Bona Fortuna

Good fortune for the past week:

1. After feeling very depressed all summer about the state of my carpets, a friend let me borrow her steam cleaner and now everywhere I look is clean! (as long as I'm looking down) I LOVE clean carpets, almost as much as I love my children. I hope someday Santa can bring me my very own carpet cleaning machine! Bissell ProHeat Advantage=TRUE LOVE.

2. Yesterday I went grocery shopping and thanks to helpful tips from coupon guru Hannah, and careful organization and strategy, I bought $451 of groceries and only paid $229! I love it!

3. I have increased my yogic capacity Beryl Bender Birch style from 14 minutes to 36 minutes, and did not throw up!

4. I have met some very cool, very fun new blogging friends, thanks to a shout out from Josi Kilpack about my "Towering Above the Masses" post, and Candace Salima's LDS Blog Ring, and the very addictive and hip cre8buzz site! There's too many of you to name, but thanks for looking twice, you super-cool gals!

Aidenisms

Aiden: "He got tooken out of the pack of wolves in the jungle."

Mom: "Aiden, 'tooken' isn't correct English."

Aiden: (exasperated) "Sorry! Trrrrooken. Is that better?"

Trooken? what? (sigh)


Later, giving a plot summary of Tomie dePaola's Jamie O'Rourke and the Giant Potato...

Mom: "And so what is the author trying to teach us?"

Aiden: "You should never trust leprechauns."

A good lesson for us all, eh?

And So IT Begins

The new school year! We had such a great family night on Monday, with each of the kids writing down goals in four key areas of their lives: academic, spiritual, physical, and relationships. They came up with some very keen aspirations! Some were: make 3 new friends from the "uncool" kids, learn to read more fluently, say 5 nice things to people each day, earn my Faith in God award, don't complain about wearing Sunday clothes, improve push-ups each month, lose 10 pounds (okay, that one was mine, of course).

We have a tight schedule for piano practice and showers here in the morning, and it ran like clockwork without any help from Mom this morning! I was so warmed to hear the water turn on at 5:50am (Lyndsay), and the piano exercises at 6:10 (Dylan). All of the kids were dressed, beds made, and scriptures on their laps ten minutes EARLY for scripture study! I was so proud, and what a great start to the day! Hearty oatmeal for breakfast, first day of school pictures, and out the door. Well, two of them.

This year I am homeschooling all three of my bigger kids. And re-routing baby Conor constantly. We had warnings and rules before we got started, and they were all raring to go. But lest you think I'm a perfect mother with perfect children, for whom everything runs perfectly....

It wasn't long before meltdown #1. And then meltdown #2 was fast on its heels. And then meltdown #3. And then meltdown #4. That was mine, and it was successful enough that there were no more meltdowns from the crew, thank you very much. I can only take so much! We all have to learn a new routine and find our place in it. The boys have had the last two years in public school, so it's been a while since all of them have been under my inadequate, but willing tutelage. Official students at the Caelum Academy. They did great work though. Dylan is reading Pinocchio, and Lyndsay The Diary of Anne Frank. Aiden is working through a fairly decent retelling of Kipling's The Jungle Book. They all wrote about their reading today, and re-wrote about their reading. They each did a math lesson and some Mind Benders, Lyndsay started Wheelock's Latin, and Aiden learned the difference between common and proper nouns. We took it fairly easy on them. Our grammar, science, and Vocabulary from Classical Roots, along with Dylan's Latin hasn't arrived yet, but stay tuned! It's going to be a great year!

Weakness and Forgiveness

I have this mouth. Sometimes it's wickedly clever and witty. Sometimes it's keenly pointed and poignant. Sometimes it's astute and wise beyond its years. Then still, sometimes it's full of itself and downright mean and cutting. Sometimes it works on auto-pilot and I can't seem to slam on the brakes fast enough, but this is my lesson in life. However, I don't want to shift responsibility to my mouth and stand back victimized, for I am my mouth.

One of the greatest challenges in life is learning to "tame the beast", in whatever form the beast may present itself. Religiously speaking, this is referred to as overcoming the natural man, or bridling one's passions. Metaphysically speaking, it would be evolving or enlightenment. It's all the same. Growth begins when we can claim our weaknesses and then work to conquer them, rather than sit back resigned to a state of "this is just who I am". This is the saddest kind of hopelessness to me.

My mouth is my beast. My mind works fast. It is sharp and sassy and witty and intuitive and a blessing. It can also be opinionated, judgemental, sarcastic, and biting... and a curse. I often forget that I don't need to say everything that comes into my mind, that not everyone cares. I wish the connection from my mind to my mouth would short-circuit a bit more often than it does, but this is my challenge, and I take courage in knowing that I am not alone:

"...I will take heed to my ways that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle..." Psalms 39:1

"He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction." Proverbs 13:3

"And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword..." 1 Nephi 21:2

If this was Nephi's gift, I have no doubt that he struggled to bridle it, as I do. That's the way it works: virtue and vice. Then just yesterday I was reading Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' The Yearling, before my older kids have to read it in homeschool, and I stopped at the following passage:

"You kin tame a 'coon. You kin tame a bear. You kin tame a wildcat and you kin tame a panther." He pondered. His mind went back to his father's sermons. "You can tame arything, son, excusin' the human tongue." (p.79)

Yikes. Almost true. Taming the human tongue is tough, but not impossible. We can overcome all weakness through the Lord. It is in that very act that we are made strong:

"...for my strength is made perfect in weakness..." 2 Corinthians 12:9

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." Ether 12:27

It is in the weakness that humility and softening are found. When I was a young mother with two children, I often found myself overwhelmed and running on empty. My fuse was short, as was my temper with my sweet little ones, from whom I expected too much. After scolding my daughter, who was 4 at the time, I was filled with remorse and went to sit on the front porch to weep with my weakness. She came and sat down next to me. I looked into her angelic face, and her eyes looked lovingly into mine, those eyes that have always had an exceptional gift of wisdom, and I said, "Mommy hurts your feelings all the time, don't I?"

She scooted closer to me and wrapped her little arm around my back. "Only sometimes," she answered.

"I'm so sorry, my Lyns," I said. "I shouldn't do that."

"That's okay, Mommy," she said without thought. "I relieve you."

I looked at her. She had meant forgive, but how appropriate and ironic was her mix-up. Isn't that exactly what we do when we forgive, relieve? Relieve from burden or sorrow or guilt? Isn't that what the Savior does for us when he extends his benevolent hand in forgiveness towards us? Out of the mouth of babes.

These two themes, weakness and forgiveness, play such a prevalent part in my life these days. With one, the other is needed. As often as I extend forgiveness, it's true that I need it extended to me with even greater frequency. And there's something divine in the extension, something heavenward, heavenly, heavenbound.

Playing Along

My cute sister-in-law, Sarah, tagged me for the Middle Name Meme, and though I have the same middle name as she, maybe I can come up with something different. Thanks for inviting me, Sarah!

L oud-Mouthed. Hey, I grew up in a very large, Italian family, and one had to be loud to be heard! Actually, this has more to do with learning to discipline my mouth than it does the actual volume of my mouth, but both could use some work. My mouth is both my virtue and my vice.

Y ogi. One who practices yoga. And though I've been on hiatus, I'm back in it, baby! I can barely walk or lift my arms to prove it.

N ympho. My husband said I should put that. It's the one thing we never fight about.

N utritionally Nurturing. I love to help other people get healthier by eating better. I love to teach my own children how to make good food choices, and I love to serve nutritional, nourishing meals. I love to nuture sick people back to health through proper food and herbs, and I love the feeling of eating a "clean" diet. Not perfect at it, but I love it.

Okay, so I have to tag Luisa because she's usually a good sport and because she's great with words, and Annette (have you already played this Meme?) for the same reasons. Thanks, Sarah! Hope I didn't embarrass you! :)

The Beach, Part Two

A throw-back to Hitchcock's The Birds, I think this is, which was a favorite scary movie of mine as a child, thanks to my dad. Putting babies in silly situations is also probably something I inherited from my parents, so if the following account and photos disturb you, just know that I am in therapy, and I'm working on it.

Conor loved the beach, as mentioned in Part One, below. Right away, he was intrigued by the enormous, seemingly friendly seagulls. He's only been walking now for a few weeks, but he trudged through that sand trying his darndest to catch a seagull. They would humor him for so long before flying about eight feet further away. He didn't give up, going in circle after circle after the birds. I thought I'd help him out, because that's what mothers do. I toted a blanket further back in the sand where he could be undisturbed by beachgoers. I filled his hands with snacks so he would stay put, and then I sprinkled Lay's potato chips all around the circumference of my baby on the blanket. Then I stood back and laughed my head off. It took seconds, literally. One bird, then two, then they started migrating in from nethermost regions of the beach for the rare delicacy of Lay's Cheddar Sour Cream potato chips. Conor sat there in bird heaven. He stared at the birds, the birds stared at him. They were both eating, so neither one seemed bothered. It made for some great beach entertainment. And I don't believe the baby was in any real harm, so leave me alone about it. You would have laughed too.

The Beach, Part One

We have lived in the Los Angeles area for two years now, and had not, until last weekend, ever taken a family trip to the beach. We've all been to the beach, just not together. On our last weekend together before school starts, we figured it was about time. We packed up the Durango; a cooler full of Gatorade, water, fruit, and sandwiches; chairs; umbrellas; towels; snacks; games; books; sand toys; and six children--and headed for Manhattan Beach, which made me feel closer to my dear friend, Luisa.

Apparently, my husband hates sand even more than I do. Having never been to the beach with him, this struck me as odd, considering that he isn't even close to being the tidiest person I've ever met. He spread out a huge blanket and designated it the "Sand-Free Zone", and no one dared to kick sand onto it, except Conor. Adam worked tirelessly keeping the Sand-Free Zone sand-free, which was funny to watch. Just when you get it clean, the sand shows up again. "Welcome to my life," I said, watching him brushing off sand over and over again. In this zone, he and the girls played card and dice games and I read my latest fave from the Arbinger Institute, The Anatomy of Peace. The boys played at the water's edge gathering sand crabs and filling buckets with them. Conor, as it turns out, LOVES the beach. The sand, the water, the waves, the birds. All of it. The day was a delight. I think as a family, we pretty much rock.