MommyCoddle

some things you might like

On Monday evening, we packed up the kids and headed out to our town's 4th of July parade. I admit, this is the first town parade we've attended since we moved here. Generally, our 4th weekend is overrun with a lot of family in town, but this weekend was a quieter one. So we had the chance to make our own fun. I swear these parades make you kinda fall in love with your little town. It also gives you the chance to become acquainted with every dance group and baton-twirling troupe your town has to offer. Though personally, I found the cloggers to be where it's at.

I also spent some time catching up online and on pinterest over the weekend….here are a few lovely things you might enjoy:

Amanda's post this morning : Yes, I LOVE the chair. But I so get that last paragraph, about the need to just make, even when there are so many other "musts" awaiting your time.

(In)courage : 16 Ways to Find Personal Rest : I really need to be better about number 6. Finding a babysitter. I really don't have a babysitter for my children outside of family….can you believe it? I could use a good, trustworthy babysitter.

I am absolutely ADDICTED to making these bracelets. They are so fun. If you can finger knit (or even if you can't), you'll love these. I have since passed my addiction on to the girls.

Homemade mozzarella. Enough said.

Choose a chore. I'm always looking for ways to keep it interesting.

DIY Blue Glass Canning Jars. This is a drop everything and try it craft.

Love this ring. Thinking it might get caught on everything, but still love it.

Isn't this the truth??

This is wedding weekend. I'm thinking of wearing my hair in something like this. Thoughts?

And one more good thing that I don't want to forget….yesterday afternoon as Emma was flying out the door to go to the barn she said to me, "Oh, Mom. My room isn't as messy as it looks. I'm just airing out my clothes. Bye!!"

If that's what "airing out" looks like, than apparently my whole house is "airing out"….off to find some order in the madness.

Have any goodness to share? Leave it in the comments, if you please!

Happy Wednesday, friends!

I also spent some time catching up online and on pinterest over the weekend….here are a few lovely things you might enjoy:

Amanda's post this morning : Yes, I LOVE the chair. But I so get that last paragraph, about the need to just make, even when there are so many other "musts" awaiting your time.

I am absolutely ADDICTED to making these bracelets. They are so fun. If you can finger knit (or even if you can't), you'll love these. I have since passed my addiction on to the girls.

Homemade mozzarella. Enough said.

Choose a chore. I'm always looking for ways to keep it interesting.

DIY Blue Glass Canning Jars. This is a drop everything and try it craft.

Love this ring. Thinking it might get caught on everything, but still love it.

Isn't this the truth??

This is wedding weekend. I'm thinking of wearing my hair in something like this. Thoughts?

If that's what "airing out" looks like, than apparently my whole house is "airing out"….off to find some order in the madness.

Have any goodness to share? Leave it in the comments, if you please!

Happy Wednesday, friends!

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LIVING WELL

rejoice evermore

This post originally appeared on my blog in August of 2008. On this 4th of July, revisiting these sentiments of John Adams, which had such a profound effect on me almost three years ago–feels like a good thing to do.

Last night, Dan and I finished watching the HBO Films series John Adams. I think this last episode was my favorite. It was the only where I cried, but it was also so much about Abigail and John Adams reflecting on their lives as they reached the end of them.

In a final scene, John Adams is walking along a cornfield at dusk with his son, Thomas. His wife has died, all of his peers but Thomas Jefferson have passed away and this is what he has to stay:

"Still, still I am not weary of life. Strangely. I have hope. You take away hope and what remains? What pleasures? I have seen a queen of France with eighteen million levers of diamonds on her persons, but I declare that all the charms of her face and figure, added to all the glitter of her jewels, did not impress me as much as that little shrub. (pointing with his walking stick to a small white flower in the field.)
Now my mother always said that I never delighted enough in the mundane, but now I find that if I look at even the smallest thing…my imagination begins to roam the Milky Way. Rejoice evermore. Rejoice Evermore! …REJOICE! EVERMORE! I wish that had always been in my heart and on my tongue. I am filled with an irresistible impulse to fall on my knees right here in admiration….If only my knees would bend like they used to. "

Must we reach the end of our days for us to find delight in the mundane? For our hearts to rejoice at all times? For the smallest flower to stir our imagination? I surely hope not.

Tonight, I noticed the cool breeze on my bare skin, a group of dark cattle grazing on the hill below the old stone church, my children running and falling and laughing in the grass with their father, a moment of quiet, just for me.

Those words of John Adams stirred something inside me. They once again reminded me to fill my heart and my days with thankfulness, hope, joy, curiosity. To take pleasure in the smallest flower, the most mundane tasks oftentimes repeated day after day after day. To notice. To not grow weary.

Life is full of so many pleasures.

Rejoice Evermore.

In a final scene, John Adams is walking along a cornfield at dusk with his son, Thomas. His wife has died, all of his peers but Thomas Jefferson have passed away and this is what he has to stay:

Must we reach the end of our days for us to find delight in the mundane? For our hearts to rejoice at all times? For the smallest flower to stir our imagination? I surely hope not.

Life is full of so many pleasures.

Rejoice Evermore.

11 Comments