Holding On

Holding On

by | May 19, 2023 | Sunday Scripture

 

It has been a year since I became a mother—a year of everyone telling me how quickly time passes, that I need to enjoy every moment, that I will blink and find that my baby is grown. I have thought about these things every night when lying my sleepy baby down for bed; I have kissed his cheek and intentionally held onto the moment knowing that, in less time than I care to think about, this little baby will be bigger than me, and not inclined to let me kiss his cheek so often! 

My son has had reflux—a moderately bad case. While we figured out around six to eight weeks of how to manage it, the first six weeks of his life he was held almost constantly unless not he was crying! Not just crying but scream-crying like he was in pain (which in fact he was) and while holding him still didn’t quiet him completely, it helped. For six weeks I was lucky if he took one good nap during the course of the day. I would set him down, tip toe away and do my  best to shower, prepare a meal, tidy up, or whatever else I wanted to do that day, knowing IF he went down for another nap, I’d be lucky if he slept for an hour! It is safe to say I held my baby as much as I could during this period. “Hold him as much as you can,” echoed through my mind as I held him for the majority of every day. 

And yet… did I hold him enough? I know the answer is yes. I remember the days not being able to set him down because when I did so he would cry that excruciating cry, and no, he wouldn’t just cry it out. So while I held him nearly all day every day, I still look back and would love to hold my sleepy baby again because here’s the truth—it’s never enough. 

It’s never enough. And it never will be. Mother’s Day—a day of remembering the ones we’ve lost, and a day set aside to intentionally remember and hold on a little tighter to the mothers we still have in our lives. But as much as we might cling to our loved ones in the time we have with them, in the end we will always wish we had more time.  I remember spending a lovely Father’s Day with my Grandpa the 36 hours before he passed, and it still wasn’t enough! I still wanted, still want more time with him. And even though I have taken advantage of kissing my son’s chubby baby cheeks every time I can, it’s not enough either. The year has still gone by quickly. And slowly. There were sleepless nights, followed by days that seemed like they would never end. There were days that seemed like months when all of us were sick with the flu. There were days we wanted to last forever and days that seemed to last forever.

Then there were the strings of average days—days that were just fine, nothing fancy, nothing special, but just a good normal day. On these days I would wrestle, as every new mother does, with the to-do lists and responsibilities, and spending time with my baby. I would find myself trying so hard to enjoy the moment that I started not enjoying it! Do you know what I decided to do? I decided to quit thinking about all of it. 

I decided to quit thinking about how much I should enjoy everything, to quit feeling like I was either doing too much, or not enough, and to just do what I wanted to. Then I started really enjoying life with my little one. 

Maybe (quite possibly) I am just a basket case, but I’m willing to guess you have felt a similar push-pull in at least one area of your life. While you are really trying to enjoy and hold tightly to a magical experience, you find it slipping through your fingers only to let it go and find that the last part is the part that you most enjoyed about the whole experience. 

This Mother’s Day, and all the days here after, my prayer for you is that you don’t feel the need to hold onto anything so tightly that holding on becomes the only thing you can think about. Instead, I hope you are able to immerse yourself in the moment, let your emotions go, and store away memories of being fully present in your season of life. I pray you are able to live all, or at least most days, filled with love for your life and those in it, and that that love spills over to those you meet, colors your days, and ends up looking like a life well lived. 

 

Other Posts You May Enjoy:

The Moments of Our Lives

Blessed

Who Are You Looking For?

The Interests of Others

 

Books Taking Place in the 1800s

by | May 9, 2023 | Book Nook

The Devil in the White City

This is the story of a serial killer and the 1893 World’s Fair. It was by a very close margin that Chicago was granted the privilege of hosting the 1893 World’s Fair; the last World’s Fair had been hosted in Paris and Chicago had a lot to live up to—what could possibly compete with such an engineering feat as the Eiffel Tower? The heads of Chicago’s World Fair are determined to find something… but they also have the monumental task of turning a swamp into a paradise—in less than two years! Paris had four years to prepare for the previous World’s Fair! Will Chicago be able to pull it together in time? Many are convinced they won’t be able to..

Meanwhile not far from where the World’s Fair will take place, young pretty girls are going missing, a conman constructs a creepy building with gas pipes releasing into rooms, and a sound proof vault in the basement… and a doctor who always seems to have a cadaver to sell to one of the many medical universities clambering for skeletons…..

The Personal Librarian

by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

Around this same time, in New York there is a young woman by the name of Belle Greener… or Belle Da CostaGreen as she is better known—a name invented by Belle and her mother to go with Belle’s new persona. Belle is a woman of color, although fairly light skinned, is going to pass into white society and into the role of head librarian for JP Morgan’s library. Belle is tasked with acquiring new volumes of books to add prominence to JP’s growing library. In such a role Belle is welcomed into New York’s society, a place only secured by the thread of keeping her true identity a secret. Will she be able to keep up the false front and keep her prestigious role? 

The Blue Tattoo: the Life of Olive Oatman

Just 40 years before the 1893 World’s Fair debuts such feats as the Ferris Wheel, westward expansion has led many to travel west in search of a better life. It is hard to believe such a short amount of time can make such a difference, but in the 1850s people were braving the elements, the unknowns of the trail, and Native American attacks to build a life for themselves in America’s west. Olive Oatman was one such girl. 

Olive and her family were on their way to their better life when they were attacked by the Apache Tribe. Olive and her sister are taken captive and the rest of her family is left for dead, brutally murdered before their eyes. After a year of being kept as slaves by the Apache, Olive and her sister are traded to the Mojave tribe where they are adopted and treated as daughters. Five years after their initial capture, Olive is traded back to the white people, her sister having died. Olive, who has assimilated into her life with the Mojave, as evidenced by the blue tattoo on her chin, now has to assimilate into white society, a task which is nearly impossible given her tattoo marking. This is a work, not of fiction, but of fact, drawn from only the facts known about Olive’s life and a very fascinating read about a resilient woman! 

Disclosure 

Please remember that this post contains affiliate links; that means if you click on the link, I will make a small commission at no extra cost to you. It’s a way to support my blog! I will only ever share an affiliate link if I love the product and think that you just might love it too! Support this blog here, The Devil in the White City, The Personal Librarian, The Blue Tattoo: the Life of Olive Oatman 

 

Life is Like a Batch of Peanut Brittle

Life is Like a Batch of Peanut Brittle

by | Apr 30, 2023 | Sunday Scripture

The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.

Lamentations 3:25 ESV

 

“The only thing harder than waiting is wishing you had.”

– Steven Furtick

 

I heard this quote the other day and it stopped me in my tracks; well actually it stopped me mid-scroll on Instagram. Talk about pressing into someone’s paint points!  There have been more times than I care to mention that I have rushed ahead only to wish I had waited….

 

The town I lived in growing up hosted a craft show every year; it was the kind of craft show where anyone who wanted to would open up their home and along with some of their neighbors, friends, and family display their handmade goods for sale; good ranging from baked chocolate chip cookies to stain glass kaleidoscopes! My mother and I participated in this show at our neighbor’s house. 

 

The first year we participated I made all crafts, no baked goods, and didn’t sell nearly as much as I wanted to (of course!). However, I saw that people were buying up the baked goods at a much faster rate than they were the crafts so the following year I decided to make some chocolate chip cookies. As you probably know, when you take cookies out of the oven, you should wait for them to cool, either by placing them on a cooling rack or waiting until the cookie sheet itself has cooled down. Well, I was in a hurry! The faster I got the cookies plated and in their bags, the more cookies I could bake and the more cookies I baked, hopefully the more money I could make…. In the end, I didn’t save time as my cookies that I plated when they were too hot, cooled into misshapen lumps which didn’t look appetizing and were hardly fit for public consumption! 

 

Years later I was still enjoying baking and we decided it was time for Grandma to teach me how to make peanut brittle! Making peanut brittle is a little bit of a tricky process… there is a lot of time stirring the sugar, Karo, and water together over low heat…. It can stand for a little bit but let it go too long without stirring and it will scorch! The thing about this process though is that it can’t be rushed… You can’t turn the heat up on high in an effort to rush it, and you can’t skip the time-consuming process otherwise the peanut brittle won’t get hard! 

 

After the peanut brittle reaches the hard crack point the scene changes! You want your peanut brittle to be crunchy- not just hard! It should have a quick crunch to it and be light and airy (though not soft of course) on the inside. To achieve this as soon as the peanut brittle reaches the Hard Crack stage you have to quickly add the baking soda and peanuts, stir just enough to combine them, and then quickly pour it onto a cookie sheet. If you don’t do this quickly the baking soda will have depleted its magic and you will be left with a rock-hard mess. 

 

The thing about this whole process is that while you are waiting, you are actively waiting. You have to be accurately tuned into what is taking place in the pan otherwise you will miss it! Isn’t this an apt metaphor for what waiting on God is like too? 

 

When we are in a waiting season it is easy to think, “Well I might as well just settle in and wait on God.” and we get so comfortable waiting that we stop looking to God and forget that this waiting too is just a season. We are to be actively waiting on God, still doing the next right thing in front of us; reading our bible, praying, ministering to others, using the waiting time as a time for God to do His work in us so that when the season of waiting is over, we are ready to do the work that He has prepared in advance for us to do! 

 

 

 

Other Posts You May Enjoy: 

Waiting for Patience

The Secret to Being Content

Sweet Recipes for This Christmas Season (for how to make your own Peanut Brittle)

Centerpieces for Late Spring and Early Summer

Centerpieces for Late Spring and Early Summer

by | Apr 29, 2023 | Homemaking

Well I have been taken in by the nice weather we have gotten- after a string of 7 nice days I am ready to plant flowers and get out kayaking! Of course it is still a little early for that here in PA, the weather always pulls some nasty tricks on us, but it is not too early for me to start playing with some late spring/early summer centerpieces!  Using elements you probably already own, here are several ideas for how to DIY super simple centerpieces for late spring/early summer for your dining room table! 

 

First – Color!

Late spring/early summer is a great time to add some pops of bright color back into your home! I love adding touches of Sunflower Yellow to my early summer vignettes and centerpieces but some other suggestions to get your creativity flowing are: 

  • Bold Red
  • Traditional Blue, and Blue and White Combinations
  • Coral 
  • Green
  • Neutrals

Also don’t forget about the colors of the year! Check out that post here, but consider going earthy with sage green, terracotta, and warm browns! 

 

Second – The Elements

What makes a good centerpiece? In short; anything! In long:

  • Anything that you would add to a vignette
  • Flowers, (Faux, real, or dried) 
  • Branches that are in bloom
  • Dishes- especially white, glass or crystal
  • Natural elements: pinecones, twine balls, or wooden balls
  • Candles
  • Something vintage

 

Third – Get Started! 

Here is the fun part! Putting all of it together and playing around to see what you come up with! Here are several late spring/early centerpiece ideas that I came up with! 

 

Flower Centerpiece

This is my usual dining room table centerpiece; if you follow me on Pinterest or have been reading this blog for a while you have doubtless seen the different ways I repurpose this centerpiece throughout the seasons, (check out my post I did on my Centerpiece Throughout the Seasons). This centerpiece works really well for our table; the skinny rectangular centerpiece fits well with our narrow rectangular table! I am a huge fan of dried flowers so I created this centerpiece using preserved flowers and candle sticks! (check out my post A Third Option here for more on using dried flowers in your decor)

Simple Centerpiece

Nothing says summer to me like a sweet grass woven basket! For this centerpiece I just arranged some fresh cut flowers (Daffodils in this case) in a white pitcher, added a cloth napkin for softness, a candle, and my wick trimmers! Keeping it so simple is refreshing and feels light and clean for summer!

 

Put Your Fruit to Good Use! 

Ready to eat? Drop some fruit in a bowl, include a vase with some flowers and another late spring centerpiece is done! Plus having fresh fruit where you can see it is a great way to keep healthy food options in the forefront of your brain! 

 

Display Your Dishes

Your dishes don’t have to be fine china for them to look lovely displayed! If you have some fun colored dishes, or a collection of pitchers, or vases try working them into your early summer centerpiece! 

 

Other Ideas You Could Try: 

  • Loose: try not corralling the elements of your centerpiece and instead just lay the elements loosely on a table runner- try using greenery to help delineate the edges of your centerpiece! 
  • Whimsical: Do you have a decorative birdcage? Try adding a round vase with flowers, or a bird’s nest with some preserved moss in the bottom of the bird cage to create a centerpiece! 

 

Did that help? I hope so! I hope these ideas serve to get your creativity flowing and help you to put elements that you already have on hand to good use in making your centerpiece.

 

 

 

Other Posts You May Enjoy:

How to Make a Vignette for Any Room In Your Home

Centerpieces Throughout the Seasons

A Third Option

Life’s Scraps

by | Apr 23, 2023 | Sunday Scripture

Wait my daughter until you learn how the matter turns out. 

Ruth 3:18

 

Recently one of my friend’s wanted to learn how to cross stitch so naturally she came to me because who of her other friends (in their 20s) knows how to cross stitch?

 

Not only does she (now) cross stitch, but she also knits and, I found out, she scrapbooks. She said that she and a group of ladies all get together and scrapbook. I told her I was mad she hadn’t told me sooner! “Oh,” she said, “You scrapbook?” 

 

“Well, no…” I confessed, “But I want to!” 

 

It’s true; I may have cut and glued a few pictures onto a page when I was 10, but taking the time to print pictures and embellish them with glitter, stickers, and pretty handwriting is not something that I have invested any time into in my adult years. But, as I told my friend, I want to! I admire how women can take photos, admission tickets, wristbands, the scraps of their lives, and turn them into meaningful works of art that capture beautiful memories. 

 

I have found myself many times holding on to boarding passes and admission tickets for years, only to stumble across them and ask myself why I kept this junk? What is the point of it? Sometimes I have thrown these scraps out. Other times I have kept these scraps; our stub from when we visited The Anne Frank house in Amsterdam, the movie ticket from the only movie my husband and I have ever seen in theaters together because the memories they evoke seem to justify my keeping of these mementos.  

 

So there they sit, in the one box I allow myself for my  “sentimental” keepsakes. I find myself asking, “Are these things keepsakes, or are they just junk? Is this detritus indicative of a life well lived?” Sometimes it is just such insignificant scraps that, when pieced together, tell the story of a life, or a portion of life, well lived and cherished. 

 

Sometimes life’s scraps aren’t so pretty. Sometimes putting them into the scrapbook would make pursuers pause and question why you chose to include something so unlovely in your work of art. Maybe it would be a symbol of the hard time before the really good life event. Perhaps it looks like the last paystub you received from a company before they fired you, before you started the business you love. 

 

I think of the story of Ruth in the Bible; she had a lot of scraps. She marries a man and they are young and happy and then he dies, along with the other men in his family, and she is young and destitute. She could go back to her parents but instead she decides to cling to her mother-in-law, Naomi and piece together a life with her. Ruth then has to collect the literal scrap from the harvesters in the field so that she and Naomi can have food to eat. 

 

Ruth’s faithfulness and hard work are noticed and she catches the eye of the wealthy landowner in whose field she has been gathering the scraps. God pieces together the scraps of Ruth’s life and not only gives her another (rich) husband, but blesses her and she becomes one of the lineage of Jesus. 

 

It’s hard to see in the everyday details what the bits and pieces of our lives can add up to be, but God has it all figured out ahead of time for us. He knows what the point of all the trials of our lives are. And as Romans 8:28 says, He works everything together for good, to those who are called, according to His purpose.