J is for Jumble

 Moving right along into Day 10 in the A-Z Blog Challenge...

J is for Jumble

'an untidy collection or pile of things; 

mix up or confused in an untidy way' 

I'm pretty sure I imagined when I reached the age I am now there would be more blank space everywhere. In my home, on my calendar, and most especially in my head. 

But guess what? There's not. 

I remember being a young mom and having just an endless jumble of thoughts running through my head nearly all the time. Most of those thoughts revolved around raising children, because mothers are the keeper of everything and it all just pings around your brain pretty much on a loop. 

We're just us now, so what sort of jumbled thoughts can possibly need untangling in this season of life? Here's a peek...

Why does my back hurt?

Is 7:30 too early to put on my pajamas?  

Call my mother. 

Call hubs mother.

Where did I put that card I bought? 

Did I sleep funny? 

Is that why my back hurts? 

Are we free the third Tuesday of next month?

Did he feed the dog? 

Was I supposed to feed the dog? 

Let's go somewhere. 

Let's stay home. 

Did I take my vitamins today? 

I've done something to my back. 

What was the name of that book I wanted to read? 

Show I wanted to watch? 

Movie I wanted to see? 

Where did I leave my keys? 

Are my roots showing? 

The grandchildren 💕

Why does my neck look like that? 

Does it always look like that? 

Does this dress make me look old? 

Is this dress too young for me? 

Why is it so hot in here? 

Didn't the guy say I need new tires? 

Are my girls getting enough sleep? 

My girls 💕

What in the world did I do to my back? 

We need to paint the house. 

Buy a car. 

We need to stop spending. 

Let's go to the islands. 

Is that spot on my face something to worry about? 

I don't like driving at night. 
I need new glasses. 

What am I wearing to that wedding next month? 

We'll need a leaf in the table for Easter dinner.

and...and...and...

"You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you."

Isaiah 26:3

The Age Of Invention

We've hit Day 9 in the A-Z today, so let's get to it...

I is for (re) Invention

Not gonna lie...I was feeling a little bit stuck today, not only with this letter, but also with my theme. So many of the words I want to write about overlap in terms of content, and I don't want these posts to be the same thing said twenty-six different ways. 

I was thinking I might do some sort of all about me (all about I) write-up for this letter, but that stalled too. My daughter came into the room while I sat frozen at the keyboard, and I asked her to tell me something about myself that I might not have talked about here, and she said, 'you developed a love of adventure later in life'.

Hmmm. Do I love adventure? 

I said I think the word is overused and also I've decided I'm actually not someone who loves adventure.  That currently there is no great big thing I feel inspired to see-do-accomplish, and she said that's because I've spent the past twenty years seeing-doing-accomplishing, and now I'm living a more settled life and I haven't quite figured out how to do that, or even how a quiet life should look. 

She reminded me we never really put down roots. We squatted with tent pegs, embraced people and places and experiences for a year or two or six, then yanked up those pegs and set up camp somewhere new. 

There was always something new. 

And now we are settled. We have roots taking hold, and I'm once again feeling the need to re-invent myself for the season I'm in. 

Like every season I've walked through, but this one looks more, for lack of a better word, ordinary. My kids are launched. In fact, they're more than launched. They're college graduates, married women, mothers of little ones living their own adventure. 

When I told my daughter I thought the word was overused she said, 'well I think romanticizing the little things we do to make a house a home, to make motherhood feel less mundane, to make the ordinary feel special is a good thing.' 

She's right. Call the life you're living an adventure and an adventure it will be.  

You don't have to paddle down the Amazon or bungee jump the New River Gorge to call something an adventure. There's more than one way to define the word. More than one way to see your world. 

So here I am living my own little adventure. 

Figuring out what to do with my days and my daydreams in life's third act.

'...aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you...' 1 Thessalonians 4:11 

H is for Hodgepodge

Welcome to The Wednesday Hodgepodge. If you've answered today's questions, add your link at the end of my post, then leave a comment for your neighbor there.  If you're visiting from the A-Z Blog Challenge, my letter of the day is part of question #6 today.  Here we go-

1. What's a lesson you've learned from a mistake? 

Listen to your 'gut', which I recognize most often as the Holy Spirit telling me to hit pause before I act. Several years ago I accepted a volunteer appointment, that I knew in my gut (my heart? my spirit?) wasn't right for me. I had already said no to the job once before, and my hubs again discouraged me from accepting this time around. 

And I did say no. But then I allowed myself to be talked into saying yes, and I definitely regretted it.  I learned from it too, so I guess that's something. 

2. Do you salt food while you're cooking or let diners add their own?  What's a food you think must be salted? Do you like pepper? 

Some things I salt while cooking, but others I leave unsalted and people can add to their own taste. Certain foods need to be salted as they're cooking. I made spaghetti sauce on Sunday and added salt and  that's something you can't really salt after the fact to the same effect. I don't salt eggs but I do salt vegetables before roasting. 

A food I think must be salted? Potatoes...baked potato, french fried, mashed, roasted...they all need salt. 

I love pepper. 

3. What was the last gathering you attended and what did you do there? 

We attended a wine dinner on Tuesday night, with about 50 in attendance. We're part of a local wine club so this sort of gathering happens on a monthly basis. What did we do? 

this lobster mac and cheese was scrumptious!! 

Dined on a delicious five course meal, each one paired with a specific wine. We learn about the wines, the area they're made, the winemakers. Always a really nice evening. 

4. Your favorite shade of purple? What's your favorite purple flower? 

I like the color purple, in nature more than in my home. In terms of my wardrobe I prefer the very dark shades, plum or eggplant. If we're talking flowers I love all the purples and don't think I can choose a favorite.  If pressed I'd say a lilac, but I also love lavender, pansies, iris, petunias, and wisteria. 

5. Share a favorite spring travel memory. 

Wow. Just one? We've had so many wonderful springtime trips, most of which I've covered on my blog somewhere along the way. Since I've been sharing Easter throwback pictures here in the weeks leading up to the day let's go with this one-

Belgian chocolate in Belgium

Hubs and I spent the last Easter weekend we lived across the pond in Brussels-Ghent-Brugges. Hubs went to Belgium at least once a month for work and we both loved it. Brussels is an easy train ride from London so we took the train over and revisited some of our favorite sites. 

This is outside the famous Gothic cathedral in Ghent called St. Baafskathedraal, built in the 1200’s-

And of course you can't visit Belgium without indulging in Moules-et-frites...

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I'm going to use this space for today's letter in the A-Z blog challenge. If you don't know what I'm talking about you can go to my intro post to get the 411 (The ABC's of April). Today is Day 8 and we've reached the letter H. 

H is for Hodgepodge

Of course it is

'a heterogeneous mixture; jumble'

November 10, 2010. My first Wednesday Hodgepodge. Prior to the HP a bunch of us bloggers participated in a weekly link up called The Random Dozen. It was hosted by a blogger named Linda, who I don't think blogs anymore, and it consisted of 12 questions every week. 12!!

When she gave up hosting several people who participated asked if I'd consider picking it up in her place, I said yes because I enjoyed it so much, and the rest is history. 

Well, not history exactly, but we carried on from there. I knew there was no way I could come up with 12 questions on the weekly, so I started out with 8 which was still three too many-ha! However, it wasn't until episode 308 (308!!) that I waved the white flag and went with the format we have today. Five questions from me, and then a spot to share some random thought of your own. Honestly that random thought is often the toughest to come up with week after week. 

The Hodgepodge button changed midstream when daughter1 reworked my blog a little. We changed the color scheme so she made a new button, which we're still using today. I looked back at some of the earliest Hodgepodges and there were anywhere between 35 and 60 bloggers linking up each week. 

Of course the blogging world has changed and 'home blogs' as I like to call them are not as popular as they once were. I still love them, both the reading and the writing, and enjoy seeing the old familiar and also some new faces here each week. 

I retired the Hodgepodge on September 5, 2018 after 360 episodes because quite frankly I needed the break. And it stayed retired until a little thing we won't mention but that starts with a C and made the world absolutely bonkers, came around and suddenly there wasn't as much happening in real life to write about. I revived the Hodgepodge at the end of March, 2020 and here we are still. I continue to enjoy this weekly mid-week brain strain and will likely keep it up until I won't.  

So what have I learned in this weekly exercise, and how does it fit with the season of life I'm currently living? 

I re-discovered my love of writing as a result of blogging. Writing is a creative outlet for me, and forces me to use my mental muscles in a way very few other things do. 

Coming up with questions on a weekly basis is good for the brain. I'm all about exercising my brain and writing helps. Or at least I think it does. If science is to be believed we need to work our brains to keep them sharp and coming up with these questions each week while a lot of fun, also takes some brain power. 

Answering the questions each week is also good for the brain. 

I love the mix of ages and stages in this weekly hop and I think we learn from each other.  I've gotten recipes, faith builders, craft ideas, book recommendations, travel tips, home decor inspiration, encouragement, and so much more from blogging, not to mention the friendships formed. 

The HP forces me to interact with technology, which is not my first love, but is part of the world in which we live so ya gotta deal. 

Thanks for joining in here each week. A few of you have been here since almost the beginning and I appreciate that more than I can say. Happy Wednesday everyone! 

G is for Gratitude

Rolling right along in the A-Z with today's Letter G- 

G is for Gratitude

'a state of being grateful; thankfulness'

I've always been an optimistic person. If someone brings up a negative point I have an irresistible urge to counter with something positive.  Are we born this way or is this an attitude we cultivate as we grow up and older? 

I think my parents encouraged an attitude of gratitude from the time we were small. We said grace before meals and were taught to say thank you for gifts we were given or kindness extended, and to put our appreciation in writing too. While I can't say gratitude is something I've had to learn with age, I do think it's a habit I've learned to practice with more intention. 

Here are a few things I do to cultivate a grateful heart-

blog-seriously, blogging has been so beneficial in helping me see all there is to be grateful for...if you don't blog, then journal, keep a list, put slips of paper in a gratitude jar, whatever works for you, but write it down. There is something about writing down what you're grateful for that helps you call it to mind when you need remembering

pray-pausing to acknowledge and give thanks for the good things I've been given certainly, but on the flip side of that... when life is hard or confusing talking to God reminds me I'm not walking through those things alone, something for which I feel tremendous gratitude 

volunteer-the best way I know to change the way I see a day, a circumstance, or life in general is to do something for somebody else

say thank you more-for the small things too. You never know when you'll make someone's day, which in turn has a way of making yours

send the card, write the note-let the people who have meant something to you know it 

be present-we have far more distractions than ever before, and it's a challenge to look up from our phones, but look up we must if we hope to catch the sunset, marvel at the rainbow or admire how the tiniest of flowers bursts through the dry, hard ground. 

We always have a choice in how we see our lives. I want to view mine in every season through the lens of gratitude. 

F is for Forgiveness

Good Monday morning and welcome to week 2 in the A-Z blog challenge. I'm writing this month about life lessons learned, and here we go with the letter F. 

F is for Forgiveness

'to cease to feel resentment against an offender; pardon'

"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." Ephesians 4:32

I mentioned in my previous post that I'd be sharing this month some of the experiences I think have shaped me into the person I am today. I wrote in my letter E post about the family I grew up in, and today I'm going to talk about another biggie-marriage. 

Marriage grows us, changes us, and teaches us many things...compromise, communication, sacrifice, how to fight fair, and most importantly, the value of forgiveness. Without it I don't think a marriage can survive. 

What would you say is the opposite of forgiveness? In my mind the opposite of forgiveness is resentment, and resentment is the kudzu of a relationship. 

Is there kudzu where you live? We see a lot of it along the highways in the southern part of the US, and maybe other parts of the country too, but in the south it's crazy. Kudzu is an invasive plant, sometimes called the 'vine that ate the south' because it's so fast growing and because it tries, and mostly succeeds, in smothering all the good vegetation growing nearby. It's destructive. 

Marriage is so many wonderful things. It's laughter and parenting and knowing your person is your person. It's connection and friendship and intimacy on more than just the obvious level. 

Marriage is also an every day kind of proposition. Husband and wife, each one making the choice to live selflessly instead of self-centeredly, every.single.day. 

True story here...I'm not alway successful. I mean who knows how to push your buttons better than the person you sleep beside? Small hurts, words said aloud that should have remained unspoken, the cold shoulder, disappointment, our opinion as the right opinion...these are all a part of a long married life, which means forgiveness will be required on the daily too. 

I've learned a lot about myself in our nearly 41 years of marriage, and I think that's part of God's grand design in creating this institution. Marriage is sanctifying. While I've discovered so much goodness there, marriage has also exposed a side of myself I don't particularly love. 

I can hold onto a hurt, marinate in it a little (or a lot) and feel justified in my outrage. And you know what? Sometimes I really am justified, but planting my flag there is how a tiny droplet becomes a deep well of resentment. A well that will overflow if left unchecked.  

I've learned in these later seasons especially that acknowledging a hurt, and then seeking and/or offering forgiveness quickly, makes for a healthier, happier marriage. To lop off resentment while its a seedling, not a hillside covered in vines. 

Not to let the kudzo crowd out all the good green things we've grown. 

If you've never heard the Matthew West Song entitled Forgiveness I'll link it here (Forgiveness). The lyrics are so good. ...'If flies in the face of all your pride, it moves away the mad inside, it's always anger's own worst enemy...'

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 597

Here are the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here on Wednesday (April 9th) to share answers. See you there! 

1. What's a lesson you've learned from a mistake? 

2. Do you salt food while you're cooking or let diners add their own?  What's a food you think must be salted? Do you like pepper? 

3. What was the last gathering you attended and what did you do there? 

4. Your favorite shade of purple? What's your favorite purple flower? 

5. Share a favorite spring travel memory. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

E is for Experience

Here we are at the end of week one in the A-Z Blog Challenge. Emphasis on the word challenge. I've had a lot going on this week besides what I've written here so patting myself on the back for staying the course. I'm hopeful next week will be more manageable time wise, but we'll see. 

Day 5-E is for Experience

"something personally encountered, undergone, or lived through; 

the conscious events that make up an individual life

"Experience is the teacher of all things." 

Julius Caesar

It's been said that so much of who we are is where we've been and I tend to agree with that sentiment. I'm into my 'third act' (trying not to overuse the phrase but I gotta call it something), so I have plenty of life experiences to mull over. Since my blog is often the place where I 'mull' I'm going to write about a handful of those experiences here this month. 

Let's start at the beginning shall we? My family. The one I grew up in. 

This of course covers a myriad of experiences and I know I'm lucky in that department. I had a happy childhood. I grew up with two sisters and a brother, parents who were married, who worked hard to provide for our every need, and who gave us a sense of security and stability not all children are fortunate to know. 

They made their faith in Jesus a priority in their lives and in our home. We weren't spoiled with material things, but we had all that we needed and most of what we wanted. And we had each other. 

We still do. 

Playmates, confidants, sparring partners, back seat riders, secret sharers, story keepers, truth tellers, teammates. 

Children learn by watching, by imitating what they see. I'm grateful to have had a good example to follow, which in turn impacted the way I've interacted with my own family (the one I birthed) as well as other people I've encountered along life's way.  

Studies have shown that children who grow up in a stable home have a higher degree of success, feel less anxiety, and also less stress. I can still so clearly picture my mother sitting on the side of my bed, telling me to tell her my troubles and she'd listen and help if help is what was needed. My world view, my self-esteem and my sense of belonging are all things that were home grown.  

To be a child who knows they are loved is such a gift. It frees you to be authentically you.