Become Like a Little Child

Jake and I are reading through The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz and came upon this today:

      "We have memories of long ago, when we used to be free and we loved being free, but we have forgotten what freedom really means.

      If we see a child who is two or three, perhaps four years old, we find a free human.  Why is this human free? Because this human does whatever he or she wants to do.  The human is completely wild.  Just like a flower, a tree, or an animal that has not been domesticated --- wild! And if we observe humans who are two years old, we find that most of the time these humans have a big smile on their face and they're having fun.  They are exploring the world.  They are not afraid to play. They are afraid when they are hurt, when they are hungry, when some of their needs are not met, but they don't worry about the past, don't care about the future, and only live in the present moment.

      Very young children are not afraid to express what they feel.  They are so loving that if they perceive love, they melt into love. They are not afraid to love at all.  That is the description of a normal human being.  As children we are not afraid of the future or ashamed of the past.  Our normal human tendency is to enjoy life, to play, to explore, to be happy, and to love.

      But, what has happened with the adult human? Why are we so different? Why are we not wild?"

The first thing that came to my mind is this verse from Matthew (18:3) : "And He said: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."  The second thing that came into my mind was a video I took of Boy 3 about 8 years ago . . . this boy, he has always been free and wild and his joy knows no end.   

He's 11 now.  He still is pretty wild and free and brings me great joy. <3  Praying for myself and you that we can be like a little child.

How I - Inadvertently - Tamed the Laundry Monster

It's cold here in Indiana!  Not much to do except sit next to the fire, put a warm laptop on and write a blog post - about laundry.

 I know, it's not your favorite subject, nor is it mine, but it is something we all must deal with.  As my recently ill husband said when I mentioned I would have to wait to wash the sheets when he was out of them . . . "Yes, just like clothes, it's much easier to wash them when you're not in them"!

As a family of six, we have a lot of laundry, clothes, running/work out clothes, towels, sheets, delicate's, hand wash . . . the list goes on!  Thankfully, quite a few years back we had an old house issue that inadvertently led to a laundry solution.

Have you ever heard of a "dry well"?  WELL, I hadn't!  ;) I guess it's something that may come along with an old home such as ours. Our dry well was right next to our driveway and front step and apparently, it was full.  Yes, our dry well was full . . . of laundry water . . . As I type this, I realize how little sense this may make, so if anyone out there can explain it to me, please do.

Until we were able reroute our laundry water, we couldn't wash more than one load at a time or the water filling up the dry well would seep up out onto our driveway, walkway and yard.  And since this was in the middle of winter, freeze.  "Welcome to our home, watch out for the small, ice covered pond on your way in!"  

So, I started washing one load a day . . . and then I assigned each member of the family  a laundry day  . . . and then I started to teach my kids how to do their own laundry!  Aaahh, yes, you can see where this is going!!! Freedom!!!  Ok, maybe not freedom, but freedom from the Laundry Monster!  No longer did I have 4-5 loads to do at a time.  No longer did I become extremely b-o-r-e-d washing, drying, folding and putting away laundry.  No longer was this another chore for mom to do.  This became an opportunity to instill a life skill to my children, to lessen my load as a mom and to give up some areas of control.  My boys (Baby Girl-6, is still learning) can now wash, dry and put away their own laundry!  Granted, they may not fold them, but if they are ok wearing wrinkled clothes, good for them! They can also help out if I need a load of sheets put in the dryer or a load of towels put on to wash.  

These days, we sometimes have to do more than one load a day and we can, since we have rerouted our laundry drainage. But I still stick to a load a day for each family member.  There have been 2 other changes since then that have helped lessen our laundry - the most recent, Norwex Towels - the other, we know what clothes we need and what clothes we don't!  With my kids washing their clothes once a week, they need enough pants/shorts, underwear/socks, and shirts to get them through a week.  If they are only using the top half of a shirt drawer, we get rid of some!  If they stay in their pj's because they have no clean pants (and not because they are homeschooled), we need to go shopping.  

Now if I could only find a way to get my whites WHITE as Snow!

Back to the Books

It's that time of year again. Time for resolutions, new goals, blah, blah, blah.  I am not a resolution maker - really, isn't the purpose of making them so you don't have to accomplish said resolution?  Ok, maybe not, but that is usually what happens.

I am happy, however, to be moving past 2015 and into 2016.  This past year has been difficult to say the least - maybe, someday, I will do a post on that.  2016 is set to have it's challenges too - I have one son who will be moving away and joining the Marines, another one who will be learning to operate a large metal machine car (thankfully, it is rather large) and many others thing I know nothing of at the moment.  So why am I ready to move on?  If I (re)learned anything in 2015 it is that My God is a big GOD!  He can handle anything and whether or not all is smooth sailing, extremely difficult, incomprehensible or just down right hard, He's got it.  I may not see the whole picture, ever, let alone this day, week, month or year, but that doesn't mean He's not redeeming it all.  So, no matter what 2016 brings, I've got a big God that has already shown His love for me through his son, Jesus and really, what more do I need? So, no resolutions for 2016, just taking it one day at a time and trying to be in the here and now, enjoying the moment and leaning on HIM through it all.

All that to say that I am back to reading.  2015 what not a record breaking book-reading year for me and if you know me, you know I love to read.  I may or may not, at one time, had the nickname . . . Rita-book . . . get it?  Yeah, I know . . .

I don't have a set amount of books to read this year, but I have enlisted the help of Goodreads to keep track of what I am reading and to get book suggestions.  Come, follow me and see what I am reading, what I want to read and even suggest some of your favorites.  There may be a good chance I've already read it, but if not, I'm always looking for a good read!