Ecuador

We will soon be taking a trip to South America and our family is so excited. Packing bug spray, cameras and clothes for living at the equator is keeping us busy. Leaving in the jungle for awhile promises to be life changing. I think I'm most excited about experiencing all of this with three of my children and my husband.

The Gathering

I have been busy organizing a new endeavor as we plan the upcoming school year for our youngest child. She will be the last one at home this fall. Three of our precious ones are married now and two are heading to college next month.

Enjoy!

http://www.gladysschaefer.com/

Mornings in Alabama

As I settled into my cozy leather love seat, balancing my breakfast of blueberries, toasted muffin, and coffee, I glanced up to see the show playing outside of my sun room's glass wall. A squirrel was, as usual, gobbling up the bird feed in the feeder. He looked happy and that made me smile. A bite of muffin, a sip of coffee and I turned my attention to the ground beneath the feeder.

Her red feet caught my eye. A small brown/grey bird with scarlet feet! Who could make this stuff up!? I laughed aloud to myself. She had friends with her, all dressed as she was, and they seemed to be having fun as they shared breakfast. They bobbed along, pecking at the scattered seeds.

I picked up my handy Alabama Bird Guide and found out the names of my new friends. Mourning Dove, Zenaida macroure. Their name comes from their soft mourning cooing.

All in all, a gentle morning time with new friends. What a great way to start the day.

Watching

I love Mary Oliver's poetry. It calls me to look, to expect the unexpected, to joy in the unknown surprises of life. I'm watching a menagerie of birds around the three-trunked tree that is home to our bird/squirrel feeder. A small grey squirrel jumps from the tree to the bird bath, has a drink, then returns to his vigilant attack on the feeder. The birds watch, like kindergartners on the playground, waiting for the big kids to go back inside so they can play on the monkey bars.

Why I Wake Early

by Mary Oliver

Hello, sun in my face.

Hello, you who make the morning

and spread it over the fields

and into the faces of the tulips

and the nodding morning glories,

and into the windows of, even, the

miserable and the crotchety-

best preacher that ever was,

dear star, that just happens

to be where you are in the universe

to keep us from ever-darkness,

to ease us with warm touching,

to hold us in the great hands of light-

good morning, good morning, good morning.

Watch, now, how I start the day

in happiness, in kindness.

This is from Mary Oliver's "Why I Wake Early" published by Beacon Press, Boston.

The Glad Life

“THE WORLD is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.”

Robert Louis Stevenson shares this in his poem, “Happy Thought.” I learned of it a few years ago when I was teaching a group of kindergarten students in a Charlotte Mason school. I awoke this morning to the sunshine and the birds chirping and this poem flowed into my heart.

That is a picture of living “The Glad Life.”

Charlotte Mason wrote in her last book, “An Essay Towards a Philosophy of Education” that “It may be that the souls of all children are waiting for the call of knowledge to awaken them to delightful living.” I think this is true of all humans; we are all waiting to be awakened to delightful living.

For me, God is the giver of these good gifts. I’m not always “glad,” but I’m on this journey of gratefulness that is leading me to a life of joy. I would love your company.

Blessings to you, dear reader, today and always.

Sunday Joys

Cracker Barrel's Sunday Chicken

It's salty savoriness swarms

over my tongue's taste buds

inviting them to joy, to delight,

to be alive in this moment.