Thoughts for the Morning

Contentment: The state of being contented; satisfaction
1 Timothy 6:6-8 " But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content." Yikes. It's so easy to concentrate our time and thoughts on all the things we don't have...how we wish this project would get done, or this bill would be a little lower, or that we could buy the $1.50 a lb apples instead of the .99 cent apples...isn't it?
There are some days that are just so beautiful and I feel God all around me....and I feel totally satisfied with my life and my home. I wish my state of contentment wasn't so run by circumstances. Contentment is a state of the soul....it is having the "merry heart" that the Bible so often speaks about. I think I've kind of forgotten about the importance of smiling here recently. It's easy to focus on things that would cause me NOT to smile...yesterday I was super happy for a chapter in my Created to Be His Helpmeet book by Debi Pearl. Basically it was talking about the attractiveness of a smile....being joyful and delighting in your husband and your children. Forgetting all of the "I wish I had's" and remembering all the "look what I have!" I'm glad I read during the kid's nap instead of doing other things because it's just what I needed to have a GOOD day. I was able to do wash and once again enjoy seeing it dry by blowing in the breeze. What's funny is after all the clothes were dry and I had my sheets inside I discovered that one of our bird's used my bottom sheet as his personal privy. Oh dear....so much for clean sheets. I just laughed and got out another set and thought to myself "Yah...I get to use the green ones instead of the white ones."

I took the kids to my friend Mary's house after their nap. Mary is about 73 years old and lives way out in the country. I love driving to her home because the way there is full of fields with old barns....tractors harvesting hay....cows and more cows. And then there sits Mary's 50 acres...also full of cows bathing in the creek, trying to stay cool in the hot hot sun. Brady loves it at Mary's house and I think it is because it is the epitome of anything grandmotherish. Her kitchen always smells of cooked veggies that she gets straight from her friend's garden...there are always Vanilla Wafers. There's an old piano that has the most delicious sound....not quite tuned but tuned enough to make music. And then there is her classic pink carpeting, her vintagey kitchen with the same dishes that have been there for over 50 years. Lots and lots of toys in the playroom that she has had for her grandchildren and never moved (most of them are in their 20's now.) It was a good time.

And then I came home....put the kids to bed...and just had fun researching stuff on the Internet(mainly natural ways to induce labor) and I was able to read part of my cheesy Janette Oke novel. Brady woke up in the night around 3 am complaining of stomach pains and so I stayed up with him off and on for the next 2 hours, helping him with his tummy ache...his little ashen face was just so pathetic. He told me once "Brady needs medicine" and I felt just terrible for there was not Mylanta or anything to be found. At one point between throwing up sessions he just cried "Brady needs a cough drop mom?!" I just told him that that wouldn't help and that he was doing a great job and he could have some water. After that he just dozed off and slept peacefully...this morning he has been fine so I'm thinking the culprit was one two many helpings of nuts yesterday. He did have peanut butter twice and a helping of raw almonds with his lunch and I think when he eats to many nuts in one day he gets sick....I think the same is true with eggs.
Trin is being her sweet bubbly self mixed with a little raw emotion. My goodness...when she is troubled she is troubled but it usually doesn't last long because she is sensitive. Stubborn but sensitive so I'm finding that even though sometimes I need to be tough with her it usually just takes one time and we're done with that for the day. A breath of fresh air to be sure.....