Posts Tagged ‘happylittlesigh’
Summer in Scotland (and here, too)
Posted in Beautiful Places, Misty British Isles, Scotland, tagged Avonlea Q Krueger, British Summertime, Happy Little Sigh, happylittlesigh, Poetry, Scotland, Scottish Poetry, Summer in Scotland on July 16, 2014| Leave a Comment »
The weather kept me guessing yesterday.
Couldn’t make up its mind between radiant blue and stormy grey.
Kept me running in and out to fetch the washing off the line–
rescue those white sheets billowing in the wind.
Reminded me of a Scottish summer’s day.
And so I dug out an old poem I wrote whilst we were still living there.
I’ve been told it needs tweaking, but I’ll share it anyway.
Did You Miss Me? Where I’m Going, Where I’ve Been
Posted in Books!, Inspirations, Misty British Isles, Scotland, tagged Avonlea Q Krueger, Bringing Up Boys, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Fiction Writing, Happy Little Sigh, happylittlesigh, Moray Firth, Raising Sons, Scotland, WWII on June 26, 2014| 2 Comments »
The posts haven’t come as regularly recently. Did you notice? But they aren’t done and the inspiration hasn’t stopped.
The whirlwind of life has kept going, providing me with more life-lessons than I’d sanely choose, if given the chance. And after the long bitter winter, I find myself still in awe of the heavy fullness of the trees and the strange new sensation of heat.
And so yes, still the words come to me, click together like magnets in my head, demand to be spoken, printed, heard.
But in spite of all I long to share, I’ve been otherwise engaged, and I’ve found there simply isn’t enough time in the day (not until I get a housekeeper like the Brown family in Paddingtion Bear, as the Professor suggested I do).
Otherwise engaged? Yes.
Lying on the sofa, mostly. Enduring the drug-like fatigue and debilitating nausea of the first few months of pregnancy. Baby #4 is due to arrive in December, and before you even think it, no, we don’t know the gender but are counting on the baby being another wee boy.
And when I was well enough to be up and caring for my family, holding up the walls and trying to keep the layers of crusted on food from becoming too thick, I’ve been writing.
Writing?
Yes! Fiction, this time. Fiction that I deeply hope I will get the chance to share with all of you.
And what is it about?
It’s set during WWII . . . and the present day.
A wee blurb for the back of the book might go something like this:
Two women. Two generations. Separated by an ocean. Brought together by a house.
So, yes, I’ve been writing fiction, trying to churn out a few pages a day.
Then there’s been the preparation for our Scotland trip. Oops, I didn’t mention. Yes, a trip to Scotland. A long one. We’re hoping to have the baby there. And I wouldn’t dream of going without you. So stay along for the journey!
Stay and see the view of the Moray Firth from John’s parents’ house.
Stay and find out if #4 is indeed a boy.
Stay and maybe even find out more about my book.
For today, I leave you with a quote–a thought to keep you soaring–aptly taken from the words of a German Christian who was martyred by the Nazis for standing up for all that’s right.
When There’s a Blip
Posted in Inspirations, Scotland, Uncategorized, Videos - If You Were There, tagged Allegri, Allegri's Miserere, Anna L. Waring, Avonlea Q Krueger, BBC, Happy Little Sigh, happylittlesigh, In Heavenly Love Abiding, Meditating, Music, Psalm 51, Reflection, Reflections, Tallis on May 5, 2014| 2 Comments »
A blip came to the sameness of my life
(that’s where I’ve been, trying to ride it out).
The news at first neither happy nor sad.
Changing everything and nothing
all at once.
Not like in the early days
of moving continents, moving cities, moving lives.
When I never knew from one month to the next
where I might be,
what British or European city I’d have the pleasure of exploring,
just me and my camera and my thoughts.
Here in America, everything feels so far away,
but of course life happens all the same.
And when you have three little men
all around you like a daisy chain,
(sometimes like a fence),
you have to move a lot more slowly
than you’d sometimes like.
And so the blip, and nothing’s the same and everything is at once,
and it all might mean a long trip to Scotland later this year,
but that is all later and not now.
And I can see just one corner of one piece of the puzzle of my life,
and seeing pieces can get me excited,
full of dreams,
make me fear that when it’s all together, it might not look the way I’d hoped.
Waiting is like that–hope, and fear, and anger, and sometimes peace.
Or the way I am today, realizing there’s a hand working those puzzle pieces,
setting them in place.
A hand, and I know it’s not mine.
And it can take my breath away,
seeing life return to the earth in the form of tender green,
acknowledging that my own life is not in my hands
(and thank goodness),
but that LOVE Himself knows all the days, all the plans, all the tomorrows of my life.
And that He not only knows them, but He’s planned them long in advance.
With one hand behind me, and one hand before, He guides me, keeps me,
though I cannot feel it,
and I do not see.
Some words stick with you,
drift in and out of your mind and heart,
and these I learned at our first church in Scotland,
surrounded by those dear ones who would become lifelong friends.
I remember the piano, the frayed red hymn books, the voices raised in unison
In heavenly love abiding, no change my heart shall fear.
And safe in such confiding, for nothing changes here.
The storm may roar without me, my heart may low be laid,
But God is round about me, and can I be dismayed?Wherever He may guide me, no want shall turn me back.
My Shepherd is beside me, and nothing can I lack.
His wisdom ever waking, His sight is never dim.
He knows the way He’s taking, and I will walk with HimGreen pastures are before me, which yet I have not seen.
Bright skies will soon be over me, where darkest clouds have been.
My hope I cannot measure, my path to life is free.
My Savior has my treasure, and He will walk with me.– Anna L. Waring
Though sameness,
or blips of both the smallest and most painful types,
so often leave me paralyzed,
from weariness or fear,
at times I remember
to embrace the stillness,
and in the sound of the wind in the trees out my door,
or in the stirring notes of my favourite song,
I am turned to Him who thinks of me more times than I can count,
who never makes even one mistake,
who knows all the good plans He has for me,
who holds all my moments,
all my days.
And I am left to meditate,
worship,
awe.
At all He’s doing,
all He’s done,
and in the fact that He’s not finished with me,
not just just yet.
Which piece of music or spot in nature stirs your heart,
is able to draw you away from the happenings (or non-happenings) in your life,
and helps you to meditate, wonder, and awe?
Miserere Mei Deus – Psalm 51 – by Italian composer Gregorio Allegri in the 17th century for use in the Sistine Chapel.
Shivers, shivers . . .
Sweet Treats – Comfort for a Messy Mind and a Messier House
Posted in Inspirations, Parenting - Raising Wee Men, Scotland, Uncategorized, tagged Avonlea Q Krueger, Bible, Bible Reading, Christian Mothers, Christian Parenting, Gardening, Happy Little Sigh, happylittlesigh, home school, homeschool, Homeschooling, Parenting, St. Augustine, Vegetable Gardening on March 27, 2014| 2 Comments »
I wasn’t ready for it. A restless night of twisted sheets, being forced from bed to soothe a crying baby, and strange dreams of being a gymnast, practicing my skills on the bars, had left my body feeling tired, my mind distracted and dazed. But it came anyway. The start of the day. Breakfast, and packing lunches, and making beds. Changing nappies, and dressing wee ones, and preparing for the school day ahead.
Before my boys came along I worked as a teacher, but this is my first year of official home education. My first year of adding tutor to my already full job description of chef, maid, nurse, chauffeur, activity director, police officer, and kangaroo (for the Admiral, who, at a whopping 24 pounds, still wants to be carried the day long).
And so an hour later I found myself, still dazed and unprepared for a day of living (let alone living well), trying to have a discussion about odds and evens with the Captain, all the while jiggling the Admiral on my knee and trying to ignore the General, who had squeezed onto the dining room chair behind me and in his very high-pitched three-year-old voice was speaking non-stop about wanting some cake (although I’d told him several times over that he had to wait for elevenses).
I tried giving snacks, introducing different toys, and even (though I try to avoid it in the mornings) putting on the television so I could get on with the lessons. But still, each soldier in my little army remained intent on being inches from me, if not in direct contact, each asking for something more or different or better from what he already had.
My head seemed to spin faster than I’d spun round those bars in my dream. I longed to crawl back into bed and find the unconsciousness of deep sleep. Or even the still, quiet surroundings of an empty house, where I could potter about, making sense of my jumbled thoughts.
To my right, the living room was strewn with giant colored cardboard bricks and scattered sofa cushions, the abandoned remnants of my attempt to entertain the younger ones. My mind seemed just as disorderly as the house, and as I attempted to turn my focus back to the math lesson, the thought crossed my mind that it would be awfully nice to have a real nanny and maid, so that I could be left to teach the Captain, and do only nice things with the boys (and perhaps sleep in a little on rare occasion). But of course that seemed as likely as my getting around to organizing some kitchen cupboards and planting the bell pepper seeds as I’d hoped to do that day (not to mention the school subjects we had yet to get through).
But unrestricted sleeping hours and empty houses are not some of the frequent luxuries of mummies of armies of wee boys, and in the chaos I longed for some little escape, some little treat to bring me comfort, and temporary escape from the swirl of color and noise that surrounded me.
A square of dark chocolate, perhaps?
A cup of espresso, topped up with raw sugar and heated milk?
A few minutes to skim the news feed on my Facebook account?
These are the things I often turn to bring drops of sanity to my busy, noisy day, but yesterday as I contemplated what method of escape I would employ, I thought of a different way. Down the hallway on my bedside table sat my black leather Bible, which I hadn’t yet touched that day.
And I didn’t have time, not just then, to pour over it as I would have liked to do. But I did have the time–as long as it would have taken me to slip into the kitchen to devour a square of chocolate–to flip to the Psalms, and the sweet morsels of goodness found there.
O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
– Psalm 34:8
And I wondered as closed my Bible, felt peace wash over me like a cup a chamomile tea, what I’d been missing.
Although there isn’t anything wrong with coffee, and chocolate, and Facebook news, what had I been missing by reaching for them instead of the Living Water found there in the Psalms, so accessible, so available to me?
For while our SIN can be easy enough to spot (though at times it’s not), there are deeper, sweeter paths of closeness to the Lord which we can go a lifetime and not discover. And what if those paths, those changes I so long to see in myself, can be reached not only through long segments of time spent in the Word, but through little moments of calling out to God for strength, and reaching for little pieces of His word?
What change could even one pure morsel of eternal truth make to my day?
After taking the time to read from the Psalms, I went on to finish the school day, plant those pepper seeds, and even clean out my kitchen junk drawer!
What a difference the reminder of Jesus’ love and presence had made.
In Him is strength, beauty, refuge, truth, and the nourishment I need to help me view my boys, my home, my life in the light of eternity.
The eternity that continues in the next life,
the eternity in which we live today.
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http://www.pinterest.com/happylittlesigh/
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Murky Solstice Minds & LOVE for Advent
Posted in Holiday Cheer, The Inklings, tagged Advent, Always Winter Never Christmas, Avonlea Q Krueger, avonleaqkrueger, bloggers of instagram, C.S. Lewis, Christmas, Christmas decorations, December 21, DIY Snow globes, finding beauty in the everyday, Forest Christmas, Happy Little Sigh, happylittlesigh, LOVE, Narnia, Parenthood, Picture frame wreath, Winter Solstice on December 21, 2013| 2 Comments »
The darkest day.
I always remember.
The least sunshine. The least light.
Winter solstice.
December 21st.
And after this, I’m counting minutes–approximately two each day–until the hours stretch to bring the golden light of the summer sun. But for now, when I feel more than a little sorry for those Narnians and their ever winter never Christmas. When even the icicles hanging outside the kitchen window, and the layer of ice coating everything else, when even they can’t shine, my brain can feel as cloudy as this murky winter light.
Still, sometimes I see it–the beauty of eternity that begins today. These little souls, my little men, and the treasure that they are.
Other days I hit the floor running,
some crazy dance from room to room,
glancing occasionally at the clock,
and imaging the utter shock
my friends would feel if they ever stopped
and saw the state of this house.
On those days I find myself, at least once,
pausing–the whirlwind of Cheerios and Lego and foam swords and four little men swirling all around me, a now cold cup of tea in my hand–wondering,
what, oh, what, is going on?
There must be something, something I’m missing,
or it wouldn’t be
like this.
But what?
A little sleep, to be sure.
An intentional effort to count blessings
and sing praise
and speak truth.
Yes.
All that.
All that, and just a little more time
with Jesus.
Because though I have 2 million distractions, though the crumbs, and the laundry, and the children cry out to my clouded, foggy, weary brain, though the weather is bleak, and though I carry sorrows and disappointments in the deepest chambers of my heart,
none of it
none of it
should be an excuse.
An excuse to raise my voice or declare my dissatisfaction or remain in a dark, murky mood.
Because eternity begins today.
Our eternity began the day we were born.
And for those of us who love Jesus
that means counting those blessings,
speaking those truths,
and no matter how we’re feeling,
choosing to live like Christ.
The new year is coming.
Isn’t that a shock?
And what sort of year, I wonder, is it going to be?
I have my hopes and have my dreams,
but I realize that what I need
more than anything
is to spend more time with The Word.
With Jesus.
Pouring over His commands,
reading and re-reading his life
until His words and His ways and His will,
which are all Him,
become more of who I am, too.
For there is no better way to know what we’re missing.
There is no better way to bring into the darkness of our lives and minds
His perfect light
than to know Jesus.
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Let’s remember not just the manger but the cross. The purpose of Christ’s arrival on our planet. The depth of His LOVE.
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For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. ~ John3:16
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Love came down at Christmas
Love all lovely, love divine
Love was born at Christmas
Star and angels gave the sign.
Avonlea x
Find me on . . .
Instagram/Facebook/MeWe @happylittlesigh
Happy Little Sigh
Finding beauty in the everyday 
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Hearts in the Snow & JOY for Advent
Posted in Holiday Cheer, tagged Advent, Avonlea Q Krueger, Christina Rosetti, Christmas Carols, Christmas Lamb, Christmas Music, English Carols, Happy Little Sigh, happylittlesigh, Hearts, In the Bleak Midwinter, Jesus, Joy, King, Manger on December 16, 2013| Leave a Comment »
I’ve heard it before.
So often my eyes glaze right over.
A stable, not a palace.
A manger, not a throne.
Yes, I know.
The King of the Universe,
our God,
here, on earth, in a human body.
A small one.
A cuddly bundle,
all silky skin and baby breath.
With his big brown eyes
and wee legs kicking.
A little baldy.
Or maybe an absolute
mop of curls.
But reading the words,
writing them down,
my mind still can’t grasp it all.
Because there’s a door, and though the Light shines through all around it,
it’s black, and it’s shut, and I can’t seem to turn the handle to see what’s inside.
And you wouldn’t think that anything could blind it,
make those beams seem a little less bright.
But somehow, the twinkly lights and inflatable Santas,
somehow, they all just DO.
Because after all, the whole world’s singing it. Belting it out like it’s no big deal.
Silent nights and angels singing.
Little towns and receiving our King.
And so of course–of course–it’s hard to awe.
Hard to grasp.
But what I can see with those golden beams shining–
when I cup my eyes to shut out the rest–
is the wonder, absolute wonder
that God would care
at all.
That He’s in love,
so in love,
with us, with the world,
that no matter what we say
or do,
no matter how hard and fast we’re running
in the opposite direction,
He’s there.
Eyes waiting to catch ours,
hand outstretched.
That He doesn’t just sit there
high on His throne,
calling, whispering
into the moments of our lives,
but He came down to join us mortals.
So close He could cook us breakfast
(like maybe toasted fish on the beach?),
so close He could kneel down in the dust
to wash the sheep dung from our feet.
He went to those lengths
because for some strange reason
He loves us that much.
Now that is something to wonder over.
Something to feel happy about.
That is a God we can worship.
A God who deserves our very selves,
who deserves our hearts.
What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
if I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
yet what I can I give him: give my heart.~ Christina Rossetti
Avonlea x
Find me on . . .
Instagram/Facebook/MeWe @happylittlesigh
Happy Little Sigh
Finding beauty in the everyday
For LITERARY INSPIRATION for Heart & Home & a PERIOD DRAMA in your inbox EVERY Friday sign up here!
happy little sigh 