small things

:: spiders
:: her threading
:: santa visits
:: learning to waltz
:: her favourite outfit...'my wedding dress'

still : beauty

silence fills the weary spaces of my being

stillness is like raindrops on this parched soul

slowly I unfold

open up

the Son's warm rays ignite

I am me

in his warmth I am me

I am still

and beauty surrounds

Amazing husband and father has taken our four wild and precious children camping for the weekend so I have had this usually bustling and busting home all to myself. No noise, no messes, no food to prepare....just the beautiful sounds of silence. My heart is bursting with gratitude.

Of course I can't wait to see them in a few hours. They will burst out of the car fighting and pushing to get in the door first, all hold me at once, talk at once telling of all the things that daddy did with them that perhaps would be better if I didn't know.

smiling

As I was sorting through some piles today I came across a collection of the children's drawings and oh how I smiled. There is something about a child's drawing that just gets me, its so pure in its expression of that moment, it captures a joy, a wish, a dream, a feeling. It is so authentic.

So here are some of authentic moments that are bringing a huge smile to my face.

in the seeing

ugly: table scratched & stained
beautiful: handmade placemats collaged by the children sewn by Mama

ugly: the sad death of a loved pet
beautiful : the process of saying goodbye and remembering

ugly : things broken

beautiful : the broken being reused for 8yog to grow her first crop of potatoes

There is so much beauty ...its all in the seeing...

gratitude-through the ugliness

Not the prettiest bunch of flowers but still special and very beautiful to me.

Six year old boy lovingly hand picked them, filled jar and left them on the kitchen window sill for my eyes to see and know beauty and his love.
These small but so significant moments are reminders to me of the beauty in the everyday, the overwhelming, even the ugly. Though I feel as if there has been alot of the ugly around here the last few months there has also been an incredible amount of beauty in many shades and colours.

Some of the beauty around here :

~ children making together happily in back room

~ warm breeze blowing through home

~ banana cake devoured by all

~ oldest boys prayers-'help me treat Mama special and listen to her'

~ homemade cards, heartfelt scribblings

~ the youthfulness that fills (to overflowing) this home

~ family night-fun and food

~ sun and soft sand

~ chatter between two tired travellers

~ her growing frame & knowing eyes

~ his playful face

~ sounds of outside songs reaching inside

~ sparkles in bright eyes when ideas ignite

I stop. to notice. to breathe. to let go. to yield. to give thanks.