Get your head in the game!

I know I've slacked off.  That my posts have dwindled.  I'm pretty sure you are all surviving right nicely without my words.  But I'm missing it - the sharing of meaningful thoughts.  Well mostly I'm missing the having of meaningful thoughts.  They are what have dwindled.  Because when life gets hustly and bustly, all things full of meaning seem to get overlapped or overlooked or overtaken amidst all things full of nothing.

How does that happen - before I even notice what's going on, I'm yelling at The Hunk about all the stuff he won't let me buy for the perfect new home God has wrapped up and sealed for me with a big, red front door?  All I can think about are sofas and dishes and light fixtures and bath mats.

Last night it hit me - if Jesus returns in a few months to find me sitting in my perfectly [albeit thriftily] decorated home, He'll take me with Him.  But the house full of stuff will be left, abandoned - because it is not valuable enough to decorate heaven.  Red door and all will be forgotten and no one will care a smidge about a darn piece of it.

But the souls who enter through that door and possibly leave changed, they ARE valuable enough to decorate heaven.

And then I gave myself a good talking to that I firmly wrapped up with, "Get your head in the game, Purvis [which is actually my maiden name but is what came out, for whatever reason]!"

So THIS Tuesday we are refocusing - a tiny decision that [with the help of the Holy Spirit] will bring about big change.  Let's hope so, anyway, because I am not loving this most recent version of myself.

The Princess Hider

Groggy eyed, coffe ready me lugged the giant laundry bag from our bedroom to the laundry room while I waited for the liquid energy to finish dropping its last.  I began the separating, repeating the assigned categories under my breath as I dropped each article in its respective pile. 

Darks.  Lights.  Whites.  Delicates.

I was on autodrive.  Mechanically moving through the tasks that must be done so that, by the end of the day, they may be effectively undone again.  And then there she was...

Princess Aurora hiding amidst the lights.  Her and a little white bow that belongs in the hair of another blonde headed Princess.  The laughter is what did it...jerked me out of auto pilot and pushed me to ask my King to direct this day.  Because there's a rapidly growing, Princess hider in my care. 

It was just a sweet moment during which God reminded me that this job that feels so endlessly unproductive is the one I've been asking Him for since I was sixteen.  This Tuesday I'm going to remember to thank Him for giving me exactly what I asked for.

Choosing the Trump Card

We needed a day out of these 900 square feet. 

While I was at the conference that I am still chewing on, The Hunk was being mowed over by the stomach virus.  He was also in charge of caring for Miss Magnificent.  Poor guy. 

Needless to say, my girl needed some time outside of these walls.  So, I plowed through Belle the dog's poop rolling antics, the worst, smelliest, most gag-worthy diaper I have EVER changed, the bath that ensued as a result of the disgusting diaper, the toddler's refusal to eat her sandwich bites, the random man invasion of my home to test our fire alarms which resulted in a nervous breakdown of Belle the dog who has been touching me in some way since then, Miss M's removal of her bow over and over again and then her decision to be hungry just before we walked out the door, and finally a spontaneous Skype session with the Nana and the Auntie, only to find that the battery in our van is dead. 

And The Hunk will not be home until 9:30 pm.  This means that we are prisoners of our own home unless we feel excited about bathing in the one hundred degree humidity. 

Pre-these escapades, I had a great Tuesday's Unwrapped post rolling around in my mind.  I even took pictures.  Post-these escapades the rolling had stopped.  Mostly I just felt cranky and annoyed at no one in particular [even though I tried to find a way to be cranky and annoyed at The Hunk which is unbelievably cool of me].  But sometimes I decide to let go and function outside of my fallen self. 

Miss Magnificent and I enjoyed some pillow flopping time on my bed followed by some book reading snuggle time after which she went down for a nap without a peep of protest.  It was absolutely glorious. 

And then I realized that my original Tuesday's Unwrapped post was actually pretty perfect for today...

It's a little strange to arrive home from a weekend of walking around amongst tall people and participating in actual, intellectual conversations that involve words you forgot you knew.  Because at home there is only this...

...and this...

...and this...

It's so easy to feel more like a slave than a woman who has real things to say.  [P.S.  I'm learning the slavery is more valuable than I originally thought.  More about that tomorrow.]

But in the middle of the laundry doing or the toy dodging or the crankiness, there's this smile...

...and these little whispies...

...and this sweet precious face to gaze upon every second of every day...

Turns out, snuggle time on Mama's bed TOTALLY trumps an afternoon out or the intelligent conversation, if I choose to let it.

  

My Summer Shower

Photo by Angy Fotografie

The beach was wonderfully refreshing and teasingly brief.  Like a summer shower that you have spent the day searching the sky for - looking forward to the drip droplets that will tickle the earth and cool the air.  A momentary respite from the energy sucking heat. 

And then it comes and is every bit as glorious as you thought it would be - all heavy with rain scent and trickling refreshment and calming pitter patter.  One moment - maybe two - and nature takes one last, deep gulp from the clouds and sends them on there way with a smack of the lips and a loud, satisfied "Ahhhh..." 

The sun returns to heat it all up again - sometimes to a hotter heat than before the drenching invigoration - and it's tempting to let the misery of the hotter heat outweigh the brief splendor of the drenching invigoration.

But not me.  I will choose to let the cool, rejuvenating - alebeit fleeting - togetherness of family be a separate entity - so that it stands alone, lovely and revitalizing, apart from the increasing pressure-heat of my life right now. 

And I will look to my Soul Soaker for necessary, intermittent cool offs amidst this draining hotness.

Exiting the Whirlwind

After a morning of leaving the half folded basket of clothes to refill the juice cup of Miss Magnificent - to find that I needed to refill the ice trays with pureed veggies for Miss Magnificent - to remember that I needed to return an email from a long time ago - to hear the dryer stop drying and dart in to switch loads again - to haul out the vacuum cleaner - to nurse the boo boo of a wounded Miss Magnificent sprawling at my feet - to finish the returning of the email while Miss Magnificent sat on my lap - to reading my sister's latest post - to acknowledging the adoption bug's nibbles on my heart - to realizing that an hour of undivided attention is such a small, but important gift to give Miss Magnificent - to exiting the whirlwind, throwing on swimsuits, slapping on sunscreen, and strolling over to the pool - to watch the smiles of my almost one year old little girl as she reveled in an hour of her Mama's undivided attention.

The laundry is not done.  The floors are not cleaned.  The bathrooms - they are unspeakable.  But that hour was the most well spent one of my day.

Caladiums

My eyes wander across the living room, through the sliding glass doors and screened in porch and 

Ahhh, Hello Caladiums. 

And because they are polite but very lazy, 

Summer
- in a whisper is how they return the greeting.  

As I gaze, they continue their lounging, offering only their company, which is quite enough amidst the slow murmur of these senses of mine. 

The pretty pink bursts, 

the quiet rustling of leaves, 

the [relative] coolness of dirt beneath, 

the weight of a summer afternoon shower fast approaching, 

and glorious sweet tea on the tongue 

intermingling to form a most delicious lull. 

And of me, they ask nothing, expect nothing, and judge nothing.

What a nice little garden party we did have. The Caladiums, my five senses and me.