different things.  I am always intrigued by what he’ll eat in a store in a little paper cup vs. what he’ll eat at home when I serve it to him.  He’ll try anything there.  At home, however, he’s not so adventurous.  I guess I should change my approach and start standing behind a cart with a uniform offering his food in paper cups or on tooth picks.  Hey!  I just might be onto something!

OK…I’m too beat to make sense, but I wanted to write my gratitude list.  By the way, this list is keeping me ALIVE lately and really changing the way I think.  I still have a tendency to look at the glass a little half empty, but it’s totally improving my outlook on life.  I think cultivating the awareness in and of itself is a good thing.  I also love and am looking forward to another New Way of Being telecourse, but unfortunately, there isn’t one til next week.  I love it, because it’s just a reminder to me that I need to slow down and enjoy the little things in my life.  The old me (prior to kids and even sometimes nowadays) would get stressed out when the house was a mess or my son was acting up.  I would remember times when little things would set off my whole day and make it a “bad day”.  But since I’ve become aware of that tendency toward downhill spiral, I am able to push the pause button more often than I used to before just reacting, and ask myself some key questions that help me refocus and get my day back on track.  For instance, if I find myself getting frustrated with my son, it’s helpful for me to stop, take a deep breath and ask myself why his behavior is frustrating me or having such a negative impact on me.  Then I am more able to approach him with a gentler tone and redirect his behavior.  I’m still working on this, but it is helping me so much and helping him as well.  I love all the resources there are, and I eat up any new information I can get. 

Today, I am grateful for:

1. My love for reading and learning and growing.  I love that I crave more knowledge all the time.  And what I love even more is that there is endless knowledge to receive. 
2. My son’s everchanging maturity level.  He is growing up so fast.  Love him!
3. The cold front coming through tonight.  Hermit weather is finally approaching.
4. The fact that right now, at this very moment, both of my children are sound asleep.  (why I am not is a whole other story)
5. Being invited (although I could not attend) to come and help out at an annual women’s conference today.  Knowing opportunities like that exist helps me stay on track and know there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.
6. My singing voice.  It has been such a wonderful instrument for me.  I haven’t sung in ages, but I am looking forward to the day I can dust off these cords again.
7. My personal voice.  I always knew I had one in me, but now it’s getting more focus and direction (except for this blog post).  I hope and pray that God can use me in some way to touch lives with my voice someday.  I feel like this blog is a start. 
8. This blog.  I had no idea how much I would look forward to writing everyday.  It is not a chore.  It is an exciting, fulfilling way for me to unleash my thoughts and get a broader perspective on my current state.  It’s like morning pages (from The Artist’s Way), but instead, it’s night pages.
9. My new panini press/grill.  We used it tonight to make an amazing panini dinner and it was so easy!!  Why I haven’t bought one of these until now is a mystery! LOVE!
10. My whole house is clean.  It took doing things in several phases over the course of this week, but other than a few odds and ends, the house is clean.  Yay!!!