Of Summer Days on The Farm

It's been a little crazy around here. From thunderstorms that wake us up to lightening flickering at night, enough and often to make me think that Mordor is close. The rain has bucketed down making us in the mood for tea, warm apple crisp and British movies. And it has left the outdoors a complete mess. The mud sticks to your shoes when you attempt any sort of outside activity. So when the storms stop and the sun is shining, we take every advantage of outside time. After all, that's kind of the point of summer, right? 

This particular day we set off for a walk. The boys were on their bikes, we girls walked and Khaira rode along in style on my back in the Ergo.  It was beautiful and we soaked up the sunshine. The goat and the dog came along making for much comic relief.

Every day isn't all happy-happy, filled with walks and trips to the lake and everything else just so. Some days require searching for beauty and good in a mess of emotions and grumpy children. Some days I am blown away by the simple beauty that surrounds me when I choose to see it. 

The simplicity of water droplets on a leaf. The delight little boys have in picking great big stalks of flowers. A simple clover blossom. Life. Health. My girls. The life and dreams I share with my man.

We got home from our walk and I put my floral treasures in a bottle. It sits by my current bathroom mirror as a reminder each day to look for the beauty, enjoy the beauty and make the most of right now. It's all we ever really have. 

 How has your summer being going? =)

\I'm spending this week with my sister, these are some thoughts \I wanted to share. Lots of pictures and moments captured when\ I get back to Alberta. =)

We went for a Walk

 Living with the in-laws as we are for this time before our big move, there is always lots of company for what ever activity is going on. Walks, water fights, egg gathering or just talking in the kitchen.
But on this particular day I wanted to go for a walk with just my girlies. Actually I wanted to get a couple miles in before it got too hot and I lost all motivation to do any sort of work out. My double stroller and the hills around here give me the resistance my body needs. I always come back renewed and refreshed. We started out strong. I was booking it, the girls were happy... and then Kilmeny asked to walk.

And I let her.

  The entire tune of the walk changed. I think we all took deep breaths.

I slowed down. My physical pace and my mental pace. I actually noticed what was around me.

The slight breeze dancing amongst the birch leaves setting them all a-flutter. The delicate white butterflies weaving in and out of the flowers.

The rich smell of hay being cut. The faint hum of the constant tractor. The beauty of innocent childhood. The fullness with which my daughter embraces life. The sweet sound of baby giggles.

I decided to let Kilmeny set the pace. She threw rocks and picked flowers. She ran ahead and then slowed right down and wrote in the dust on the road. She watched butterflies and dragonflies. She experienced a thistle. She identified the colors and textures of all the different flowers we picked. She splashed rocks in the water. 

 Khaira felt all the textures of the rocks, first one and then the other. Passing them from hand to hand as if she were weighing them. She laughed, delighted to be outside and free to explore as much as she can by crawling. 

We walked the two miles. We experienced the two miles. And I made a memory, captured a day with my girls. Summer 2012 will always have a faint smell of hay, with the whisper of birch leaves now in our memories.

Of Shifting and Changing

Transition.

 n. movement, passage, or change from one position, state, stage, subject, concept, etc., to another;

 

It's not easy this thing called transition. It's that awkward place between here and there, that place of in-between. Of being new before you are old. 

 It's like the shifting of gears, necessary as you hear the engine whine and then settle into a smooth drive at a higher gear. 

 

 Yet it is all needed. 

 

It's a good word for where I am these days. In the in-between, learning to embrace a whole new normal. 

Learning right along with my little girl who asks to go home, to just go home; that home is here. Home is where we are. Mummy, Daddy, Kilmo and Khaira. 

 

Home isn't four walls and all of our stuff. Home isn't an address or a place on a map. Home is an intangible sense of belonging, of knowing that these are my people. It's a safe place colored with memories and dreams. We take up residence within a house but that is never our final home. We never get there, that place where we will never move again, never have any transitions again, never go through anything hard again. 

 

That place of perfect.

 

Perfect wasn't promised us. There's a hope of something more, something beyond whatever four walls we find ourselves living in. The journey of knowing the only Perfect One and letting His ways define our life. 

 

And so here I am. Wanting to learn what is mine to learn from this time, yet shirking from it knowing it may not be easy. Being steady for my girls, reminding them of what home is, and preparing them as I prepare myself for this next big jump. 

 

And, really, there is no other place I would rather be.

 

  

Ten on Ten: July Edition

We went to the lake. I took some pictures.  I remembered that it was the tenth (my parents' anniversary, love you two!) and so I kept taking pictures all day long. Enjoy this glimpse into our Tuesday!

1. Picnic lunch 

2. Water time with Auntie Katie! 

3. Her curls and all the little details, I want to remember. 

4. Water is so good for the soul 

5. Post-lake nap, after a stop for ice-cream 

6. The game of choice right now, continuous story

7. Baguette rising 

8. My favorite summer refresher: cranberry juice with sparkling water over ice

9. Bedtime stories

10. Evening cup of tea, attempted reading, and cuddles with my little Khaira-baby 

linking up with Rebekah at A Bit of Sunshine

Summer Bucket List: Sand and Water

My summer bucket list actually doesn't really exist. With moving, packing, downsizing, transitioning and busy just living life, we really didn't need another list of stuff to do. But there are a few activities that are special summer experiences and we've already knocked two of them off the list, the list that I sort-of, maybe, have.

I  have so many memories of holidays at the lake, spending all day in our bathing suits and then sleeping deeply all night to the perfume of aloe vera gel. Reading in the sun and then playing endless rounds of water tag, dolphin dives and practicing our handstands. Food always tasted so good after a day at the water, and it was almost always something grilled. 

On a recent weekend trip to see my family, I got to experience all of that but with my girlies. It was just a few hours at the river but it was so special to me and I loved making that memory with my girls.  

 What's on your summer bucket list?