Books I'm / we're enjoying

Searching for Sacred Ground
Way back when I started this blog I promised I'd read this because of the reference to axis mundi. The book breathes the energy and awakeness of Raylene Hinz-Penner, a beloved person to me.

Marguerite Makes a Book
Beautiful illustrations, great if you're wanting to study medieval times with children.

A Door in the WallAgain, on the medieval topic, a wonderful story, engaging for both reader and those read to.

Old Mother Westwind's "How" Stories
Henry loves 'em and, in keeping with what I'm learning about the Charlotte Mason method of education, they're good "living" books.

Except for Searching for Sacred Ground, these were all checked out from the local library, along with a pile of others. What gifts! Makes me think of the quote (it's too late now to go check the refrigerator magnet that tells me who said this...) "A room without books is like a body without a soul."

Since I'm not the one reading it to Henry, I almost forgot this final beloved book of Joel's and now Henry's (since we've read through the Hobbit and the LOTR trilogy): The Silmarillion. How could I forget that? It's one of the books keeping the "soul" in our living room.

What's not to love?

Her nickname is Puddin'.

two faces

I've been seeing a lot of these two faces as I nurse Anna and lie in bed. One is ancient, the other new. One dark and expressive, the other light and basic. I like to see them together. (Had to photograph them outside for better light). They're poles I'm hanging out between right now...complexity versus simplicity, suffering versus joy, you get the idea.

I was reading the newest Newsweek at my folks' place today. Do you think we live in a child-centered society? That's what I thought the mag was contending? I don't know about that. I don't think so, really. We may live in a narcissistic society that encourages children not to mature, but I don't know that we really excel at honoring the needs of children, or adults, for that matter.

I like to stare, gaze I guess is the word, at Jesus on my wall. This icon sits on the prayer table in the house where I used to go to twice-weekly early morning prayers. I had missed it since moving back to Kansas, so Joel got it for me at Eighth Day Books several years ago and now it hangs by the changing table, next to the basket where Anna's doll rests.

At what have you been gazing?

centering Saturdays

When Henry was an infant this day of the week used to be mine for imagining what being at home would look like--trying to pack so much domesticity and mother love into a single day of the week.

No more! Now Saturdays are my day for all sorts of things: cleaning (maybe), cooking (hopefully), dreaming (sometimes maybe too much), sweating as I blog (oh, the toil!), staring down at my dirty feet while I wear a silk skirt and think about my daughter asleep on the bed and my son tucked away in the basement, how we're going outside soon...I hope, how there is so much to do, so, so much to do, how summer is here and it is hot, even with central air, how peaches purchased at Walmart can still taste good and summery even though they don't embody the food practices I aspire to keep.

How down time, unstructured time, has since childhood helped my soul to form. It is the best therapy I know, helping angers to subside and constructive problem-solving to take firmer hold. I wish I could show a photo of every lived-in corner of this house. It is a good place and also a place in need of cleaning and prayer. There are comfy baby spots, clean laundry spots, puzzle spots, hard-edged toy spots, dusty corners stacked with piles of good intentions.

It is time to rise from this place and take hold of the time I have until Anna wakes up. And as I go I remember this very, very good poem.

more photos

Before she and her family left for a 14-week sabbatical, Yolanda took these pictures of Anna and the rest of us. I'm so glad she did. There's more to share, and I may finally get some photos sent to family far away.

Ahh. It's all worth the effort. ...And it has taken quite a lot of effort!

a summer afternoon

Saturday afternoon was warm and fair...one of our first long afternoons in the back yard sun and shade. I thought my children were not able to fall asleep without parental support, but Anna is content as can be outside staring up into the sky and branches. She lay on her lambskin for an hour, gazing and sleeping, while I planted some seeds and tended to some of her brother's needs.What a gift she gave us (and herself). It was a lovely afternoon.

remember, remember

As Anna cries to request my help in getting her into her morning nap groove, I'm not always aware she's making the request. I get annoyed. I look at the piles of dishes and laundry, at the piles of bills and papers to file, at Henry, who needs some attention, too, at my disheveled image in the mirror and think, "Baby, be quiet! Let me put you down."

What she needs is just the opposite. Today I carried her in a front hold, feet crossed lotus-style (Henry liked that, too). She calmed right down as I proceeded with my morning chores, wanting only to be taken along. Before I knew it she was asleep. What a privilege to carry a baby. A year ago I had just learned that I might become the mother of a second living child. Wow.

Remember, remember
the sacredness of things
Running streams and dwellings
The young within the nest
A hearth for sacred fire
The holy flame of fire

This Pawnee blessing comes from a book by Andrew Harvey (love him) and is excerpted here.