things that are saving my life right now

2.10.2016


I recently read  this post about the 'things that are saving my life right now."  In it, Ann of Modern Mrs. Darcy writes :


"The idea comes from author Barbara Brown Taylor. In her memoir Leaving Church, Taylor tells about a time she was invited to speak, and her host assigned her this topic: “Tell us what is saving your life right now.”
Most of us know what’s killing us, and can articulate it, if asked. Some of us are overwhelmed with hurry and worry; some of us face crushing poverty; some feel paralyzed, unable to move.
But few of us stop to note what’s giving us life. Taylor says it’s too good a question to not revisit every once in a while: what are the things—big or small—that are saving us?"

I've been thinking quite a bit about this recently, and I just love the idea. So, without further adieu.

Here are a few things saving my life right now. 



1. This little corner of our home.

As silly as it may be, every time I see this corner of our house I relax a bit. We recently organized our kidlit into one section and I keep looking over it and feeling all sorts of fondness. When we first moved here, one of the things I missed the most was all the great books we left behind. To see our cart full, and all the fun toys Elias now has is a regular reminder of provision here. Also, we turned our changing table into a little lego play table for the kids (thanks to our incredible handyman friend.) The whole corner just screams all the ways God has provided for us. Good Books, Amazing Friends, plenty of joys.



2. Embracing the way I play.

I remember a long time ago reading a post about "how parents play." I know many of you mothers are quite good at playing along with your children or, on the flip side, are very consistent with pointing them to independent play. I mostly sit in the 'loving playing, but never really feeling like I could focus' camp.   Even as a little kid, I 'cleaned' when I'd play. So when Eowyn would ask to go play, I always wanted to say yes, but always felt like I actually was just cleaning. The article calls it more of the artist/creator type of play and it just makes sense. Organization runs through my blood strong. I've embraced it. Our play is starting to form a style all on its own. She makes 'cookies' and I clean the dishes (organizing all her kitchen stuff.) When we play dolls, I set up her little doll house like so. While none of it stays tidy, nor should it (toys are meant to be played with.) I no longer shrink away when Eowyn says my favorite thing to do is 'clean.' She sees her mama bringing about order, making, mending. And it is fun. Just ask that kid when she's got her hands on our spray mop. :) 

3. Netflix T.V. Series

I've never ever been a big T.V. watcher. Ben has a deep appreciation for film. This winter I've embraced a few seasons of shows on netflix and I'm growing a deep appreciation for movies and shows in general. In particular, I'm loving the show Elementary (an this century sherlock holmes taking place in New York). Sorry if American Netflix and Finnish Netflix don't crossover and you can't access it on netflix. I also love Brooklyn Nine-Nine (so silly. So good. So glad it's on Finnish Netflix.) I know it's pretty common place for most couples, but for us its actually relatively new for us both to love a show together.

4. Joint Dabbling

Speaking of doing things together, Ben and I are both strength finder 'Learners.' So it's no wonder that I'm enjoying dabbling more seriously in graphic design, while he's now building video games in his spare time. We both have always been a bit on the techy side (him more-so-than me) but with both of us having a love for coding and a love for visual story telling, it's fun to see us actually have hobbies that intertwine a bit. He's used some of my fonts for graphics in his games, and we get to talk shop. It's just plain fun.



5. Plants + Words.

Give this girl a potted plant and she'll love you forever. I'm so not kidding. These little pieces of green make my heart sore and feel all sorts of happy. When I took a horticulture class in college, I went to retrieve my plants at the end of semester and realized people threw away their projects (!!!) poor mom, I gathered up all those little sprouts from the garbage and brought them home. You better believe the minute we have grass we'll be growing up a garden.

My brave truth seeker and dear friend Alisa Nelson often ends her emails to her subscribers with "keep going."  It's been bouncing around my head all week so I placed it on our chalkboard wall. It's caught me when I sat exasperated from no-napping babies, too-long work weeks and it's aiding immensely in our final countdown to resting together this upcoming week.  Our house is filled with words that cause me to pause and remember what we're doing all this for, and I love our place because of it.

5. This upcoming week!!!

We'll be headed out to visit my parents this upcoming week. When I originally started looking for a place to meet up (Ben couldn't take enough time off to make a trip to the states worth it,) I started looking in the middle. Like literally talking my two fingers on Wisconsin and Finland and bringing them together. It landed us in the Atlantic. No surprise there. And so, locations in the Atlantic I searched. We found a direct flight to a special little Island called Madeira which also turned out to be Europe's best island destination. Well hey, we'll take it! We're so excited to be going. 

So ready.

What are things saving your life right now? I'd love to hear.

2 comments :

  1. Love this. Love you. We get to take a week sans kids one month from now. We will be in Arizona. Definitely something saving me lately. Warmth and a whole week of Eric and I. Praying for good rest next week!!

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    1. So excited for you! That'll be amazing. Thank you for your prayers.

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