Daybook

Outside it is pouring spring rains but not enough to hamper the doves outside my window from eating up. Did you know now is the time of year when birds most need food? They're busy molting and building nests, or so I hear.
Thinking about how hard I am on myself and my kids day in, day out. All day long, my mind fills with "Why did I just lose my temper?" "Why can't she obey first for once?" "Why can't he stay out of the dishwasher?" "Why can't he just stay in the yard?" (the dog, that is) "Why haven't I done this yet?" "Why is it so hard to get out the door on time?" And then I read this blog post and reminded myself of GRACE -- the grace to see "the forest through the trees."I was losing track of the one thing I want most of my children, and of myself, too: daily falling closer in step with the Lord. Yes, I want them to learn obedience; yes, I want to learn patience...but why? Just so my days will be easier? I want them primarily to learn (and how important for me to learn it, too, since they learn by example!) how wonderful God is, how much He deserves our praise and our love, how much He offers to His children every day -- those faithful, tender mercies.
Thankful for the rain. We were spared any significant damage in a terrible storm Monday night; now the rains fall calmly and everything is turning such a deep shade of green.
From the kitchen comes buffalo meatloaf and asparagus, black bean burgers, lentil salad, tuna steaks. With hopefully enough leftovers somewhere in there to cover Sunday.
Creating edited journal articles. Woo-hoo! So exciting I had to take a break and do this instead....
Going nowhere until the weekend, thankfully. We've been going too many places too often the past two weeks.
Reading The Great Gatsby for book club.
Hoping that my dad has a nice birthday today and many more.
Hearing the birds through the window and Jack's wails upstairs...
A favorite thing Scholastic storybook DVDs that are always for sale at TJMaxx. They have a lot of my favorite kids books (Bear Snores On, Goodnight Gorilla) and use the original illustrations -- just brought to life, nothing added. For $6, you get 7 stories. Highly recommend!