One Part Inspiration...

I have spent many a morning, afternoon or evening being a soccer mom.  I have gone near and far to cheer the team on.  I have spent money going out to eat afterwards to celebrate a win or to help lick wounds from a loss.  This era came to an end two weeks ago, when I attended my last official game as a soccer mom. There was something bitter-sweet about it. I won't miss shivering out in the cold - where we live, soccer is only cancelled if there's more than a foot of snow on the ground, which is rare.  I won't miss giving up weekend days to attend the games.  But I will miss the chats in the vehicle there and back - where a parent can find out information about a kid's life easier than in a formal setting.  I will also miss the camaraderie with other parents, because as I have found out, as the sport finishes in our kid's timelines,  the parental interaction ceases. I was so happy that the final day was a sunny-blue day.  Even thou...

Around Valentine's I asked my Music and Company group to think about attributes they valued most in another person.  In the next few weeks, we made this poster to highlight their responses.  Each of them helped to put it together - pasting the letters on according to their creative bent.  And we made the heart in the shape of a puzzle to denote the many pieces that go into learning to love. To extend it a little bit, I asked each of them to name their best attribute.  This turned out to be a bit more difficult.  I imagine that you blog readers also might have difficulty naming yours.  If they had a tough time coming up with something, I reflected back to them something I saw in their lives that would fit the bill. Valentine's Day can be a tough time of year for people who don't have family, or have lost their loved ones.  After completing this project, I felt sure that coming at it from this angle was a way to celebrate the day without draw...

Last week, my young sister-in-law came to stay with us for a few days.  She is still in school and it was my responsibility to ensure she had her homework done.  The first day, she worked on it on her own.  I was happy because it was math homework.  Math and I are not friends. The second night, I asked her if she had homework.  She said (rather miserably) " Yes, and it is algebra and I don't understand how to do it." .  I assured her that there were enough math whiz-kings in our household to help her conquer this mountain.  (One of them would NOT be me but I didn't mention that) Fast forward to early evening.  I was on my way to doing some errands and suddenly remembered  I needed to follow up on the homework thing.  So I asked her to get out the page of math.  She brought it to the table.  I asked her if she had a pencil (Stall tactic - because I took one look at the page with all those "X" and "Y" combinations and I bega...

After nineteen years, my husband hung up his coaching boots and Sponge Bob hat.  He is an icon on the soccer field - whether watching his team, or his kids' teams.  His hat was easy to spot.  His boots (what was left of them) had many miles of pacing up and down the field, coaching the kids to  use the gifts God gave them to get the ball into the net. He has the title of coach, but there was so much more to it.  He poured himself into the kids.  He encouraged them, both on and off the field, to be the best they could be.  He helped them pick up the pieces of their lives when things fell apart.  He prayed for them.  He prayed with them.   He even made special trips to their schools to hand-deliver chocolate Valentines.  He took them to Hawaii, he chaperoned trips to the movies and planned Mall Hunts for extra-curricular fun.   There were innumerable nights of practicing out in the rain, driving kids to and from the field,...

A week before Valentine's Day, I saw these roses and just couldn't resist buying them.  I spent a happy afternoon arranging them.  Then I put them on the table, and walked away, and then walked back into the dining room to suprise myself again with the bouquet. When my husband came in the door and saw the roses, he was impressed with how thoughtful he had been to buy his wife roses a full week before Valentine's Day.   He got lots of brownie points. Valentine's Day is one that I treasure.  I like having my family around me - it gives me a chance to celebrate all my loved ones in one place.  I could hardly wait for it to arrive.  The day came and as I explained  here , I set up for our family dinner.  I had fun wrapping all the presents and making a special meal.  Since I wanted to keep costs down, I each gift to 5$ average.   I got a CD for my husband - 50's/60's music - I held off getting the more expensive ...

My Mom bought me this little shelf when my kids were small.  It's one of the last gifts she gave me.  I have always loved it.  When my "colours" were burgundy and black, I painted it burgundy and attached a ribbon and some dried baby's breath for decoration.  Then I found these cherubs and I loved them too.  They perched perfectly on the shelf with a perfect mix of innocence and cheekiness. When we moved to The Pokeaway, I brought them with me, but tucked them away in a drawer because my colours were no longer burgundy and black, and they just didn't fit in anywhere.  I couldn't quite bring myself to getting rid of them, because I still loved them.  So they sat in the drawer for almost three years. Then one day, just before company came over, I had a brilliant idea. While I was waiting for the company, I would quickly paint the shelf white. [What was I thinking????]   I shouldn't have started it that night. I didn't have enough time; ...

When we moved to the farm the first time, I thought to myself, "Well, if I have to wear boots, I might as well get some that I love".  My green boots fit that bill.  I loved them.  I felt sassy, and useful all at the same time.  They became a story of my life as a hobby farmerette.  They saw me through chasing the sheep in and out of our fields, going out to call my husband for lunch, or helping him on his various projects around the place.  I used them to take care of chores like composting, and raking, and digging and care of the grounds at The Pokeaway. I picked up shingles and garbage, got in the vehicle and did a lunch run in those boots.  They saw me through multiple tramps through the fields, painting expeditions, gardening crusades, and soccer games in soaking wet fields.  My daughter even wore them when she helped her dad with the rabbits - feeding, watering, building cages, and taking the rabbits to market.  And then sadly, in the ...