learning life

Lovin the life that brings me home.....

Friday, November 5, 2010

Thankful

I am among the many homeschoolers,
Bloggers, and happy housewives,
Who are using the Month of November to
Count all the things they are thankful for.
In our discussions today about Thanksgiving
And my curiosity about what 'thankful' means to the Peeps,
My boy genius said:
"to say thank you"
Correctomundo.
I love this.
It gets better.
We had an impromptu story time breakfast.
I had a book from the library that we hadn't read yet:
Its about a boy named Thomas.
The book never says in print,
But Thomas is blind.
The entire book is black.
The pictures are hard see,
But they are raised.
You can feel them better than view them.
"Thomas says that yellow tastes like mustard, but is as soft as a baby chick's feathers"
I decided to discuss the fact that some people are unable to see.
The Northern lights,
My newborn Baby,
the color of my girls eyes,
The sight of my strapping groom,
Have you ever seen a really blue sky and had
Your breath taken right out of you?
I thought it was brilliance
When I made Rico close his eyes and try to navigate around the room.
The point was to see how hard it would be to not loose his sight.
It was a huge hit.
It was more fun than it was insightful to him.
P.S. I gave him a really big stick as a walking cane.
I was not anticipating the spasmodic jump-n-spin,
And Claire be given the blow to the head.
Outside next time maybe.
Anyway...
This was my favorite 'feel-istration'
Clever right?
The picture makes it seem more pronounced than it really is..
"Black is the king of all colors. It is soft as silk when his mother hugs him and her hair falls in his face."
Okay, I love my short hair. I love everything about it.
Its cute, functional and incredibly easy to maintain.
It practically maintains itself.
This page made me ache for my long hair again.
I miss tickling my kids with it.
Claire used to bury and twirl
her little plump fingers in it.
She was comforted by it.
*sigh*

I woke up about 2 this Morn.
Not feeling too well.
Unwell enough to steal a precious hour of sleep.
I got to thinking about the here and now,
And how nothing is in the guarantee
as far as life and death and uncertainties of tomorrows to come.
I admit, I shed a tear or two.
I know I am not the only one to ever picture my children's lives without me in it.
Most of us are too uncomfortable to discuss the undesirable possibility.
I think we are hard wired to think ourselves to be immortal,
To not ponder the possibility of death as we go about our every day.
It would drain the spirit and zest out of life
To think of these things day in and out.
I'm just saying,
A sleepless 2 am is some serious pondering time.
And I was thankful to be alive right then.
Don't get me wrong.
I know my fate.
As far as eternity goes,
I am signed, and sealed,
just not yet delivered.
I have four dynamite reasons to enjoy every instant.
Daddy and the Peeps.
Then, I was thankful to hear My toddler-babe cry.
I could have used that cuddle.
By the time I got to her,
She was asleep.
I just stared for a while,
Then all at once,
I was ready for bed.

Another thing I am thankful for.

The few that read and encourage,

helping me want to do what I do

even better.

3 comments:

  1. "The sight of my strapping groom?" Now that's a sight no one should miss! ;)
    Good post Holly. I catch myself once in a while thinking about what my kids life would be like if I died? Would they remember how much their mama loved them and cherished them? How I loved spending all my time with them. How proud I was of them. I go in every night after they are alseep and watch them for a moment, thanking the Lord above that He gave me those precious gifts.
    Mason turning 1 yesterday was awful. I just want him to stay little for another couple of years, at least! :)
    Thanks so much for my birthday call yesterday Silas- it was adorable!

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  2. Holly, to me this was one of your best blogs, It means so much to read something that has been felt and wept over by not only me but others. Something so real cause you've experienced it yourself. Thanks for sharing! Hope your feeling better soon and what a cool book, I was just at a used book store recently and found a braille picture book (something similar to what you have there) I thought it was the coolest thing it was also in dull colors. I didn't end up getting it but was very impressed :) Hope you doing well.

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  3. saw you have a picture of my school.

    Down the road from the Valley Chapel school is the farm house where my brother and I lived before our Mom died in 1946. My parents bought the house in 1942 and Jim, my brother went to Vally Chapel from 1st - 5th grade there. When my Mom was on bed rest, waiting for my little sister Susan to be born in 1945, I went along with Jim. Miss McGilvary, the 1st-4th grade teacher kept me busy during the days. Then she became my first grade teacher in 1946. The second big room, near the street side of the building, was for the 5th-8th grades and also had one teacher. There were 32 kids in the entire school. Bill Bates and I were the 1st graders, and his brother Cliff Bates and my brother Jim were the 5th graders.

    We had our lunches down stairs. After our Mom died, anyone who ran up the stairs after lunch had to go back downstairs and wait until "Judy" finished her lunch to go out to play. "Judy" hated to eat after her Mom died, got very thin, and so waiting me was the punishment for anyone taking two stairs at a time.

    You probably remember how shallow those steps were! In 1947 my Dad fought hard against consolidation with College Place, but the districts consolidated anyway, and we were bussed to College Place and Valley Chapel became a Farm Breaur (can't spell it) before it was a community center. Anyway, they had farmer's meetings and dances and potlucks there all thru my high school years before it became a Grange.

    Jake may remember our old house, it was across the road from the school, where the road takes a bend. The little house was at the end of a long lane, now there are a bunch of buildings around it and it looks rather junky, but the farm house is still there. Jim lost it to being in debt, so I haven't driven down there for years.

    It's neat to know that you too, have fond memories of that school.

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