The Queen B

Hope

Worries.

Unknowns.

Disappointments.

Old fears resurface.

What-ifs threaten to strangle.

Pause.

Remember.

My help comes from the Maker of heaven and earth.

 

Praying for those of you who, like me, need peace today.

 

 

Be Quiet

"The Lord will fight for you; you must be quiet." Exodus 14:14

Well that seems pretty straightforward.  

Except for I'm not quiet.

Even if I'm silent, I'm not quiet.

I'm texting or pinning or surfing.

Or reading or watching.

Or planning. Or wishing.  

Or dreading. Or worrying.

But not being still and quiet.

What does stillness even look like?

When was the last time you were quiet?

I can't seem to recall...

I want to be quiet.  

I want to be fully present so that I can be completely aware of His presence.

It is nearly impossible to feel conviction or gentle nudging when the mind is spinning.

I want to be quiet.

 

Such Things

 

"...Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." Philippians 4:8

 

This is my prayer for each of you this weekend.  

Enjoy every moment.

Pancake Limit

Ok.  First of all.  If any of you watch The Voice, were you disturbed by Cee lo's light-up teeth?

I didn't get it.  He couldn't speak clearly.  Or sing clearly.  Or whatever.

Potentially nightmare inducing.

Moving on.

The Princess has gone 14 years without trying one of my favorite nasty junk food items.

Tonight, she was introduced to the strawberry wafer.

Delish.

Well.  Delish to a point.

The Princess took a bite and said "That is amazingly wonderful styrofoam-ish stuff!"

Which kind of makes me feel like a bad parent.

But we proceeded to eat several styrofoam wafers.

And then we felt like we'd eaten too many pancakes.

And kind of like we might explode.

So we will probably not eat another strawberry wafer for 14 more years.

BUT.

They were amazingly wonderful for a few bites.

What's your favorite nasty junk food?

Weird Weekend Things

First, I want to thank you all for the sweet messages last week.  I didn't really know if anyone would stop back by the ole blog and I have been so humbled by the response.  

Now.  

We had a strange assortment of weekend oddities that I must share.

1.  Some meanies broke into our barn and stole a bunch of stuff.  A trailor, generator, some saws and I can't remember what else.  

I told myself that maybe the meanie needed the stuff to sell to feed his children.  

The police said it was probably to buy met*h.

Whatever.  I like my idea better.

2.  The King placed his computer, which was resting on a couch pillow, on the coffee table.  The coffee table that had 2 candles burning.  

Computer on pillow + coffee table with 2 candles = significant flame & char.

(This would be a good place to insert a dramatic picture but The King spent a lot of time & scissorwork cutting off the char from the pillow and I'm pretending that it looks normal.)

(Oh who am I kidding.  I am showing you the char.)

You can hardly tell where he did his scissorwork...

Right...?

3.  There was a very large waste product left on my sidewalk by an unknown animal. 

Yes.  That kind of waste product.

We can assume it was a rather large animal.

And I am not showing pictures.

You're welcome.

But.  

I am somewhat concerned about what might have been on my sidewalk.

 

I'd love to know about your weekend.

 

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

Where did that come from?

The National Enquirer?

Surely not.  I can honestly say that I've never purchased a copy of The National Enquirer.

Did it have a commercial?

Anyway.

I'm curious about what you've been reading lately.

I've been on a non-fiction kick.

Here are a few of my recent favorites...

What Women Fear 

Grace for the Good Girl

I'm sure many of you have read these, but I loved them both.

 

Abundant Simplicity 

Not a Fan

Both of these are step-back-and-examine-your-life type of books that I'd highly recommend. I'll be revisiting them often.  

 

Orange Jumpsuit

Here's To Hindsight

These are by the same author.  They are memoire-ish and stuck with me long after I read them.

 

Parting the Waters - Beautiful story.  Couldn't put it down. 

 

I've also read a few fiction titles that come to mind...

Beaded Hope  - Read this for book club.  It is a tiny bit predictable, but good.

The Swan House - loved

They Loved to Laugh - This was one The Princess & I read for school. It was a sweet story we both enjoyed.

Pearl in the Sand - loved

 

I am currently reading...

The Praying Life - Just started this.  I've heard great things about it.

The Explicit Gospel - I LOVE listening to podcasts by this author/preacher.  I am slowly reading...it's one that I want to savor.

 

Please share what you've read recently... I love to get a new list of book ideas!

 

Do What You Love

I miss writing. 

I began blogging several years ago so that I could write.   

Not to get comments.  Though I enjoyed the feedback.

Not to make friends.  Though that was the unexpected bonus.

Not to be all about me.  Though it sometimes felt that was what it had become.  

I began blogging to write. 

So why did I stop?

I was afraid. 

Our situation with La P, The King's surgery and several other life-altering events rocked my world a bit.

The world rocking made it difficult for me to come up with the funny.  

I was afraid that if I wrote what I felt, the readers would be disappointed.

(Yes, I am aware that I need significant therapy.)

(And not a single person ever actually made me feel that they were disappointed.)

(It was me.  Not you.)

I was afraid that if I wrote what I felt I would inadvertently offend those who know me in real life.  

So I bailed.  

But I've realized how much I miss writing. 

My needing-therapy-self is scared that nobody will read.

But my needing-to-write-self knows that it doesn't matter. 

So I'm going to try this again.

I miss writing.

If you happened to stumble by, please stop in and say hi.  I'd love to catch up with you.

Country Living

 

Since moving to the middle of nowhere 2 years ago, I can't think of a day that I have questioned our sanity.

Until yesterday.

Well.

There was the weening of the calves (calfs?) day.  I hated country life that day. That day broke my heart.  There was constant crying for 24 hours ...

And the calves (calfs?) were not much better.

But the wonderfulness of the isolation fresh air and nature even makes the weening day a tiny blip in my memory.

Until.

Yesterday morning,  I looked out to see a truck with some sort of tank driving quite rapidly through the neighbor's pasture.

Unsure of what was happening, I stepped outside.

HUGE MISTAKE.

Apparently yesterday was the day the neighbor chose to fertilize his field.

There are no words.

Seriously.

None.

I wish you could momentarily smell what I was greeted with yesterday morning.

I've often heard of chicken litter.  And I've even smelled it from a distance.

However.

Nothing could have prepared me for this assault.

I called The King and asked what was happening.

He said he'd smelled it earlier that morning when he left the house and had been expecting my call.

I asked him what exactly comprised "chicken litter".

He informed me that it was chicken poop "and stuff" from the bottom of chicken houses.

Y'all.  It was so bad.

I did what any good mother would do, and immediately told The Princess to come outside.

She gagged.

We went back inside and locked the door.  My nose was burning.

I smelled a candle.  I stuck my face in the side of my cat.  I stuck my face in the load of freshly dried towels.

The Princess finally caught her breath and said that it smelled like the worst combination of sweaty feet and poop that she could imagine.

Can you think of a good combination of sweaty feet and poop? 

We stayed inside all day and never ventured back out.  By the time The King came home it had either gone away or I now have immunity.

Do you think the farming neighbors would find me too city-ish if I asked for a few days notice before the fertilizing begins next time?

I'D LIKE TO SCHEDULE A SMALL VACATION.

Welcoming 2012

Happy New Year!

It has been such a long time since I've posted.  

Life occasionally gets in the way of hobbies.

I have missed writing.  I have missed sharing life with you all.

As I slowly wade back into these waters, tell me something you are looking forward to beginning (or continuing) this year.

Welcome 2012.  I am so thankful you've arrived.

 

Big Changes At The Palace

I used to be terrified of change.

Even if I didn't love the situation in which I found myself, staying put was usually preferable to change and the unknown.

At least I knew I didn't love it.

Experiences of the last 2 years have changed that.  Some I've shared, some I haven't.

I certainly don't seek out change now, but I have come to appreciate it.  

Which brings me to this...  

We are homeschooling this year.  

I can't really tell you why.  I have loved our school.  There is no BIG THING that caused us to leave.

I simply felt a nudge in my heart that this is what we were supposed to do.

The Princess felt it, too.

There is no timeline or plan for how long we'll homeschool.  It may last a semester or the next 5 years.

We may clearly see why we needed to take this road or we may never know why.

All that doesn't matter to me so much.  

I just know that when God puts something in your heart, obedience needs to follow.

All that being said, I have a question for you.

We've chosen our curriculum.

We are just about ready to begin.

I've read lots of blogs about homeschooling which have encouraged me greatly.  However, most seem geared toward younger kids. 

The Princess will begin the 8th grade.  Do you know of any blogs focused on homeschooling older kids?  Or homeschooling only children?

I've found OMSH's posts on The Pioneer Woman's homeschooling blog to be very helpful.  

Edie's posts have also been very inspiring.  

If you know of any that I need to be reading, please send them my way!