Quiet thought

Someone recently asked me if I was "ok", because I seemed quiet and tired.  No need to worry, I often experience quiet moments, deep in thought.  :)

I'm an introvert, though most people laugh or look puzzled, when I say so (I'm an INFJ).

I've also been told that if I'm an introvert, I'm a friendly one. Haha! :)

 

One major thought floating in my head, is how I need to intentionally work on friendships and relationships with others, in the midst of crazy and full lives.

For example ... our next door neighbor, a widower, passed away from terminal cancer late-February, and we didn't learn of his death until weeks later!!! I couldn't believe it!

This particular neighbor often gave us goodies from his vegetable garden every year, and enjoyed chatting with me and the kids. He reminded me of my grandpa, in the way that he enjoyed working outdoors and keeping his garden and landscape immaculate.

It's not "bad" that I'm a busy wife and mother, and that our family's involved in church-related ministries ... but surely there's a way to become more organized and "aware/alert", so that we don't miss important things within our neighboring community (applies to extended family & church family as well).

When you "miss it", it's interpreted as being unconcerned or uncaring ....

 

As this semester and school year winds down to a close, I'm considering ways to be more of an intentional friend, family member, neighbor, acquaintance ....simply being more aware of others.

 

Relationships make life beautiful, and must be protected and guarded with all our might- a close relationship with God at the top of the pyramid, of course.  :)

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More family news coming soon in my next blog post;

just wanted to share a quiet thought ...    :)

 



~Changes (or not)~

If you've been following my blog for awhile, you know that I enjoy sharing my thoughts, family goals, future plans, and more thoughts.

You also likely know that we've been waiting on God's timing to move to a "roomier" house.

Our present home is approx. 1590 sq. ft (no basement). Not too small, but could stand be more comfortable when having company. We are able to host just one play date, or one family at a time. I enjoy having company, and desire to invite several at once.  :)

After painting our entire house last year, purging & de-cluttering, we thought perhaps this spring we'd put our house on the market. What fun browsing homes online, driving by my favorite ones, then telling Richard which ones he should drive by.
And ... what disappointment to discover it's not God's time yet for us to move.
Due to a variety of reasons, we believe it's best living in this home for a couple more years.
The largest reason due to losing our equity when the housing market crashed. I'm sure many others can relate to this, too. Building more equity is always a good move ....
 

In the midst of my disappointment, I wrote down all the reasons I wanted to move, and discovered that most of them could be remedied by being content.  

We live a reasonable distance from the boys' school (15-20 minutes), and are very close to church and all other activities.

I'm also in the midst of taking one-to-two class(es) at a time, at a college down the road from where we live. My "non-traditional" school journey will require several extra years (than normal) since I also homeschool our youngest child. The convenience of college being "a hop and skip away", is an added benefit for a busy wife/mom/housekeeper.   :)

 



 

So...  as I clean and reorganize our home this spring, I look forward to enjoying the lovely outcome all to ourselves!!!  :)  Ha... I'm aware that I need to continue hospitality, one family or play date at a time.

 

 I believe true contentment means JOYFUL contentment, and that's what I desire.

I'm preaching the gospel to myself while reorganizing our home. All that I do within our home is for GOD;  He has blessed us immeasurably, and has given wise, sound counsel.

"I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me." Psalm 16:7

 

I'm making my list of things to improve around here ...     :)

~Winter Blessings~

I'm the first to admit that I'm growing weary of winter.

Same snow, bone-chilled cold, day after day after day.

Plans canceled, schedules rearranged, nowhere to go.

Right at first, we enjoyed the breaks in our schedule to play in the snow, and be together as a family.  :)  What a sweet time together right after the Holidays. We thought to ourselves that a full month's break from schedules (following Christmas break) should happen EVERY year!! 



Looking out the back door ... the snow wouldn't stop!

Right before one of the snow storms, we purchased a new pet!!

We were set on getting a rabbit, but then decided on a parakeet at the last minute. Richard had great memories of having a parakeet when he was a kid, and called his mom to verify that it was a decent pet. Eavesdropping on their phone conversation, I was very surprised to hear nothing negative said about parakeets. 

"Why don't we just get a parakeet then- if they're such good pets?!"  [interpretation: "Why didn't you tell me about this before, Richard?!"]    :)   :)  



So ... we brought home a pet parakeet, and everyone on Facebook thought we were crazy (I had said we were getting a pet rabbit).  Haha!   The children chose the name "Sunburst", though it seems to be slowly changing to "Skittles", which rolls off the tongue better.  :)

Sunburst (or Skittles) has been a wonderful addition this cold, cold winter, and has kept us smiling and laughing! We brought her home when she was three weeks old, and she gradually grew used to us. She now hops all over us ... up our shoulders, down to our hands, and then just looks at us (she's listening). Sunburst loves it when we walk around the house with her on our shoulder- and she never flies off.
Sunburst mimics our sounds, and says "Pretty Bird"; she's turned out to be quite the talker and noise maker [according to what we've read, it's usually the males who are talkers]!
We haven't needed to cover her cage at night, since she is quiet all night long ... she really is close to being a "perfect pet".

 

Having a bird in the house made us more aware of the wild birds outdoors .... who finally discovered our bird feeder! Take a look at this ginormous Cardinal!

Perhaps he simply grew a thick fur coat for this winter's cold??

 

A snow friend on the front porch

 

Our snow days also gave me extra time to work on a special memory book for our family- our trip to Washington last July. I was super thrilled when finished- 136 pages!!

 We love how our memory book turned out, and would recommend Blurb Books to anyone!
Look for our Memory Book in the left margin of blog (near the top) ... I've embedded the book here for you to view!  Enjoy (& ignore a few mistakes)!!
My next Memory Book project?  Our 15th Anniversary trip to Arizona (one year ago).