Something From the Farm

A few miles from our house is a wonderful farm that offers a community supported agriculture program (CSA). We participated in the program for the first time last fall and were amazed at how much produce we received every week.

Yesterday was the first pickup for the spring/summer CSA share.

It wasn’t much, but since the strawberries came in earlier than expected
because of the unseasonably warm weather, the CSA started a couple weeks early.

I love this program because all the fruit and vegetables are grown right there on the farm. It’s not organic, but the produce is grown without the use of pesticides or chemicals.

I buy all my ground beef from there because it comes from cows raised, as one of the farmer’s sons told me, “on nothing but grass and sunshine.” The beef has the deepest red hue and next to no grease. I occasionally purchase whole chicken that was raised there on the farm as well. They have a lot of lamb, but I haven’t tried it because I don’t know what I’m doing when it comes to cooking lamb. Turkeys were offered this past Thanksgiving. It was the first time I cooked a turkey, so I recruited my grandmother's assistance. We were able to pick it up the day before Thanksgiving so the bird was as fresh as they come.

The sweet family that live and work on the farm provide people in our community great options for fresh, local produce. Throughout the next few months I’ll post pictures of our goodies.

I even got the hubby and the little boy to build this compost bin so that we can recycle all the extra trimmings from our fruits and veggies!

Here’s to hoping I don’t walk out one day to find stray or wild animals grazing in our backyard.

Fairyland

One of my favorite books to read my daughter is an anthology of fairy poems.

I read it to her for the first time when she was a few weeks old with tears welling in my eyes. I was so in love with her and with the idea that I would get to share moments like these with this, my daughter.

You might call it a healing moment.

I was afraid of having a daughter. I was afraid that she would see through me and not like what she found. After my son was born I erroneously believed that if I had more children they would be boys. I think that was mostly fear telling me that a boy could love me deeply, but not a girl.

It’s not that I didn’t want a girl; I was afraid, and deep down still am, that someday she won’t like me.

As I read that book to her the first time I was overwhelmed by how much I hoped that she would like to read as much as I do. This simple thought, that my daughter and I could snuggle together and read and share and laugh and cry and love, was so profound in that moment.

I still read this book to her several nights each week. One of my favorite lines comes from a poem titled “Bedtime Story.” The ending touches something deep inside of me each time I speak these words aloud.

“I’ll help you remember the wording.
It has to be told just right.
And then you can tell me it all again
Tomorrow – and every night!”

I can’t explain what moves me so about this passage other than it’s the idea that one day, when she is older, she might have a favorite story. She might want me to tell it to her in the way only I can. It will be our story, and in sharing this bedtime story together, we are creating part of our mother daughter story.

The Scary Stuff

I could tell I scared him. I knew what I said was going to. I wasn't quite sure how to start, but I knew the time had come to talk about strangers.

During the past few weeks, an unknown man has been spotted sitting in his vehicle in parking lots at some local schools. It’s happened enough that people started noticing and then telling one another about it. Some schools sent notes home to parents. A news report revealed this man was questioned by police. While my child isn't in school, I know that doesn't mean he is exempt from dangers like this.

When I first read the e-mail a co-worker sent about this, I got that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Then she sent another e-mail a few days ago. Being questioned by the police didn’t scare him away as I, and I’m sure many others, hoped. It appears he was spotted again after that in a different vehicle in a local neighborhood.

As in many instances when things like this happen, it can sometimes be hard to separate fact from rumor. I heard from someone it might be more of a domestic situation. Then I heard that this had been happening off and on for about two years. I also heard that one of the local preschool heads had known about it for a while, but didn't report things to parents until someone posted something about it on Facebook.

While I don't know if any of those things are true, one thing I do know is this man is likely up to no good.

It scares me to type this. I can only imagine what my son was feeling hearing this through the mind of a four-year-old. It made me feel like the bad person delivering this message.

He understood what I was saying. He got his quiet, almost angry expression and wouldn’t talk for a few minutes.

Was it too much for four? Should I have said it in a different way? If not now, then when is the right time to talk about strangers and child molesters and the evil that exists in this world?

I didn’t want to have the conversation. I didn’t want to scare him. I didn’t want him to lose that innocence of thinking bad people exist only in the movies or scary stories.

Later that day, we came across this verse in Proverbs:

“Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.”

It was a much needed reminder to me of our Redeemer’s protection. I’ve prayed aloud with my son several times since then asking God to be his and his sister’s shield throughout their lives. We also prayed for God to act as a shield of protection for all the children in our town.

I’m trying not to harp on or re-visit that conversation. I want him to know that when he is scared, like we all are at times, that we have the best protector in our Lord above. He is the one that offers us refuge from the fears and realities of this world, especially, in the scariest of times.

PLAY!

This little boy of mine has taught me so much these past four years.

One of the most important lessons has been learning to let the day unfold. I must constantly make a conscious effort not to compartmentalize so much of our day. On the days when I take his lead I learn so much more about who he is.

A whole lot of drawing and a late afternoon visit to Gran and Paw-Paw's house made this his kind of day!

Mount Vernon

In 6th grade I took a class trip to Washington D.C. One of our stops was in Virginia at the home of George and Martha Washington. Mount Vernon is a place I would love to someday take the children, as well as to some of the other presidents' homes in Virginia like Monticello and Montpelier.

For now, I'm content reading about these places.

I finished a book about Martha Washington last week. I’m usually not into historical books. When it comes to reading I prefer novels and inspirational lit. I do like a good biography, but I don’t usually go for a book on a president's wife (other than Jackie Kennedy, of course).

We know so much about our past presidents, but their wives are often seen as just that: the wife of a past president. It’s understandable why textbooks focus so much on these men, but we can sometimes learn even more about them and our country’s history by knowing about the women
that shared, shaped and influenced them.

I picked up the book on Martha Washington at our local library. I have been waiting on two novels that are in high demand, and found this book while browsing the shelves. I thought I’d share some of the interesting things I learned about the nation’s first First Lady.

1. All four of her children died before she did. I can’t imagine losing one child, let alone all of my children. Earlier in the week I started a post with a quote from her. The circumstances I was referring to don’t even compare to what she most likely meant by those words. I had a dear friend lose her only child two years ago, and I still feel painfully raw from that experience. It’s unthinkable to fathom how Martha Washington, and many women of her day, dealt with this kind of grief time and again.
2. She and George Washington never had any children together. All four of her children were from her first marriage. After her first husband died (talk about a life of suffering and hardship), she went on to marry Washington. Her child that lived to adulthood did have four children before his death at the age of 27, and she and George practically raised two of those children. It seems a bit sad that the first president had no lineage.
3. She burned all the letters of correspondence between George Washington and herself expect for two. I kinda admire this. She knew that future generations would want to know about their private affairs, and she wanted to make sure her marriage belonged to the two of them only and not to the prying eyes of history.
4. She loathed Thomas Jefferson. It’s interesting how we often here of an age when politics was civil. I personally don’t believe that was ever the case. I think politics has always included much gossip, slander and backstabbing. We have this erroneous belief that the men of Washington and Jefferson’s day always behaved in some gentlemanly manner toward one another. Jefferson not only bad-mouthed Washington, but he wrote about him in newspapers as well. Like many women then and now, when it comes to someone hurting our husband or children, Martha Washington could hold a grudge. It seems she held that grudge against Jefferson until the day she died.

Getting Out the Door

“I am still determined to be cheerful and to be happy in
whatever situation I may be, for I have also learnt from experience that the
greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances; we carry the seeds of the one, or the other about with us, in our minds, wherever we go.” Martha Washington

I don’t want to be like this every time we leave to go on a trip.

As I shared before, I'm not the most patient person. My patience is tested daily, but none more so than when we are trying to leave the house. It's even worse on days we are leaving to go on a trip.

I tell myself to remain calm in the midst of the chaos. I know the morning will be hectic and frenzied, much like every other morning when you hit the ground running with two kids. I somehow convince myself the night before we leave that I can have that go-with-the-flow personality I long for.

Then the morning of the trip comes, and I feel my blood beginning to boil as the easiness I wish for turns into a three-hour attempt to just get into the car.

My husband gets all the blame and wrath for our slow progress. I know the man is doing as much as he can. I know he is willing to do anything I ask to make things move along smoothly.

That doesn’t seem to stop me, though.

“I don’t understand why you didn’t pack the car last night?” “I can’t believe you packed that in the car already when you should know we need to use it before we leave.” “Why aren’t his shoes on?” “You know her diaper has to be changed before we leave. Do I have to do everything?”

It’s not a pretty sight.

So much of the tone of a day, let alone a trip, is set by the mother. I know that I have the power to stop this negative cycle. So why do I always revert to the same frantic notions each time a trip begins?

I should avow to stop the nonsense. I should avow to stop criticizing my husband; this man who works so hard to help me stay calm and our children cared for. I should avow to stop fretting about getting out the door at the exact time I had planned. I should avow to help my children see how to be content in any and all situations. I should avow, like Martha Washington,
to be cheerful no matter what the circumstances and to refuse to make myself
and those I love miserable.

We’ll see how it goes our next trip.

Blue Sky

Last week when I compiled a list of all the places we visited since our son was born, I wanted to share a tip on how it's been possible for us to take these trips. I quickly realized it was a combination of things. If I was going to be honest with myself, and anyone that might read this, I would need to include all of these things instead of just my original thought for this post.

To start, we have been blessed with wonderful parents that keep our children on the few days each week I teach at our local university.

This truth is the reason we are able to afford to travel as much as we do.

Also, some of the trips on that list were taken with our extended families, and the hotel or some of the meals were paid for by them. It's nice to have family members that like to travel as we do and that are generous enough to help on expenses!

Most of the places on that list, though, were trips we took and had to pay for ourselves. Or, we would have had to pay for the entire trip if it wasn't for our Blue Sky card from American Express.

About six years ago a friend and mentor, knowing how much I liked to travel, offered some advice that, like most of everything he has taught me, proved true. He encouraged me to get a credit card that offered travel reward points. He used a Delta Sky Miles card through American Express for most of his trips. While we often fly Delta, I wasn’t sure I wanted a card that would limit us to one airline. After doing some research I came across the Blue Sky card.

I know there is a plethora of attitudes that exist about credit cards. Some people advise not to have any to avoid the pitfalls of debt. Some people have almost every card that exists and have most of those maxed out. We have found that when used in a fiscally responsible way, a credit card can be incredibly rewarding. That’s been the case for us with our Blue Sky card. (This is beginning to sound like a commercial for American Express. I can assure you this is only my opinion).

The beauty of the Blue Sky card is that it gives you points to redeem for not just flights, but for hotel and rental car bookings as well. Most of the trips I listed in that previous post were of little cost to us because we were able to redeem points to pay for the flight, hotel room or both. We use our card to pay for everything from groceries and gas to entertainment and bills (at least that’s how I pay the cable bill now). Anywhere and everywhere that takes American Express, we charge it. We actually have two Blue Sky cards - one for me and one for my husband.

The main reason it works so well is because we pay off the balance each month. Not only does that keep us from paying an outrageously high interest rate, but it’s also the only way to earn enough points to benefit us for traveling. You get the points based on what you pay, and when you pay it all, you rack up the points.

Did I mention there’s no annual fee with the Blue Sky card?

I know there are other cards that offer similar travel rewards. This is just the card we like and have been rewarded handsomely for using it.